Hey all, first post!
First - I'm reading the Mr Beer starter thread - as much as I have time! (I work 5x 16's - 3 jobs - and little free time). (Which is why brewing is the only hobby i have time for!) I think I'm already learning. Started with a MR beer on dec 1, and I'm up to 4 1 gallon jugs fermenting now with extract kits before I've tasted more than two beers of the first Mr. Beer
I'm only up to page 90 or so of the thread, though.
What I've learned:
0. Sanitize. (Programmers start counting at 0.)
1. Give it time.
2. From what I've read, don't bother with the 1 week rack to get off yeast (from the 1 gals). Just bottle at 2?
3. Use a blowoff tube for heavy beers.
4. Don't stick your blowoff tube too far down a one gallon carboy or you lose 2 cups at least from krausen. (Learned that all by myself, after the spillage... thank goodness it was in a plastic tub!)
So questions right now, while they're pressing...
1. You keep mentioning "when you outgrow the mr beer to big boy pants, you can still use the fermenter..." Can I safely use a Mr beer 2 gallon fermenter for a 1 gallon kit from Northernbrewer or brooklynbeershop? I'm kind of hoping as long as I don't poke at it, the co2 from fermentation should act as a buffer from the extra oxygen headspace in there, until I bottle, but I'm not sure. I need an extra fermenter! Time to buy a 5th 1 gallon, or can i use the Mr Beer for a 1 gallon kit?
2. If there's an air "gap" that filled my auto siphon tube (beer would have to "catch up", and it was a slow draw), did I just REALLY over-oxygenate my beer during rack to 1 gallon carboy after initial brew?
3. How do you measure og/fg with a 1 gallon batch? So far, winging it with a 2 week ferment for everything. Do you really draw about a cup for the "cylinder", measure with hydrometer, then return that to the 1 gallon batch? Seems risky. But not returning the liquid, I'd be 1/4 (well, ok, 1/8) gone immediately.
4. The kit instructions keep saying "use half the yeast..." as I have done. Hard to measure,though. I've been doing my best to measure half. What harm would using the whole yeast packet cause?
Edit: question 2 is silly after just shaking my jugs TO oxygenate. However, would the same scenario hurt bottling, if I haven't perfected my auto siphon skills? It was buried to bottom of jug, but the siphon seemed bad/weird.
In any case, thanks for your patience, I promise I'll keep reading! These questions just address issues I may have in this weekend's (4th in a row) brew... Brooklyn Brew Shops jalepeno ale!
Twy