Recent content by jwk1972

I'm new to home brewing and have found I love it! My buddy started a few months ago and I'm on my second batch. So far so good except I've decided bottling is a P.I.T.A. for everyday drinking. I'm pretty handy and resourceful and like to build things. After looking through the many threads...

My first batch that is just about to get bottled took a little over 48 hours to start bubbling and once it started it went like an S.O.B. for several days!

A buddy of mine works for the city and has pretty much unlimited access to 7 gal buckets that use to have granular chlorine in them (for water treatment facility I assume) that are free of anything that resembles a scratch. I'm sure they are clean but you think they are safe for fermenting?

My buddy and I were trying out his latest batch as mine is still fermenting. We realized that 3 of the 5 batches he's done in his Mr. Beer kit have had TONS of head, like 50-70% of the glass. Now I spent alot of years bar tending so it's not my pouring skills. The beer tastes fine. Any ideas...

So with that question answered... How long would you let it sit before I bottle it? It's coming up on 2 weeks (Monday I think) and I'm in the middle of moving the family to a new home that we will be in by next weekend. You think this will be ready to bottle by the end of the week if the FG...

:ban::rockin::tank::mug:

I did my first brew( Brewer's Best Wiesenbier) on Feb. 15 and have been trying real hard to not "peek". Took a couple days to get going but once it did the air lock was bubbling away for 3-4 days. The other day I decided to take a quick look and lifted the lid just a little and was surprised...

Did my first brew today (Brewer's Best Weisenbier) and my OG was supposed to be 1.045 and it was 1.050. I know details are good here so here is my order of things... 1.) Sanitize 2.) Brought 2.5 gallons to boil 3.) added first jar of LME 4.) (1st mistake) added bittering hops and aroma hops...

I found out the hard way that apparently all turkey fryer types have auto shut off. The one I picked up has a 12 min timer that if u don't reset by the end of 12 min it shuts off. Solution... Bypass the timer or clamp the timer so it doesn't move. No prob!

That's what I was wondering. After hearing all this and playing with the heater a bit more I guess I'm ok. Hey TyTanium... where abouts in Wheaton are you? I grew up a town over and when to high school there in the late 80's. Funny bumping into someone from the "dryest" town in the...

Yes I do know the difference, guess I forgot to add that that was the ambient temp. I guess what I should have said was that with this set up I can attain that ambient temp I needed. With nothing I am at a 55-57 degree ambient temp and from what I am told that is too cold so I need to get a...

I may have found a fix for my temperature problem. As stated in a previous thread the only place I have to put my ferm buckets is my basement which is about 10 degrees too cold. Got some great ideas from people for ways to keep it warmer. My neighbor gave me an oil filled radiant heat space...

I love this place... so many great ideas! I like Lucky Chicken's little "doo-dad"... might have to see if I can whip one up.

My buddy and I came up with a wort chiller that so far has worked great in testing... going to brew tomorrow so that will be the test. Anyhow, we didn't want to spend alot of money on this so we used a used good sized cooler with a cheap $20 bilge pump from Farm and Fleet (available at pretty...

Remember reading somewhere about someone who did their aeration a bit different but for the life of me I can't figure our where I read it. Most of the info tells you this happens when pour the cooled wort into the fermentation bucket but I remember seeing somewhere that it can also be achieved...