Recent content by matyas

My beer did spend longer than I prefer in both the primary and the secondary. I'd have to check, but I think it was probably about four weeks in each. Should I just give it another week or two? I've heard of people re-bottling, or cracking the caps and putting carb drop in the bottles.

I've got a stout carbonating right now that's been in the bottles for three weeks. I tasted it the other day, and the flavor was good, but it was very flat. Generally, my beers have been good to go by the three week mark. I've been brewing for about two years now but still pretty much consider...

Thanks for all the responses, guys. To answer some questions, yes, it was an extract brew, and yes I did do a smaller boil and then top off. I'm not sure what kind of yeast is was other than the fact that it was a dry yeast. The brand is whatever Brewer's Best uses in their kits. I did do an...

Hello again everyone, My first beer is brewing away. (Thanks to everyone for the tips so far.) Awhile back, I posted that I when I went to take a gravity reading, the result was much higher than it should be. I worried a bit, but reading some advice on this board, I decided to just wait it...

So what is the best technique for aeration (barring oxygen injection)? I ask this as someone who may also be experiencing stuck fermentation.

Should I be worried that my gravity is nowhere near where it needs to be after a week, and that the airlock is no longer bubbling? I wasn't worried before, but after reading a few threads about stuck fermentation I started to wonder. The temperature on the sticky thermometer was a little low...

Thanks for the advice! I'll let it go another week or so, then take another reading.

Thanks for the suggestions. I did end up using the hydrometer tube. I siphoned some beer out of the airlock with the racking cane, since I don't have the thief (although it sounds like a good investment for some day.) My gravity reading came in at 1.040, which means it's still got a ways to...

Hello again, Thanks again for all the help with the stupid newbie questions I've been asking. My very first brew (a red ale) is fermenting away - or at least, it was. I started the process last Saturday, and the airlock was bubbling by Sunday afternoon. It seems to have slowed down a bit...

Another stupid newbie question: Now that the airlock is bubbling away profusely, do I need to remove the cap every once in awhile to let the C02 out? I've not seen any references to doing that in any of the materials I've been reading, but it seems to be building up in the airlock. Is that bad?

It's bubbling away! I went out this morning, and got home a few minutes ago. Of course, the first thing I did was to check on my brew, and was very pleased to see the bubbles in the airlock. Thanks for all the tips an encouragement!

I thought removing the lid was a bad idea. Thanks for the tip. In the meantime, I just read the sticky about fermenting potentially taking 24-72 hours.

Is it alright to remove the lid from the fermenter in order to do this?

I started my first-ever brew last night, a Red Ale from a Brewer's Best kit. I'm very excited. OG was right where it was supposed to be. I made sure everything was cleaned and sterilized, and that all the temperature readings were in the correct range. We're about at about the 12-hour mark...

I may end up just having to buy a pot outright. Asking my mother-in-law to return it could be too sensitive an issue (she gets a bit touchy about such things.) But if it's not going to work, there's no point in trying to make it work with the wrong tool for the job.