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Yea, this time of year is great for cooling boiled topoff water...I will boil my topoff water the day before brewday; let it chill, covered, outside (enclosed porch). Sometimes it will freeze over...quick to chill down to pitching temp. Just make sure you don't over shoot by adding to much...

Ohhh, nooo. You shouldn't put a lid on it...I can't recall what you are supposed to let escape. By covering your brew pot you are trapping the stuff that is supposed to escape...

Welcome, converts...you, too, have become hop heads!!! You've aquired the taste for hops!!!

Plastic buckets over time will allow air to seep in. But over a 2 or 3 week period as a pimary fermentor you are fine. I wouldn't even think of lagering in a plastic bucket.

I used to bottle directly from the primary...via a bottling bucket. I now rack into a secondary for at least a week. That way I get the brew off the trub and makes it easier when I rack into the bottling bucket.

Get a stick on thermometer and attach it to the outside of your carboy...they are cheap and rather accurate. Check the temp several times a day...morning and evening then again at bedtime. Five gallons of liquid is a large theramal mass...trying to chill the mass after boil before you pitch...

I have a under the counter filter system...don't recall the brand. I boil my topoff water the day before and let it chill over night outsdie...covered. I don't brew in the summer...lack of time...So topoff gets chilly overnite.

I always sample the portion I I take my readings on...

Ditto on don't use distilled water...minerals in the water make the beer...at least helps... I boil my topoff water the night before brewday and let it cool over night...outside covered up. Well come the brew club!!!

Your advisor must have been drinking moonshine distilled in a car radiator...

I either wrap the fermentor in a towel or put it in a dark trash bag...new one of course...

Check for loose wires, or something foreign shorting out. Being on it's side something may have been jarred loose.

A note book. Take notes, plenty of notes. Dates, times, temperatures, amounts, ingrediants...anything that can be a variable...be totally anal about note taking. With out detailed accounts you may never be able to duplicate that perfect brew you stumbled upon...OR you may make a fatal mistake...

Dave Line's Brewing Beers Like Those You Buy. It has many recipes, hints and tips.

Should be fine if the can isn't bulging. make sure it still has a vaccum when you open the the can.

Congrats on the first brew! I used to employ the wife in the bottling process; now the kids help me...ages 11 and 14. Make sure you have enough bottles! Although, you can start your next batch and by the time it is ready to bottle you'll probably have all the 1st batch drank!!! I used to...

I boil my top off water the day before brewday; let it sit covered on my unheated enclosed porch over night. I never worry about the pelletized hops in my primary fermentor. They will settle out in several days and then I avoid the slurry when I rack into the secondary.

I found the stick-on on my fermentor to be quite accurate within a degree.

I pre boil 2-3 gallons of water, to sterilize it, the day before brew day. I set the pot out side covered over night. On brew day, I cool my wort(in brew pot) in the sink to about ~100 with just tap water. I pour the wort into to my primary and then top off with the cold water. Takes about...