Recent content by mfgann

I agree that "How to Brew" by John Palmer is an excellent book. You will also find that the first chapter is a quick-start on home-brewing so you can get started with that kit, and read the rest of the book while waiting on the fermentation. One other thing I would recommend is picking up...

28,298 + 5 = 28303

Bottled my first batch (by the original recipe) on Wednesday, and man is this good. Now I wish I'd bought another 5g carboy to kick off another batch. As for bottling, I did not carbonate it, so I just filled 10 Grolsch style bottles (all I had), filled a 32oz. Growler, then bottled and...

I thought I was being clever a while back and bought a couple of the Firehouse Sub shop pickle buckets for a couple of bucks each. It turns out the pickle smell is REALLY hard to get out. I've been using them as overnight soaking buckets to get labels off bottles for a while, and still catch a...

If you haven't tried it yet, I would highly recommend Apfelwein. I just bottled my first batch and it is incredibly good, and very easy to make.

I would think 5 gallon plastic carboys would be just about right for a 3 gallon batch. The CO2 is heavier than the oxygen and will 'blanket' over the top of the beer, but I'd say it would easily purge the oxygen out the airlock during fermentation.

Yep, that works.. A lot of the 5g kits come with 5oz of corn sugar to use just that way. Dissolve it, bring it to a boil to sterilize, and then mix it with your beer just before you bottle. I don't know if you use any sort of bottling bucket with your kit.. if not be careful not to disturb the...

I have MoreBeer's Oatmeal Stout Minimash in a fermenter right now. I can't say for sure what the finished product will be like, but I was pretty happy with the kit ingredients. The instructions were a little confucing for my first minimash, but I think it went pretty well. Also used the...

That makes a lot more sense :)

Bottling bucket with a short hose and a bottling wand (spring loaded works best for me) is the first priority.. I wouldn't want to try it without that... trying to mix in priming sugar without stiring up trub and yeast would be painful. That said, I just recently got a bottling tree with the...

I had the same thing happen to my first batch. I trusted the powder they included as a cleaner/sanitizer, and it did not work. It was a simple amber ale, and despite waiting for the sour taste to subside, it just got worse. I invested in some Star San, which others have mentioned, and love...

I didn't mean to imply that it was, just that the Wyeast smack pack seemed to take off much more quickly than the White Labs. And that both seemed to be working great, which I attribute to them being very fresh, and the beer I was brewing being a normal gravity. What I was trying to say is...

I did a white labs vial for the hefe I'm drinking tonight and it was pitched with no starter. Took off after a day with a nice steady bubbling. This weekend I started a dunkelweizen and used the wyeast smack pack. It took off like a rocket and had to switch to a blowoff tube. I believe the...

I'd agree it sounds like an infection. If it is, and you don't mind the taste right now I'd drink it soon. I had an infection like this that hit in primary, but I hoped would mellow. After a week in the bottle it was like cider vinager. Not drinkable.

I have a bottling wand that leaked like crazy. It relied on gravity to "seal" which didn't work worth a flip. I have since gotten one that is spring-loaded and can't wait to try it out next bottling. Seems like it'll seal a lot better. It's hard to predict exactly how much you'll have...