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Drinking good beer and saving the bottles is definitely the way to go, I have at least a dozen cases of em at the house and I have thrown tons more in the recycling. They aren't hard to clean either, an hour soak in hot water and unscented Oxyclean and the labels peel right off generally. I...

Having only brewed two batches and not even bottled one yet my experience with hop plugs is limited. I've used Chinook, Cascade, Horizon and Willamette. The Chinook, Cascade and Horizon were all very fresh seeming and nicely green. The Willamette however while still green were more of a dried up...

Did you have vigorous fermentation the first week?

Well, managed to get my second beer in the fermenter today (must say this brewday was less stressful and more enjoyable than the first). It's John Palmer's Port O'Palmer Porter, meant to mimic Sierra Nevada Porter. Man those chocolate malts smelled good while they were steeping! I took the...

I live in Florida as well and only just started brewing (put the first batch in the fermenter two weeks ago) and it seemed to me that the best thing I could do right off the bat was to control the temperature of the active phase of fermentation so I went the Igloo Cube cooler route with a...

That's my plan for my second batch tomorrow, clean thoroughly and then spritz items with star san and just pour a minimum amount into the fermenter and slosh it around until every surface is wet with it. I went way overboard with the first batch. Of course I don't want to go too far in the...

Thanks for the link to the "Tips for bottling" sticky Revvy! I am so going to try that set up (last time I helped a friend bottle, wonderful experience by the way, I about killed my back using the the bottling wand at near floor level).

Thanks for the advice everyone. The personal experiences with old buckets are particularly enlightening and I feel more comfortable now if I decide to use this bucket (after all it hasn't been used for anything else and it received at least a two hour soak in Star San). I'm beginning to suspect...

Since you aren't set up for lagering yet was that Oktoberfest an "ale" variation? I've been looking for various ale yeast versions that might resemble an Oktoberfest style lager to brew at some point.

FYI, I believe somewhere in there Palmer says he calls for two packets in case you lose one or something similar just so you aren't stuck on brew day with no yeast. (His is an extremely helpful book in my opinion!)

So, in a little over two weeks I'll be bottling my first batch of beer. On brew day I used my bottling bucket for sanitizing a few items and discovered it had a big black scratch inside it (caused by a pen perhaps?). I honestly don't know if it was there when I bought it as the kit was all boxed...

How'd you know I was thinking about hard cider? lol

Excellent, this is just what I needed to know. I have my first batch sitting in my Igloo Cube cooler at 68 degrees F and wanted to brew a porter in a week or two. Sounds like by then I will be fine taking my first beer out of the temperature controlled cooler so I can use it for the initial...

Woot! My first beer (a simple pale ale recipe) is really beginning to smell like actual beer! :ban: I placed it in primary Sunday evening, had activity by Monday morning, vigorous fermentation by Monday evening and today it appears to be starting to slow down just a bit (a bloop in the S-lock...

Thanks for the vid! That method of getting the stopper out was commonly refered to last night when I was freaking out and checking out what to do online. When that type of stopper is wet with Star San and the glass of the carboy is also wet it will just pop back out the opening every time you...

Congrats! I just got my first in the carboy last night and it is just starting to ferment this morning.

Well, after a more strenuous first brew day than I expected I have a pale ale in the carboy sitting in an Igloo "Cube" fermentation cooler at about 70 degrees at the moment. It was John Palmer's "Lady Liberty" pale ale recipe with the bittering hop swapped out for Chinook instead. First...

Good advice evryone, I've participated in a several brew days with friends so I'm not a total stranger to the process but I need constant reminding to keep it simple (odd that seems to be getting easier, keeping it simple that is, the closer to fifty I get in age, lol). I am almost certainly...

One of the guys in the local home brew club uses something like that quite successfully and it will probably be my solution as well. I wanted to use the cheapest of the Igloo Cubes but no one seems to carry them though the ones with wheels and the telescoping handle are around. Thanks for the...

Well I bit the proverbial bullet and bought my brewing equipment today (after dithering for a number of years). I now have no excuse not to begin brewing soon. I'm working on an IPA recipe but with Fall approaching I almost want to try a porter instead (hmm, pumpkin porter...). One thing that...