Recent content by JoeBart

Hey everyone, I thought I would post an update on this beer (the Irish Red Ale 1 gal extract kit from Northern Brewer for those who skipped to this point). It's been in bottles for 2 weeks now. I planned on opening one at 1 week and another at 2 simply to see how it was progressing. I knew full...

I'll be brewing up a Saison this weekend since the temps here in California are starting to climb. It's my second ever brew so I figure this will be a bit more forgiving with temperature control.

For some reason I see myself doing exactly that once they're in the bottles. It's going to be very hard to resist cracking my first beer after it's been in the bottle for a week and a half, though I will try! How was the carbonation level after only a week?

This is exactly where I'm at. I think I'd like to get a solid understanding of what I'm doing before fully diving in with 5 gallon brews. Though moving up to a 2.5 gallon brew is very tempting at the moment...

I'm mulling over the same issue. 1 gallon batches aren't going to go very far, so maybe I'll up it to a 2.5 gallon batch. But I'd like to get a few more 1 gallon batches under my belt and get really familiar with the whole process.

Congrats! That's really exciting! I'm bottling my first ever batch this Saturday and I can't wait...

My wife's family (at least her parents and grandparents) are all to some degree against drinking. Her grandmother sees it essentially as a sin, and her parents simply don't understand why people drink. There is an element of them judging people who drink, and when I first started dating my wife...

Hi Rhythm! Just wanted to pitch in since I'm a first time brewer and am brewing the exact same kit at the moment. I got it into the carboy Saturday afternoon, and the next day I had a very active fermentation. By Monday the entire krausen had subsided (or at least a very significant portion)...

Just to update everyone I did set up a swamp cooler. I didn't even want to start my beer without going out and buying a tub that would work for the carboy (SWMBO didn't like the idea of me using the tupperware that was a perfect size). Of course, all the thanks goes to this site for the idea. I...

Thanks for the quick replies guys! I don't have a thermometer (on my list of things to get for my next brew) but I'm pretty sure the pitching temp was at or below room temp (70F). I gave it a nice ice bath and the pot was cool to the touch. In any case, the beer is happily fermenting in...

Hi all! I'm new here but have been lurking for a while. I finally got around to dipping my feet into homebrewing and did my first brew today! I'm going small with a Northernbrewer Irish Red 1 gallon set. Brew day went great as far as I can tell. I made sure to sanitize anything that was...