Ways of using tools and tricks to accomplish a task. May refer to any portion of work during any stage in the brewing or fermenting process.
8
votes
3answers
526 views
Is There A Way To Get Root Beer Taste/Smell Out Of Kegging Equipment?
I've since learned better, but when I first got my kegging setup, I put root beer on one of the lines. After that keg was empty, I decided to put soda water in instead. Unfortunately, the root beer ...
1
vote
1answer
99 views
Does kegging require a fridge
I was planning on building myself one of these for the summer: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/portable-igloo-cooler-kegerator-172047-post1990392/
I currently bottle all my beer and don't own any ...
2
votes
1answer
73 views
Brewing with Tonka Beans
I am planning a recipe with Tonka Beans. At what point should I add them and approx. how many?
I know that vanilla is usually added after primary.
Should I do the same with these or can I add them ...
8
votes
6answers
3k views
How to strain wort before primary fermentation
I recently made a big beer (Dogfish Head 90 minute clone) with an OG around 1.11. I had never tried to strain wort before moving to a primary fermenter but thought it would be a good idea since this ...
11
votes
8answers
1k views
Is it important to weigh down a hop bag for dry-hopping?
If so, what kind of weight should I use? Should it be enough to sink the bag to the bottom of the carboy?
3
votes
5answers
429 views
How much weight to add to a dry-hop bag?
It sounds like the best place for the bag of hops should be somewhere in the middle on the carboy (or other container). This will mean that no hops are sitting only half in beer which should increase ...
13
votes
4answers
2k views
How to Properly Oxygenate Wort
How much oxygen do I need to put into my wort?
I've heard that homebrewers need to aerate with an oxygen stone and either aquarium pumps or oxygen. Is this true, or is shaking my carboy enough to ...
21
votes
4answers
592 views
Open-Fermented or Native Yeast Beers
I've always been very careful about control and sanitation with beer. But with my wine I do some native yeast Pinots, and some friends of mine are into the same with beers- they like funky, ...
8
votes
4answers
2k views
Can fermenting temperatures affect a beer's taste?
I'm putting together an "all glass" kit with two carboys and want to brew a DIPA but I'm a little concerned about temperature ranges where I'll be fermenting. I'm looking at somewhere between 15-18 ...
5
votes
13answers
2k views
How do you prevent boil-overs?
This is a shill question for Mark Taylor. I stumbled on his great tip about keeping a spray bottle on hand to prevent boil-overs while looking for advice on yeast re-use. The spray bottle worked ...
30
votes
13answers
1k views
\[WIKI] Improving Your Brewing Significantly
I made this wiki to allow folks to post what upgrades in process or equipement really take one's beer brewing to the next level. The bottle-necks to better and better brewing if you will. (This was ...
1
vote
2answers
122 views
What are some effective, cheap, easy ways to clean and re-use bottles?
After a couple year hiatus from home brewing, I'm ready to get back into it and I have been diligently consuming some local microbrews and saving the bottles in preparation. When I brewed before, for ...
6
votes
2answers
631 views
Kettle volume measurements
Eventually there comes a time where just boiling 6 gallons for 60 minutes and taking it on faith that you have 5 gallons left doesn't cut it anymore.
What tools can I use to measure the volume in the ...
1
vote
1answer
692 views
corn beer steps and suggestions using a home stove
I am planning to make corn beer, what are the times you would suggest for mashing?
Is there a way to make it on a home stove?
Has anyone got experience with that?
UPDATE
A friend already does corn ...
6
votes
2answers
281 views
Should I worry about CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lamps) skunking my beer?
Particularly when racking from primary to secondary and then again into the keg.
13
votes
5answers
3k views
How do I culture yeast from a commercial beer? Is it legal?
If I like the flavor profile of a yeast in a commercial beer, how would I go about culturing it?
I have some very basic lab equipment, but I can buy anything that's reasonably priced.
Also, would it ...
10
votes
4answers
944 views
Should you rehydrate dry yeast?
I've read conflicting opinions on whether or not to re-hydrate dried yeast. I've had successful fermentation with dried yeast in the past but have not tried re-hydrating. Has anyone had better/worse ...
5
votes
3answers
798 views
Wyeast 1187 Ringwood Failure
I'll start by saying that I've never used liquid yeast before, so it could all be my fault... Anyway, I ordered some Wyeast 1187 Ringwood to use for a Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA clone that I did on ...
4
votes
3answers
478 views
Plastic or Glass
Plastic or Glass fermentors? (Lets keep stainless steel out of this debate for now)
Each has ups and downs.
What are the main differences for the following aspects:
Shapes and configurations
Heat ...
4
votes
5answers
3k views
Adding Vanilla Extract?
I have a black stout fermenting right now. I added about 8oz of cacao powder in the boil and I'd like to add some vanilla extract, to taste. Can this be done before bottling? Should this have been ...
12
votes
1answer
3k views
What is a hopback?
How do you use it?
What does it do?
Do you pass finished wort through it hot or cold?
3
votes
2answers
257 views
Potential causes of unreliable pre-boil gravity measurement
I usually take a hydrometer reading immediately after sparge so that I can calculate total points of gravity (i.e. gravity reading * volume), and from there calculate what volume of wort I should ...
11
votes
8answers
16k views
Too long in Primary Fermentation?
What's the maximum amount of time for primary fermentation, assuming the beer is going straight to bottles next?
Will it over ferment and then fail to carbonate, if left too long in a carboy?
9
votes
2answers
117 views
Should the late addition portion of a recipe be altered based on immersion, counterflow, whirlpooling techiques?
When it comes to late addition hops (or other late aeromatics), it seems to me that there might be significant differences in aroma extraction / utilization as the brewer executes different chilling ...
11
votes
2answers
605 views
How do I make a Yeast Starter?
I know I should be using a Yeast Starter so that I can make sure I have enough, healthy yeast, but I've never managed to go around to it.
How would I start a yeast starter? How long before brewday ...
16
votes
1answer
958 views
Partial vs. Full Voume Wort Boil
The starting postion for most new extract brewers is to use a partial boil set up. Defined as using a pot smaller than the intended batch size, all the ingredients are boiled in a smaller volume. ...
3
votes
1answer
168 views
What's the difference between casking and kegging?
So this is how my last beer went:
After about three weeks I threw it straight into a keg. It didn't taste great, but I figured it was still young and just needed more time to condition. A few weeks ...
9
votes
4answers
4k views
What malt should I use to get a red beer?
So, I want to make a red beer, what is the best malt to get this color?
2
votes
4answers
2k views
Infusing a beer with grapefruit
I was recently at a beer festival and one of the breweries (Fulton) had a delicious pale ale that had been infused with grapefruit. I asked the brewer how they did it and he told me that the night ...
10
votes
4answers
800 views
How fast should I run water through my wort chiller?
My father-in-law got me a wort chiller for my birthday, one of those copper coil immersion jobs and I'm now putting it to the test. This is only my second batch of beer, so I'm pretty new at this.
...
9
votes
2answers
6k views
What is wet hopping and how does it differ from dry?
Specifically what types of beer would you use wet hopping for and how does it affect the flavor/process differently than dry hopping a beer?
8
votes
2answers
183 views
Fly Sparging: Can I start boiling straight away
I fly sparge directly into my boil kettle and in general I have the heat on while I'm doing this. When this was on my stove it wasn't powerful enough to get the water boiling before finishing the ...
5
votes
2answers
1k views
Detriment of gelatin fining on flavor or aroma
Does using gelatin effect aromatics or flavor appreciably?
I was reading this post about using gelatin. I have one keg that I use as a cold conditioning vessel (sort of like secondary), and I was ...
3
votes
1answer
137 views
Adding water before bottling
Ok. Sorry if this has been asked. I really did try to research it. LOL
I did my first batch of American Amber Ale, and made a few mistakes. I didn't take an initial gravity reading, and I think I ...
6
votes
2answers
664 views
Should secondary fermentation be the same temperature that primary was?
Or is it okay for the secondary fermentation to be colder than primary?
9
votes
5answers
364 views
Dry malting - a crazy idea?
A lot of talk is about dry-hopping in order to bring out the aroma of hops lost during the boiling process. Could a similar approach be used for malt? That is, could the addition of crushed grains to ...
5
votes
2answers
268 views
What are the steps in recapping overcarbonated beer?
What are the steps involved in recapping a bottle of beer for any reason (e.g. if too much priming sugar is added, if a cap appears to be defective or failing, etc)?
14
votes
4answers
1k views
How can I avoid a lot of foam in the first pint from the keg?
Whenever I go to get a pint from the keg, the first pint is always foamy. I have to fill the glass up about 1/3 of the way and dump it out, just to the pour actual beer. I usually carbonate by ...
14
votes
3answers
739 views
My keg is empty. Now what?
So I kicked my first Corny keg and need to get the keg and the system cleaned and ready for another batch, which might not be ready for some time. What's my process here?
3
votes
3answers
187 views
Any special considerations (besides taste) when brewing with mineral water?
I understand that a good rule of thumb for brewing water is that if it tastes good it's good to use for brewing. Most of these nine springs that i've tried are way too mineraly to my taste but "7 ...
5
votes
2answers
848 views
When to add fresh ginger?
I am considering brewing an Amber ale with a bit of ginger in it, but I don't know whether I should treat it more like a spice and steep/boil it, or more like fruit, and rack onto the ginger for a ...
8
votes
5answers
912 views
How can I fill bottles from a keg and maintain pressure
I've been kegging for awhile now, but I still haven't managed to successfully fill bottles from my kegs without losing all pressure.
I don't have a counter pressure beer filler or a Blichmann Beer ...
1
vote
0answers
397 views
Infomation about the Still from M.A.S.H [closed]
i was wondering if anyone knows of any recreations of Hawkeyes Still for the TV show MASH?
or really even just some basic infomation about similar Still setups would be amazing.
at this point its ...
21
votes
11answers
2k views
Are there any tricks for removing labels from bottles?
Some labels can be a pain to remove. I've tried soaking bottles in water with a little bit of dish soap but it doesn't really do much to break down the adhesive. What methods do you have for easily ...
4
votes
1answer
413 views
Aging a naturally carbonated ale that was bottled from a keg
Okay, let's see if I can keep this question brief--I have a lot of followup questions that go with this so it may be difficult.
Background: Last year I decided to start doing an annual Birthday Brew ...
6
votes
3answers
2k views
Re-use the mini kegs that are used in 'Krups Beer Tender' for home brewing?
For me, these 5 liter kegs seem like the perfect device for storage as well as remaining fresh when making beer.
I understand there is a way to remove the top piece of the mini keg with some type ...
5
votes
3answers
808 views
Cleaning out beer lines
How often do you need to clean out your beer lines when using a home draft system?
What type of cleaner do you use?
Can I leave sanitizer in the tubing when a line isn't in use?
2
votes
2answers
400 views
Checking for CO2 leaks
If you have an at home draft system, how do you check for leaks in the CO2 side of the set up? How often do you need to check for leaks?
5
votes
1answer
111 views
How do I clean a sankey pump?
What is the best way to clean a sankey pump it after I use it so it doesn't get moldy inside?
6
votes
5answers
1k views
How are 10-gallon batches commonly fermented?
Currently I brew 5-gallon all-grain batches using my propane burner and 7.5-gallon brew pot. I've been considering buying a bigger pot and building a bigger MLT to do 10-gallon batches, but I'm not ...
