Recent content by SamJ

I feel that I go to the extreme when cleaning. I always soak my stuff overnight with oxy clean free. Like I said before I never had this problem. Until summer months hit. But I will rewash everything and soak with bleach. Hopefully that will work Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Hi All, I first wanted to mention that this is my first summer season of brewing. I usually do all of my brewing/fermenting in my basement. I just recently noticed that there are small white bugs all over my equipment. These are attracted to not only my brew equipment, but also my sanitizers...

Ok great, So keep in the primary until the yeast is done doing its thing and then switch to the secondary for another couple weeks? How do I know when the secondary is done?

Hi All, I am waiting for my second kit to come in the mail and wanted to be proactive. I looking for comments/suggestions to my additions to the pumpkin extract brew from midwest. Original per Midwest: ingredients include: 6 lb. Gold liquid malt extract , 8 oz. Carapils, 8 oz. caramel...

Great! Thanks!

pvpeacock, the temp i believe was around 62 degrees and my hydro meter says I need to subtract -.001. so i guess i would be at 1.09. does that sound right ?

St. Pug, Thanks! I am excited to enjoy what I brewed. It tastes delicious, pale, not some much of a honey favor though. Maybe it will come out the in the bottling. So do you think another week or so in the bottles?

It has been two weeks yesterday since i pitch the yeast. The reciepe was 6lbs of ultralight malt extract, 1.5 lbs honey, 1 lb crystal 15, .5 lb white wheat, .05 oz cascade hops boild for 60 mins, 2 oz cascade boiled for 30 mins, 2 oz cascade hopes last min of boil. I was fermenting in my...

Hi All, I just finished bottling my first batch of beer today. I had two consecutive readings of 1.010 on Wednesday and Thursday. I didn't take another reading today I just bottled. Is this a normal reading? I brewed an extract American Honey Pale Ale. I thought I read some where that low...

Hi All, So I am currently in the fermentation stage of my first brew. I just realized that I never took an orginal reading. From what I read missing the orginal isn't that big of a deal, but helpful to guide to see where you stand. I believe from the look of it my reading would be lower than...

Thanks for all your help everyone. I did have success after going to the store and buying a huge bag of ice. Overall it took me 8 hours from start to finish in brewing my first beer. It was longer than I expected, but enjoyed it. I will be certainly ready in my next batch.

Thanks everyone for your help. It looks like I have a few methods, either get a few bags of ice or leave it overnight and pitch the yeast tomorrow. After going through my first brew. I might have to invest in a wort chiller.

Thanks St. Pug! Just took my first temp reading. Its at 80f. So hopefully it drops to 70f soon. So it looks like it might take me awhile to get my wort to 64f.

Yes, I did an extract and did a full boil. I dont have a fermentation temp control. How long does it take to get the tem down to 70f. I went through all my ice and now just have cold water running.

Hi All, Today is my first day of brewing! I just finished the boil and now its currently in the bath tub cooling down. I have a few questions that I have read through out the forum that wasn't very clear in my brewing instructions. 1) What is the temperature that the wort have to be...