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Best advice out there: RDWHAHB! Headspace is fine, as long as you're not aging to long. Two weeks in your secondary is more than safe.

You have to allow the CO2 to get out of the fermenter somehow. It won't matter that much if you strain your wort, as long as you can be patient enough to let all the stuff settle to the bottom of the carboy before you transfer and bottle. For sure try to salvage what you can. It's probably...

Another Update! Like most brews, this one shows vast improvement after some bottle aging. The tangy citrus (orange gummy worms) on the nose is much more mellow, and the flavors are more integrated in general. My feeling is that the large amount of honey in the beer will allow it to age well for...

Update! I impulsively added two vanilla beans to the secondary, just for fun. I'm enjoying the first sips of this beer right now, and I couldn't be more pleased. The lactose has added a noticeable, but not cloying, sweetness that both calms down the ginger and accentuates the honey notes...

Nope, I skipped the wintergreen. I wanted to avoid it as it's used as a substitute for sassafras in modern root beers. I figured I'd only use it as a last resort. I haven't read either of those books, but thanks for the links! I'll definitely be getting at least one of those. I really based my...

Well, I finally had one chilled and fully carbonated. The color is brown with a touch of clay red. It's go a beautiful creamy head. The beer has a bracing bitterness with a cool backdrop of spice and earth. I want it a bit maltier, I think. Also, I wish the vanilla was more present...

Fabulous! Creepy and intense.

Just wanted to throw in my "Hey Now!" to the Western NY crowd. I'm from Williamson, myself. I got drunk for the first time on wild-fermented cider literally at the bottom of an apple barrel. I think I was twelve. Rochester may be a gigantic open wound, but there's good people out there, and...

Mulberries can be extremely acidic. Make sure you harvest them when they are totally ripe - almost falling off the bush. They deliver a deep purple color to the batch, and a totally unique fruit flavor. I always sanitize fruit by covering the berries in water that a campden tablet has been...

+1 on that, brother! It's been a very informative thread! :mug:

Slapped together a label for my Root Beer today, just to kill time before the bottles are ready to open. Why does three weeks take so long?

I bottled today, earlier than I had scheduled, but I had a hunch that it was time. The beer is dirt-brown, with woodsy, exotic fragrances lifting off of a slightly oily surface. The bourbon comes through as an afterthought,with only a hint of vanilla. The palate is very warm, spicy, and...

I don't have the space to compost anymore, but when I did, I used to love to dump the organic waste from brewing into it. The thought that a similar process that produces beer also produces great garden soil is wonderful! One time I saw a paw of some critter reaching out from under the pile to...

CodeRage, thanks for the thorough and pointed analysis. It's a tricky thing, being truly green, but I think it's a goal worth attempting. Your point about shipping grain instead of beer is an important one, as well as the clarification about CO2. I never even thought about global warming...

Have you guys ever seen this? http://www.zeri.org/case_studies_beer.htm

The deeper I get into this hobby, the more I become aware that it isn't the most sustainable activity I could be involved in. The fuel used for growing and transporting the main ingredients, especially if they are imported, are one problem, while the more obvious one is all the water that I...

I, for one, am convinced. What kind of beer do you brew?

Sounds amazing to me!

Transfered into a 5 gallon today, and had the opportunity to taste. I'm quite pleased and surprised. The awful bitterness has mostly subsided, leaving a pleasant tannic bite. There is a wonderful complexity, with a distinctive "rooty" flavor. The licorice and cinnamon are showing more than I...

Thanks! :mug: