Search results

Are you sure the instructions called for boiling the grain? The usual process is to steep the grains at 155F for 20-60min.

If your 16.5l is at the expected SG I would leave it alone and not add water (boiled and cooled of course) to bring it up to 20l. IMHO it is better to have a little less of a good beer than more of a "watered down" beer. What was the process you used on the grains?

To me it looks more like a bunch of solids from the boil made their way into the primary. Been-there-done-that. No worries, just be careful to leave it all behind when racking to the secondary, it doesn't hurt anything.

Welcome to the forum and welcome to homebrewing, once you have that first finished brew there is no going back. Let your primary fermentation run until the SG stops dropping, standard rule of thumb 1 week. When you rack off to your secondary try to keep the cane off of the bottom layer, same...

Just relax, 24-72hrs is the normal time for fermentation to begin.

I have ordered many times from MidWest (latest order due to arrive tomorrow) and they have always crushed the grains when requested. But I thought "specialty" grains such as black patent malt, crystal malt, etc. didn't need to be crushed for steeping.

Those are powerful, I've had a Freedom Arms 454 Casull for years. Got it for the wild boar handgun season. Only gun to ever get me thrown off the firing range.

Don't worry, you'll be fine, just give it more time. As others have already said, without a starter its going to take a little while.

Give it at least 72 hours before you start to worry. What kind of yeast did you use? Did you use a starter? Was it acclimated to the temp? For my last Lager I used a dry lager yeast, made a starter a few days before before and let it ferment at 48F before pitching. That lager started up...

Exactly, my first three brews were no boil kits (one can pre hopped, one can plain extract). It gave me a chance to to easily try out homebrewing, the beer actually was quite good. It was more than enough to get me hooked and suddenly the single bucket and some bottles has become so much more.

Me Three, or is that ditto squared? For extract and partial mashes the infamous turkey fryers work just great.

Heck, my first couple of batches were even easier than that, no-boil kits. Two cans of extract, some hot water to mix it up, cold water to the 5 gal mark, toss in the yeast, pop on the lid and airlock, wait a week and bottle with tabs. No fuss no muss, and the beer was actually quite good...

I would have to say the #1 thing was learning patience, allowing extra time in the primary and lots of extra time in the secondary has really made a difference in the quality of my brews. #2 better temp control. I bought a Sanyo fridge (and temp controller) for a future kegerator project and...

It actually turns out very good, I did substitute Saflager S23 dry lager yeast for the included packet then fermented at 55F followed by a couple of weeks at 45F, then bottle conditioned at room temperature.

So far around 80% of the time I use dry yeasts. And for the most part they have worked great, and quickly start fermenting, in most cases within 8-12 hours. I have even used dried "lager" yeast without any issues. But I can see where the liquid only folks are coming from. I just did a...

Today I bottled an Apfel wine and a Red Ale and did up a quick root beer, tomorrow will be brew day for a pumpkin ale.

Ditto. While I have done a few partial mash brews and some extract + specialty grains, I have done mostly extract brews. Most of those have been "no-boil" types using LME and pre-hopped LME. I hve to say that the no-boils make a darn good beer. Sure, not as complex and full flavored as say a...

Congrats on your first step into this journey of madness! Your grommet should have no ill effect, good choice not to dig it out, if needed you can throw a couple of wraps of tape on the airlock stem to get a tight fit without the grommet.

Are you sure it was lager yeast? Most of the no-boil kits I have seen and used came with ale yeast. Going forward you need to do what I did, picked up a sanyo fridge and temp controller for fermenting at controlled cool temps. That way everytime you look at it you tell yourself it would...

Do you have a local store nearby? If so pay them a visit, they'll more than likely have everything you need and will gladly spend the time putting together a kit that meets your needs. Are you looking to start off with extract brewing? If so you really do not need a lot to get started. I...