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I use maybe 1/8 - 1/4 of the scoop that comes in the tub for a 5-gallon bucket of water. You don't need very much. And I've never had any issues with the regular Oxi-Clean. If you rinse it well, you shouldn't have to worry about any chemical residue. Man, I do hate the bottling process...

Now thinking of using the dates in a pumpkin beer I'm going to brew for local homebrew comp. Belgian yeast sounds pretty good too. Guess we'll see what happens! Thanks for the replies.

I know some might disagree, but as an extract/partial mash brewer myself, I would recommend mashing the the carapils with an equivalent amount of some 2-row base malt grains for starch conversion from the carapils. It's not much more trouble than steeping, and will also give some complexity to...

Belgians are a good place to start. I don't have precise temperature control, but I do have stable temps between my basement and my hallway closet. My basement was a little cool for the Golden Strong I brewed during the Spring. But my closet was around 72-74 and was great for the yeast I used...

Did you get a significant date flavor by adding to the boil? How did that compare to use in secondary (not clear if you used dates in secondary also)?

I have 3 pounds of California dates from Shield Dates Farm in Indio, CA. I've been wanting to brew with them for a while, but have been unsure about the best way to use them. I've never aged a beer with fruit or anything really. I also have 8oz of pure date crystals- which I believe should be...

I understand and agree with just about everything you wrote here. I'm also speaking to my personal impulse about being tempted to drink the beer as fresh as possible and continuing to learn about how my own beers evolve over time. My last heavily dry-hopped IPA most definitely peaked around the...

Just tasted an IPA I bottled 9 days ago and it was nearly carbed. I don't have a problem with aging/conditioning most of my beers, but I'm always torn with IPAs - because although I want the beer to be finished, I also want to maximize and appreciate that dry hop aroma blast. This one was...

What kind of beer are you fermenting? Unless you are aging a huge gravity beer, adding wood or fruit or something else that requires a secondary vessel, I see no reason you need a secondary fermenter at all. Sorry - I'm not the uber experienced brewer you requested, but secondary fermentation...

What a cool thread. A few screw-ups in my young brewing career thus far... My first batch - I was brewing with an experienced homebrewer friend all day. But he had to leave before my wort was finished cooling. I "feared the foam" that was hanging around my carboy, so I rinsed it out with tap...

I have done starters anywhere from 3 days with the decanting method to less than 24 hours where I pitched the whole starter straight into my fermenter. Both methods have worked fine. This is directly from White Labs: http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/homebrew_FAQ.html

So I've read through this entire thread. Thanks for the all the great info. However, I can't honestly say I have a strong feeling one way or the other on how to proceed with the RIS I am about to brew. Since I ordered 4 oz of Ghana Cacao nibs from Northern Brewer, I think I am still going to go...

For the masses (not really) that were curious about this..... I did nothing to the beer and it carbed just fine on its own - within a week or two from the time I made this thread. Thanks for the advice to NOT add any more sugar for priming. This beer turned out really nice and is just as...

In my experience (which is only 7 batches - so I don't claim to be an expert), I have found no benefits in transferring to secondary - with or without dry hopping. I will use a secondary when I want to age a beer on wood or want to add fruit. But 6 of my 7 batches have been dry hopped, and I'm...

Following up on this one. Anybody have any luck?

The bottles are stored in my basement, which stays around 68-69 most of the summer. I could move them to a closet up stairs that might hover around the mid 70s on warm days. I live in a very mild coastal climate and don't have A/C. I guess I'm also trying to grasp what happened and why this...

Thanks Revvy. So if nothing happens in another month or two, would you suggest then adding some yeast, but no fermentables? And while I am inclined to heed your advice about not adding carb tablets, what is the harm in adding some fresh yeast now?

Brewed a BGS in March and bottled six weeks ago. Used WLP570 and got a very vigorous fermentation. Added a cane sugar simple syrup a few days into fermentation and got the final product down to about 1.011 (starting from about 1.074). I primed with cane sugar syrup for bottling like I have done...

Heck yeah!

I. Love. This. Wish I had thought of it myself.