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Update on Tom's batch: The beer was in secondary, "bulk aging," in a carboy. But the SG wasn't dropping. I finally went and bought a belt heater and carefully draped it around the carboy, and used a sanitized turkey baster to stir up the bottom every few days. It raised the temp alright...

Wendy, It was 1.038. I thought that was great, but maybe not enough fermentation. Now, after 2 weeks in secondary at 66 to 68F, it's only fallen to 1.030 (on its way to 1.016-1.018). I wonder if I need to keep it warmer to keep the fermentation moving?? There's one week left in its...

My batch is still in progress, and looking good. I figured I'd need a secondary regardless, since it wasn't fully fermented after 3 weeks, and I wanted to get the beer off the trub in the primary. On reflection, though, maybe I didn't need to do this, if it wasn't finished fermenting? It...

Racked it to secondary (a glass carboy) a couple days ago, about a day or two earlier than the recipe called for, but I was heading out on a multiday trip. It looked and smelled fine, and tasted fresh, sweet and yummy. Looking forward to the final result!

Status report: I brought the bottled beer up for 13 more days in room temperature. When I first brought it back up, I inverted each bottle and swirled it to get the yeast remixed into solution. Result: Holy cow, big difference. It's real beer now. Richer, sharper, foamier...it has a...

Midfielder5 / Wendy, I liked the sound of your Dark & Stormy porter recipe, so I brewed it about a week ago. It was the first time I got to use my new 9-gallon brewpot and wort chiller (this is only my third brew). It was a great experience...thank you! The OG was 1.068, as I was using...

3 weeks? Oh, I see... thank you. I've been reading the instructions that came with the kit, which advised one week at 70 then a week at a "cooler location" and that beer can initially be drunk 10 days after bottling. Apparently these instructions are incorrect, as frequently posted in...

If "the big time" means doing a full boil, I think I'm ready for that ;) Very good point though...maybe I should attempt a relatively simple recipe, if I can find one that is close in taste to a beer I already like. I sort of did that for my first ever brew, but that wasn't done on my own...

Time to report on my first-ever batch of homebrew... :ban: It's day 11 since bottling. Just after bottling, I had the batch upstairs, in about 72 degree room temps, for about one week, then moved it to the now 62-degree basement. Took one and put it in the fridge last night. Cracked it...

Dave, Hello from another Badger. I'm from Madison but have found myself in Seattle, another great place for good bottles pre-filled with great beer. :) Thanks for the tip about removing labels. I bottled my first-ever batch yesterday (here's hoping the bottles don't explode) and I left...

Thanks, yes, that's why I'm flummoxed. It was 1.012 or thereabouts, then magically went up to 1.018 a week later, after sugar solution added, and I twirled the hydrometer many times to remove bubbles, then checked calibration after that (dead on 1.000). The sugar simply shouldn't have raised...

OK, newbie error time: I just did this, forgetting to measure FG before racking from carboy onto priming sugar (4 oz corn sugar + 2 cups water) solution I had put into my bottling bucket. I measured the SG a week ago, and it was about 1.013, and I expected it to fall to its FG of 1.010 this...

Well, newbie advice time (I'm the newbie, see?). Reading from John Palmer's "How to Brew," pages 252-258, I see: Won't stop bubbling a long time? Could be due to the cool temps, but also could be "gusher" infection of wild yeast or bacteria. Hydrometer reading not changing in a long time...

Don't worry Broonery...I've met even a chemical engineer who didn't understand how salt affected boiling/freezing/melting points of water.

I'd love to know what this one means...

Oh No! :o I don't quite have enough empties at the moment to bottle my first-ever batch. I'd be pretty sad if what I do have got recycled. This reminds me of an idea I had...my former neighbor must have spent all his time drinking beer (I don't think he works for a living). Every night...

Thanks, OP, for this thread. I've got my first batch ever in a glass carboy (second fermenter...not really needed, but I wanted to practice) and the level of the beer is not quite up to the neck. The instruction sheet from the LHBS (yeah, I know...) said, after racking to the carboy, if the...

Definitely understand. I've got my first batch (ever) still fermenting, and sure would like to have some HB available. Just have to wait.

Agree to all of the above. I brewed my first batch recently, using a ~$100 starter kit from LHBS, plus $40 of doodads I felt I needed to make the process actually work, such as a hydrometer jar, long-handled paddle, etc. So $140 for a 5-gallon batch, and that includes the initial ingredients...

... of course I want to brew its clone at home. It was a sweet amber, available only in the late fall and winter. It had a name like "holiday ale" or "festival ale" or something similar, and was made by one of the numerous NW microbreweries. Possibly MacTarnahan's or Oregon breweries. I...