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Neat to see all the different ways people are doing this. Here is mine: I use a pair of 32 oz glass screw-cap bottles that I rinse with starsan. I plan on upgrading to a single 1 gallon glass apple juice jug, but I need to drink all that apple juice first... 1 cup DME + 1 quart water, boil...

The title pretty much says it all, anyone have experience with two of the three (or more) and can give an opinion? Thanks!

Are you sure it was done fermenting when you bottled? To me the alcohol bite is kinda similar to a high carbonation bite. Its easy enough to test this by tasting, vigorously stir out some of the carbonation, and taste again.

If it is still so vigorous that it risks clogging your airlock, switch that out for a blow-off tube. You'll find a lot of detail on what a blow-off tube is in several threads and there are a few ways to make one, but briefly, a bigger diameter hose from the carboy mouth down into a reservoir of...

I use starsan and get the diluted stuff on my hands and clothes with no problems from it. I soak a dishrag in it and use that to wipe stuff down too, so my exposure is probably on the high side. My skin feels significantly drier after brew day though, so if you have sensitive skin this might be...

Second the importance of a tight fit! Had a problem with one that was a little too loose and sucked air into my beer stream. Test it by siphoning starsan or whatever first. To make the sizing issue easy, just bring the siphon with you to the hardware store. And buy more than you need, you can...

What was the expected OG for the recipe? I'm guessing the burning will change the flavor, how much depending on how burnt.

The vigorous fermentation out the airlock is common, freaked me out the first time too. You probably want to get it off the walls sooner rather than later. Your beer is probably not contaminated since the CO2 is blowing stuff out too fast for anything to get in. You'll want to get a blow-off...

I use a carboy brush and water for the first couple passes and then use starsan for the last couple rounds of scrubbing. The starsan has the sudsy action in there and the acid keeps the glass grippy so I don't feel like I'm at as much risk of dropping it. Regular soap makes the glass feel pretty...

Had a problem when racking over to the bottling bucket. The seal between the racking cane and the siphon tubing wasn't perfect and pulled a pretty big stream of air bubbles into the beer stream as it racked over. This seems like a definite introduction of oxygen into the beer, so I've been...

I have 2 cats and it hasn't been an issue yet (only 4 brews though), maybe just be extra sure you wash your hands after playing with them or whatnot during the downtimes on brew day.

How many times do you repeat the cycle of reusing yeast from a cake before going back to store-bought yeast? One repeat, two, too many to count?

From what I've read the potential problem is that putting the yeast through a round of fermentation can change them so that what you are using the 2nd go-round isn't really identical to what you were using the first time. So far I've only thought of one specific example of what could be...

And you might want to clean the yeast/wort splatter off the ceiling and walls before your significant other finds it. ;) Been there, done that.

Just because a water source is safe to drink doesn't mean its free of microbes that could compete with your yeast. The fact that so many people don't have problems using unboiled tap water is good to hear though. I'm still going to err on the side of caution and pre-boil top off water. If for...

My first batch I didn't adjust for boil off at all, wound up with 4 gallons instead of the target 5 gallons in the fermenter. I was concerned there might somehow be a 'concentrated' taste of something in the finished product, but that wasn't the case at all, it was fine.

Whatever you do, don't forget and leave them soaking in starsan for over a week. I turned a nice clear slick length of tubing into an opaque grey and slightly sticky tube that way, guess the acid can attack it if you give it enough time. :/

My impression is that the calculators are quite good for getting you in the right ballpark, but they won't perfectly predict exactly what is going on in your setup. Try cutting the amount of priming sugar by 25%, or if you think it is really way over the mark, cut by as much as 50% and just see...

Another simple thing to save the existing overcarbed beers, just stir them like mad to force the excess CO2 out of solution. H2CO3 ----(stir like crazy)----> H2O + CO2 (bubbles away and is gone) You can do this until you get the level right where you like it. I do this with soda all the time...

DeLorean DMC-12, check. Flux capacitor, check. Couldn't get my hands on the plutonium, so I'm waiting for a thunderstorm. :rockin: To kill some time, I took another sample and I'm happy to report that it is mellowing out. Still a hoppiness that is outside the style range, but it will be...