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Now that I've got a fridge and thermostat, I'm thinking about cold crashing an ale that I have in primary. I'm about ready to transfer to secondary and wonder should I cold crash now prior to racking to secondary. Or is it better to do it after it's in secondary?

Well I've nearly completed my lagering setup (free fridge is running and thermostat is on order) so am getting my ducks in a row on brewing a lager. Looked through the forums and skimmed 'how to brew' and seems there's not any one correct answer on some of these things, so thought I'd throw...

After 2 years of internet buying I've finally found an LHBS near my home town. The Fermentation Trap (Fermentation Trap Brewing Equipment Wine Making Supplies) is located in Ruckersville, VA (a bit north of Charlottesville). Apparently they've been open a year or so, but I just found out...

Using Star San for the first time today and my carboy sits half full of foam. I recall reading on one of stickies not to 'fear the foam' just rack right on it. Just wanted some confirmation on this. Thanks

OK, I've got an IPA in primary and a few questions... I am planning to dry hop with pellets. I've used whole hops previously, so this is first time with pellets. I recall some time in the past someone commenting that when dry hopping with pellets the beer sometimes foams up. Is my...

I just got a bunch of bottles from a guy who gave up homebrewing a few years ago. In one of the boxes was a bag of bottle caps. I assume they are several years old and have been in his basement the whole time. Will the caps 'age out'? Would it be safe to use them?

I have a honey cream ale in primary and it looks very cloudy. I recall when making a fruited ale that I read some things about using pectic enzymes to reduce haze and I thought I saw in the threads that honey may have pectin induced haze as well. But searching back through the threads, I...

I was thinking of trying this recipe from the Complete Joy of Homebrewing but a couple of things look questionable. I was wondering if anyone has done this recipe and has figured out some things. There are 2 two types of boiling hops in the ingredient list - Perle and Saaz, but only the Perle...

OK, I've really loved brewing (started in Jan), but now with summer here, I find that the time required to brew a batch gets in the way of all the other stuff I want and/or need to do. So I'm looking for some ways to speed up the brew day process. One thing that always seems to take forever is...

OK, some I'm stepping out from my comfort zone of kits and building my first brew from a recipe (one of Papazian's brown ales). I ordered the steeping grains and realize now that they are whole. Per Papazian's Joy of Homebrewing, you can crush in a ziploc bag with a rolling pin. Is this...

I'm going to try dry hopping for the first time and a few questions. From what I've read, dry hopping into the secondary is recommended. I generally follow the 1-2-3 rule and leave the brew in secondary for 2 weeks, should the hops be added at the beginning? Also, I've seen some discussions...

There is nothing that I can add to this http://www.comics.com/comics/pearls/archive/pearls-20070402.html

Didn't want to steal the better bottle thread, but I was at Lowe's this weekend and noticed they sell 5 gallon bottled water for about $12. The bottle looks an awful lot like a Better Bottle. Any reason that you couldn't use this as a secondary?

I was going to say that my autosiphon sucks, but that could be taken two different ways. Anyway, I got the autosiphon as part of a starter kit for Christmas (thanks, Santa!), but I've never had great luck with it (the autosiphon, not the rest of the kit). Given all the cautions on being gentle...

My 2nd batch of brew is in the fermenter and after the 'fun' of bottling my first, I decided to try kegging for #2. The party pig looked to me like a simple and economical way to go, so I have 2 pigs waiting. The question that comes up now is how long I should cure the kegs before...

With my first batch of brew, there was a fairly thick layer of sediment at the bottom of my carboy (used only a primary). Being a bit paranoid, I avoided siphoning too close to the sediment when I transfered to the bottling bucket. The batch yielded only 42 bottles. Believing in 'waste not...

New guy to the home brew thing and bottled my first batch (Nut Brown Ale) about a week ago. I am doing my best to wait the 2 weeks for my first taste, but I have a question or two. How long will the beer stay 'good' in the bottle at room temp? What about in the fridge? Not that this will be...