A fermented beverage where the majority of the fermentable sugars are derived from malted grains via mashing.
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4answers
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4answers
630 views
How to transport homebrew
I'm in the process of brewing several carboys of beer to serve at my wedding in a few months. The catch is that the wedding is on the other side of the country. I'm planning on taking a few days to ...
3
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2answers
626 views
How to brew a Low-Carb Beer?
What would you do differently if trying to brew a low-carb beer? Could it be done with an extract brew?
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2answers
1k views
How to smoke your malts
How would I go about smoking barley (no points awarded for answering "in a pipe")? My LHBS has a couple of smoked varieties, but not the exact type of smoke I want. I'd like a method that doesn't ...
6
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7answers
3k views
Cardboard alternatives to bottle cases for storage
A problem I hadn't really anticipated was how to store/transport bottled homebrew. I've been reusing old cardboard store-bought boxes, but they seem to be breaking down pretty quickly, especially ...
5
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6answers
694 views
Wort aeration on a budget
To aerate my wort I have been using a whisk, but i am worried about contamination. What are other more effective ways to aerate wort without spending too much money?
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2answers
2k views
What wattage element is needed for hot liquor tank/heat exchanger, and what about brew kettle?
I'm completely captivated by www.theelectricbrewery.com, love their directions, and have ordered the parts, so I'll have my experience soon, but what is your experience with selecting hot water heater ...
3
votes
5answers
484 views
Is it possible to do full boils without a propane burner?
I currently brew all-grain using a 7.5 gallon pot on a propane burner outside at a house I currently rent. However, I'm planning to move within the year to an apartment in the city and likely won't ...
4
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3answers
257 views
Post-Secondary Fermentation
I've heard mentions of people using tertiary, quaternary, quinary, etc fermentations. Does this really provide any significant benefit beyond secondary?
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3answers
751 views
How do you insulate a cooler based mash tun?
I have a Coleman 70 Quart Xtreme cooler that I've modified for my mash tun. I seem to be losing a lot of heat out the top. Are there any good ways to insulate it to help prevent heat loss?
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4answers
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What are some methods to increase extraction efficiency and consistency?
I've got some irregular sugar extraction efficiency problems. My efficiency is regularly low. I need your help. :) I get anywhere from 60% - 85%.
I've fine tuned my mill to the best of my ability, so ...
15
votes
4answers
5k views
How to add fruit to beer
What is the best way to add fruit to a beer? I'm afraid boiling it will break down the fruit too much (a muslin bag could fix this I guess), but I'm not sure how to add it to the fermenter without ...
14
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4answers
623 views
How do you cool wort?
More specifically, what methods exist to cool your wort after the boil, and what are there respective pros/cons?
7
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4answers
6k views
Why is our beer not carbonating?
We've made a few batches of beer and our recent batches have not ended up as carbonated as previous. I think the beer has been stored in a cooler place but I'm wondering if that is the only reason. ...
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9answers
4k views
How to add coffee/chicory to beer?
We have made a few coffee beers. Once we used a cheap coffee by brewing a strong pot and adding to the boil. It turned out very acidic. The next beer we brewer we went with a little higher OG 1.070 ...
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4answers
539 views
Reusing Yeast From previous Fermentation
When I finish fermentation I am left with a large amount of extra yeast in the bottom of the carboy.
Can I reuse this yeast in any way?
Hopefully to avoid buying yeast again every single batch?
7
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2answers
2k views
What effect do different types of yeast have when creating a recipe?
What happens when you use different types of yeast? Does it change the flavor? I'm not talking about mixing different types of yeast in the same recipe.
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6answers
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How likely is contamination in an average batch?
I sanitize everything; carboy, bottles, bottle caps, tubing, funnels, etc; because I was essentially told that my beer would turn to deadly poison without it.
I accept sterilizing the lot once ...
2
votes
1answer
191 views
Pumpkin Spiced beer
I was looking at your pumpkin beer recipe and I really want to brew that beer soon. The recipe sounds great, I just want to know the exact boil times and what exact time to add the ingredients, ...
7
votes
3answers
428 views
Bottling homebrew late
My guess is that my homebrew will be done fermenting while I am out of town. Is there any harmful effects if I don't bottle it until a few days after the fermentation process stops?
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votes
3answers
771 views
How do you degas an empty Sanke Keg?
When folks legally acquire Sanke kegs for conversion to kettles, mash tuns or HLTs, the first step is often to relieve the pressure inside the keg before dismantling the spear and valve.
How best is ...
6
votes
2answers
185 views
Best Resources on Getting Started?
I have several food allergies and a big one is malt. Because I thirst for a good beer once in a while and the difficulty of finding beer I can drink, I am entertaining the idea of brewing my own beer. ...
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2answers
930 views
Sanitation & Dry Hopping
Is there any risk of wort infection by not sanitizing hops before dry hopping?
3
votes
2answers
94 views
Soluble yeast estimation before carbonation
Any suggestions on how to estimate the amount of yeast that remains in the brew solution after standard transfer practices without using clarification? I know that some remain because of priming ...
1
vote
1answer
296 views
Day 2 of Primary Fermentation of beer
Is this what my primary fermentation should look like after a day???
It looks like my yeast has been sitting on top of foam..
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votes
2answers
173 views
Keeping my pale ale “pale”
I brew from extract, boiling on an electric stove (in an apartment). Every beer I've brewed has been darker than I expected, which isn't an issue most of the time as I generally prefer darker ...
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vote
2answers
905 views
When using campden tablets to dechlorinate water, how much sulfite makes it into the final beer?
I have a friend who is allergic to sulfites in wine, so he sticks to drinking beer. I use campden tablets to dechlorinate my water, at a rate of one tablet per 10 gallons. How much sulfite makes it ...
4
votes
2answers
671 views
How long will recipe kits with the yeast keep fresh?
I use recipe kits to brew five gallon batches of homebrew and would like to purchase a kit and keep it around during the winter to have when we are snowbound. My question is how long will they be good ...
5
votes
3answers
178 views
Where did the hops go?
A few weeks ago, I pulled some of an IPA I was making and force carbonated it so my friend and I could try some. While it was not the bitterest I have tasted, it was definitely an IPA. I bottled the ...
5
votes
3answers
223 views
Autosiphon not sealing
While racking beer to kegs today, my autosiphon started leaking air. Bubbles started at the bottom, and went throughout the tube. I assume that this is due to a poor seal between the pump portion ...
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3answers
1k views
Should I ferment a new batch directly on the yeast cake generated by the previous batch?
I'm going to re-use the yeast cake from a low-gravity batch to ferment a high-gravity batch.
Can I just put the wort directly on it? Does it then need to be agitated?
Is it worth the risk of ...
4
votes
2answers
242 views
Increasing Malt Aroma
How does one get more malt aroma out of a recipe?
If I want more roasty aroma I know I can add more roasted malt. But eventually, there is appoint where I can't have too much or the recipe itself ...
6
votes
1answer
126 views
Coriander steep technique
If I crack or grind coriander for a steep at the end of a boil, will it settle out or should I pour through a strainer when transferring to to primary? Should I add before or after flameout?
6
votes
2answers
325 views
Are residual starches bad for the beer?
I was reading another question here and it appears that the consensus is that the iodine test isn't all that useful if your recipe is good. But, while reading through everything, I had a thought: if ...
6
votes
4answers
819 views
Why would someone use Cascade for bittering over Amarillo?
Apparently, Cascade is commonly used for bittering, and I'm not sure I understand why someone would choose that over the very similar Amarillo, which I think is less common for bittering.
Cascade has ...
3
votes
3answers
459 views
I forgot to add my extract until the end!
So, I was brewing distracted, which I will never do again, did everything right...except I didn't remember to add the big jug of liquid malt extract to the wort, or hopped water in my case! You would ...
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votes
2answers
115 views
Amounts of various oils in hops.
I have a beautiful chart that shows the level of various hop oils in different hops, as well as their typical alpha acid percentages. Where can I find the raw data that would go into a chart like ...
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votes
2answers
402 views
Fruit Beer: When to rack to secondary?
Right now, I'm working on a peach wheat beer. I pitched about 5 days ago now, and the airlock stopped bubbling yesterday. I'm going to do a gravity reading later on today to see if it's finished. My ...
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votes
2answers
3k views
What is Fermcap-S and what does it do?
Lately I've been doing some very large boils -- 7 gallons in a 7.5 gallon kettle. To prevent boilovers, I've been using Fermcap-s. It's great, and I've had no boilover problems, but I have no idea how ...
6
votes
1answer
519 views
When to harvest wild hops?
Hi there fellow brewmasters! I have recently moved to all-grain brewing after two years of brewing with hopped extracts. The results are pretty good, and the whole process is a lot of fun, but I am ...
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votes
2answers
164 views
Will a cold steep extract the necessary elements from adjunct grains?
I'm wanting to brew a dry stout, but I am trying to save myself some time, so I am using extract, and ran across some discussions on cold steeping specialty malts. I'm fairly certain that a ~24h ...
5
votes
1answer
143 views
Berliner Weisse not souring
About 6 weeks ago, I made a simple Berliner Weisse. When I put it into primary, I pitched both yeast and the lactobacillus. It's been sitting in the primary ever since.
Yesterday, I took a taste ...
10
votes
4answers
443 views
Process for transfereing from boil kettle to fermenter
At the moment the most frustrating part of my brewday is getting the cold wort into the fermenter. Here is my process. I have a 20 litre saucepan that i use as a kettle that does not have a tap. At ...
3
votes
1answer
206 views
Controlling exothermic heat from primary fermentation with A/C cooling duct
In terms of brewing with Ale yeasts, I understand that fermenter temps can increase up to 10 degrees, or more, than the ambient room temperature. As a "cheap" method for keeping the temperature of the ...
7
votes
2answers
92 views
Belgian Fruit Beer Expectations
I am about to try a Kreik beer. This is a step beyond a Lamic, and I am having trouble locating actual sour Morello cherries. Will any variety of a sour cherry get roughly equivalent results?
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vote
4answers
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Summer Shandy, anyone ever made it?
Anyone ever tried to make a beer like Linenkugels Summer Shandy? Its a beer brewed with lemonade... and very tasty on a hot day!! Any suggestions on how it might be made?
5
votes
0answers
189 views
Bottle-priming post secondary fining? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Cold Crash and Finings
As mentioned in this question, I'm anticipating some trouble with a low-flocculating yeast, and one of the suggestions was to use gelatin for ...
8
votes
4answers
626 views
Steeping grain time
We are steeping 5# of grain. Is the time the grains should steep based on the weight? We were just going to do 30 mins. Is this the correct amount of time or should it be more or less? This is for an ...
2
votes
3answers
230 views
Does beer contain cannabinols?
Fellow brewmasters! I have a curious question for you. A friend of mine tried to convince me that the beer high is not entirely caused by alcohol. In particular, his theory is that since hops and ...
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votes
2answers
475 views
How do I get larger bubbles in my finished beer?
I keg and force carbonate, and my beer has really fine bubbles. Is there something that I can do (turn up the pressure, maybe) that will give me larger, coarser bubbles in the finished beer? Thanks!
