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I've always used a starter with dry packets. Table sugar boiled in water, then cooled. If it ain't making foam by the time it's pitch time, THEN I get nervous. It's always worked for me. Except two batchs ago, no faom, but I pitched anyhow. Had to sprinkle another packet into the carboy- which...

When (not if) you break your first hydrometer: a) Don't worry, the pieces will sink into the trub and the beer won't be ruined. Next time, don't get the hydrometer near the fermenter. b) Save the paper 'yardstick' from inside. Put it into your notebook. Very useful for converting SG to balling...

I found a garage sale corny for $15. And he threw in a 5# aluminum CO2 tank half full, and hoses and regulator. But only the through-the-wall pipe, no tap valve. I feel cheated. ;) The corny was half full of his "home brew". No wonder he gave up. Too bad he didn't know I only live a block...

Taste early and taste often. Learn to know what things SHOULD taste like, and you'll know when they go bad. Just keep your saliva out of the vat- no premature drooling. You've made no mention of the addition of Campden tabs to your must. Campden kills the wilde beasties, like molds. Good...

Looks like you can break a LOT of glass hydrometers before you come out ahead on the cost of that baby. You can try Googling for "density meter" for more hits.

I just tried some flaked maize in my home malted Sorghum beer. I added the maize to the mash, and went through the complex mash process involved in AG sorghum. The flakes were still flakes when I dumped the spent grains into the composter. Was that normal? I was expecting the flakes to totally...

It's BEEER! Quite good too. I bottled it today, and drank one ..er so. Actually pretty good, Does not seem to have the bitter-acid taste of so many of the commercial/micro sorghum beers. Kind of sweet too- I was hoping so. Very cloudy, even after 16 days in secondary. I dumped almost 4...

I used to work in a garage that used a refractometer for checking antifreeze. So I've been wondering about how the Brix scale would compare to Ethylene Glycol antifreeze percents. So yesterday, I did a titration: 50% antifreeze- off the brix scale, mine goes to 30. 33% " 24 Brix...

Low propane seems to lower the pressure too. I ran mine about dry last brew, and the bottom of the tank got icy, and flame lowered. I swapped to the nearly empty spare, and ran it 'til the same thing happened. Then, I swapped back to the now-thawed tank, and pitched my aroma hops. It ran well...

Progress report: After 60 hours, the bubbling has about stopped. 1.012, so it could be about done. Lots of settling, now that the turbulence of fermentation has stopped. So the darker green is settling out to about 1/2 way, but the top is still very cloudy. The hydrometer sample is quite...

Oh by the way, all these new valve rules only apply to tanks less than 10 gallons. Not the tank that I had found on the side of the road. 10 gallons, but covered with tar. It must have fallen off of a tar kettle. Latest 'find' was a fork lift truck tank, given to me. I transfered the propane...

I just had my two "5 gallon/20 pound" tanks filled at the rental place. $12.85 each. 4.6 gallons, or 18 pounds. I have seen Rhino from $18 to $26. And I have had gas station guys want to charge me $15 "service charge"- EACH. Hmm, I think I can plumb a natural gas line for less than I just...

Oh, sanitize it however you do everything else. If you want that new copper sparkle, us a plumbers lime remover- it is phosphoric acid, like in whichever sanitizer some guys like.

I use regular old vinyl hose. It gets soft, but hasn't failed me yet. There is virtually no pressure in it- It's not going to inflate like a balloon or something- no B.F. Brewrich blimp. Darn it.

I syphon my sanitizer through my CFC to fill my carboy. Then I pull the hose from the carboy, and put it under the surface in my 'sink'. That way the CFC is full. I usually do this after putting the wort on to boil, so things soak for an hour.

I finally tried some Buckwheat pancakes. Blech. I was hoping for something special. Plus, there is a flavor problem with too much buckwheat in beer. I don't remember what. But it is used for roasting, to add color. Plus some grainy-ness? Anyhow, I do wonder why use sorghum at all? Other beers...

Who says you need to 'activate' charcoal? Plain old briquets work at least as well as baking soda. Then, plug it in, and turn it on. The cold will dampen the production of steeenkh.

One tid bit to add- tanks have the 'tare weight' stamped on them. Like t-18. means 18# empty. So a scale will tell you how much you've paid for, and how much is left in a used tank. I brewed today, started with one tank at 21.5 and one at 19.5. Made it. barley. or actually, sorghum.

Okay, got my brewmeister hat back on today. My research said to wait a couple weeks after malting to let the malt mature. er something. I've not been wasting my time, I've been restoring my 53 Power Wagon. I brewed a batch with flaked maize as an adjunk. I tried browning some of the maize...

The real problem must be air leaks. Where else does the moisture come from? Through the walls of the carboys or kegs ?