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I racked my cider over to a secondary after about a month, and it has been in the secondary (with virtually no headspace) for the past 5 months. I plan to bottle condition/carbonate. Question: is there likely enough yeast still in suspension or should I add some yeast before bottling? If I...

I am about to purchase a refrigerator or freezer for a fermentation chamber. There are obviously pros and cons to each. The freezer is an easy plug into an external controller like the STC or Inkbird, but requires finding one without an automatic defrost (I want an upright). A...

I am trying cider for the first time. Used D-47 yeast (rehydrated). Been in the primary for two weeks and still bubbling about 1 bubble every 4 seconds. Fermentation started within 4 hours. OG was 1.060. I have not taken a gravity reading since still actively fermenting. Is this normal...

Help! I have two hogs that I need to butcher. One of them needs to go immediately. My dilemma. I had planned to do it myself about 3 months ago but I got deployed. Now it is 95 degrees so I need to find a reliable butcher. Ideally, I would like to find a good butcher near Fredericksburg...

I am headed to Ft Sam Houston in San Antonio so I am looking for good breweries to visit (preferably ones serving food for dinner) and hotel recommendations within walking distance of those breweries (I don't mind a 20-30 minute walk for good beer). Also, if there are any outstanding beers that...

I am headed up to St. Paul next week. Any recommendations on which brewery(s) I should hit? I am not sure how many days I will be there so if there is a decent hotel located within walking distance of a couple would be even better. I'll need to eat (and taste local beers). Of course I will...

I am getting a bit frustrated. My last few batches have been phenomenal when I open the first bottle, but the second is fair and the third is OFF. I made a hefe weizen and the first bottle was perfect. But after another week they all had such a terrible solvent like, hot fusel alcohol type...

I am about to purchase a mill and have pretty well settled on the MM2 but curious if this will crack corn as well. I would like to supplement my chicken feed with home grown corn but need to crack it first. Anyone doing this? Recommendations on rollers...standard vs. SS vs. their industrial...

I would like to have a mill for crushing grain for brewing. I would also like to have a mill for grinding corn into meal or wheat into flour. Can I do both with a single mill? What do I need to look for? Any recommendations? I tend to shy away from single purpose machines. I also prefer...

Although I have always wanted to make my own syrup, I have not lived in the right area. However, my mother in law started making syrup last year. It turned out pretty good but hoping to get her on her way to perfection. I gave her an extra hydrometer I had and she got a fancy ss "trough" to...

I have been brewing beer for a couple of years now but have never brewed mead...mostly because of a lack of good local honey at a reasonable price. I have made the first step in solving that issue. I just acquired a ton of secondhand beekeeping equipment. I think I have enough to set up 6...

Not sure which section to post this question so I'll try here. I want to make some traditional German pretzels. When we lived in Europe my daughter loved these. I can't seem to find them in the US. From what I can tell, the traditional recipe calls for barley syrup. My assumption is...

I just acquired a (FREE) chest freezer that will become my new fermentation chamber. This will also allow me to cold crash, which I have never been able to do in the past. Question: assuming that I am going to bottle, will cold crashing cause all of the yeast to drop out so that I cannot...

Since this really does not fit into a standard category, looking for advice on carbonation level. Although if "may" go a bit lower, current stats: FG 1.014, 7% ABV, cinnamon/clove/mace added to boil, WLP500, dark amber color. I am thinking moderate to low carbonation, but not sure with the...

Just a friendly reminder to calibrate often. I brewed a pumpkin ale a couple of weeks ago and mashed at 153 degrees, or so I thought. Last night, while I was boiling wort for a starter I decided to calibrate all of the thermometers, including the one I use for brewing. It was reading 2...

I brewed a pumpkin ale on 11 Oct (OG 1.067) and I am fermenting at around 68 degrees. The airlock was bubbling within 5-6 hours (I used a 1.2L starter) and by day 2 it looked like it was boiling and the fermenter temp was up to 81 degrees. By day 3 fermentation was slowing and temp dropping...

Anybody growing barley, rye or wheat on a small scale? I am thinking about 1-2 acres. Is it worth the trouble? Also, any recommendations on a good book or source for info regarding what varieties will grow in my well-drained, slightly acidic, clay ridden, dry soil? Oh, and it gets really hot...

I brewed a honey stout and it seems to have a background sort of tart flavor. It is not apparent in every sip. It is a taste that I noticed in several beers brewed by a friend who only used extract kits. Basically this is a milk stout to which I added 2lbs of honey at flameout. OG was...

Is there a table somewhere that has all of the yeasts available broken down by temperature range? I am sure I am not the only one here that does not have a temperature controlled fermentation chamber, so I am restricted to basement temps. Although they fluctuate over the course of the year...

When I made my hop trellis, I only ran a single twine drop per hill/rhizome (1 rhizome/hill). Is that adequate? My hop growing book said to trim off all but one or two bines per rhizome and train it/them onto the twine. If I leave only one bine, no problem. If I leave two, can I train both...