Recent content by CiderPat

Not sure what you mean? I normally can carb up a keg in a few days by opening the regulator all the way (45-50 PSI)-

I'm interested in brewing a pair of beers that have markedly different colors and final gravities, so that I can pour them both in the same glass and have them not mix (commonly known as a "Black and Tan", but I'd name it something else.) What are some things to do to make a beer have an...

Yeah, I haven't brewed beer before (unless you count brewing from a kit)- there's an Elizabethan reenactment group out here that I drum for from time to time, and the last time they set up a tavern, they were serving "small beer" that was just watered down Henry Weinhard's Dark. I figured that...

Thanks- that sounds like a good reference. I just put in an order for it.

Weird- the guy at the store said to boil the grains for an hour, and the original recipe (written by George Washington) from 1750 called for a 3 hour boil- I also found a recipe online that called for boiling the grains. Anyway, I'll see how it comes out.

I'm researching historical "small" beer for purposes of reenactment and coming up with a good-tasting, low-alcohol beer that can be enjoyed all day without all that messy passing out business. Has anyone tried this before? (Nothing came up in a search). Here's what I've got going so far (I'm...

I had this problem- garage was too cold, and fermentation wouldn't start. Now my batches are sitting in a bathroom closet with a space heater on low, and bubbling along nicely (I'm going with a bathroom instead of any other room for the non-carpeted floor in case of disaster.)

When the yeasts ferment, what gases are put off by the process? I moved my fermenting from the garage (too cold), to a basement bathroom closet (still pretty cold)- it's pretty rank in there, but I was wondering if the gases put off are either toxic or flammable? I want to put a space heater...

I've noticed that one pound of sugar will raise the potential alcohol of one gallon of must by 5 percent, so you'll want half a pound of sugar (pretty close to the nine ounces above). This has been pretty consistent in all the batches I've done.

Thanks! Good information- I was wondering why my last two batches didn't start fermenting, thinking it was the refrigerated yeast, but it turns out it was too cold in the garage! I moved them inside and they're bubbling away happily-

Couple of quick procedural questions: --Since I've been making 1 gal test batches, the way I've been using yeast is to mix in with water and nutrient and storing the unused liquid in the fridge in a Glad container. Is this going to hurt the yeast's ability to do its thing? --Lactose is...

I've heard that homebrewed beer gives you less hangovers because of the B vitamins left behind by the yeasts. This is making me want to fortify my cider with B complexes, for this very reason...

Excellent advice- thanks for your help! For the priming sugar, is that 3/4 cup per gallon, per bottle, or per 5-gallon batch?

So, I'm trying to learn to make cider well before my trees start bearing fruit and I can start making it from scratch (all my batches are for test, made in gallon jugs)- Still a little shaky on some items though- -- I get that "racking" means transferring the liquid to another vessel, but...

From what I've heard, if you brew in a location long enough, brewing yeast crowds out the local native yeasts in the environment, so beer made in an old brewery will just be better than first-run homebrew since it's only being contaiminated with more brewing yeast. I've heard a rumor about a...