Questions tagged [first-time-brewer]
Questions pertaining to the caution or concerns of someone new to home-brewing.
191 questions
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First time wine maker
Good morning , I’m a first time wine maker and have a question about the wine I’m making , I made 4 gallons of scuppernong wine. I used 2 1/2 gallons of grapes, 2 gallons of water, 4 pounds of sugar ...
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If barley grains are too sprouted, how will this affect the beer?
I have 20 kilos of barley I placed on a wet large towel to germinate in order to obtain malt for beer. I let them too long and they sprouted too much[Look at the photos]. How will this long rootlets ...
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Want to start making beer in my household. Where to start?
I want to start making beer at home, but I have no idea where to start. I want to mention that I'm a wine making novice, having some vines around my house, but with beer I have no experience. Well, I ...
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First time cider is very tart and acidic, any fixes?
first time cider maker. I recently pressed cooking apples and elderberries into a cider mix, fermented in a bucket for a week with an air gap bung until the bubbles stopped and transferred to bottles ...
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Can adding too much yeast to my sugar wash mess up fermentation?
I am starting my own vodka with a 4 gallon sugar wash. I added 10 lb of sugar and a whole pack of turbo yeast (for a 5.5 gallon wash). I read a little bit that adding too much might make the ...
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What should I do with "exploding" bottles?
I have a case (11 bottles with caps + 1 splash on the wall) of podpiwek and I'm slightly pissed at this moment. The instructions on the box said to fill the bottles to 3/4 of the volume and no more ...
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Starting out with brooklyn brew shop starting kit
So I recently purchased a home brew kit from Brooklynbrewshop.com and I have a question on the mashing process defined in the instructions. So it says that I am to place the malt into a pot of 170 ...
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Sterilizing flip-top bottles in the oven, sealing for later use
I've stocked up on Grolsch bottles long time ago for storing fermented drinks (specifically kvas), but barely used them because of the need to deep clean them before and after every use. It would much ...
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Fermented juice with potassium sorbate
Hello this is my first time making wine, I got excited rushed through the process and didn't realize that the berry juice from concentrate that I used had potassium sorbate until after a week. I also ...
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Mixed Berry Cherry Mead fermentation issue
I'm fairly new to homebrewing, I am making my second batch which is a 1.5 gallon batch. Seeing as how my first batch was very sweet, but not so much alcoholic I decided to make my next batch with more ...
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Any good Wild Fermentation for beer and cider sites, forums, recipes, and or books for beginners
I have a few fields with different fruits from grapes to dragon fruits, and I am an amateur homebrewer and want to get into wild Fermentation for ciders, fruit wines and later for beer after I learn ...
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Started first fermentation with Red Star Blanc. I was planning on adding the Cuvee yeast for second fermentation. Will this be ok for sparkling wine?
This is my first attempt at making homemade wine. I started with the Red Star Blanc in a one gallon jar. I'm almost a week into my first fermentation. For my second fermentation I plan on using the ...
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Can I use sodium metabisulphite and potassium sorbate together before bottling?
I had fermented mango wine weeks back. After a week I did my first racking to remove pulp. The Brix value is not moving down so assuming fermentation is over, I'm planning to bottle it. Initially, ...
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Accidentally used 100% unsanitized gear for brew - should I toss it?
tl;dr; I sanitized my mash pot, fermenter, and everything with water. Is it ruined?
I'm two days into fermentation of a high gravity imperial stout, and the yeast is burping nicely. Due to a mix up ...
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What is the good amount of beer to brew as a beginner?
I plan to brew some type of ale as my first beer, i heard it is the easiest to start with.
I was wondering what is the good small amount of beer to brew first time (or minimal amount possible) as i ...
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Is my home made cider safe?
I pressed apple cider last year and added nothing.... I just left it in 15 liter jugs covered with cheese cloth and paper towel... it smells like alcoholic cider, tastes pretty good, and is dark rich ...
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How can I use artificial flavors when making homemade hard seltzer?
I have some expreience in home brewing but I want to try something different this time. I want to make hard seltzer by fermantation. There are some recipes over the internet but I could not find any ...
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Is my final gravity too high for bottling?
I am making an Irish Red Ale, unfortunately I forgot to take a starting gravity reading before putting the beer into primary fermentation (primary fermentation was done at 68 °F +/- a few). ...
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Best yeast to make a sweeter mead
I've just about finished my first attempt at mead. I'm now thinking about my second batch.
The yeast I have used is pretty aggressive, Bulldog mead yeast, so was wondering if anyone has some better ...
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Is it fine to add beet root for colouring in the middle of fermentation?
It's been 3 days of fermentation, I added beet root for colouring in the middle of fermentation. I used china globe grape (not that red), and after hours later the bubbles getting lesser
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Stopped fermentation wine
My fermentation seems to have stopped too early. I don’t have much experience (mostly some wine and mead making failed attempts) or proper gear like a hydrometer.
Here is what I did differently from ...
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48 hours into ferment. Fermenter temperature is 73°F. Should I cool it?
First time brewing. I have a IPA in a 6.5 gallon bucket fermenter with US-05 pitched into it. I've got the fermenter in the basement and temperature probe taped to the side of the bucket. Ambient room ...
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What should I do after the primary fermentation of my cider?
I've just started making cider, and after 12 hours of reading I came up with a plan, but I need reassuring what should I do next:
It's nearly constantly 25°C in my flat (where I brew),
I used ...
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Any supplies I should I have some "extra" of?
As a new home brewer, I've been reading up on posts regarding things that can go wrong during a brew and how to fix them. For example, if I have understood correctly, stuck fermentation may require ...
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Any way to test for oxidation in beer?
New here. I've been reading up on transferring from fermenter to keg (or secondary FM) and the associated concerns with introducing oxygen into the beer. IPA styles in particular seem to run the risk ...
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48 quart rectangular cooler as an HLT?
I'm gathering equipment on the cheap to start all grain brewing and looking at options for an HLT. A rectangular 48 quart cooler is about half the price as the customary 10 gallon Igloo everyone uses ...
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First batch of wine, forgot the Campden - did I just mess up the whole thing?
I just tried to make wine for the first time. Manderin oranges, sugar, water, yeast, tea for tannin the whole kit and kaboodle! In a rush, I forgot to add the Campden tablet prior to doing all this ...
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What ingredients should I use for a grocery home brew?
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I've decided to burn some time by trying out my first home brew. It has come with many challenges though. I do not have access to barley other than pearled barley, which ...
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I forgot to take my first Gravity reading
I am making my first batch of mead ima first time brewer and I forgot to take my first gravity reading what should I do?
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Sour beer at home?
Newbie here. I know nothing about making beer. I love sours. Can you make sours at home? Is it too complicated compared to other beer making?
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First Time Brewer: Skipping secondary fermentation, bottling and a few other questions
I'm brewing my first batch of home brew, 'Hank's Hefeweizen' from Norther Brewer (extract). The instructions say 2 weeks primary, 2 weeks secondary, and 2 weeks bottle conditioning. I did not check my ...
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Rinsing frozen red currants
I picked some garden grown red currants a good while ago and threw them straight in the freezer without washing them. I'm planning on making wine with them soon.
Most recipes I've read recommend ...
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Ale Popped the Bung
This is my first brew, so I kinda look at it as a rite of passage, but I had 5 gallons of brown ale fermenting in a 6.5g carboy. The airlock was super active for the first 16-18 hours. Soon after that ...
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How to brew moonshine?
I would like to know the equipment and the step by step process, as I have already tried to do it, but it didn't work.
I have already watched several videos, but it is not the same to talk to someone ...
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Baloon air lock not inflating after second day
I'm making mead for the first time. I used bakers yeast and a baloon as an air lock . The tutorial said that the yeast will be off gasing for 3 weeks but my mead only off gased the first day. Now it's ...
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Will bread yeast restart stuck brewery in a bag
Building up to my first home brewing I purchased a muntons brewery in a bag session IPA. (On special from Aldi seemed like a steal).
I followed all instructions to the letter keeping everything ...
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Bread Kvass Safety Concerns
My first brewing experience is gonna be bread Kwass (following this recipe). Now, I browsed a bit to get some info, and I only managed to get terrified. There are three concerns that I would like you ...
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Stuck Mead Fermentation?
Obligatory: This is my first batch of Mead and I'm still learning the ropes. If I've made any critical mistakes, please point them out but do know: odds are, I had no idea of that particular issue.
I'...
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Fermentation first time
I need help. First time brewing in my life and I made some mistakes as expected. This was a 1 gallon brew kit. First indication something was wrong was after pouring the wort into the 1 gallon ...
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Brewing Low ABV Lager
Good day!
My question is simple, me and the wife love lager, I like a good 5% ABV but the wife is a light weight and likes a 3.5% ABV so the question is:
How can I brew a nice lager (similar to ...
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What does it mean by late boil? [duplicate]
I am looking at a Christmas ale to brew and found this recipe (I am still learning to brew, so I am using malt extracts)
https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/variant-of-great-lakes-christmas-ale-clone
. I ...
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Growing edible brewers yeast?
I want to grow brewers yeast that I want to as use as supplement, get various nutrients and NAD+. Which brewers yeast strain is easiest and best to to grow for this purpose? What medium and ...
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Why have I got a low ABV wine problem
This was my first attempt. I followed a recipe for jam wine in CJJ Berry's book. Did exactly what he said. Temperature between 26°C-28°C on the heat strip. Used Lalvin K1-V1116. Start OG 1.090, final ...
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Lack of sweetness and carbonation
I'm a novice apple cider brewer and my first batch yielded a brew that tasted like white wine, very dry and virtually no carbonation.
During fermentation, I saw bubbling for about 5 days, but I left ...
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Messed up West Coast IPA recipe, could dryhopping make it good?
My first batch, I followed a recipe using malt extract to create a West Cost IPA.
The wording of the recipe made me invert the Hop additions...
[Edit]
Instead of:
2oz of Centinennial at 0mins left ...
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Brewing with tamarinds
For reference: tamarind. I recently saw this fruit at the store today and thought it smelled interesting so I investigated. I've decided to brew my very first batch of beer as a tamarind saison as a ...
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Total Yeast Cell Count
I will give two examples of yeast cell count.
First one is 0.34 B cells/ml in 6 liters of wort starter with just a few amount of slurry cake.
2nd one is 1.46 B cells/ml in 1 liter of starter including ...
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Fermentation container leaking carbon dioxide
I've just finished preparing my first fermented drink ever (Kvass) and I used a Mason jar to store the preparation during the 2 days of the fermentation process as advised by the various guides I ...
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How much sugar to real apple ratio?
So I was going to try an apple cider up to around 12%. So how much sugar will I get roughly per apple and how much additional sugar should I add. The apples are a small granny smith kind. Currently I ...
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Any food alternatives you can use to brewers yeast nutrient?
It would be a week or till I can get some brewers nutrient is there any food substitute I can use, apples, rice, sweetcorn, apple juice, tomato paste etc?
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