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Hi, I made a stupid mistake yesterday while brewing Northern Brewer's Tripel. The recipe is below. Basically, I switched the hops around. So when I should have added Summit, I added Saaz. And vice versa. Does anyone think I need to take action or wait to see how it turns out. Thanks...

Recently I've been having a problem with over-carbonated beer. I'm pretty careful with sanitation, so I'm hoping it's not bacteria, but I guess it's possible since it has been the last 3 brews. But, the last three brews have also all used the same yeast US-05. I'm ashamed to admit that I...

I've been brewing for about 2 years with pretty consistent success and have never worried much about temperature. Basically, I keep my house at 66 degrees (F) when brewing. However, the thermometer on my carboy always reads 76 - 78 during the first day of fermentation for an ale and usually...

Hi, I'm planning to brew a basic American Wheat from Northern Brewer tomorrow. My girlfriend wants to add orange...so we are adding orange. But, I'd like to do it correctly. I've read some recipes that call for orange peel or orange zest added to the boil. And, some that call for orange...

I moved my Winter Warmer to the secondary about a week ago after it was in the primary for 3 weeks. I sampled it at the time and noticed that it was sweet (not malty, but sugary). The original gravity is 1.069 and the gravity reading for the past three days has been 1.040. The gravity doesn't...

I'm not expecting anyone to have a solution, but I figured it's worth a try. I'd like to salvage a pumpkin ale that I'm afraid I ruined. The original recipe called for 10 pounds of pumpkin in the mash and 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice. During the rack to secondary, I noticed that it didn't taste...

Hi, A few days ago I racked my pumpkin brew from the primary to secondary. It had been in the primary for 2 weeks. I sampled the beer and was surprised that I didn't get any pumpkin taste or aroma. In addition to the recipe below, I added about 10 pounds of fresh roasted pumpkin to the...

Hi, I brewed a Wee Heavy last week using the following recipe: 14 lbs. Simpsons Golden Promise 0.5 lbs. Simpsons Crystal 0.375 lbs. Dingemans Biscuit 0.125 lbs. Simpson's Roasted Barley I used dry yeast after hydrating it according to the package instructions. I did a batch...

Well, I think I know what went wrong, but I'm not sure how I could have prevented it. Also, this was not my first beer or my first big beer - I've dealt with blow-off before. The explosion occured 24 hours after starting the primary - it was an Imperial Stout. So, got the stopper and...

I'm working on the design of my mash tun for all-grain brewing based on the John Palmer book (i.e. website), and there is one detail that I'm having trouble with. The Palmer method for using a picnic cooler as the mash tun calls for copper piping along the bottom of the cooler to extract the...

I went down in the basement this morning to check on my wee heavy on its second day in the primary. The foam from the fermentation had risen up through the bottle neck and into the airlock. The airlock still seemed to be working. Although the water in the airlock was the color of my beer, it...

I just finished a Belgian Dubbel and it is basically flat. This is now the second beer I've done with this problem. My first beer, however, (an IPA) had a perfect head. My Dubbel was in the primary for 10 days and in the secondary for 6 weeks. I tried the first beer 5 days after bottling and...

I've read in some recipes and that the yeast is "cultured from a bottle of Chimay" or "cultured from the yeast cake...". Can anyone explain how to do this? Also, if you culture from a specific beer or yeast cake, do you have to use the yeast in the same type of brew? Thanks, E

I just moved my Belgian Dubbel to the secondary. As usual, I didn't get a great yield from my siphoning efforts. I guess this is another question. I never seem to get all of the beer out when going from the primary to the bottling bucket - I always end up leaving about 1/2 above the bottom...

I'm working on a Belgian Dubbel. This is my third beer overall and my first "big beer". I came home from work today and immediately ran upstairs to check on it in its third day of fermentation. I was surprised by what I saw. The yeast cake, which had started to fall in day 2, was back in...

I'm on my 3rd brew (Belgian Dubbel) and I just added it to the primary fermentor. I decided to use the hydrometer this time and I want to make sure I'm reading it correctly. After I added the wort to the fermentor, I took a sample, place it into the tube that comes with the hydrometer and...

I've done two beers so far - an IPA and an Irish Red Ale - both beginner brews and my kit with glass carboy and plastic bottling bucket has sufficed. Now, I'm interested in doing more advanced beers such as a Belgian Dubbel that call for 2-stage fermentation. So, my question is: can I do this...

I have two questions I was hoping to get some feedback on: 1. I used B-brite for 30 minutes thinking it was all I needed to clean my fermentor. But, I learned today at the local brew shop that B-brite is only a cleanser and not a sanitizer. I didn't know there was a difference before. So...

I just tasted my first batch and there is definitely one or maybe more than one flaw, but I'm not sure what's wrong. First off, the beer is 4 days post bottling. I know it's early, but I couldn't wait. I plan to give the rest of the bottles a few more weeks. Also, I didn't chill the beer...