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I have very limited resources to control fermenting temp and I hear about all the off flavors that come from increased temps but not much about off flavors from low temps? I also heads that a lot of Belgian beers ferment at a really low temp for the first couple (few) days then they let it warm...

STARSAN all the way, ditch the iodine. Makes life a lot easier and your mind way more at easy when you eliminate the rinsing step and dont have to fool with the iodine.

I am also newbie and have only 3 batches under my belt. My first came out amazing and even the guys at the LHBS agreed. Beginner's luck. The second was infected and I didn't even bottle it. With that first batch though, I brewed it in the winter and it fermented in a freezing basement studio...

Mahalos Heli!

Just taking the wort (if it is even considered wort yet) off the stove now. Is it vital that I cool it quickly and store? Gonna put the kettle in the bath tub with some cool water anyways but just checking to see if you had an opinion on this.

I really appreciate the feedback. I figured it would be cool, but needed someone like you to confirm. I am going to have to buy some from another brew store that is closer. morebeer.com had better take accountability. EVEN if I were supposed to buy my own ME (which i'm not), it'd be wise to...

Yes I just steeped the grains. I was only about 10 min or less in to steeping them when my wife read off "bring to 170 and then turn off heat to add melt extract" and I went OH ****. Yea, I think the kid helping me out at morebeer in Concord, CA here was worried about anything but me. I guess...

Yup, another newb mistake on my part. I bought a kit from MoreBeer and assumed I had everything I needed. My wife and I were going through the steps as listed on the instructions and then I realized I HAVE NO MALT EXTRACT! This is only my 4th batch so I'm def a newbie. Anyways, can I...

Aloha again. I was thinking, what if I got a small amount of appropriate specialty grains and hops and did another small boil and added that to the beer and let it condition in secondary?

Will do. Thanks again for the advice. My schedule lines up so that I can brew one more batch on Labor Day and then bottle both the weekend before I travel, so that will work out perfect. We'll see how the beer ends up though.

Another NEWB mistake. I had the wife steel some wort with a sanitized baster and I sealed it up and put the airlock on. When I went to take the reading she had not got the amount of wort I needed and the hydrometer didn't even float a bit.....or is it the spec gravity the reason it didn't...

No. I checked for that. It would smell strong if there were too. Maybe my wife has been drinking it in the middle of the night! haha

Thank you for the advice. So if the beer was originally supposed to be 5.5% alcohol, and I added the appropriate amount of yeast and sugar (and a little extra per a modified recipe so maybe 6.5%), am I now going to have like a barley wine or worse type of alcohol level because it's only 3.5...

I could have swore I started with 5 gallons (and a little extra) and had my wife double check me. The beer has been fermenting 7 days and I just turned the light on in that unused bathroom it is sitting in and I could see the liquid level at only 3.5!?!? Could I have lost that much in the boil...

Fuzzel: How'd the Nutella turn out? Sounds delish! So do you boil the extract like you do the priming sugar? ....for fear that the extract may not be sterile right out of the package and may mess up your beer?

Cool thanks. 2 Q's. How long for a brown ale in primary? Avg temp around 70. Do you find that your bottles have more yeast than if you would've used secondary?

Ok thanks. I've met guys who just used a primary fernenter for weeks and then bottled but the brew store said to use a secondary bucket for another 7 days after primary fermentation has ended...? Only on my 3rd batch so I'm open. I'd rather not rerack and add a chance to contaminate my beer.

Haha NUT! Lol No need to rack it? So you don't use a secondary? Just primary to bottles? I'm a newbie

I have an English style brown ale in primary and I will be reracking it this weekend. Can I add any type of nut extract for flavoring when I rack it to secondary? If so, what's the process like? I added a couple pinches of cinnamon midway and towards the end of the boil and I think some...

I really appreciate your response. Why the crud floating on the top though? When I popped the top on my first batch (brown ale) it was mostly smooth on the surface right out of primary?