Recent content by wwgiese

The biggest problem I have had since going big (15Gal) is with stuck mashes. My 10 gal pot is often very full of grain and can easily clog when recirculating the mash. More so when I have wheat in the mash. I have found it easier to some extent but it probably is due to having bought better...

I opened a 20 year old berlinerwise last week. Turned a little dark and funky. Could be because I dumped in a lot of the crud from the bottom. Long time since I opened a home brew bottle of beer. I have been kegging for a long time. Out of practice.

I used to cool my wort very fast. I used an ice bath like you but i also used ice in the pot. What I did was take a milk jug and wash it out. Then boil a pot of water. I rinsed out the jug with boiling water to sterilize it, then filled it up about 1/3 full and capped it and put it in the...

I always boiled a small amount of water with my primer in it then put it in the bottom and racked the beer into that. I never had a problem.

Hey. It's heavier. That’s why it sank. When I used to prime and bottle I always stirred it up for a while, plus I but the priming mixture in the bucket first then siphoned to it from my carboy. That mixed it pretty good before I stirred it up

I usualy rack mine after a few days to a week. I use plastic for a primary fermentation and glass for secodary. I scrape the trub off the top while in the primary every day till it no longer forms then i rack. I have never had a problem with infection doing this but I don't start cropping the...

Wheat beers always have very volatile fermentation.

Two weeks is usualy enough. I allways but a bottle in the fridge and then try it out before refrigerating several. You will find that once it is carbonated that refrigerating the whole lot and aging it in the fridge will give you a cleaner and clear beer that will taste a bit better.

depends on what kind of sanatiser. Some beer cleaners are made to not affect the beer if some of it gets in it. Also some colored beers (like guinness) can have a white head with a lot of color in the beer.

Adding things like dry hops after fermentation is generaly ok because the alchohol level is high enough that most bacteria will not survive.

I use tap for ale and get the filtered water from the grocery store for pils and hefe.

best thing you can do is get as much trub out of the fermenter before pitching as you can. Then scim off the trub on top of the fermenter (if you are using a bucket for the primary as I do) a few days in to the primary and rack as soon as the fermentation starts to slow. I usualy even rack...

An airlock is just fine unless you anticipate a problem with the fermenting beer comming out the top. Then the blow off is better. Some people use the blow off and top the carboy to the top. This lets the dead yeast and trub blow off into a bucket and away from your beer. When using this you...

It probably doesnt matter. I like glass but it breaks. Plastic will eventualy stain but has less light getting in to the fermenting beer. I keep it in adark place any way so that doesnt matter. It seems that plastic would be harder to keep sterile but when I use it I fill the bucket up with...

I had 2 cases of realy bad beer. I kept it for my wife to wash her hair in. It makes it realy soft and manageable. I have since bought a bottle of orvil (famous belgin ale). It was an exact match to the beer my wife is washing her hair in. Guess I should enter it in a contest or somthing I...