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This was my first all-grain brew, and it came out differently than the extract/partial mash recipes I've done before. I brewed Aug. 31 and when I opened the fermentor this morning, I saw a layer of particles floating on top (not positive if it's grain debris or something else). The vessel had a...

Thanks. I think I'm going to try adding just a pound of honey to give it a little more ABV. Hopefully it won't dry out too much.

I brewed a Brewer's Best Red Ale kit last night and did a four-gallon boil for an hour. At the end of the boil, it appeared I had lost almost a gallon from evaporation, so when I racked to the fermenter I topped off with two gallons to reach five gallons. Only, now it appears from the lines on...

I agree with BuckSwope. A tertiary vessel is rarely, if ever, needed.

Yeah, I usually let my beers sit for at least a month and have never had a ruined batch.

I don't think you need to secondary a hefe. Secondary is used to clear the beer, and wheat beers are usually pretty cloudy no matter what you do. I'd just let it sit in primary for three or four weeks, then bottle. If you do want to secondary for whatever reason, you can do it after a week or...

Yeah, I've got one from Northern Brewer that usually gives me airlock activity. The other is a BB Ale Pail that I don't think I've ever gotten activity out of. I assume it just has a bad seal, either on the gasket or the lid itself. Either way, it hasn't caused me any problems so far, so I'm not...

@BansheeRider: It is extremely common not to see airlock activity. That is why everyone says you can't judge fermentation by the airlock. It has less to do with whether fermentation is occurring than the cheap plastic lids and gaskets that come with fermentation buckets. As long as the wort is...

That looks normal to me. The ring indicates a krausen formed and has already fallen, which means it is fermenting. Ignore the airlock; at least half of my beers show no airlock activity, and I've never had a batch that didn't ferment. It's only been a few days, so I would put the lid back on and...

I did a Brewer's Best Oatmeal Stout kit a while back. At first I wasn't too impressed with the flavor, but I let it sit for a while and when I came back it was really great. With this style, make sure you let it age before you judge.

I use the same type of capper. I put the cap onto the magnet and lower it onto the bottle, then gently move it around to ensure it's flat before pulling down the levers. Making sure everything's level will also help you avoid cracking bottles when crimping, which I did a few times early on.

I haven't used Beer Brite, so I can't speak to that. But if it's advertised as a sanitizer, it should be fine, I'd think. Using sanitized water in the airlock is a good idea in case there is suck back. But I've used plain distilled water plenty of times without issue...if a few drops of clean...

I'm planning on making a raspberry wheat using a 49 ounce can of puree. It's my first time using fruit in the secondary, and I was planning on putting the puree in, racking the beer on top then letting it sit for about two weeks. It never occurred to me to mess with it during that time, but I...

Cool, thanks. I'll check it out.

No, I hadn't heard about it.

Thanks guys. Good advice. Wow, small world, Pratzie. I go to Simply Homebrew all the time!

I brewed a Brewer's Best RIS late last night and accidentally overfilled by about a half gallon. Instead of messing with it, I just pitched Safale 04 and set it in the basement at 66 degrees to ferment in a 6.5 gallon bucket. This afternoon I found the airlock filled with wort and I quickly...

It will be fine. I buy Brewer's Best kits off the shelf at my LHBS all the time (and then frequently leave them sitting around the house for days before brewing). The yeast starts up just fine, including Winsor.

RDWHAHB. Adding a few drops of water to your beer post-boil isn't going to hurt, unless perhaps if the water came out of the sewer.

That's a good idea. Maybe I'll use a tertiary since I racked to secondary fairly early and still have a lot of trub in the carboy.