Search results

Wow, I never thought of a beer as a weather predictor but now that you mention it we did have a big storm, with a 20 degree temperature drop, last night. Yet another wonderful advantage to homebrewing! So, do you think I should go ahead and bottle my beer and see what I get?

I've run into a setback while brewing my Irish Red. My thermometer stopped working while boiling the wort so I was unable to read the temp of the wort when I pitched the yeast. The carboy was warm, but not hot, to the touch and the WYeast packet was swollen when it was pitched. After about 24...

Hey everyone, I'm working on an Irish red brewed with molasses and some dark rum to the bottling bucket to taste. I was wondering about adding some light brown sugar to the bottling bucket as well for carbonation. Do you think this would be too much flavor or redundant flavors? Any success or...

How much corn sugar should I use when bottling my Irish Red Ale to get it to style? 4 oz? Slainte

I was planning on hanging the drape in the middle of an empty field held up by 4 posts on each corner. I would then cut a small hole in the middle of the drape, attach a sheet of muslin cloth under the hole and place a food grade plastic bucket under the hole. That would remove most of the gross...

I'm thinking of adding some oak chips soaked with rum to a 5 gallon batch of basic irish red. When should I add the chips and how long should I let everything sit to get a best flavor? Also, how many chips should I use?

I'm new to brewing and a tad short on cash. I would like to try brewing a fruit beer, but a lot of the recipes I'm finding call for a secondary fermenter. Could I siphon my beer from my primary (6 gallon carboy) to a bottling bucket, cover, clean and resanitize my primary and refill it for use...

Yooper, when you say .75 volumes and 4.5 volumes do you mean .75 ounces and 4.5 ounces corn sugar per gallon or is it a measure of CO2 levels? I just wanted to clarify. What would be the maximum level for safe bottling?

I work in a hospital so I have access to sterile drapes that I was planning to use to make a large, sterile catch basin in a large field to prevent run off. Also, I'm in Vermont so there isn't a lot of environmental hazards or acid rain to worry about, but, just in case, who would I contact to...

Thanks for all the responses. I think I'm going to just enjoy the beer I have left. I think it's really good, just a little flat. Enoch's post has me a bit worried about adding anything to the bottles. I used the amount of priming sugar called for in the recipe, so maybe Kepow is right and I've...

would using red wheat instead of white wheat change the color of the beer?

It seems like it's been raining every day this summer here in VT. I'm thinking I may put it all to good use. Can anyone think of a reason not to use fresh rainwater for brewing?

I went back and looked at some of the posts where I read this and I guess it's more of a wine/mead/cider thing.

What are people referring to when they say talk about stabilizing beer? Is this something you do just when you're kegging?

Thanks for the information. Next time I will measure the sugar by weight instead of cups and be sure to use the right amount. Yooper, the beer is certainly drinkable, it's just that it's more like a sweetish tea that will get me buzzed rather than beer. I'll just chock it up to a lesson learned...

The beer was in the carboy for 10 days and then in bottles for 4 weeks, give or take. I opened the first bottle at 1 week and have been trying a bottle every few days to get a feel for the maturation. I haven't noticed a change in the carbonation. Do you think it needs longer then a month to...

Hey, I recently brewed my first batch of homebrew, a southern English Brown Ale. I used a yeast starter from a friends batch due to a unforeseen closure of the local HBS. I used 1/2 cup of corn sugar for bottling 5 gallons of beer. After opening a bottle, I noticed that the flavor was great but...

What temperature would you suggest? I kept the bottles in my living room which was in the high 60's pretty consistently. I'm going to use new yeast for my next batch for sure.

I fermented the beer for 10 days and bottled it about 4 weeks ago. I started drinking them about a week out to get a better idea of the maturation process and I haven't noticed an increase in carbonation since the first bottle.

Does a beer made from a caffeinated beverage remain caffeinated? I realize that the amounts of caffeine are so low that a bottle of coffee porter, for example, wouldn't be the same as a cup of coffee. I'm just curious if the yeast or alcohol reacts with the caffeine. Slainte!