The troubleshooting tag has no wiki summary.
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1answer
98 views
Low gravity reading after one week
My first home brew batch has been in the primary fermentation for one week and the gravity reading has dropped from 1055 to 1008. Is it going down too quickly?
4 kg pale ale malt
0,5 kg crystal malt
...
1
vote
1answer
228 views
Batch not carbonated/off flavor a week after bottling
What does a home brew taste like if it is contaminated? I just bought a home brew kit about a month ago that came with a recipe for an Irish Red Ale. My beer has been bottled now for a week and upon ...
0
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1answer
148 views
Troubleshooting a stuck fermentation with Ringwood Ale
I'm brewing an IPA using Wyeast 1187 (Ringwood Ale) and it seems stuck. I'm brewing 19L (5G) with an OG of 1.052 and pitched two (smacked) smackpacks of 1187 straight into the primary bucket. I used ...
5
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1answer
102 views
Can an under-target and under-volume wort be fixed by adding more wort of higher gravity?
Here's the situation: today I brewed a Kölsch style ale, and I encountered two problems:
The mash wasn't very efficient: 60% instead of 70%. OG 1.038 instead of 1.045.
It came in under-volume: ...
4
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2answers
197 views
New brewer, question about state of beer prior to bottling
Tomorrow is the Big Bottling Day. I snuck a peek about a week ago and took a hydro reading, and all is well I believe. I took another peek today (14 days in) just to make sure I'm not about to bottle ...
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2answers
164 views
Fermentation Process
Good Evening Folks,
Well...my first batch seemed to go pretty well. Within 24 hours it was bubbling pretty good. Now 72 hours later, the bubbling has become very slow I'm talking one bubble every ...
3
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1answer
547 views
Can I compensate for pitching too much yeast?
I just pitched a whole 35mls vial of White Labs WLP001 California Ale Yeast into a 1 gallon batch of brown ale wort. I only intended to pitch half of the vial, but my brain turned off at exactly the ...
8
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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 ...
2
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2answers
162 views
Crust on inside of Fermentor?
Ok. Day three into brewing my first ever batch of brew. It is an American Amber Ale from a kit. Moved it to the glass carboy and its been in there for 3 days. It bubbled like crazy the first two days ...
3
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4answers
372 views
Bad “Canned Meat” smell after bottling, and briefly mid-fermentation
I've had an ongoing problem for the last several months that never used to happen: My brew smells pretty normal during fermentation, except midway through, it changes from the normal US-05 yeast ...
3
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2answers
162 views
Rust in a plastic fermenter?
I've got a 6 gallon plastic fermenter - one of those food-grade plastic buckets Midwest gives you in the starter kit. I guess after our last brew, my brother and I carelessly tossed the remains of our ...
4
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2answers
473 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!
3
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3answers
802 views
Forgot 1 piece to a 3 piece airlock, is this recoverable?
Last weekend I brewed my first batch of beer. I ordered the kit back in April because there was a Groupon and stuck the yeast in the fridge until I needed it.
Its been a week and I haven't seen any ...
6
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4answers
1k views
Recover a brew that quit fermenting after I moved to secondary fermenter
I started my first batch of beer, a "Nut Brown Ale", 2 weeks ago. Its initial gravity was 1.040. As per the instructions, I siphoned the beer into the secondary fermenter (a glass carboy) after two ...
6
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3answers
411 views
Pitched unnecessary 2nd round of yeast - what will be the effects?
First off, a bit of background:
This is my 3rd batch of homebrew so I am new to this. I'm using the following: Morgan's Golden Saaz Pilsner can of goo, Fermentis Saflager s-23 yeast and a brew ...
8
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3answers
401 views
How do I achieve a nuttier flavor?
My most recent batch I tried almond extract, but I'm not getting the nuttiness I expected. I've heard using different malts can get different nutty flavors but how can I get a rich nutty flavor?
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2answers
1k views
How to troubleshoot flat beer?
Since I started brewing in January, every single batch (6 so far) has come out flat. I've had a couple come good after a few months in the back of the garage but for the most part, it's all flat.
At ...
2
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1answer
151 views
My latest batch of Must had half a dozen floating spots and low sediment, what happend?
Sequence of Events:
March 21st - Boiled water and honey and placed in sanitized plastic bucket with airlock (containing sanitary solution: Iodophor). Bucket placed in basement to cool overnight.
...
5
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1answer
1k views
What is the white film on my beer in my bottles?
I brewed a double batch of IPA with a buddy about 8 weeks ago.
We split this into two 5 gallon pails and 2 weeks later into two carboys. His was fine, but mine developed a bit of white stuff on ...
4
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3answers
1k views
help: Beer smells bad
This is my 4th batch (I'm new), but first Belgian ale. Kit from here: http://www.midwestsupplies.com/flat-tire.html
I also did another batch at the same time (different kit) and it seems fine and ...
3
votes
2answers
379 views
Letting the gas out of a keg
I'm new to this homebrewing, made a mistake and wondering the consequences of my actions.
I have just completed the first week of fermentation and now have moved over to a plastic keg supplied with ...
5
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4answers
816 views
Need help with my 1st IPA recipe
I've got a couple extract (kits) batches under my belt and now want to venture out into the unknown and create my own recipe. The following is what I've come up with after doing a bit of research. ...
2
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1answer
419 views
My cider stopped fermenting after it accidentally got opened and darkened in color
I am making a Pom Cider and the bubbler cap got taken off my cider, 2 days later it has stopped fermenting and is darkening in color. Is it done? Is is bad? Can I fix it?
Thanks
~~J
7
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2answers
979 views
Tasting my uncarbonated beer: Bitter.
OK, so I'm now bottling my first batch. I opened the primary fermenter (did not use a secondary) and I've racked the beer to the bottling container. It smells hoppy and delicious. I'm pleased.
I ...
5
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2answers
747 views
should i keep my carboy at current fermentation temp after moving from 75F+ to 68F?
I brewed an amber ale kit on Sunday (my second time brewing at all). Using white labs wlp008. I left the carboy upstairs and the fermentation was very rapid and extremely active for two days reaching ...
2
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1answer
419 views
Wine overflowed through airlock
I've had two demijohns of blackberry wine fermeting for about 3 weeks. One of them was slightly over filled and frothed through the airlock, leaving winey yeasty liquid in the airlock.
Rather than ...
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3answers
1k views
should i stir this (possibly stuck) batch or not?
First time brewing, made a lot of mistakes and now I'm concerned that my fermentation is stuck. Am I just being paranoid or impatient?
Six days ago brewed this stout recipe:
6.6 lbs Briess ...
2
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2answers
403 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?
3
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1answer
199 views
Fermenator Question(s)
After 20 years of fermenting in glass carboys, I recently dove in and bought a Blichmann Fermenator. I Scrubbed it according to the docs that came with it, and then gave it my usual BTF soak and air ...
2
votes
1answer
370 views
What are the symptoms of poor aeration?
I made a beer over a month ago. Rather than taking 3-5 days to ferment, it took over 20. After fermentation finished, I took a gravity reading and it fell from 1.040(ish) to 1.010(ish)... Primed, ...
2
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2answers
234 views
What can happened in a wheat beer with a lot of foam?
Me and my friend made a hefeweizen a time ago and this beer had a strange behaviour, when we open the bottles the foam grows up fast until get out of the bottle.
The beer is ok, in fact it tastes ...
6
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2answers
445 views
Scottish Ale - is it supposed to taste like fire?
Just yesterday I opened up my first stage fermenter to transfer my Scottish ale to it's second stage. First of all...it looked like toxic waste. Second of all...I smelled it and it literally singed my ...
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2answers
683 views
Why does my brew look cloudy
i took a reading of my brew and the hydrometer is reading 1.010, it smells great to me but the beer looks cloudy not clear can someone help plzzzz
4
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2answers
155 views
What would make my gravity increase?
I have a cider that i have been fermenting for almost two weeks. I took a reading about four days ago and it was 1.005, we decided it was about time to bottle. Then last night when we got around to ...
5
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2answers
925 views
Why would OG be significantly higher than predicted?
I know there are several questions on the forum about OG being lower than predicted. Please bear with me though. I'm at a loss. I just brewed a straightforward extract wheat beer recipe. The ...
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2answers
2k views
Stuck or Slow Fermentation
So I have my first possible stuck fermentation. First, my recipe:
http://hopville.com/recipe/166971/extra-special-strong-bitter-english-pale-ale-recipes/shoals-pale-ale-clone
I pitched with two ...
5
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2answers
2k views
What do I do about beer coming out my airlock?
Brewed a Northern Brown extract kit on Saturday, hit the target OG. Pitched yeast a little cold (63F), but activity was in full swing by yesterday morning. Woke up this morning (Monday) to find that ...
8
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3answers
796 views
Pellet Hops spilled out of bag in secondary. Advice?
My hop bag came undone in my secondary while dry-hopping and now I have pellet hops directly in my beer. What is the best way to filter out the hops for bottling?
10
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2answers
2k views
Corny keg that won't hold pressure.
I have a corny keg that won't hold pressure unless it's kept at constant pressure at around 10 - 15 psi which apparently is enough to compress the seal against the opening of the keg enough to stop ...
8
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2answers
1k views
Cleaning difficult krausen ring off Better Bottle
My latest brew has left a ring from the krausen just past the neck of my Better Bottle. I am on my third soak with a little bleach and warm water. Usually this does the trick, but I'm almost thinking ...
9
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1answer
1k views
Massively Over-Carbonated Beer…What Do I Do?
Okay, so I made a mental error tonight when I was bottling and put 5 gallons worth of dried malt extract into 2 gallons of wort. I didn't realize the mistake until I had everything bottled. So now ...
5
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4answers
484 views
Brew Fail Diagnosis Help
My first homebrew just reached the point where I can drink it about a week ago. I used a wheat extract (Edit: It was this Munton's Wheat) and it turned out drinkable, but not good.
It tastes nothing ...
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5answers
3k views
What would cause yeast to fail to flocculate?
I am using WLP002 - English Ale Yeast - in my current batch, a Young's double chocolate clone. According to the manufacturer's product page, this yeast is highly flocculant.
The beer remained in the ...
3
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3answers
188 views
Different OG than predicted
Just brewed a batch, and my OG reading is significantly different (1.051 as opposed to 1.070) than what Beercalculus.com predicted based on my recipe. Is there any possible reason for this that ...
4
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4answers
6k views
Ale Fermentation Temp. Too Cold?
Recently, I've had a streak of hot fermentations. My primary vessel nears 80º, and sometimes more.
With my latest batch, I've moved to a much cooler part of the house. I expect it to consistently ...
