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I made this cider about 18 months ago and checked the airlock regularly so it never ran out of vodka. Does this picture show a ring of mold in the headspace? If so, are there any steps to take when bottling to save it?

Would you use separate washing/sanitizing buckets, wash rags or premixed jugs of saniziter for sour beers vs regular ales/lagers? I've read a lot about different fermenters and bottling equipment, but not these cleanliness/sanitizer items.

If anyone does water kefir, can you comment on the use of potassium metabisulfite/Camden tablet to dechlorinate the water? http://www.culturesforhealth.com/water-kefir-grains-troubleshooting-faq-advice

I want to try a no-sparge beer by: 1. Mashing with typical water:grain ratio (1.5) and hold for 60 min 2. Adding as much sparge water (168F) to the mash tun as possible to not overflow 3. Stir, vorlauf and begin running off 4. Gently add the remaining (1 gallon) sparge water volume that...

Are there any historic (translated) recipes for Marzen & Bock styles from before crystal malts were made?

(4) cases of clear returnable 12oz bottles, $20 for all, 96 bottles total. Picture of 1 case below, others are the same but from Miller/Grainbelt.

I'm beginning swapping some beer and made a pair of 4-bottle boxes to initiate the swap that can be sent back to reuse - pic below. Not for shipping to contests because of the cost of loosing the boxes. The boxes are 10"x10"x10" and can hold a standard 9" tall bottle with 1/2" bubble wrap. I...

With Dryhopping, carbonation comes off the beer. Is this carbonation significant when it comes to calculating priming sugar?

I followed a recipe to make clear (partially) inverted beet sugar by using citric acid, minimal water and a 15 minute boil. I can list more specific weight/volume measurements, but a cooled sample pH of the invert sugar was 2.98 (freshly 2-point calibrated meter). I haven't used this in...

If using a secondary, most would recommend filling it to the neck. When it comes to dryhopping in a secondary with pellets with a carboy that is completely full (1/4" below the airlock), would you remove a few oz of beer before dumping in the hops? I'm sure I could switch from a stopper to a...

If you start with RO water the measures 22 ppm TDS (down from about 400 ppm TDS), and you add 0.5 g CaCl2 per gal of all brewing water, is it possible to calculate the brewing water TDS? I measured 160 ppm TDS for the senario above, but also used Campden and am unsure on it's effect on TDS...

I've noticed condensation on windows during the Winter when I brew smaller batches in my kitchen. My stove-vent EDIT (does NOT) vent to the exterior. I have a kitchen window about 4' away from my pot. Does anyone have experience using a fan in the window? Other than a cheap box fan, I'm...

I've been using gelatin in about 4oz of water added to a primary for clarity after cold crashing. This time I have a secondary that is full up to the neck. Has anyone ever had to remove beer from a carboy to use gelatin?

I've brewed 4 ESB's in 2012 and am combining things I liked best from each recipe. I'm planning on brewing the following to make a bigger, darker color ESB. Any critiques? DSmith's ESB Ingredients Batch Size (Gal): 6.00 Wort Size Total Grain (Lbs): 13.31 Anticipated Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.049...

In preparation for brewing a Dunkel with 99% Dark Munich malt (12L), I measured the pH in distilled water to know what to expect for a mash pH and provide the correct alkalinity by blending my tap water with RO water for the mash (100% RO water for sparge). Here is the result: Global Malt...

Here's an observation from the first time adding yeast at bottling. I plan to follow up with a second post when I repeat this with less yeast & a comparison picture of the yeast cake in the bottles after some aging. I added S04 yeast at bottling to about an 8% ABV beer that had a 6 week...

Here's my alternative to using upstairs closets to bottle condition in the late Fall/Winter/Spring when the basement gets pretty cold (down to mid 50's). It's also nice for storing a primary post active fermenation to free up my fermenation chamber for cold crashing or fermenting. I've been...

EDITED - Recipe OG bumped up to the Marzen category. I'm looking at making an amber lager and am curious if anyone has input: Weyermann Pilsner, Dark (12L) Munich & Vienna Single infusion @ 152F 90 min boil Bavarian Lager yeast

I have a Belgain Tripel that's about 10% ABV that was in primary for 2+months, secondary for 2+ months (1 month at near freezing) and now in thick bottles for 2 months with priming sugar to 4 vol of CO2, kept above 70F and inverted a few times to rouse the yeast. The beer is totally flat...

Is converting a mash from single infusion to decoction simply trial & error? I've experimented with the decoction step for mashout to get familiar with the process and now want to do a Hochkurz Double Decoction (145F maltose rest by infusion, 158F dextrinization rest by thick decoction, 168F...