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Dry hop in your primary. Sent from my HTC One using Home Brew mobile app

There is rarely a reason to use a secondary. I would say don't do it unless you are fermenting something for an extended period of time such as a Barley Wine or Sour. I do think it can be detrimental to use a secondary since you are removing your wort from most of the yeast colony. The...

I recently added a thermometer to my kettle and mash tun, so the pump thermometer is more of a way to double check my temps now. I find it very useful when I direct fire my kettle. You can see the temp differential between the mash tun and what is coming off of the bottom of the kettle. It is...

The problem is that anti-bacterial soap or bleach (or other common cleaners) could leave residual chemicals behind that are bad for you or your beer. The reason to use brewing cleaners and sanitizers is that they are made for brewing or at least understood in the context of brewing. They will...

There are a couple of things that surprised me. First, it is not nearly as powerful as you think it will be. They are not self-priming, so you have to work a little to get them primed. They will also clog pretty easily especially with whole hops. You need to have a good handle on whirl...

I have both of them. I would recommend buying both. If I had to choose, I would buy the desktop version. It is a lot easier to use especially when creating a recipe from scratch. You can still use the free phone app to view recipes in your cloud folder, you just can't edit.

I always add my sugar after two days. The reason for this is that the yeast self-selects during the growth phase to produce the enzymes needed to break down maltose (malt sugar). The yeast can always go back to simple sugar. I let them get through their growth phase on maltose. I then add...

Following those techniques, I consistently get beer clear enough to watch TV through. Thanks for the info. I am definitely going to start watching TV through my beer.

I just added the gelatin to my keg. I am going to check it in 48 hours to see how it turned out. Do you skip the kettle finings and just use gelatin? Is there any reason to use both?

I am definitely buying a fresh pitch for the next batch.

I use the WLP Saison III. I usually start fermenting at 64 for two days. I then boil my sugar addition and add it. I then let it free rise with a blanket wrapped around it. If it is really cold I wrap the fermenter in an electric blanket and then the regular blanket around that. I try to raise...

I will have to order some and give that a try. Thanks for the suggestion and the link. Sent from my HTC One using Home Brew mobile app

I have a yeast strain that I cultivated by mixing WLP-001 CalAle Yeast (4th gen) and WLP 005 English Ale yeast. I got a couple of good batches, but now it is not flocculating. I think this is a pretty common problem with reusing yeast. The result is a pretty funky smell and flavor. Wife my...

I think it is worth it. It is being improved all of the time. Plus, it is built by Brad Smith who is home brewer and a nice guy. Beersmith is not written by a huge software company. I like to support him since he has given so much back to the community. Plus the program is really good. Sent...

I agree serving around 40 degrees is best. However, I think conditioning as close to freezing as possible gives a better end product. Sent from my HTC One using Home Brew mobile app

Looks like yeast to me. Sent from my HTC One using Home Brew mobile app

I had a beer stuck at 1.020 last week. I started swirling the fermentor twice a day and wrapped it in an electric blanket to bring it up to 68. It finished a week later at 1.009. I think ramping the temp should help. On the thermometer discussion, I realized my mash thermometer was off by 8...

Yes, you heat the water above the temp you want for your grain. Sent from my HTC One using Home Brew mobile app

After discussing this issue with a member of my homebrew club who now a pro-brewer, I condition all of my beers for at least 15 days. At his brewery, which is major craft brewery, they condition almost everything for 16 to 20 days. You will definitely notice as you start making you way...

This will work well for brewing especially with the batch size you are brewing. Keeping the temperature constant will be tough with the small volume of water. What I do for my mash tun (which is a 15.5 Bayou Classic kettle) is warm the water to temp and then wrap it with an electric blanket...