Search results

You don't need a starter with the smack packs, especially if your not going to be "guarding the brew". My last batch I smacked it and put on top of a warm home theater amp for about 1 hour and then on top of an inside refidgerator and in 3 hours it was "puffed" up to the max and ready to pitch...

I agree. I was typing my response before I saw that he was having fermentation starting.:drunk:

When you rack to the secondary you will be trying to keep as much of the junk in the bottom from going into the secondary and any "chips" (having sunk to the bottom) should be left at the bottom away from the precious beer. Yeah the pot now is totally useless now that it has exposed metals.

This might be why the fermentation is slow..no O2 in the wort. You can try and pick up the carboy "carefully" and using circular motions repetively to aggitate the wort to aid in O2 absorption for the yeast to consume. But in the end the fermentation should slowly start in time. :tank:

LOL Waiting on UPS is the second worse part of this new hobby of yours. The worse is waiting for your brew to condition/age while in the bottle - all the while you are wondering how it is going to turn out. Ask away. That is how we all learn. Also recommend using the search option...

Had an Apricot Wheat Beer at a microbrewery in St Louis and really liked it. Never was a big fan of "massive-produced brew" but enjoyed the beer because it had a very good flavor and mouth-feel. Found a home brew for dummies book and read and thought about it for a couple of years before...

Final volume post boil was about 5.5 gals. Thanks for the help and I can live with 71% :rockin: It sure smelled good in the cooler all afternoon.

Did my first AG today. :ban: From start to finish it was about 5 1/2 hours but was alot of fun. Made some mistakes on calculations for strike volume/temp so i ended up with larger volume than my brew pot. Did batch sparging and my mash volume ended up larger than the sparge volume too...

"If your going to be a Bear, be a Grizzly Bear!!!" I'm still a newbie having just put my second batch into the secondary, but the first thing that I thought from your post was Wow!!!. So many things to learn and procedures to get comfortable with. Are you trying to bite off too much at one...

Thanks for the input!!! Taste is the ultimate goal and a little haziness is not a concern for me, but I have family coming for Thanksgiving already licking their lips at trying my brews. So of course I'd like to make a good impression with my first two brew sessions, and for the people not...

Just brewing my secong kit, a British Pale Ale, and after I had started I realize that the Irish Moss is missing. What can I use in the secondary fermantation step to help clarify since I don't have a LHBS and will have to wait on an order to arrive. Not wild about opening the primary...

Thanks. Wasn't trying to hijack thread but trying to learn as much practical info in preparation to going to AG brewing in the near future. This site is super for learning!! Thanks to all contributors. :ban:

Would dividing the 3.25 gals sparge into two 1.63 gals sparge runs improve efficiency since there is that deadspace in the cooler and the first sparge would dilute that deadspace down alot and then the second would extract the remaining sugars??

Thanks alot!!!

Thanks for the info and I feel better and will wait..... where can i find the recipe for the Bombshell Blonde??

My brew is in the secondary now for just over 1 week. It is a honey wheat from a kit that didn't recomend any secondary, but I figured that should improve the beer even more so why not. I now have noticed little white "islands" floating on top of the brew. I have not noticed much of any...

I use chlorine at 2 oz per 5 gal and then rinse with hot water. Cheap and easy, plus my wife is very allergic to iodine and so I don't want to take a chance.

Thanks!!! I feel better. Since flavoring about half a batch how flavoring would be recommended for not a strong final flavor?

Just moved my first batch from plastic primary to carboy. hated to leave about 1 - 1 1/2 inches left behind with the auto siphon but at least I got a good tasting. (AT least as much as I could at 9am and having to still go to work LOL) And it tasted GOOD!!! Couple of questions if I may...

In Paducah. Good luck on the first brew. The books were not wrong.....the waiting part is the absolute worse!!!! Getting ready to move to the secondary tonight. 2 more weeks with that and then 2 weeks in the bottle Aaarghhhh