Recent content by nanoBrewer

The ambient temp. in my apartment is generally around 75 degrees. The optimal temp. of the yeast I use to brew my ales is 70 - 74 degrees. In the past, I have covered the carboy with a wet towel and used an ice tray to bring the temp down 2 or 3 degrees. The beers have been fairly good, but the...

Good point. The main reason I could not cool my wort was the ground water wasn't very cold (and I did not have enough ice on hand).

Next time, I'll be better prepared and have more ice on hand to for my bath. Thanks for the suggestions.

I need tips for cooling my wort. I just brewed a 3 gallon batch with a 1/2 gallon boil added to 2 1/2 gallons of cool water, and I could not get the temp down to 78 degrees to pitch the ale yeast. After an hour in a cold water bath I just gave up and pitched the ale yeast at 85 degrees and...

Did some bottling last night, but added way too much DME for priming. I was making a 2 gallon batch to finish off some spare DME I has left over from a previous batch. I had planned on using just under 1/2 cup of DME for priming, but I added 2/3 cup instead (too many homebrews before I...

Here's an update: Beer has been in carboy for five days with no visible signs of fermentaion, so I took a SG reading today. The SG is way down to 1.008! I tried the beer and it looks and tastes great. I think this one could turn out to be my best yet! To all the other beginners out there...

I'm brewing an ordinary bitter. The recipe I used has an OG of 1.036, but my OG was 1.050! (Yes, I adjusted the SG according to the wort temperature). I added a little more DME than the recipe called for. Will the higher OG have any negative effect on my beer's taste? Do I need a longer...

Would you describe it as a molassesy flavour? My first three kit batches had this malty or molasses flavour to them. On my four batch, using the same kit, I let the beer condition in the bottles for an extra wk. or two (more than the instructions called for), with great results. Maybe your brew...

I've got some cheap scotch (Dewars) that I'll use. Thanks for the advice.

I'm brewing an ordinary bitter tonight. Don't have a digital scale yet, so I am guesstimating with the hop pellets. Can't wait!

Vodka or water - which should I use in the airlock? Do I need to user a sanitizer in the airlock water, or can I simple boil the water for 10 minutes? I've brewed three batches to date, and I've been using tap water in the airlock without adding any sanitizer to the water. So far, my beer...

Sounds like a great idea to me, but I'm not sure my wife would go for it.

On second thought, I decided that 1 gallon is a little too small (it's just not economical). So, I picked up a 3 gallon glass carboy today, and it fits under my kitchen counter perfectly! Thanks to all for the suggestions.

Hi, I don't have the space for 5 gallon carboy in my new apartment, so I plan to use a 1 gallon glass carboy now. How do I convert a 5 gallon recipe for a 1 gallon batch? Do I simple divide the ingredients by 5? Will this work for the hops? Are there any other factors that I need to...