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You do want to be fermenting a bit warmer. 55 is quite a bit too low for this yeast. The good news is that heating is easier than cooling. I highly recommend a temp controller (STC-1000 or Inkbird or similar) plus some sort of heating device. Heat belt works well. For a very cheap ($10)...

Yeah I'm pretty sure that's correct. I'm only 3 batches into Kombucha making so that grain of salt applies here too. The starter liquid (from previous batch or a bottle of kombucha) is important because that contains microbes, but also lowers the pH of your brew which makes it more hostile to...

For anyone else in this situation, refillable sodastream bottles are really great. After losing a brand new tank of gas I bought a refill station and a bunch of sodastream bottles. I run everything off the sodastream bottles and the big tank now only gets used for refilling. It's definitely...

+1 for infection. Especially if the early bottles tasted good then got worse at the end, as it can take time for the infection to develop. Plus you say they taste nasty which is another vote for infection. Over primed bottles taste OK if you can get any in the glass (ironically they can taste...

I'd expect a bit more krauesen on top maybe by day 3, but otherwise this all looks normal.

Read that other thread if you haven't already. It's sobering reading.

I wouldn't ever use a drill attachment to clean a plastic fermentor. Its going to leave micro scratches in the plastic for bugs to hide in. I have a fermentasaurus and it is easy to clean. Give it a rinse out first, remove the dip tube, then add a gallon of warm (not hot) water and some napisan...

What I mean is that you route all fermentation gas through an empty keg to purge it. You connect the gas out on your fermentor to the liquid port on the empty keg. Connect your spunding valve or airlock to the gas port on the empty keg. Leave these connected while the brew ferments. All the...

+1 to the above suggestions, the oils/fats are the problem. You can make an amazing chocolatey stout using lactose (add at flameout), chocolate malt and cacao nibs (sanitised in vodka, added after primary fermentation). Aim to keep the FG around 1.020

Hi Nate, To answer your main question, I recommend taping the probe to the side of the fermentor with some insulation on the outside. Ie the probe pressed hard up against the fermentor, below the beer level, and the insulation means the probe is more exposed to the beer temperature than the...

OP, I have also gone to considerable lengths to develop my hefe, which sounds very similar to what you have. Mine is 60% wheat, 3% melanoidian, 0.5% carafa 2 and the rest pils. It is very nice. I met a traditional German pro brewer recently and was talking to him about it. He swears by a pale...

Can't speak for the other poster, but I'd say it's to do with reducing oxidation exposure. If you have come across any of the LoDo threads you'll find some people believe it's a thing and some don't. The LoDo folk will go to considerable extremes to avoid oxygen intake in the mash and kettle...

I've spoken to a few commercial brewers about hot-side and it's not even on their radar as a thing. Cold side is very much a thing, of course. My take on it is that everything is harder to do in commercial batch sizes. Even something like a step mash which is super-easy in an electric homebrew...

Update. I took your advice and bent a spare dip tube I had sitting around (didn't have access to a saw or grinder plus bending seems less permanent anyway). Removed the old dip tupe, slid the new one in, which was a bit tight due to the bend but it went in ok. Re-pressurised the keg and left it...

Yeah I don't really care for the whole caveman story but if you cut through all that it's basically about eating real food and I like a diet of mostly meat and veges. Nothing unhealthy about drinking homemade beer in moderation. OP wants to drink beer and lose weight. Here's one way to do that.

I lost 50lb in a year while increasing my beer intake. Pretty cool. Crossfit 4x per week plus a paleo diet works wonders. Paleo is basically meat and veg, no wheat or sugar or processed crap food. Doesn't need to be rocket science. While I still prefer the flavour of a 6% beer, it is possible to...

The only reason I did this was I remember reading that people dryhop "commando" in the keg all the time. Maybe I misunderstood that, but it definitely didn't work for me. I'll try blasting some pressure through the liquid port and see if that unclogs things. I don't have a filter of any kind...

Normally I dryhop in the keg using a mesh bag. This seems to work well. Except I had 2 batches needing dryhopping and only one mesh bag. So one batch got the bag treatment and the other got the hops loose in the keg (4oz of pellets in 4 gallons). Now that keg won't pour at all - presumably the...

I would totally use this, if it smells normal and definitely with a starter. I keep a pack of dry yeast in the fridge at all times in case a repitched batch doesn't take off. I've only had issues twice and pitching the dry yeast fixed it. But mostly I've had good success with 2-6 month old slurry.

Hey everyone, looking for a bit of general advice. We have a sweet homebrew comp on at the moment in New Zealand. The idea is that the commercial craft brewer gives out the actual recipe for one of their beers and the homebrewers have to clone it. Then at judging, all the beers are lined up...