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Dont give up. you are almost there (to really good beer). you have to take care of the yeast....if this is your first lager I assume you jumped from 2 ale sessions which did not turn out...this is okay but lagers are much different beasts than ales and you have to now do a few more things to...

disagree about letting it swell first- even Wyeast's website says that swelling doesn't have to occur, and the swelling isn't reproducing yeast at all. Better to get it into a starter in a small culture to do that. though agreed that yeast does not give of co2 during the lag phase. Yeast that...

Make sure you sanitize whatever you cut that pack open with too. With a struggling yeast culture it is very easy to introduce bacteria into the medium and with a small yeast pop the bacteria could take over. Good luck

Lagers die off pretty quick. I would wait for the pack to expand before you toss the culture into the starter wort. Most of the yeast in the pack is probably dead but the inside of the pack is sanitary and if it is going to grow best to grow inside the pack before you pitch it into a secondary...

there are no foolish questions, I use this forum all the time to find stuff out and have been brewing for over 10 years

Sanitize whatever u cut the yeast packet open with. If u can at least hydrate that stuff w some boiled and cooled wort. Or better yet make a starter this morning it is worth the effort. Btw shake the snot out of that fermenter after you pitch the yeast.

It'll b fine. Should have shaken the crap out of it though. If u use a bucket u can pitch the yeast give a few minutes to hydrate and then use a sanitized paint mixer on a drill for a few minutes. U will not hurt the yeast and they need as much o2 as u can get in by stirring. Btw. The newb move...

i had a whole pound of williamette kicking around unopened (from hops direct) and decided yesterday to do the following frankenbrew with some stuff I had lying around. if nothing else I will definately know williamette hops in all their glory the pound was 1.88 oz over thus the 7 min addition...

Sorry. What I meant was it ts best to pitch below firm temp and let it rise to the firm temps. This helps lessen final diacetyl and eliminates the need for the ending rest.

Starters r important especially with lagers but I agree u will b ok with the smack pack. With a lager, if the recipe has light grains or extract you need to boil for 90 min and then get the whole volume of wort cool quick to avoid dms. If you use an Ic make sure you stir the wort as u cool...

U r definitely making beer. One of the best things about the hobby is u can go as high or low tech as you want. One simple suggestion on your cooling is to stir the wort while the ic is running. You will get a lot cooler a lot sooner. Also. You could avoid the unknown gravity issues by taking...

As long as u r not using really light malts you will b ok but chilling it(or not) will suck. If u r using lt malts you run a high risk of taking on dms without a way to bring the temp down quick. $15 worth of copper and an old garden hose=an immersion chiller

These guys r fighting over nothing.. If u wanna keg it now do it Dude don't wait to carbonate the beer until its cold there is no reason 4it if it is in the keg hit it with 15 while it is cooling. Make sure you purge the keg of co2 b4 u fill it connect the hoses and let it go. Have a few...

Mr beer is underrated. Many of us started out with that little fukin sweet tea jug. I did and now have a fairly elaborate 10 gal system and make enough good beer to supply a small party once a week! (and i have 4 kids unde 5) **** yeah dude! Just wait until you have the beer off of a5gal...

My wife bought me a mr beer for x mas when we were dating. I didn't have any luck with it. Of course I used bakers yeast and table sugar or something totally goofy. Anyhoo ff 12 years and brewing consumes much of my open thought. Welcome to you all. Go 5 or 10 gal as soon as you can. It all...

If u r using a bucket they leak like a sieve. If you had strong fermentation in 24 hrs it sounds like you did fine there. Rule #1 trust your hydrometer.

That is pretty typical of a lager strain some of them smell like farts the whole way through. How is the beer fermenting?? if you wonder about the yeast after rinsing you can drink the liquid off of the top when it settles and you decant it to see if you taste infection etc.

You will really like having those starters handy. It is way convenient, boiling and cooling starters sucks and definitely feels like making beer to make beer. I collect the last runnings and any extra sparge in a bucket. Add water to about1.040 and can as much as possible. Great way to do...

Bring the temp up and do a dactyl rest. Raising the temp will encourage the yeasts that are in solution to speed up and consume the nasty byproducts that you may taste in the finished beer, not just the dactyl. By all means trust your hydrometer. But keeping it on the cake until it clears may...

Right, after I posted I saw how old it was...... I have been brewing for 11 years. last year I scored an old fridge a ranco 2 stage controller a few erlenmeyer flasks and built two stir plates. the only way the beer tastes bad now is with what I have done in the mash or the recipe....even...