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Yup!

Yeah, I sealed everything up, so the only thing that was risking contamination was the small amount in the hydrometer. Next time I will start serious aeration after the temp drops below 90F. Thanks for all the good comments and advice.

I was wondering if it is possible to over aerate wort? I use a paint stirrer on an electric drill to aerate, and it does double duty circulating the wort in the cooling bath. Last time I brewed I went a bit overboard and by the time the wort had chilled I had built up quite a head of foam. It...

I use the large tub with ice water method and it works just fine. I have cooled in the sink, but it wasn't significantly faster.

That sounds a bit cool to me. I bought a Brew Belt because my basement, where I do my fermenting, can get down into the 10-15 degree C range, especially when it is very cold outside, like it is now.

I can't remember where I saw this first, but I have been using it ever since. It is a great idea. Glad you re-posted it.

I used Wyeast 1056. My basement is pretty cool, typically 58 to 65 degrees, but I put a sleeping bag around the fermenter and so maybe it got too warm at the start.

I brewed a 5 gallon batch on Monday and used a starter that I had prepared the day before. By mid-day Tuesday the fermentation was so strong that it was coming out through the air lock (next time I think I might use a blow off tube). By Wednesday all activity had ceased. I can't believe that the...

I worry about temperatures, including the temperature of my starter, because my house is pretty cool in the winter. I use a brew belt on the fermenter in the basement, but I think I will try your idea for my next starter.

I do have rare earth magnets. Man, are they strong! I'm going to start playing around with spacing and a couple of other variables now that I have pitched the last starter that I made.

Thanks everybody. When I put my stir plate together the first thing that I did before I even tried it for the first time was to check the polarity of the magnets. I assumed that the stir bar had an N pole and an S pole. Then I labeled the magnets that I was going to mount on the motor so that...

I have been wanting to get into making starters, especially after having some problems with stuck fermentations. Because I'm kind of cheap and I like to build things I made my own stir plate, though I didn't have an old computer to scrounge form, but a new computer fan and other components cost...

Just a follow up. Today I chilled my wort in the kettle, putting it into my sink with ice water, changing the ice water so that it stayed as cold as possible, while circulating both the wort and the ice water (though because of the relatively small size of my sink, circulating the cooling...

It was one of the owners.

I ended up taking it back to the store where I bought it. They were willing to exchange it for a fresher package, but insisted that it was still quite viable, and said they didn't mind taking it back because somebody else would buy and use it. Happy to have the no-hassle exchange, but not...

I just bought a pack of Wyeast and noticed that the date on it is April 2013, so seven months have passed since packaging. Should I try it or just take it back to my local store?

I misread, sorry. Next brew I will be chilling in the kettle.

I guess that I have to try it both ways and time it both ways to see which is faster. I'll post my results when I have them.

I have been doing extract brews using a 5 gallon kettle, so my boil is usually 2 1/2 gallons. For the past year I have cooled my wort by transferring it into my fermentation bucket that already has 2+ gallons of chilled water in it, sitting in a big tub of ice water. I stir both the wort and the...

Living in the frozen north as I do, my basement temperature rarely goes above 60 in the winter, so I tend to leave the brew belt on all the time once the initial fermentation has started, and it maintains my brew at 65 to 68. I'm still trying to get the timing right, though. If I put it on too...