Recent content by scubadan

I was responding with my Blackberry this morning and gave a short response. When I said I was going to chill after 2 weeks, I didn't mean I would chill the whole batch. Right now my beer is bottle conditioning in my "brew closet". I use a space heater in a spare closet to control the temperature...

I am making a nut brown ale. It was in the primary for 3 weeks and I was going to bottle condition for 2 weeks before chilling for a week. Do you think I should bottle condition for 3 weeks?

I dissolved 3/4 cup of primimg sugar into 1 cup of water and put it into the bucket before siphoning the beer into the bucket.

Thanks for the encouragement and the bottling tips. I had read enough to now better than to do what I did. I just let my inexperience get the best of me. And I had no intention of tossing it without tasting it first. I've already got my next kit ordered and hope to be brewing my next batch...

I've already placed an order for a new bottling bucket with a spigot. I probably could have saved $15 and used the one I had but I figured you can never have too many buckets around. Thanks for taking the time to answer my question. My wife asked if I was going to throw the beer away but I...

Today I bottled my first batch of beer. I transferred from my carboy to a bottling bucket without a problem. While trying to figure out how to get a siphon going to transfer to the bottles my wife suggested use the 5 gallon lemonade jar we had that has a spigot. It sounded good to me so I...

Just to help me understand, the extra time won't hurt it though...right? I am brewing my first homebrew (other than a MRB kit). It is a Nut Brown Ale and I plan on 3 weeks in the primary, 2 weeks in the bottle and 1 week in the fridge before drinking.

jollytim wanted to ferment for 3 weeks, bottle condition for 3 weeks and refrigerate for a week. You suggest a 2/2/1 schedule. I am new to this hobby and everything I read says more time is better. Is there a reason the 2/2/1 schedule is better for this ale or would jollytim's 3/3/1 schedule...

None of the liquid from the thermometer went into the wort, only the glass tip and some of the steel shot at the bottom of the thermometer. I don't think any of this transferred to the carboy but remained in the brew pot after the wort was transferred. My understanding is that the liquid in...

Last night I brewed my first batch of beer. While cooling the wort and measuring the temperature, the tip of the floating thermometer hit my spoon and snapped off. The wort had almost reached the temperature I wanted to pitch my yeast into so I went ahead and carefully poured the wort into the...

Thanks to both for your input. I'll decide whether or not I want to start the yeast as I get closer to brewing next weekend. Patience wasn't a problem when I did the Mr Beer kits; I had been already reading on this forum and knew that was important. I'm not using a hydrometer and will leave...

Last year I brewed a couple of batches in a Mr. Beer kit and really enjoyed the experience. I wanted to go beyond this and move up to the full blown brew experience. This weekend I went to my local home brew supplier and bought what I need to get started. I bought a 6 gallon glass carboy and the...

I new to this hobby and was just looking at their site too. I currently use the Mr. Beer fermenter and have only used their canned recipes. I don't have any of the big boy tools for checking temperatures or gravities or anything. Here are my questions: 1 - Can I simply halve a 5 gallon AHS...

Thanks everyone...you've calmed my anxiety. Dan

Boy did I screw up. I was all excited to make my second batch in the MRB kit. I had scrapped the booster and was going to make an Irish Red Ale. Here are the ingredients: 1 Can Englishman's Nut-Brown Ale 1 Can Pale Export UME 1 Packet Dry Brewing Yeast (under lid of beer mix) 1 Packet U.S...