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been doing this home brew thing for about 2 years now. I've done 2 batches of cider and just started my third. First batch of cider was a lesson on aging. I thought like beer, my cider/mead would taste great in 2-3 months. oops. a year later it was mellowed out and very smooth...

ok. I'm a fool for not using this wonderful tool earlier, clearly I don't know ANYTHING about calculating bitter units, color, etc. and would study recipies that had good reviews, what was in them, and trying to mimic them with my own twist by reading different "flavor profiles" of different...

I've been thinking of lagering. trying to understand it fully. you do the lagering before bottling, right? down to around 40 degrees? Explain to me about the yeast... I thought when the yeast got cold, they went "dormant" which is why fermentation temps need to stay in the low to...

just looking for some last minute advice, such as "sounds good, go for it" or "been there, done that, got the t-shirt, you do NOT want to do that" looking to practice on my all-grain methods and try to improve my efficiencies, and thought I'd go for a SMaSH recipie. read lots of good things...

first batch, VERY poor technique and equipment, yielded 1.030 wort, and beer that tasted like hoppy water. second batch, better equipment, and probably 1.040-1.045 after boil but I had added 3 lbs wheat DME and 1 lb honey because the home brew store didn't have enough grain wheat for what I...

had a "blow out" batch of whiskey barrel stout started yesterday. after several mediocre batches of all grain, I wanted to get a batch of "good" beer in the mix and used extract so I can have a good beer while I continue experimenting on getting my all-grains better. (my next step is playing...

just trying to do some calculations on a porter/stout that I'm trying out. I went big, and am shooting for around 9-10% ABV. trying to run some numbers to see my potential, but I added 1 lb of lactose to the wort during boil. since this is unfermentable sugar, I assume it's going to drive up...

I'm about to ruin a batch of cider.:mad: I made a batch of cider and wanted to bottle them as a champagne/sparking cider. stopped at the local store, run by a bunch of home brewers, and if they're selling beer AND wine making equipment, I figure they OUGHT to know what they're doing...

second batch of all grain, first batch with my new home made mash tun. I batch sparged, completely draining the grain, then adding several gallons of fresh hot water and collecting it. I collected 7 gallons of wort, pre-boil volume. My grain bill was 6 lbs pale, 1 lb biscuit, and 3 lbs red...

I'm considering a wheat beer for my next batch. my wife LOVES wheat beer, and she's tired of the hoppy stuff, or the heavy stouts/porters I've been making. my question is on the protein rest. if using a cooler converted to mash tun, what's the best way to increase temp after a protein rest...

not beer, but beer tools! about to make myself a mash tub, needed to fabricate a "drain" had some copper pipe laying around so I used that, and I had an unused brass hose barb that magically fit the copper pipe tight enough to grab a few threads and get a snug fit. I used my vise to...

I just started using Star-San for my sanitizer, it's worked good, but dang it's awfully foamy like I'm using way too much dish soap in the sink when doing the dinner dishes...HUGE HEAD OF FOAM!!! and it sticks behind and stays in the bottles/carboy, etc. I know I'm not supposed rinse it...

so, I decided to take the plunge and do an all grain batch. AND I wanted to try a fat tire copy. all in all, I think it went ok. a bit messy due to flaws in my procedure, but I saw a video on you tube that made everything look VERY simple and neat and clean, so I'm going to try that next...

I've been wondering about the aging process. if you let a beer sit in the carboy for say, 4 weeks, then bottle for 2, is it going to taste the same as a beer that sat in the carboy for 2 weeks, then bottled for 4? I bought a second carboy so I can have 2 batches aging at any given time...

I've got a recipe I'm about to try, that includes oak chips from a whiskey barrel, I've had some brews that were aged in brandy barrels and they were pretty good. got me thinking though...could you just add a little straight whiskey to the wort before it starts fermenting, to help enhance...

got a Mr Beer kit for Christmas. really took my time and followed the directions, but had to do an emergency re-pour back into the brew pot due to a leaky spigot on the fermenter, then poured it back into the fermenter. (before I realized that aerating the wort was good!) let it sit in the...

so, my first REAL batch of home brew is well on it's way, and I'm feeling much better about this batch, using a real carboy and I can see all kinds of fermentation activity going on! the Mr Beer kit batch is still sitting there, not doing much, just waiting for me to bottle it and see what...

Hi. first post, been reading here most of the afternoon though! I have a batch of home brew that's been fermenting (i hope) for 3 days now. haven't seen a lot of activity in there, but it's hard to see. there was some bubbles on top for a day or so, that's mostly gone now though. I don't...