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Hi, In a fit of poor planning, I started a batch of Rye Ale without properly checking the recipe for schedule. I'm used to about three weeks between brewing and bottling, but this recipe called for racking to secondary after one week, adding some leaf hops, then bottling a week later. I...

Hi, I've brewed several batches from Brewer's Best extract kits, and one from a Brewer's Best all-grain kit. All have been excellent. Now I would like to make a beer from a recipe, but I'm a bit intimidated. What if my local home-brewing stores don't have all the right grains? Where...

Hi, My freezer (converted into a fermentation fridge) will only hold one fermenting bucket. I'm not real happy about waiting some months before I can brew another batch (I have a strong porter in primary now; probably won't drink it for at least three months, to let it mellow a bit). I'm...

Hi, I bought a Blichmann BoilerMaker for my last batch. I really like it for its convenience, but it does end up transferring a lot of hops to the fermenting bucket. Blichmann markets a "HopBlocker," an expensive (of course) attachment that purports to keep the hops in the BoilerMaker...

Hi, I have brewed three batches of beer, using Brewer's Best kits. All came out fine. I moved the first to secondary, but not the other two. Two of those were red ales; one a brown ale. Five days ago, I brewed up a batch of Pumpkin Spice Porter (Brewer's Best). All went well, AFAIK, and...

Hi, I seem to be acquiring Blichmann accessories; I now have a TopTier brew stand, and a 10-gallon BoilerMaker. I really like them. But I'm wondering about some things. First and foremost, the spigot for the BoilerMaker leaves a lot of wort in the pot; I can pour it out at the end, but...

Hi, So, after a year off, I'm brewing again. Easing back in, I thought another Brewers Best package would be easier than trying my first full-grain brew; my wife thought the Pumpkin Spice Porter would be fun, so we got that (also got a Brewers Best kit for full-grain brew, but that'll have...

I just opened the first bottle from my third batch of beer. This is a red ale from a Brewer's Best kit. This is the first batch for which I've had excellent temperature control from brewing to putting in the fridge. The beer was excellent, but it was very, very carbonated. Not so much...

Am I correct that things that will be boiled for at least five minutes don't need to be sanitized? For instance, my copper coils used to lower the temperature after the boil: If I put that in at least five minutes before the end of the boil, is there any reason to sanitize it? Likewise, the...

Hi, I started fermenting 9 days ago. All looks good. But I overthought/underthought the process, and am fermenting in my bottling bucket (having forgotten that I need to mix the sugar in before bottling. I was not planning to transfer to a secondary fermenter, but I could. I'm brewing...

Hi, I'm doing my second batch, using Brewer's Best (a brown ale this time). I brewed 8 days ago. It has been bubbling happily since, although the bubbling has slowed a lot in the last several days. I have decided not to transfer to secondary, feeling that the upside (clearer) isn't...

Hi, We have air conditioning in our house, but don't use it until the house gets above, say, 78 degrees F. I'm brewing a batch now that's supposed to ferment at 64-72 F. Right now, it's cold outside, so that's not a problem; but some time during the next three weeks, it likely will get...

Hi, I was given a Mr. Beer kit for Christmas, which produced quite decent results, and inspired me to move a step further into brewing. I bought a Brewer's Best Red Ale kit, and followed the directions reasonably well. I moved it from primary to secondary after 6 days. ABV was exactly...

I bottled my first 5-gallon batch last Thursday (a Brewer's Best red ale). I think all went well. When I finished the boil several weeks earlier, and transferred the cooled wort to my first fermentation bucket, I topped it up (took very little) to 5 gallons, as instructed. After...

Hi, I've done a search, and found nothing. Forgive me if I missed it. I'm planning to bottle on Thursday (red ale, from a Brewer's Best kit; my first time other than one batch from Mr. Beer). I have an adequate supply of various-sized bottles, sanitizer, etc. I plan to sanitize...

I brewed up a batch of Red Ale from a Brewer's Best kit on Friday. Within hours, bubbles were coming through the air lock. It continued to bubble at about a bubble every second or two through the weekend. Yesterday, there were few bubbles. Today there are no bubbles. Is the batch...

Hi, My family gave me a Mr. Beer kit for Christmas. I brewed it up (a light ale), and the beer is quite nice (improving with age, very noticeably). Encouraged, I "moved up" a step in complexity, and bought a Brewer's Best kit for red ale (I prefer non-bitter beers), and all the hardware...