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The first batch that I did all by myself I made a HoneyWeizen. I fermented 5 gallons in my 5 gallon carboy normally used for secondaries! By the way this was before I found this forum! Now I know wheat and honey beers should always use a blow off tube and at least a 6 gallon primary! Needless to...

I snake my tubing around the bottom edge of the bottling bucket and after I have a couple of inches of beer flowing from the auto siphon from my fermenter I slowly pour the priming sugar mixture into it. Having the tubing around the edge causes a slow swirling of the beer and sugar which helps...

In a real pinch grab a pair of pantyhose from your lady and cut off one of the feet and a little leg. Use that as a steeping bag. Not ideal but it works!

This could have been my post 2 months ago! I was concerned about the carbonation and head of my oatmeal stout as well. Now after a little over two months of bottle conditioning the carbonation has built up more and has a better head. Just wait it out!

Glad it's tasting better. Give it more time and the better it will become. That first week in the fridge allows any remaining yeasties to drop out and settle and tighten at the bottom which also prevents sediment in your glasses as well.

One thing I've learned in the 6 short months I've been doing this hobby, the longer I wait after I bottle, the better the beer gets. Just wondering why commercial brewed beer like Fat Tire doesn't seem to change any after it's bottled? Is their process so exact that the beer is always "as good...

Best advice I could give as a newer brewer myself is get more kits and fermenters and make more beer! You want an aggressive pipeline early on so your beer can sit and get better with age. Plus you'll have a variety of beers on hand ready to drink to choose from. Just when I think a beer that's...

My beers sometime have a strong alcohol type taste if I don't chill them long enough but I guess it could be called a metal type taste too at times. I now keep my beers in the fridge for at least a week before drinking and it seems to eliminate that taste. Might not be the same flavor experience...

I've learned more here than I ever did at my shop, like when they said as long as I had a 6 gallon carboy a blowoff tube wasn't necessary. I was cursing them at midnight when I was cleaning up honeyweizen off the floor! I think they all mean well though, but they do want to sell you stuff that...

Just threw back a Midwest copper ale an hour ago....like all beers it gets better with age. This was my 3rd brew, I did one week primary one secondary and then bottled. (I now am doing longer primaries after discovering this board!) It tasted OK, not "terrible" after 2 weeks in the bottle but it...

Thinking about this today as I was brewing...I love the buckets! Funny I bought 2 carboys but only use them if my bucket is in use...they're a breeze to clean and transfer from. Only drawback is not being able to see what's going on. I'll use the buckets for the lower gravity beers as it's more...

When I order from Midwest sometimes they'll send the dry yeast also even when you choose the liquid option. I assume they forget to pull the dry one from the kit when you upgrade.

What I've been doing is keeping 2 gallons of water in the refrigerator and I take them out when I have 15 min left of the boil. I use an immersion chiller until the wort gets to around 80 degrees. I then transfer the wort to the fermenter and then add the 2 gallons of still cold water and...

Try your local brewing shop. I went to the main one in Ft Collins and was prepared to buy some 22 oz bottles and the employee points to about 5 cases of used 22 oz bottles. He said take whatever you need, they're free, and people bring them to the store all the time! Saved me a ton of $$$ and...

I'm on my fifth batch and I am hooked! Love this hobby! Anyway when I sanitize buckets, fermenters, etc, I'll fill the entire vessel up to the brim with water and add Starsan so basically the entire vessel is soaking directly in the sanitizer. I know some of you simply add say one gallon of...

I've got a Holiday Brew sitting in primary that says for the best taste and to allow the flavors to blend and mellow to let it condition in the bottles for 4-6 months before drinking so I'd imagine most beers can sit that long. They say the longer the better but I always seem to polish them off...

Just curious as I read somewhere to not use soap to clean equipment as it may ruin the head of the beer. I use oxy-clean which some people say you shouldn't use either but I always have used it and haven't had any problems with it so I was wondering what the opinion is on that?

I finally got my method down to a science...I boil about 3.5 gallons and losing some in the boil I'll need to top off with a couple gallons of distilled water. I store these in my refrigerator and take them out of the fridge when I put my wort chiller in the pot to sanitize (20 min before flame...

I just did a honey weizen yesterday with 2 lbs of honey and had 2 blow offs last night and this morning with a conventional airlock. I went and bought a 1" tube and stuck it into the carboy. But I am only using a 5 gal carboy with little head space too. I don't think I'll ever brew anything...

...this forum saved my butt!!! Yesterday was my first solo brew. First brew I had an experienced friend show me the ropes. My brewing went great, you learn new things every time like don't touch the wort chiller coils at the top after you place it in the boiling wort even only 15 seconds...