Recent content by slugdoug

One bubble every thirty seconds is really not all that slow for this stuff and if you have any activity the yeast is doing its job so just let it be. I never get the activity that I would get with beer but I have made about ten batches and all have turned out great.

I just made my third batch of this and have the highest O.G. yet, it came out at 1.152 and I followed the same original recipe that is listed. Not that I'm worried but what would cause such a high O.G.? The second highest that I had was still high at 1.12 but this is much higher. My family...

If you are at 7 weeks you should be fine to bottle, it will just be clearing from here on out anyway. Mine sat in primary for 7 weeks and then in the secondary for 10 but constant sampling took it from 5 gallons to 3 at bottling time. We are at 25 weeks total, it was good at 7 better at 17 and...

What about removing the blanket to check the temperature, is that little bit a problem? I have mine in a box that is in my closet, I cut the box where the tape thermometer is so that I can pull the flap down to see the temp but the closet is so dark that I have to use a flashlight to see it...

Thanks, that's what I figured but thought I would check before Making a big mistake. I say mistake, this is going to be my 4th batch and I just know thought to ask. Time to brew.

I am brewing a batch today and got to wondering if I need to do anything to the water I am using to bring my batch to 5 gallons. I am boiling 2 gallons and making my wort and then have 3 gallons of bottled water to add. Previously I have just poured the water directly from the plastic jug into...

Thanks, this was really helpful. The recipe that I am using is from a clone from a small local brewer in CA and it was recommended to use liquid. I thought that I would give it a try but what I never understood before was whether or not I added all of my yeast to the starter. I am going to...

I have been looking everywhere and I still don't get the yeast starter. This is the first time my brew has called or a liquid yeast and when I purchased the ingredients they told me that I could use dry yeast but it would be better to use liquid. I still don't understand the yeast starter...

Thanks that sounds great and know it's time to get busy bottling.

I'm a newbie so I'm hoping this is still the place to post this. I had a sauce pan that was new and I was going to use this to dissolve the sugar for the bottling bucket and to top off the bucket to 5 gallons if needed and someone from my family ran it through the dishwasher with the rest of...

Where I got my kit the instructions said once the Kraussen falls then move to the secondary. I am brewing a very simple ale and mine fell on the 4th day and I racked on the 6th day. There was a fair amount of bubble activity for the first day and then slowed to nothing. The beer looks really...

Thanks for the responses and it's nice to know I'm not the first one to do this. I thought about the hanger but I didn't think it would be strong enough but I like the allen wrench idea and will give that a try..

Ok this is my first time trying to make beer and it has been a little bit of a struggle but I finally got to secondary fermentation stage but ran into an embarrassing problem. I was putting the airlock into my carboy and it was wet from the sanitizer and didn’t want to seal very well so I gave...