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I let the beer finish fermenting and then rack onto the chips for a few weeks and then bottle. My thinking is, and I could be wrong, is that the alcohol on the chips (and if you add the bourbon the chips were soaking in- as I do) could make the yeast poop out early, making you miss your FG...

Out of curiosity, what would "a noticeable harsh bite at the end of a swallow" mean? thanks

I know that I’m coming late to the dance here, but I mainly brew 2 or 3 gallon batches for a number of reasons. What I really like is that I get to brew more often, which means that my ADD brain forgets less between batches. It also means that I can tweek or modify a recipe while it is still...

You are definitely full to the brim there… but I don’t see how. I routinely fit 4Lbs of grain into a two gallon cooler for my 1 gallon test batches… I wonder if someone at the shop forgot to change the units back to LB’s from KG’s…

As others have said, Lagers take time, but I certainly understand the desire to have it now. I know that this probably will not be much help to you now, but you could brew a Fauxtoberfest. Sure, it won’t be as good as true Oktoberfest, but if you are careful, it will be close… and at least...

I did not make a starter but its only a 2gal test batch Sorry should have said that. Thanks for the help.

Hi guys. I need a little help here. So I made my first ag lager yesterday and I'm worried that the yeast may have arrived DOA. I used Wyeasy 2124 in the smack pack. When the package arrived, the cold pack that came with it was warm. When I smacked h pack it didn't puff up much (if at all)...

Please do- It really helps

Hi all. As I am moving from brewing other people’s tried and true recipes to experimenting with my own recipes, I find myself wondering if you can over pitch yeast. I know that you can under-pitch, and that can cause problems- particularly with lagers, but what about adding too much yeast? I...

You can use alcohol- I use Everclear for a number of chores. Starsan will work also. For fresh fruit that I use for my meads, I use distilled white vinegar. Just give them a little soak and then a rinse.

Hi all. So, when it comes to hops, can you interchange leaf and pellets at the same weight? In other words, will an ounce of leaf hops bitter or add aroma the same as an ounce of pellets? Does the boil time change? Thanks in advance

Just a thought from a noob here- But wouldn’t the last yeast cells to go dormant also be the ones with the highest alcohol tolerance? So, if your goal was selecting that particular trait, choosing cells from the secondary could be a good thing… right? Or is my thinking off base?

Just remember- more than three times and you're playing with it. Back to the OP's question- I let the wort cool in the bottling bucket on the kikchen counter, and then open the spigot and let gravity aerate my wort for me.

Soaking in vodka will pull a lot of the alcohol soluble esters out of the fruit- aka the flavor and scent compounds that, in this case, you want. You would probably have to use the vodka, as it now contains the good stuff. Another method that will work is to soak them in a distilled vinegar or...

For cheap sanitation, you can just add 1 tablespoon of regular strength non-scented house-hold bleach (AKA Clorox) to a gallon of water and let the items soak for 15-20 min. This is after a good scrub, of course.

DUDE! Totally awesome thread. So helpful. If brewers had a Nobel prize, I would definitely nominate you. Keep up the good work.

Ok, I should probably clarify- I have plenty of fridge space for the bottles once the beer is done fermenting. The reason that I am making a lager is that I have a weird allergy to many ales and wines. :( So I am going off of what I know that I can drink. I don’t want 5 gallons of beer...

Ok guys, time for my dumb question of the day: Can I brew a good lager without a dedicated, temp controlled fridge? I have a cool (temp, not style) basement that hovers around 60-65 degrees. I want to brew a light lager, like Grolsch or Stella. I have an insulated chamber that I made from 2...

Hi guys, Got another noob question here. What brews are the most forgiving, aka, which ones are the hardest to mess up? Are there some recipes that will tolerate a new brewer’s mistakes, and some that need stricter control? For my first batch I was thinking that I would try an American Pale...

What about "cold conditioning"? I was reading (I can't remember where, as I have been reading every thing that I can find about brewing) that you should refridgerate the bottled beer for at least a week before enjoying. a nother source said a min of 48 hours? Any thoughts? Thanks again-