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Hi Brewers, I am looking to do my first all-grain brew, using a 1 gallon recipe. Will it be okay to ferment in my 3 gallon fermentation vessel? (Just concerned there will be a lot of room for air in that). Any help most appreciated. Ross

Hi Brewers, I brew beer in 2.5 gallon batches. I actually only brew up the mash in a pot that holds about 1.5 gallons, and then top up to 2.5 gallons by adding bottled water to the fermentation vessel. Tonight I have just realised I only have 2 gallons in the fermentor, and have not got time...

I have just realised that when I bottled my beer last night I used too much Star San (HB). I accidentally double dosed! (I used 1oz in 2.5 gallons instead of 5 gallons). Is my beer likely to be affected? Could it be harmful to drink? Ross

Does anyone use a net bag to keep the hops in during fermentation? I am thinking it would make the bottling process easier. Eg by removing the bag of hops before bottling.

My bottling game is weak. During last night’s bottling session I made a mess. I siphon from the primary into 500ml bottles. After sucking on the tube, I kept spraying beer everywhere as I tried to attach the tube to the bottling wand. The flow was rubbish (I think I kept getting hops stuck in...

Hi Brewers, I need to prepare some glass bottles for beer next week. Previously I have used a sanitising solution that requires rinsing with water after, but someone on here helpfully mentioned that Star San requires no rinsing. I have some Star San HB, five star. It says to put 15-25 ml...

Hi brewers, I just bottled my 3rd ever batch of beer - the first I've made using the sort of hops I like (Amarillo). Much lighter in colour than my previous attempts (a lovely amber), which I expect is down to using a light DME. First taste is great! Lovely hoppy and citrusy flavour - just...

Hi brewers, I am following this recipe for an extract IPA, and am just wondered at what stage I should add in the Amarillo hops for 0 minutes. I understand this is the dry hopping stage. I think I read somewhere that I should throw them in 4 days before bottling (I am fermenting in primary...

Hi Brewers, I am looking to bottle my first brew next weekend. It will have been in the primary fermentor for three weeks by then. I was thinking of just siphoning straight into bottles using a racking cane, and putting one PrimeTab into each 500ml bottle. I have heard that it can be good...

Hi all, My first brew (John Palmer's Cincinatti Pale Ale) isn't showing any bubbles in the airlock after 48 hours. (I rehydrated the yeast, which was showing signs of activity, before pitching). There are a couple of inches of foamy stuff on surface so looks like something is happening, but...

Hi Brewers, I did my first Brew recipe yesterday, following John Palmer's How to Brew and using the Cincinatti Pale Ales recipe (adjusted to half batch). My initial SG reading is 1026. Is this very low? Kind regards, Ross

Hi Brewers, I am preparing to brew my first batch of ale. I've done wine for a few years but nothing else. I am using the Cincinnati Pale Ale from John Palmer's How to Brew (http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter1-1.html), although scaling down to 2.5 instead of 5 gallons. I am...

Hi all, I just made the mistake of bottling a load of wine, THEN tasting, before realising it was too sharp. D'oh! Anyhow, I added two teaspoons of sugar to a bottle and it tasted okay. I was a bit nervous about adding sugar to the bottles and corking as although I am pretty sure the...

Hi people, I transferred my first batch of grape wine from primary (aerobic) fermentation bucket to demijohn today, and was surprised to see an inch and a half of lighter coloured sediment at the bottom of the demijohn straight away. I left the stuff in the primary for about 6 days (I...

Hi Brewers, I have just tried to get some grape wine on the go (see my other thread 'First time grape wine') I pitched the yeast last night at around 7pm but this morning at 7am there was not the usual sign of activity in the bucket. A couple of things may have happened: - I did not...

Hi Brewers, I have got a load of red grapes in the freezer from a mate's vine and am going to make some grape wine for the first time. The impression I got from reading pages 195-99 of C. J. J. Berry's First Steps book is that for best results I should ferment the juice pure (that is...

Hi, When I started making wine a couple of years ago I was just bunging in 3 pounds of sugar to the gallon, and consequently my wine ended up sweet and syrupy. When I started using a hydrometer, accounting for the natural sugar in the must, and ensuring that my starting SG was 1090 (as I...

Hi, I am making dandelion wine which calls for raisins to be added to the secondary fermentation. I am concerned that they will take up room in the demijohn and so am thinking of adding them after first racking, which will mean I won't have to top up with as much liquid. Is this a good idea...

Thanks to everyone here who has helped me with advice over the last couple of years. I opened a bottle of elderflower and one of strawberry recently (a couple of months shy of the 6 months I was planning to wait. I will save the rest) and am delighted to say both were very good tasting, and dry...

Hi brewers, I am making this from p149 of CJJ Berry's book. There is no mention of adding a campden tablet to the must to kill off any wild yeast before adding the brewer's yeast. Is this not needed or should I put it in during the two days I am allowing the flower heads to steep in water...