All Questions
11
votes
3answers
1k views
Will scaling a recipe from 5 gallons to 1 gallon introduce significant differences?
Will scaling a recipe down to 1 gallon (i.e.: dividing the amount of each ingredient by 5) produce a pretty close approximation of the results of a full 5 gallon batch? Are there any additional ...
11
votes
4answers
8k views
How long can I leave beer in the secondary fermenter?
My first home brew beer is ready to be bottled but I've been busy and haven't gotten around to it yet. The beer was in a primary fermenter for 2 weeks, then I racked it into a secondary fermenter ...
11
votes
6answers
2k views
[WIKI] Bottle Sanitizing Techniques - Pros & Cons
What are the pros and cons of each bottle sanitizing method? Let's look at time, equipment, quality of sanitation, and other factors.
Post one answer for each method. Edit the answers if you have ...
11
votes
2answers
1k views
How should I add mint to my beer?
I'm making a mint chocolate stout. I've made it before; I added 1.5 ounces of fresh spearmint to the last 10 or 15 minutes of the boil. It turned out alright, but it's not as strong as I'd like. The ...
11
votes
3answers
947 views
What are the advantages and disadvantages of transferring to a secondary vs. a long primary?
The conventional wisdom in homebrewing has been challenged in recent years. This wisdom held that a beer should be transferred from the primary fermentation vessel to a secondary one after 7-10 days. ...
11
votes
3answers
568 views
What is a “biscuit”?
When reading about malt and beer flavors, I often come across words like "biscuity" and "biscuitlike".
Where I live (Western Canada) "biscuit" is a somewhat ambiguous term, and is not used much. ...
11
votes
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 ...
11
votes
2answers
611 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 ...
11
votes
1answer
2k views
When is it necessary to pitch fresh yeast for bottle conditioning?
I've read that you can leave an ale to secondary for months and enough yeast will remain in suspension that you won't need to pitch additional yeast when bottling. But are there times when you do ...
11
votes
3answers
2k views
Mead made from Agave nectar?
The health food store near me has a sale on dark Agave nectar such that 1 kg costs less than their average 1 kg of honey (usually it costs slightly more than honey). I noticed on the nutritional info ...
11
votes
1answer
293 views
[WIKI] Characteristics of a Good Cellaring Beer
Every once and a while I come across beers that say they can be kept up to 5 years and become more developed over that time period, while other beers that are of the same style don't indicate this at ...
10
votes
5answers
6k views
Why do all my beers taste better after having aged for a couple months?
My impression is that ales are typically best drunk within a couple weeks of brew day. It's my experience that letting them age in the bottles for 2-3 months yields the best beer, both improving body, ...
10
votes
3answers
498 views
Is there a way to use my kegging system to carbonate beer for bottling without a beer gun?
The only solutions I've found are expensive, and involved a pricey piece of equipment called a beer gun. Is there a way to carbonate my beer before bottling so I can ensure a good carbonation?
10
votes
3answers
11k views
Carbonation Drops vs. Sugar?
I'm brewing my very first batch with an actual kit (I've used Mr. Beer before with decent results and wanted to do it right).
I bought a recipe kit from Northern Brewer and I opted for the Cooper's ...
10
votes
2answers
1k views
How do I brew with nuts? Specifically hazelnuts.
I want to make a beer with some hazelnut flavor to it. Maybe add some cocoa nibs or powder to the wort and make a Nutella-ish beer. My question itself is specific to hazelnuts, but maybe you could ...
10
votes
3answers
2k views
Do I need to sterilize my top-off water?
I just purchased my first kit and am about to brew it (tonight!).
The instructions provided indicate that after cooling the wort and tranfering it to the sanitized carboy I need to top it off with ...
10
votes
10answers
971 views
How to get clearer and more clarified home-brewed beers?
I'm still pretty new to home-brewing, but I've got a couple of extract kits under my belt so far and I was wondering how I could get more clarified beers. I've used both Irish moss and Whirlfloc ...
10
votes
10answers
1k views
Are there tools that can make the bottling process easier?
I found this to be the most difficult part during my first attempt at brewing. All I had was a tube and a racking cane. Is there anything else to simplify the process and prevent me from ending up ...
10
votes
7answers
841 views
Do you keep your wine/beer making records online?
I've been looking for a suitable way of keeping my wine records online, whereby I can simply tap in recipe details as I brew, SG during the ferment etc, and it logs these all as individual with the ...
10
votes
4answers
31k views
How long do I have to finish a keg once it's been tapped?
I have a kegerator setup with CO2 and a tap. Once a keg has been put into the kegerator, how long will it stay good? What can I do to ensure that I get the longest life possible out of a keg once ...
10
votes
8answers
3k views
Sanitizing oak chips
Going to try using dry oak chips in my secondary fermenter. How do you recommend sanitizing the chips before adding them?
10
votes
7answers
1k views
Aluminium boil pots: Heresy or not?
Are aluminium pots acceptable as boil vessels? They're cheap, but I've heard they can produce off-flavors. Any experiences with them?
10
votes
1answer
15k views
What are the various ways to remove chlorine/chloramine from tap water?
OK, I actually know how to remove chlorine, but I'd like to have the pros and cons of each method spelled out. I will post an answer and mark it as a community wiki. Please edit it with your input.
10
votes
8answers
4k views
How to brew all-grain indoors
I've been brewing with extracts and specialty grains for two years now, and I want to step up to all-grain brewing. From what I understand, it's important to get a full boil when brewing all-grain and ...
10
votes
4answers
2k views
Alternatives for priming sugar
If you happen to be out of priming sugar, but really want to bottle your beer, what are the alternatives? Let's assume a 5 gallon batch that's fully fermented - call it 1.010-1.014.
10
votes
4answers
817 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.
...
10
votes
5answers
861 views
Is it necessary to aerate wort when pitching onto an existing yeast cake?
To my knowledge, aeration provides oxygen so that the yeast can reproduce before fermentation. If you're pitching onto an existing yeast cake, there should theoretically be enough yeast already to ...
10
votes
4answers
12k views
How to grow yeast?
I have read that it is possible to grow your own yeast, but I have not been able to find exact instructions. I would like to grow my own yeast so that I don't have to spend money on those small ...
10
votes
3answers
387 views
Glutten for punishment? How can I make a Gluten-free beer?
A few friends of mine have Celiac Disease. They've all told me that the commercial gluten free beers they've tried have been terrible. Can I brew something at home that's tasty and something they can ...
10
votes
3answers
829 views
Confused by malts!
great site. I am a total newbie at brewing (used a Mr. Beer kit a few times with success), and recently got a 2 tier homebrewing system for Christmas. I got a prepackaged "American Amber Ale" kit as ...
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 ...
10
votes
4answers
2k views
How do I cut my extract brewing cost?
I'm trying to reduce my cost-per-beer, without investing in an all-grain setup. I know I'm pretty limited with what I can tweak (can't get around needing sugar, yeast, and hops), but here in Montana ...
10
votes
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 ...
10
votes
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 ...
10
votes
1answer
510 views
10
votes
2answers
1k views
All my all-grain batches produce a bitter/astringent, dark, almost burnt off flavor that ruins every batch, from light pilsner to dark belgians
I'm scratching my head trying to figure this one out. Here's the story: I started brewing extracts, and they all came out great. I wanted to get into all-grain so a last year I ordered myself the ...
10
votes
3answers
1k views
Can I add some water before I bottle?
I'm in the final stages of my very first beer, which is a Belgian wit. Everything has gone great so far, and I will be bottling in just a few days. I have a pretty high alcohol content (around 8.2%, ...
10
votes
5answers
1k views
Can I skip the mash out replacing it by sparging?
I'm a new homebrewer and have a newbie question: can I skip the mash out time just replacing it by sparging since the water temperature is the same? What kind of things can happen doing this?
Thanks!
...
10
votes
2answers
627 views
Storage of hops pellets
I was wondering if anyone had suggestions on how to store one's hops pellets after having opened the sealed package (... in case one is not using the whole lot at once of course). Also, if you have ...
10
votes
4answers
948 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 ...
10
votes
3answers
842 views
Is a donation jar (for homebrew supplies) legal in the United States?
If a brewer were to keep a donation jar near his kegs (i.e. tip jar), would this be strictly legal in the United States? Sales of homebrew are prohibited, and this website states that requiring a ...
10
votes
1answer
718 views
Differences in Crystal Malt darkness
What are the effects of changing the darkness of Crystal Malt?
I'm an extract brewer, and many of the recipes I've tried call for steeping some crystal malt, but I'm not always able to find the °L ...
10
votes
3answers
501 views
What effects will the type of water have on beer?
For instance, will hard water really change the taste that much?
10
votes
4answers
116 views
What's A Good Book on the History of Brewing?
I've been brewing for a while now, and would really like a comprehensive book on the history of brewing. Something that covers the development of different styles of beer, and delves into the science ...
10
votes
1answer
1k views
How do you pitch additional yeast for bottling?
This is a follow on to my other question about when you would need to pitch additional yeast for bottle conditioning.
Assuming you know that you need to pitch more yeast before bottling to ensure ...
10
votes
3answers
1k views
What is the point of mashing out?
I know it stops the enzymes from breaking down any more sugar, but is there any other point to it? Will I notice any difference in the final product if I just got straight to sparging? Also, if my ...
10
votes
1answer
528 views
Home brew, acetylaldehydes and hangovers
Both me and my gf noticed that my home brews (even just 1 or 2 a night) cause a fairly noticeable headache in the morning compared to commercial brews. God forbid you get drunk on it, the next ...
9
votes
8answers
325 views
Which pieces of brewing equipment seem like a good idea to buy, but are of limited usefulness?
My brewing buddy asked me this the other night. I've accumulated a lot of stuff over just an 18 month brew career. Not all of it useful. I know it's subjective, but I'd be very interested to hear ...
9
votes
6answers
3k views
Should I worry about blow-off?
I brewed a batch of IPA yesterday and when I checked on it today it had started to blow-off. There is so much pressure in the primary that it has spilled up through the airlock and is constantly ...
9
votes
6answers
2k views
Why is my IPA not hoppy enough?
I am about to start my second attempt at making an IPA. My first did not turn out anything like an IPA. It was much darker than I expected (I may have burnt it a little) and did not really have the ...
