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It's the draught bottles with the nitrogen widget in them that say to drink from the bottle. It has to do with the shape of the widget; it is kind of torpedo shaped and stays upright in the bottle and the nitrogen is released from the bottom of the widget when you tip the bottle up to drink...

I'm not familiar with the dummies guide, but I can assure you that most home brew will last longer than a year in the bottles. And some beers can last much longer than that, according to Charlie Papazian, "skillfully made barley wines can be aged for over 25 years!" (The Complete Joy of Home...

Yeah, a week ago, I cooled down my honey amber wort too much...I got it to warm up to around 68 degrees F, then I pitched a Wyeast Activator pack, and it appears to be going just fine. Cheers! -Rick Primary: Honey Amber Ale Secondary #1: Oatmeal Stout Secondary #2: empty Bottled/Aging...

I learned about this trick from a fellow home brewer. I wasn't too keen on labling my bottles unless for a special occaison as it would simply add another step to my least favourite part of brewing: cleaning and sanitizing the bottles. However, if you get a good collection of homebrews going...

A friend of mine who has been brewing longer than I, likes to keep a 6-pack behind from every brew he does to save. Then when he throws homebrew parties, he can crack open some of the older brews for what he calls "vintage tasting." In his upcoming party, he's having some vintages that I think...

Another question along the same lines...How is the yeast affected if you cool the wort too much, say 65 degrees F and you pitch when the liquid ale yeasts recommend 70-75 degrees F for pitching? Cheers! -Rick Primary: Honey Amber Ale Secondary #1: Oatmeal Stout Secondary #2: empty...

I use a dial thermometer that clamps to the side of my brew pot, it fast accurate readings. I think it gives faster readings than the floating ones, and you don't have to worry about shattering it if you're clumsy. Cheers! -Rick Primary: Honey Amber Ale Secondary #1: Oatmeal Stout...

So far, I've just brewed kits taking very few liberties to change the instructions/recipe, and I call them by what the kit says. I just feel weird giving them a name of my own if I didn't have a hand somewhere in the ingredients column, but that's just me. Cheers! -Rick Primary: Honey...

In the "Brewing with Limes" thread (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=11843) cweston says that he thinks boiling the lemon zest added a harsh lemon flavour...I can only imagine that oranges would behave similar to lemons and limes....so, you might consider only "dry hopping" the...

I agree with D*Bo, you should definately have some tests run on the water first, and if you're not doing a full boil, I'd boil all the water you plan to use beforehand, to make sure you kill off any bacteria/wild yeast the rain happened to pick up along the way. Cheers! -Rick Primary...

You needn't worry. When my dad started brewing, he didn't even know about Irish Moss, and all his beers tasted good. The only difference I can see when you use or don't use irish moss is the look in the glass...I can't notice any effect on the flavour. To quote Charlie P. "Relax. Don't worry...

9 lbs. for the strawberries doesn't sound that crazy, though I've never brewed with strawberries myself...A friend of mine tried modifying a light honey ale kit by adding fresh blueberries (I think it was only a couple pounds...not quite sure). Anyway, he thought he was adding a lot of...

I've been looking for a good cider recipe online and I've found this: http://www.stoutbillys.com/stout/recipens/(Flat)/5EE99DF6.htm which I thought looked pretty good. I've never made cider before and I wanted to ask a few questions before my first attempt. Would that be a good recipe, or...

I've not ever tried something like this before. Over oxidizing the beer shouldn't be a problem for the primary. I would suggest when you rack to the secondary that you combine the split batches into one 5 gallon carboy to reduce oxidation. I can't think of a reason this wouldn't work, but you...

The general rule of thumb is 1 week in the primary, but you shouldn't really run into any problems if you rack earlier, so long as the krausen has fallen. Although, I have found that one very important ingredient in good beer is patience. Cheers! -Rick Primary: Honey Amber Ale Secondary...

One thing I've found is most kits come with 3/4 C (5 oz.) of corn sugar for priming which I find doesn't produce a satisfactory carbonation, so I use an additional 2 Tablespoons of corn sugar when priming, and I seem to get the perfect carbonation that way. Cheers! -Rick Primary: Honey...

Most sources say not to have more than about 30% of the fermentable sugars be honey, or you will lose a lot of the beer characteristics of your brew. Cheers! -Rick Primary: Honey Amber Ale Secondary #1: Octane IPA Secondary #2: Oatmeal Stout Bottled/Drinking: American Amber Ale

If the carbonation isn't enough for your liking after you give the beer a couple more weeks in the bottle, I can offer a couple suggestions: 1. Are the bottles sitting directly on a cold basement floor? If so, find some way to elevate them off the floor. 2. Did you use 3/4 C (5 Oz.) corn...

When my dad brewed his first IPA he opened a couple bottles to share at Christmas after it had only been in the bottle for 2 weeks. It was pretty much undrinkable...we poured most of the two bottles down the sink. My dad was actually ready to stop brewing it was that bad! But he waited, and 2...

I wouldn't rack until the krausen falls. Higher gravity beers, like Russian Imperial Stouts or Barleywines tend to need more time in the primary than your standard ales. If you rack while the krausen is still there, you risk mixing the krausen into your beer which would cause off flavours in...