Recent content by Trrance

I use the dishwasher door method; rinse bottles in Star San and stick them upside down on the pegs in the dishwasher to drain, then I pull up a chair, line up six bottles on the opened door and fill them. I figured the bit of foam was from the Star San. I just fill the bottles until the foam...

Do you pour it like boiling hot just off the stove or hot like it's been in an ice bath for a while but is still 140 degrees or so?

The first three kits I brewed used all LME, the last one had some LME and some DME. I was surprised at how much easier using the dry stuff seemed; no need to preheat, no sticky mess dripping on things, no burning my fingers trying to get all the liquid out of the can, etc. Anybody have any...

Does the idea of mixing up the yeast sediment in the bottom of the bottle apply to all wheat beers? I've never had a wheat beer. I have a batch of Belgian White just about ready to bottle and I bought a bottle of Hoegaarden to sample for comparison. So I'm supposed to roll the bottles...

I'm new at this brewing thing too, so take this for what it's worth. Let me do a little math. A buck for peroxide and another buck for alcohol = $2 for 2 gallons of questionable sanitizer. $10 for an 8 oz. bottle of Star San divided by 16 (one half ounce makes 2.5 gallons) = $0.625 for...

I cooked up a Belgian White kit from my LHBS last night, 8# of liquid wheat malt extract and 1 oz Tettang (6.2%), also a bit of coriander and bitter orange peel. Smacked the Wyeast #3944 Belgian Witbier Yeast three hours before pitching. Had airlock activity within three hours. Twelve...

I'm too new at this to even consider giving advice but I will tell you about my experience with my first batch. My first batch tasted OK at bottling time but it had a really nasty aftertaste that wouldn't give up; the very unpleasant plasticy / medicinal taste lingered for a couple of hours...

Interesting – sounds like most everything I've read related to brewing – ask two brewers a question and get three different opinions. ;) I just didn't have the heart to dump it yesterday. It's not in the way or anything so guess I will just let it sit for a while longer. I did taste it...

Can I assume that if a beer has taken on a vinegar smell in the secondary that it is not going to be good? It's a steam beer brewed with Wyeast #2112 California Lager Yeast. Had active fermentation for two weeks in primary, has now been in secondary for two weeks, at 66 degrees the whole...

This only my second batch of homebrew, so treat me like I don't know very much. A couple weeks ago, as the weather was turning hot, I did some research and asked some questions at the LHBS and ended up coming home with a Steam Beer kit. I took it home, cooked it up, pitched the yeast (Wyeast...

I'll add my newbie story here. My first batch spent 10 days in the primary and then into bottles. I tried a bottle after 7 days and it was great; it's now day 10 in the bottles and I'm drinking one a day ... but still telling friends and neighbors it's not officially ready yet. ;) My...

Thanks, Walker-san. Primed with 5 oz of corn sugar boiled in water (for 5 gallon batch). The misadventure came about as I was racking from the primary to the bottling bucket. I had close to a gallon transferred and realized I hadn't put the sugar water in the bucket. I told my bottling...

My first batch of homebrew seems to have survived my newbie mistakes, at least so far. After 10 days in primary and 7 days in bottles this stuff tastes really really good and is fairly well carbonated; as far as I'm concerned I could drink it right now and be perfectly content with it...

Have any of you ever tried bottling part of a batch straight from the primary and putting part of the same batch into secondary? Suppose on bottling day I put four gallons into bottles and put the rest into a one gallon glass jug for two weeks before bottling it ... anybody foresee any problems...

Thanks, all. Very informative. I hope my second batch is as clear as your answers.