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I left it in primary for a shade over three weeks. I then moved it to secondary for a shade over two weeks. I bottled this past Sunday night. I had a little glass of it while filling bottles. It tasted pretty good- even though it was flat and still a little green. My plan is to let it condition...

I am planning to brew a porter this weekend. Once it's ready to go to secondary, I am going to add Maker's Mark soaked oak chips. I use soaked oak chips a lot in my bbq grille. Can I use the same chips that I use when I am going to use them to smoke/bbq or is there some sort of special process...

I understand that there are several ways to make the "grain tea". However, I am unclear when I should add it in with the other items in my brew. Should I: A) Add the tea (hot, cold, warm, or does it matter?) to my clear water in the brew kettle, boil, add other kit ingredients, boil...

Eventually- I am sure I will do all grain and much larger batches. However, that's a good 5+ years off. My wife and I are currently in the process of opening a business, so I can't really justify several thousands in beer upgrades.....especially since the wife wants a larger house and I have...

Currently, my setup is pretty basic. I've got a turkey fryer for a burner, a stainless 8 gallon brew kettle and lid, a 6gal glass carboy (primary), a 5 gal glass carboy (secondary)....you get the picture. Currently my process goes as follows- boil/brew, chill via wort chiller, siphon to...

It's funny you mention about being a firefighter. The guy who owned the house before me was the fire chief in the town I live in. His "shop" area that he made in the basement before he built the huge garage/shop out back- is already equipped with a couple CO detectors and 2 extinguishers.

Interesting- the guys at both brew shops near here said the 5 gal was the way to go. Not saying either of you are right. I guess it's just one of the many things in home brewing that's a matter of opinion. I guess if I had a larger carboy, it wouldn't have foamed over for the first couple days...

5gal- not much headspace. 5gal seems to fill it up right where the neck of the carboy starts (where it starts to pitch towards the opening).

Both are 5gal glass carboys. I also have an ale pale with a spigot- but I haven't used it for anything yet. My used setup also included a racking wand (is that the right word?) that I was planning to bottle with straight out of the carboy.

I hadn't read your replies before my "scratch that" post. That makes sense. I never thought of using the tube the hydrometer came in. Ok- my plan now is to leave the stout as is until I return. When I return I will transfer it to secondary, clean my primary, and start a wheat beer. I will...

Scratch that- I 'think' I know which beers to put in a secondary. From all of the information I have read- the darker, more complex beers should ferment longer/go to secondary, while lighter beers and some wheat beers don't need a secondary or as long of a ferment. Am I in line in my thinking?

Today marks one week since I brewed/ started fermentation. The thick head in the carboy is now gone- as of yesterday morning. There's still some foam on top- but less than an inch thick- nothing frothy and out of control like before. It seems calm in there now. Think it's time to measure the SG...

Ohh- and as of about 4:30am this morning when I got up- fermentation has started. :ban:

I don't think it would take much for her to believe that swearing is part of the process. She already knows that any time I head out to my shop to work on my weekend car, dirt bike, or motorcycle- there's about a 95% chance I will, at some point, come rolling in the back door cussing about...

I knew my first time would be a PITA- no real clue what I was doing and no normal "routine" set. My first job was to sterilize everything- which I did in the bathtub. That went pretty well- until I flooded the floor. I cleaned everything then used a bucket that I had- filled it with sanitizing...

I went and picked up the brew kettle from CraigsList- it was in great shape. $50 seemed fair. I was just at Home Depot for some unrelated goods and ran across an open box turkey fryer. It was missing some hardware- but I snagged it for $30. Cast iron burner (45k btu), thermo, etc. I have the...

I didn't think it was a bad deal- it had some bottles to fill as well as the glass carboy. I found a 6 gal kettle with a lid on craigslist for $50- that might do the trick. That's what amazes me about AB- the amount of beer they pump out and it all tastes the same. All of the microbrews...

I forgot all about the brew kettle. I will most likely hold off on the propane until I decide if this is something I am going to stick with.....then again trying to boil 5+ gal of liquid on an electric stove might turn into a PITA quickly.

Hello- A little about myself to start off. I work as the CAD/GIS Dept Mgr of an engineering firm during the week and I work at the Anheuser Busch brewery (*ducks to miss the beer bottles and mugs that are surely being thrown at me at this point) in St. Louis, MO on the weekends in the...