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Yooper

Ale's What Cures You!
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This is a great place to start if you have ANY questions at all about brewing your own beer.

From Mr. Beer and extract kits to all-grain brewing, we welcome all new brewers who have questions or need advice on their equipment, techniques, fermentation, wort making, yeast, and more.

If you have a question, that means that others probably have had the same question too so no question is too silly. I promise. Ask us!

And to more experienced brewers, it goes without saying that we will be welcoming of those questions and be as helpful as possible in our answers. If someone feels that they can't be positive and helpful, they should refrain from posting in the Beginner's Forum. Ask me if you are unsure if something is appropriate- remember what your mother told you, "If you can't say something nice, then don't say anything at all!"

Feel free to message one of the admins or moderators if you have any problems with posting on the forum, or if you have any problems with navigating around the forum at all.

Cheers!
 
Yes, we experienced brewers have to think of when we started an what stupid things we did, think about it... and then reply.

New brewers - you may get a snarky response. I have seen some where the "snarky" response was in jest but the new brewer did not have the lingo or experience to see this. The new brewer went off the rails because of that remark and didn't really listen or take any advise given by others.

Also be advised that even newer brewers will also give advise sometimes not really good advise. Older brewers will give advise based on wrong or outdated knowledge.

Read all the responses, look for consensus. If only one person suggests something and everyone else does not corroborate, take that advise with caution.

As Yooper said, ask questions. The worst one is the one not asked.

And Welcome.
 
If you have a question, that means that others probably have had the same question too so no question is too silly. I promise. Ask us!

Great advice along with the others. One thing I found that helps me is searching my questions in the search engine box in the top right corner of the page.

Then I do this:

Read all the responses, look for consensus. If only one person suggests something and everyone else does not corroborate, take that advise with caution.
 
I literally just threw the gelatin in my beer without dissolving it like an idiot. How screwed am I?
 
I literally just threw the gelatin in my beer without dissolving it like an idiot. How screwed am I?
I would imagine it won't work but also won't hurt your beer. Possibly take abit to settle out. I would do it again this time dissolved in water. Cheers
 
I received a kit from the kids at Christmas only thing is it doesn't have a brewing instructions in it is a Denny's Rye IPA Extract kit that contains Columbus hops and Mt Hood hops. The recipes I have been finding calls for Summit and Palisade does anyone have this missing instructions
 
Hello you guys. I’m new to all this I’m not going to lie. Long story short I was in a really bad car accident, broke my leg in half.tib,fib, hip and pelvis. Doc said I may never walk again. I just started to walk again almost a year later. I’m not looking for sympathy or nothing in that nature. But just thought I’d share a little about myself. So I’ve been really interested in trying to Homebrew for the last year but as I said before my accident stopped me from moving forward. So here I am. So I’ve been researching things and just trying to take in everybody’s success and mistakes. Taking in basic knowledge and of course I gotten to things that I will say are too advanced for me and that I will not try until i learn a lot more. Anyways. I bought my equipment and a kit just to get my feet wet. I was looking over all my ingredients in my pale ale kit. I have my briess golden light dme and I also have my briess wheat dme. But here is where I’m gettting confused. It’s asking for BRIESS MUNICH DME 0.5lbs. but my kit has CARAPILS DME LIGHT 8oz(226g). I don’t know if they’re the same but I looked up BRIESS MUNICH DME and it’s the same exact color as my carapils dme. Like I said I’m a noob. If anybody can help it’s much appreciated.
 
Welcome Carlos and sorry to hear about your accident. I checked the Briess site and could not find Carapils DME. I did see Goldpils Vienna DME and am guessing that is what your kit was supposed to include. Vienna and Munich malts are quite similar and especially as a small flavor contribution would be very reasonable substitutes. I’d say brew on and use that Munich malt extract in place of the Goldpils extract when called for in the recipe.
 
Hi everyone.. first time posting. I been looking at things on here from my emails without being signed in. Signed in and found a lot more detail to all that is this site. I just thought I say I have been brewing but over a year now. All can syrup brew. I have done several replica of different brew as the reason I really started was to make beer like james squire my favourite because to expensive in shops now.. but I have also made feeny own like a mango beer and a cherry ale and double sars dark ale.. quite good beers. I have been thinking and wondering how much more work and how hard it is to go into next step doing the full process with the grains and all. Also what else need to do it that way and rough cost. I have got my home beer set up to point of kegs..
 
Hi Ashley, welcome!
It's not very hard or expensive to go to grain brewing. Look at BIAB, you can often use the same kettle you have with a 5 gallon paint strainer. If you buy your recipes in kit form, or weighed and crushed at the homebrew store, you won't need a scale or mill. But an inexpensive scale, thermometer, hydrometer and corona mill open up the wide world of brewing. You can do this, many thousands of others have. Let us know what equipment you already use, browse the BIAB section of this forum, and fear not.
 
Hi everyone!

Love this forum and site. :)

I have just got back into home brewing after about 3 years off (Only made about 6 brews all up) so am in need of a bit of a refresher at this point in the proceedings.
I have made my beer in a single fermentation bin and it stopped bubbling 6 days ago, I have added my gelatin and let it rest for a further three days. the beer it'self is sitting on a heat pad at a constant 20*c. This morning I added my aroma hops to the beer through the little hole at the top of the fermentation bin.

So, my questions are -
Do I now cool the beer with the hops in it?
Do I leave it on the heat mat for a few days then cool it?
Do I just take it off the heat mat and let it sit at room temp (Anything from 5*c to 16*c as am in the middle of a New Zealand Winter)
How long do I leave the hops in there to do their thing?

Thanks for the help/advice!

:ban:
 
Welcome back. But, you have done things in the wrong order. You to let the beer finish, dry hop, (your aroma addition), chill, THEN add the gelatin and cool it close to freezing if possible then package. Adding the gelatin to warm beer will not do much.

Dry hop is usually done somewhere between 3 days and 7 days. I do most of mine 5 days, but also if I dry hop in a keg I put them in and never take them out until the keg kicks.

If you can control the temperature of the fermentation with the heat pad (temperature controller), Starting an ale near 18c until fermentation slows (3-5 days) then raise the temperature to about 21c for a few days. 20 c is not too warm though as long as the temperature doesn't go above that during active fermentation. After fermentation ends and your dry hop is done, you can do your gelatin and cold crash or wait for it to get pretty clear and bottle it.
 
My turn for the newbie question :D. I've seen a lot of mentions of secondary fermentation and bottle buckets. Can someone explain these please? Probably been asked before but I'm on the app, and the bus heading home.
 
My turn for the newbie question :D. I've seen a lot of mentions of secondary fermentation and bottle buckets. Can someone explain these please? Probably been asked before but I'm on the app, and the bus heading home.

Secondary is moving the fermenting beer into another carboy, usually with less headspace to avoid oxidation for fermentation to finish and for the beer to clear. There is some debate as to whether this step is necessary and I think the general concensus is that it is not typically used unless you're putting some type of adjunct (read: fruit). Otherwise, most feel it is an unecessary step that only adds potential for oxidation and/or infection. It's really up to you though.

A bottling bucket is just a bucket with a spigot that you transfer your beer into and add your priming agent, usually sugar disolved in some water, which will then be consumed by the remaining yeast in the bottles thus providing carbonation.
 
My turn for the newbie question :D. I've seen a lot of mentions of secondary fermentation and bottle buckets. Can someone explain these please? Probably been asked before but I'm on the app, and the bus heading home.

Secondary fermentation is a misnomer in today's homebrewing. No fermentation takes place. It is just a clearing step. It is becoming commonplace to skip the step entirely because it clears the beer very little in comparison to just leaving the beer in primary. Transferring to secondary also adds the risk of oxidation and introducing contaminates.

Bottling buckets are just a bucket with a spigot that makes bottling easy. With that you can batch prime. Add your priming solution into the beer as it is filling the bucket. The easiest way to bottle is to put the bucket on a counter, use a short piece of tubing to connect the bottling wand to the spigot then fill the bottles by raising the bottle on the wand to fill.
 
test
 

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help!
No fermentation.
its been slighty over a week, the airlock and everything is secure. But no bubbles whatsoever.
I thought maybe the yeast went dorment from the basement so I carefully brought my gallon upstairs. Any idea where to go from here or start over?
its a hoppy wheat, has a nice color. I cant seem up upload a photo
 
Hello,
I'll take what you said as no krausen (foam on top of the beer) either. Did you take a gravity reading at the beginning? That will be good to know if warming it to room temperature is unsuccessful. You can give it a swirl or two.
Knowing ambient temperatures would be useful.
But you can start with what you did. Keep in touch.
 
If you haven't already done so, I'd put it on a heat pad and bring the hoppy wheat up to temp. [emoji3]
Bring it up to 22 - 28°c for wheat beer (higher temperature for fruity wheat hop flavor) but check that that's not going to smash your yeast!
 
help!
No fermentation.
its been slighty over a week, the airlock and everything is secure. But no bubbles whatsoever.
I thought maybe the yeast went dorment from the basement so I carefully brought my gallon upstairs. Any idea where to go from here or start over?
its a hoppy wheat, has a nice color. I cant seem up upload a photo
Did you activate the yeast first, what type of yeast?
 
Ok, so first batch is on the barrel. I have several Apple trees in my backyard and decided to start with some simple hard cider. After picking, chopping, and pressing, I pasteurized a gallon and a half and transferred to my fermenter. Initially I was concerned about the slow activity from my airlock, but after reading through many of the posts I feel more comfortable that the yeast are eating heartily!

I neglected to take an initial OG. My batch has been in the fermenter for 4 days now. Is it safe to crack three loud and take a gravity reading? If so, is it appropriate to add more sugar if desired for higher alc content?

Had anybody brewed hard cider that has some good tips/tricks?

What about adding pectic for clarity? Can that be fine after initial fermentation?

Thank you for any and all help!
 
Hi Murph, welcome aboard! Sorry that no one has been along to answer your questions. I suggest you read the cider section for help. If you don't find answers perhaps start a thread there with your questions. I haven't fermented cider since I was a kid, so I can't help.
 
Ok, so first batch is on the barrel. I have several Apple trees in my backyard and decided to start with some simple hard cider. After picking, chopping, and pressing, I pasteurized a gallon and a half and transferred to my fermenter. Initially I was concerned about the slow activity from my airlock, but after reading through many of the posts I feel more comfortable that the yeast are eating heartily!

I neglected to take an initial OG. My batch has been in the fermenter for 4 days now. Is it safe to crack three loud and take a gravity reading? If so, is it appropriate to add more sugar if desired for higher alc content?

Had anybody brewed hard cider that has some good tips/tricks?

What about adding pectic for clarity? Can that be fine after initial fermentation?

Thank you for any and all help!

I would just leave them be at this point. The OG is what it is at this point. I wouldn't add sugar, but there's no reason you can't.

Pectic enzyme works pre-fermentation, I believe.

Like @JohnSand said, though, post this in the cider subforum and you'll get more responses.
 
Hi Murph, welcome aboard! Sorry that no one has been along to answer your questions. I suggest you read the cider section for help. If you don't find answers perhaps start a thread there with your questions. I haven't fermented cider since I was a kid, so I can't help.

Thanks John for the reply!! Man, I feel waaayyyy behind the power curve now if you were brewing as a kid!
 
I would just leave them be at this point. The OG is what it is at this point. I wouldn't add sugar, but there's no reason you can't.

Pectic enzyme works pre-fermentation, I believe.

Like @JohnSand said, though, post this in the cider subforum and you'll get more responses.


Thanks Pappers!! Good information. I hadn't found the cider thread yet so I'll look for it.
 
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