The bacteria tag has no wiki summary.
9
votes
6answers
5k views
Tap Water: Safe to use without boiling?
I made my first batch of beer over the weekend. I didn't have quite enough bottled water on hand to add to my wort to make 5 gallons, so I used tap water. I sanitized the hose sprayer on my sink by ...
6
votes
4answers
2k views
Whats the difference between yeast and bacteria?
I know that in a very general sense, yeast = good, bacteria = bad. But why is this? Do bacteria produce alcohol like yeast? Is yeast a subset of all bacteria, or vice versa?
6
votes
5answers
423 views
Is it necessary to heat honey when using it in cider?
I was going to buy some pasteurized, natural, no preservatives added cider and throw some honey in it to bump up the gravity. I plan on pitching some pretty voracious yeast, so figure any bacteria in ...
5
votes
4answers
517 views
Can a little human spit spoil fermented beer?
The other day, I was with my friend getting ready to bottle a batch of modified cream ale (our second homebrew so far). We were using an auto-siphon to transfer beer from fermenter to the bottling ...
2
votes
3answers
186 views
How to chill wort
I have made a few batches of beer from those home brew kits sold at Brew n Grow. When I cook the beer, I only am boiling 2.5 gallons instead of the whole 5, per instructions, and then I add the other ...
2
votes
3answers
413 views
Can you brew using a mini Yorkshire Square?
Is it possible to brew using the same method as a Yorkshire Square but at home? Since the entire thing is open to the air, it seems like it would be a lot easier to brew like this instead of spending ...
1
vote
1answer
762 views
What is the ginger bug, actually?
Recipes for spontaneous (wild) ginger ale sometimes refer to the starter as the "ginger bug". What is the ginger bug? Is it just an ordinary lactobacillus; is it a type of yeast? Is it something that ...
1
vote
1answer
240 views
End of Fermentation?
I emailed this to the Mr. Beer beermaster, but I figured I'd ask here as well.
For my Doppelbock 7.0, this Sunday will make it 3 weeks in the keg for fermentation. The previous beer I made was a pale ...
