Search results

So...as a converted wine maker, who's had to toss batches before, my beer making adventures have always used yeast starters. However, the recommendation seems to be around here to pitch dry yeast into the cooled wort, and its a "waste of time" to bother with yeast starters. I gave it a try...

Can you direct pitch? Yes. Will you be fine? Usually. Are starters hard to make? No. First time you toss a five gallon batch because the fermentation didn't take off but something else did, you'll probably make starters from there out. For me, it was my eighth batch of wine in 2003 that...

A little late to make a starter, but it's always recommended. 1. You know the yeast is alive and healthy. 2. You know that your yeast, and not something weird will overwhelm the brew. 3. The brew will take off quicker, and ferment quicker. I'm sure there's numerous other reasons, but these...

Also, check the wiki: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Bottle_bomb

Hmm. Grenades. My suggestion would be to get a face shield, leather gloves, open them all, and drink them immediately. Kidding aside, generally too much sugar in the prime, or it wasn't done brewing. Waaaay too much CO2 overpressurizing the bottle. Yeast basically eats sugar, pisses alchohol...

Realistically, so little brewing was done in the short period of time since you pitched that there are probably very few fusel alcohols formed (that's what gives it that light, hot, spicy taste). I expect you won't have any issues, since the time wasn't that long. Usually takes a while until the...

Temps affect brews significantly. Wort Chillers help to bring the temps down faster, but don't get anxious and pitch at high temps. It'll impart a light, hot, spicy taste you won't want. No wort chiller? Improvise. Ice baths, no chill, etc. Just search the forums. You might consider a swamp...

Ignore the kit directions. If you browse the forum, you'll see that over and over again, the best beer is made by leaving in the fermenter for at least 3 weeks, bottle, then let age in the bottle for 3 weeks. The kits directions were designed not to make the best beer possible, but to cater to...

Never tried myself. The sweetening would be the issue. Depends on whether you are kegging or bottling. Easy to do with kegging; simple potassium sorbate (wine brew chemical) will kill the yeast. Brew to dryness, kill the yeast, add sugar to sweeten to taste, and keg to carb. Natural carbing is...

Check your receipt, should list what they did. Quick and dirty guess, they converted the LME to roughly 9.5lbs of 2 row. Grain bill total is probably about 10.25 lbs, or so. Assuming usual equipment and about 70% efficiency, and what I think you are looking for: Mash In: 12.50 quarts water...

I've had my eye on this controller, from the DIY forum, as I troll the local listings for fridges and freezers- seems to work fine, and a heck of a lot cheaper than other controllers I've seen: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ebay-aquarium-temp-controller-build-163849/

Tougher to calculate; but I'd agree that the kettle design could vary the evaporation rate significantly. http://www.southshoregunitepools.com/resources/htms/evaporation.htm I think I'm following your point: an extreme example would be putting a lid on the pot- evap rate drops to nearly...

About 4%. 2nd graph down: http://www.ce.utexas.edu/prof/kinnas/319LAB/Book/CH1/PROPS/densgif.html

Did you tell beersmith to compensate for your equipment temps on the mash? (checkbox?)

Oh- missed it. Passed already ran the calcs- about 6% loss on his run.

Where's all the ex-nuke's at to chime in on the thermodynamics? I know there's a few lurking around here besides me. For my two cents, I'm leaning with Passed Pawn. Evap rates would be affected by surface area, but not boil. Boiling is a straight power equation to overcome the latent heat of...

Technically, you'd need to take a gravity reading after adding priming sugar, then again after it's bottle conditioned to get proper accuracy. However, we're dealing with relatively small amounts. Without both readings, you can only calculate anyway. Setting that aside, sugar brews out...

I just read a post about someone's first brew, and someone recommended serving at 41 from a room temp glass, which is interesting. Having tackled a first (and slightly young 3 weeks primary/1 week bottled) beer this last weekend (I know, wait three weeks in bottle- I set half aside as off...

Ingenuity abounds in homebrewing. More a matter of budget/exisiting spaces/existing equipment. Fridges work. Freezers work. A/C units work. Ice baths work. The long and the short is- where do you/SWMBO need it to be, what do you have to work with, what budget are you working with, and what...

Also, fwiw, I don't think it's done yet. Still a fairly "thick" brew at 1.020. What's the recipe's SG/FG?