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After about three days: I am not sure if it is wort or beer.

Bhob - you understand that there is a built in bias in the replies you receive, right? Anyone who died of botulism from their beer will not be replying ...

That film does not look good. But back when I used to can figs and stuff, sometimes an old jar of preserves would have something like that on it. I just scooped off the stuff on top with the mold and ate what was below. It might be kind of hard to separate that top layer of stuff, but I would...

I want to say thank you to the folks who took the time to respond to my post. Vikeman - I have read about the ester thing and the bigger pitch limiting them. I am not sure if I have been lucky about that or just got used to esters because all my beer has that flavor. My beer is not always...

Here is something I have a hard time wrapping my mind around. I always use dry yeast (Unless I am using saved trub) and just pitch them into the wort. The yeast typically start fermenting within 12 hours. Okay, suppose I made up a small batch of wort and pitched the yeast to make a starter. It...

I have never made a starter. I pitch either dry yeast or else trub from an earlier batch. It always ferments.

It looks good in the photos: nice and transparent. I would certainly taste it before dumping it.

The water profile threads have not bothered me, but I am a new member. And I am not especially science oriented when it comes to brewing. Home brewing is a hobby, not a career. It is kind of like astronomy. Amateur astronomers range from those who just use their own eyes to appreciate the...

Just a thought here, but have you used that batch of yeast for any brew that came out good? Are you certain the yeast were still viable? What you have is kind of like what I might expect if I forgot to add yeast and some wild stuff got into the wort.

Folks whos use acronyms without spelling them out on the first usage! For example in this thread the acronym BMC is used fifteen times. BudweiserMilllerCoors is my guess from context. It does seem to me that some first time posts indicate a startling level of naivete about brewing. That does...

I just sit the yeast out for a while to warm up and then pitch straight out of the bottle. To me, three week old, refrigerated yeast cake is really not at all old. I am not sure just how long it lasts, but longer that that for sure. But! I am a bit of a newbie myself.

Someone has to be the first to try it! I certainly never have.

Water out of a garden hose usually has a really funky plastic taste. I would not expect a small amount to hurt your beer's flavor, but I have never tested it.

I also mark the cap: just with a number identifying the batch.

My wife is big on having nice new towels in the bathroom. So I have plenty of large, lightly used, bath towels to use. When I bottle I put one of those on the floor to sop up the inevitable spills. I have never not needed it! I would definitely have one of those on hand for any kind of transfer.

When you pour a mug of beer, are there any bubbles at all? When you open the bottle is there any hiss of released pressure?Sometimes my beer does not have much of a head and does not look especially carbonated, but it really is, with the telltale bubbles and mouth feel. If there is no release of...

I would go with an extract kit for the first couple of brews. Buy a six or seven gallon plastic fermenter carboy and a kit brew from Munton or or some such. Forty of fifty dollars for a carboy and twenty five or thirty dollars for a brew kit with hopped malt and yeast. A siphon bottle filler for...

If the flask is aluminum, be sure that it does not have a plastic coating on the inside before you heat it.

A few days ago I was looking at honey at my local Walmart. $15 for five pounds. By coincidence I ran into a local bee keeper the same day. He sells his for $20 a quart: about $6 or $7 per pound.

I do not have any experience with one of those. (I bet not many folks do!) One thought that crosses my mind is that there are different size bottle caps. Maybe your capper is the wrong size for the bottles you are trying to cap? Try doing a search for bottle cap size and you will find some...