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I've done plenty of wine bottles, but never something this large. I like the casters. When dressing edges, it helps to keep the sandpaper wet. Wet glass is fairly easy to grind, but dry glass is extremely aggressive. Also, glass dust isn't something you want floating around. I use cheap...

I've done plenty of wine bottles, but never something this large. I like the casters. When dressing edges, it helps to keep the sandpaper wet. Wet glass is fairly easy to grind, but dry glass is extremely aggressive. Also, glass dust isn't something you want floating around. I use cheap...

You're saying that your primary-only beers are *less* carbonated? Without a side-by-side comparison of a split-batch, I imagine this is hard to really verify. But I would expect the opposite, that the "clearer" secondary'd beer would have trouble carbonating...

If you're only planning on <5 generations, I don't think there's too much to worry about (other than sanitation), but I *think* you probably want to be getting near FG when you harvest yeast. Are you sure you even want to dump trub that early?

Really? With a rigged stirplate I go from clear wort to high krausen and totally opaque in something like 24 hours. The krausen drops fast, but the smell of yeast activity is really obvious, very bready? And the wort is opaque tan. In my experience, the change is night-and-day... Some...

How'd the transfer go? Only thing I'd say -- wait waaaaaay longer than a week between adding fruit and bottling, unless bottle bombs you like...

+1 @Revvy If the caps are actually *absorbing*, as the thread title and label says (http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/o2-absorbing-caps-144-ct.html), then 1. it's not unlikely that the absorbing substrate binds CO2 in addition to O2, and 2. (if 1 is true) that a non-trivial quantity of gas...

Hah. Now that you mention it, I'm vaguely aware that these exist. I pretty much always use a starter, and I've had no problem adding substantial amounts of fermentables in the form of fruit or simple sugars into the secondary. Evident fermentation usually re-ignites after a day or 2 and...

For reference/posterity, this thread contradicts the "oh my god don't get them wet" argument: www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/oxygen-absorbing-caps-89570 Still waiting to see empirical evidence that these help, though... Maybe if you're bottling filtered, carbonated beer from keg, but primed yeast...

This seems to be the most "official" O2-absorbing thread I could find on HBT. Nice to hear the manufacturers recommendations. Two points for posterity for this zombie thread: * There are field reports of decreased carbonation from using these[1]. Can anyone comment? * Funny enough, most...

There actually are a number of reports from the field [1] that these caps require more priming sugar. Makes sense when you think about it -- the structure of 02 and C02 is surprisingly similar, and even the main photosynthetic enzyme in plants, RUBISCO (yes, it's an acronym), has a hard time...

Just because it's mold doesn't make it terrible, and it can be mold without being fuzzy (the fuzz is often mold's reproductive stage), and just because it's mold doesn't mean it can grow on bread ( just like lions don't eat grass, plenty of molds don't eat bread). When fruit is submerged in the...

Just read the whole thread in one go. Great read, lots of opinions and experiments. I have a few thoughts, biographical notes, and some questions. When I started brewing, moving to secondary made a big improvement in my beer. In retrospect, it forced me to slow down and resulted in clearer...

Any composters out there? That stuff is liquid gold for the garden...

@COLObrewer: Do you have any thoughts on periodically feeding stored yeast with a starter, maybe every 6-8 weeks, and then popping it back in the fridge? Aside from the sanitation question, it doesn't seem like a full "generation", the point isn't really to up the number of yeast but to top off...

5 weeks on the cake at 72F sounds like a bit of time... Personally, I'd pull it off the cake into secondary after 2 or 3 weeks, but that's just me. Anyone else? How long is too long in primary? EDIT: Apparently, plenty of folks get away with 5 weeks primary no problems. A thread for the...

What's your OG? How old was the package? Summer-shipped? It's a small batch, so I'm guessing 1 smack-pack of not-stellar yeast won't kill you. Did you aerate your wort post-cooling? I doubt the sediment is related to the yeast. What adjucts did you use? Flaked? Ive noticed that flaked...

Are you saying that weeks later your starter is still going, or just asking about a starter that you made a long time ago? If you don't have a stir plate (they're fun and relatively easy to make, totally worth it for the "wow-your-friends" factor alone), there's been recent work showing that...

How many generations do you intend to be using this yeast for? If just a few, it probably doesn't matter. I tend to wait longer, harvest the whole cake, and then wash it. That way I'm pulling my next generation from the full range of yeast floccing behavior. You can probably get some...

Personally, I do make starters and high-gravity beers, I don't use yeast calculators, and I've gotten along just fine. Based on what you've said, assuming a 5 gal batch of OG ~ 1.09, I'd say the following: * Regardless of your cell-count, your yeast are probably a little worn down and could...