Search results

I use vodka, works like a charm. I keep cheap vodka on hand for sanitizing and cleaning tasks, often even unrelated to brewing.

update: 4 days later and the next cider was perfectly carbonated. The only things that changed were a slightly warmer temperature, tilting the bottles twice to disturb any sediment, and a short bit of time. Either I had unevenly primed bottles, or the yeast just wasn't done yet. I guess...

I'll be a contrarian opinion and say that tasting before final serving is useful, or at least interesting. I love tasting wort before pitching yeast, and tasting flat beer on bottling day. I can't really predict a final product, but I have gotten a better understanding of analyzing flavor in...

I ferment most of my batches with us05 specifically because I've had good luck with higher temps - thanks internet for that advice! No basement and sharing a small living space in DC with the SWMBO and a female roommate means I am not allowed to have an opinion on the thermostat. So far...

Fermenting at 65-68f, but now room temps are between 67 and 70.. A little chilly, but I had better results when it was colder a few months ago. I am measuring sugar by weight. The porter used the premeasured sugar drops that came with a kit - also had good results after 3 weeks in the...

I fermented a cider on top of my IPA's yeast cake and bottled after three weeks. I siphoned the 1 gallon of cider on top of a simple syrup made with 1oz of corn sugar before bottling to ensure an even sugar distribution. Three weeks after bottling, pretty flat. Bourbon barrel porter kit...

1) dark beers are great served very chilly 2) big beers are delicious fresh after carbonating.. Partially why aging is so hard for me to do! 3) hazy beers are superior to crystal clear beers 4) everyone either likes IPAs way too much, or hates IPAs too much. They have their place and are...

Here it is with the small blow off tube. Crossing my fingers it is sufficient! P.S. sorry for the sideways photo.. still trying to figure out how to orient landscape-style photos from the phone.

Giving uploading pictures from the reply dialogue a shot.

Bottling went easy last night, and went ahead and got the cider going! I added a teaspoon of yeast nutrient and 1/5lb brown sugar dissolved in boiling drinking water as well for some added fermentables on top of the 1 gallon of fresh pasteurized cider. I think I was able to keep the fermenter...

That's all the enabling I need! What a great community. Can't wait to update with how this goes.

The situation: I have a small batch of IPA I'm going to bottle tomorrow. I have a gallon of relatively fresh unfiltered apple juice from the farmer's market in the fridge. I want to make a cider, but I'm also lazy and have no more packets of yeast on hand. The question: If I aerated the...

I received my first shipment of ingredients last week, nothing substantial but 1 pound packages of a dozen different whole grains and a couple 3lb packages of DME. Later for bulk grains I plan on using some kind of stackable plastic bins when I start buying in bulk, but only very specific...

Brewing has been going great! I'm so glad I made room for some small fermenters and was able to successfully get sufficient volume boils to do some small batches. The downtime between brew and bottle days has gotten me just thinking about where to go next with recipes and general brewing of...

For my first venture into all-grain, I thought I would do two things: 1) keep it simple 2) use some ingredients I have on hand already 3) not follow any recipe to the T, but do something kinda like an American Wheat beer. I don't really know what this beer will turn out like, but I can't...

I started with 5 gallon batches, and brewed my first 1-gallon batch last week. The only thing I significantly appreciated was just how much less lifting there is. Rinsing/manually aerating a 6.5g glass carboy is also quite a bit harder than a 1 gallon jug. I can't think of anything that you...

I just got back in to brewing after a couple years - and didn't have my equipment anymore, so you are a step ahead. My first batch is a kit and is fermenting away. Nothing was really a surprise to me, just an extract kit with special grains to steep. The next batch will be all-grain, third...

In! Good luck to all who enter!

Additional question related to the OP: does the fermentation/fermenter conditioning before bottling time vary for batch size? Will a 1 gallon take the same amount of time as a 30 gallon? From what I understand, there is no perfect answer, and it is just another part of the recipe you can...

How do you save the rest, and are there any caveats/precautions? I've read some pretty stern language warning against that for.. sanitation? Cell viability? For my most recent batch I did pitch just half the pack (per the instructions, I'm sure even that is overkill) and tossed the rest in...