Recent content by mherrbrew

Wondering what everyone else does in this situation. Wort is boiling just fine and I see the hop addition i just added begin to collect on the pot around the surface of the boiling water...so I push it back in the boiling wort and repeat 10 mins later. I try to control the boil as best I can...

That's the thing. I'm completely knew to brewing and this is my very first batch with BeerSmith. I did the tutiorals and so on, set up (to the best of my ability) the equiptment profiles and scaled for a 5 gallon batch. However, I really had nothing to go on because this was my first go with all...

Going off the 5.00 gal recipe...OG should have been 1.122 and FG should be 1.033...my OG was 1.060 and I checked it last night (1.5 weeks in) and it's at 1.024 (so I gently mixed and returned the fermenter to my bar). Going off my numbers. ABV is 4.7%. I did a batch sparge but I had so much...

Need to update the signature... Brewed a BeerSmith sweet coffee porter. I think the sparge was terribly executed as I didn't have a HLT or a properly marked boil/brew kettle. This is why I'm trying to do a little more research on the HLT as I don't know exactly how to build one in order to limit...

Just brewed my first all grain and...I botched it. ABV should be 12...I'm at 4.7 :( BUT I know why and will fix it next time I brew. This leads me to my question...has anyone placed the valve on the bottom of their HLT? I haven't seen this done and I'm wondering why. This would only be a 10...

I'm thinking about brewing an Apple Pie Porter 12A (the recipe in BeerSmith 2.2) but I'm new to all grain (still making the mash tun) and I'm not sure when to add the secondary ingredient of Apple Butter. The way I understand it, I am to add it when a rack it to the secondary. I'm not sure how...

I would be careful with brewing in an enclosed space without the proper ventilation. I've brewed in my garage w/ the door closed and by the end of the brew it was hot, sticky, and I was a bit lightheaded (and that wasn't from drinking). For this set up, I'm going to have the doors open and...

Right now I'm just brewing extract (while constructing a mash tun). I've only started brewing in October 2014 and have already brewed 3 extract kits. I think I got the hang of it and want to move onto the real deal!

"As long as the stuff fits in the garage and I can park in the garage, I don't care what you do." That's all the wife needed to say when I mentioned turning our 8x10 tool shed into a homebrewing shed. Luckily, I had all the materials around the house and took 2 days off of work to help kick...

This is why I love this forum! Thanks everyone for the help.

How would you suggest i rehydrate the dry yeast? I've never heard of doing that!

I usually use the yeast packet that comes with the kit. I make sure to spread the yeast across the entire surface of the fermentation bucket. After pouring the wort in, I usually add the water to make 5 gallons. I do it in a way that splashes and causes bubbles. Other than that I don't do...

I have brewed 3 kits so far and the FG had been consistently higher than it should be. I'm only off by a few (ex. FG should be around 15 but it usually finishes around 18 or so). This, in turn causes the ABV to be lower than desired. OG is usually on point and temp is between 68-72 degrees. I...

I just used screws to hold the pegs (just put the PVC over the screws). As far as stability is concerned, I've had 40+ bottles on it already with no stability issues. Fingers crossed that this continues! I think I have the pegs evenly balanced on all for sides to prevent toppling. I think that...

Made this a few days ago. Plan to use it for drying and holding my sanitized bottles while bottling. Holds 80 bottles and has room to grow!