Search results

Cleaned and sanitized a keg that I had finally emptied on Saturday, then transferred my Little Red Riding Ale, fermenting since late January. Dropped it into the keezer and then went back to cleaning and sanitizing the fermenting keg.

I have the exact same bucket. The seal worked great for my first two fermentations, but after that—no bubbles in the airlock. I still use it for some of my batches, and haven’t had any problems yet.

If you’re hesitant, you could always cap it with a small square of aluminum foil, spritzed with sanitizer.

I’ve never used Grolsch brand bottles. When I swapped my generic swing top bottles’ rubber gaskets for silicone, it was an improvement. Maybe Grolsch gaskets are even better yet?

I’ve used replacement rubber and silicone gaskets, but the rubber ones were much less pliant than the silicone. I used the ones made by Otis for both types.

Oddly enough, all 100+ of my swing top bottles came from commercial beer. Very good commercial beer at that (Schwaben Brau). I do miss that brand… I tried using crimp-on caps once, but didn’t care for it—smaller bottles (355 vs 500ml) means I had to fill more bottles for the same batch size...

Are you using “O” shaped or circle shaped seals? I’ve only ever used flip-tops when bottling (had several cases before I even started homebrewing) and every once in a while I would get a bad seal. I replaced the existing washers with a full cap like the ones here: https://a.co/d/ejmwUfh I...

Do you mean adding the flavoring juice before stabilizing or after?

My blueberry cider just finished carbonating. Definitely tastes good, but I think next time I’ll ferment the apple juice, stabilize, and backsweeten with blueberry juice. The batch I’m drinking now was made with both apple and blueberry juice in primary, and I think that caused a loss of some...

Second! I use a collar, so tower clearance isn’t really a worry for me. I did make a wheeled base to allow me to reposition the keezer when needed, and it has turned out to be very handy. I can wheel the keezer underneath my ceiling-mounted pulley to aid in loading full kegs. Mine is kept in...

Good luck! I made my first mead about a year and a half ago and it didn’t turn out so good. I suspect this was due to fermentation temps being too high, and the advice you received seems to pint in that direction. I decided to try my hand again last November with a holiday mead (candy cane)...

I use a Brew Tapper triple scale hydrometer with one of these graduated cylinders. https://a.co/d/fnmuiCS Takes less than 100mL per sample for OG/FG. Like @ba-brewer i use a refractometer for my intermediate SG measurements.

Of the last dozen-or-so of my experimental batches, most have been made with 1 gal AJ + 1 qt of another juice (both added to primary). Then I’ve stabilized and back sweetened with FAJC. I’ll have to try running two batches side-by-side where the first is done as above and the second only...

The color is definitely a bit darker than unflavored apple cider. It’s been carbonating for about a week at serving pressure, but I lose a bit of that to the rapidly dissipating foam on each first pour. Once the tap is chilled, it retains more bubbles. I don’t often pour more than once in a...

Enjoying a half liter of lingonberry cider on a Friday evening…

Welcome to the hobby and to HBT!

I originally got my idea from the City Steading Brews YouTube channel. They made theirs from IKEA jam, too, so you can follow theirs for one version. My version uses jam from my local supermarket, but is about the same. I start by warming the jar in a pan of hot water (switching out for fresh...

I’ve got a lingonberry jam cider currently on tap, and an apricot jam cider conditioning/clearing. The lingonberry is a repeat brew and has come out great every time I’ve tried it.

That’s my reason. I’ve only got one temp-controlled FC and I’m usually fermenting more than one batch at a time. Expanding my FC capacity is a future goal, but pressure fermenting is a current option. My results would never win an award, but they’re suitable for my tastes.

I think that’s another corollary to Murphy’s Law of Spares.