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Just keep your hands clean. I would ensure of this after the boil as indicated in one of the responses. BTW, Welcome to the site and good luck on your first batch! It's a great hobby. axr

Another option would be to build a swamp cooler and try to control the fermentation temperature via the addition of ice packs. It might be worth considering and can be done on the cheap and would allow you to keep your beer on premises. Run a search on the site and see what comes up. axr

Would it be ideal to vacuum seal the hops then place in a glass jar and store in the freezer? Or is this redundant? How much longer with hops last stored in the freezer as aopposed to refrigerator storage? Thanks axr

I started homebrewing last year so I had a lot of start up costs (equipment, ingredients, research, additional equipment, etc.). but what I do know is that trying to calculate it would be a bit of a buzz-kill. It's a hobby, and a fun one at that, where you can enjoy the fruits of your labor and...

Thankfully there's a SRM range that gives a little leeway in the final product. I'm sometimes bothered by the resulting color but agree with a lot of the comments that if the beers tastes good than it doesn't matter so much. However, I started using Beersmith for my last 3 batches and have been...

12 and the quest has begun to find and try as many of the ones that I have not yet sampled! axr

I ferment in my basement mechanical room (boiler room) where the temp range is between 63-65F. When necessary I'll use a space heater to keep the room at a steady temp of around 68-70F depending on beer style being fermented. When I transfer my brew to a secondary carboy to clear up the brew...

I think shaking the hell out of the fermenter works if you do partials, but if you do full boils it would be wise to consider an aeration method like O2 tank and SS airstone. I utilized this method for the first time with a Hefe I brewed up and it was easy and I had phenomenal fermentation with...

+1 on Turbobrew's first two comments. Regarding the the keggle not fitting on many burners, I too experienced that issue but was easily resolved by purchasing a round weber grill grate (22.5"?) from HD for about $10

+1 on the sanitizing solution. Save the cheap vodka for company your not fond of.:)

This will definitely work, but if you're at the HD might as well get about 4' of 1" tubing to use as a blow off tube. axr

I'm familiar with about 101 years worth of pain!

Fair enough, Elkdog. Perhaps we'll some day belly up to that bar and discuss further. Salud! :mug:

Totally disagree about the Gaslight. Yeah the have decent guest brews, but they also brew a decent beer. I'm local to the pub and in the absence of a lot of brew pubs in this area, it's a good place to go and sample some decent brew. It's in downtown South Orange which is a cool little town and...

Thanks for this info shortyjacobs. Do you know what size PVC pipe to use? From the OP pics, it looks like 3 or 4"? axr

Is there better hops utilization or less trub with this method? I just started brewing full boils in my keggle and have been using the standard hops bags for my hops additions but would be willing to go the 5 gal. paint strainer and PVC route if it is better for my brew. Any comments on this...

Thanks for the feedback!

I have the SP10 and can bring 6.5 gallons to boil in under 30 minutes. However, my keggle is a little bigger than the diameter of the burner. To remedy, I bought a weber grill grate (22.5 dia?) for about $10 at HD. Now the keggle rests perfectly on the burner axr

Thanks Grinder. Everything I've read has indicated that Hefe's are meant to be drunk young-ish. I suppose my post is due more to encountering tastes that, up until these last two batches, were not present in my previous brews...even when sampling while fermenting. I guess I'll have to wait...

Thanks, s1080. I don't think this'll be the year though. Wasn't sure if I should leave it in the primary for a longer period of time since it is a Hefe. I want to make sure I maintain some of the yeast in suspension since it is the style. I'm currently fermenting in a room that is 64F...