Recent content by SmartyJones

Today is bottling day! Will be bottling my first batch of brew later today ... Can't wait!

... I didn't even think about sanitizing the caps!! Thanks for that great tip/reminder!...

I miss having a dishwasher! That would be a great thing to do ... Fill bottles over the opened door of a dishwasher ...

Why 69-72? Well, um ... I don't know actually ... This is my first ever batch and that's the temp I've been told and or read about that seems to work best? I'm doing a Hefeweizen as my first brew/batch and am open to any and all suggestions...

"asking to much" ... Yeah that's what I'm afraid of ... It just might be impossible ... Although for now I'm going to keep trying ... I'd like to have my fermentation container in a more temp controlled place than it is right now! I'm going to have to settle for more of a 65 - 75 range instead...

How do you "keep" your star san in your open container without a lid?

The problem I've been having is that I can get it to between 65 and 78 ... The issue I'm having is just pin pointing the temp really ... Guess I just need to keep (barely) moving the dial in order to find "the right spot" ... Was hoping for a temp between 69 - 72

Thanks for the tip! I believe this is the method I will be trying for my first batch when it's ready?! What about hang drying them on one of those bottle trees? Should I just not bother with those? ... So you say take them straight out of the sanitizer and fill them without drying them?

Any suggestions on "best practice" to use or do to sanitize the bottles before use? I've seen some say soak in sanitizer for 5 min and let dry others say bake them in the oven ...

What about putting a bowl of water with a lid on it or water in a container/carboy and letting it sit and checking the temp of the water after a day? Would that be effective?

I've looked through the forums (best I could while browsing on my phone that is) so I'm not sure if this had been answered or not but I have a question about temps. I have a second refrigerator that we hardly use and want to use it to to hold my main carboy during fermentation. My only problem...

So I'm only on day two of my beer sitting in my main carboy to ferment and I know temperature is a big factor, my question is this what happens if the temp fluctuates during this process? I am trying or wanting to keep it between 69-72 degrees but this morning it was up to 75/76 ... And when I...

While I wait for my first batch to ferment I figured I'd attempt to read up and learn what I can and prep for batch number 2... On the part of learning I have a question for the group... Do you use tap water or bottled or distilled or spring water ... Does it mater since you boil it? But what...

Stocking up won't be a bad idea ... I just brewed a simple Hefeweizen ... Since I'm just getting into it I still need to get bottles but that shouldn't be a problem since I've got three weeks before it'll be ready. Not really sure what I'll want to do next? I'm open to suggestions though? I...

Oh I will wait .. I want my first batch to turn out good ... So I won't rush the waiting part of it by no means ... It is going to sit (in fermenter and bottles) for 6 to 7 weeks before I even taste the first one... So it'll be a while before I can give a review...