13
votes
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Diluting beer after 11 hours of fermentation. What to expect?
You can safely dilute at any stage.
Contamination is probably the biggest risk. But just takes basic sanitation practices to avoid.
Oxydation: Really only an issue if 50% or more of the alcohol is ...
- 18.5k
10
votes
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Beer blew up into the airlock. What's next?
Just clean it up and replace the airlock sanitizer fluid.
If you have a second airlock just prep it and swap. If not just cover with sanitized foil while cleaning.
- 18.5k
10
votes
Accepted
Why do my spice flavors disappear when my beer is chilled?
It's a combination of human perception and physical science. Volatile compounds are less volatile at cold temperatures (physical chemistry), and the human nervous system is dulled or numbed slightly ...
- 3,382
9
votes
Accepted
Interpreting single-infusion mash instructions with two temperatures listed
The first temperature is of the water you are adding while the second is the expected temperature of the mash after it has been added.
So by adding 12.81 qt of water at 163.7 F to the grain (...
- 1,890
8
votes
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Can I fix a higher than anticipated OG after primary?
Adding water after primary fermentation is possible and called high gravity brewing. Yeast produce more esters at higher gravity which is a disadvantage for most beer types, but often desired e.g. for ...
- 206
8
votes
Diluting beer after 11 hours of fermentation. What to expect?
Regarding contamination, if you boil the water you are using to dilute and let it cool in a sanitised pot, then add it you should avoid bacterial or wild yeast contamination.
At that OG (1080) don't ...
- 6,993
7
votes
Accepted
Putting Yeast in a Tea Bag
This will not work with a tea-bag or any other kind of cloth. Unless it's enclosed in a very fine membrane the yeast would easily be able to get through, then disperse and propogate in the main liquid....
- 6,417
7
votes
no brew shop here. use some warm beer as yeast?
Yes (sort of... You can't just warm the bottle up and chuck it in there... It's a little more complicated than that...) but you will need to buy a good quality, bottle conditioned beer (look for ...
- 151
7
votes
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Why are hops added at different times during boiling?
Alpha acids, pleasant bitterness you want in your beer, are in inactive form in hops. They need to be isomerized to taste the way it should. This takes time and temperature, around an hour of boil to ...
- 3,718
7
votes
Reduce sediment in bottle for IPA
You'll never remove the sediment at the bottom when bottle conditioning. 5-6mm is not a terribly large amount of sediment either.
Here are a few methods that can reduce the sediment:
Use a ...
- 411
7
votes
Can I put my beer into a glass jug instead of a bunch of bottles or will a cork not hold up to carbonization
I have put my beer into 2 litre growlers before with a screw cap which is a nice way of bottling it quickly, but that ba***rd exploded.
Don't put your beer in anything isn't made for pressure. And ...
- 3,020
7
votes
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Starsan in double bubble airlock keeps getting sucked into fermenter - why and how to prevent?
This is caused by a drop in temp before co2 is being produced. Just cap the fermenter in sanitized foil until you're past the lag phase, or cooled to fermentaion temp. Though a little bit of starsan ...
- 18.5k
7
votes
Where do I drill my homebrew fermenting fridge?
Don't drill or use screws. Use magnets to hold drip trays etc.
Chest freezers have refrigerant coils in the walls.
Lids & doors are ok. Only risk hitting some electrical for the lights, but ...
- 18.5k
7
votes
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Names for when you use hops
From Brewtarget (brewing software):
Mash hopping: adding hop in the mash
First wort: adding hop in the boiling kettle and then lautering the wort in the kettle
Boil: Adding hop when the wort boils, ...
- 3,645
7
votes
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How to mix beers?
Yes you can. In fact I did it a few times myself, blending too dark beers for my taste with some lighter beers to create the perfect depth.
But, if the mixed beers use different yeast strains, it is ...
- 671
6
votes
If/When to move to secondary fermentation
Some widely respected people advise against it, like:
Racking to prevent autolysis is not necessary
Whilst it might be true, in some cases, it is not true in case of strong stuff, stuff that will ...
- 3,718
6
votes
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What are the simple things i should be careful about (like bleach) for my first time brewing?
Fermentation temperature is often overlooked and it's really the key to making good beer. If you don't control the temp, everything else you do doesn't really matter. I prefer most beers to ferment ...
- 33.4k
6
votes
Accepted
Steam sanitation of a stainless steel fermenter and bottles
"How safe would that beer be?"
If it's steam coming from a commercial appliance (presumably a dish-washer or some other such food-grade device) it wouldn't be any less safe than eating off a dish ...
- 6,417
6
votes
Accepted
What are the essential data one should collect when brewing beer?
I'd collect:
The recipe: grain bill, hops and their times, adjuncts and their times, amount of water. That way you can try to recreate the same beer if it was good. You can tweak any of grain bill, ...
- 1,226
6
votes
What are the essential data one should collect when brewing beer?
Here's a couple reading I find important that many over look.
All-grain. Mash pH is very important.
Doing an iodine test during the mash is a good practice to check if conversion is done. Why mash ...
- 18.5k
6
votes
Can I store beer in wine bottles
I agree with JesseB1234 and Mr_road.
I did it myself a few times and results may vary. I had one cork poping up out of 5 bottles. It is not ideal, but if you have no other option, here are a few ...
- 4,796
6
votes
What to do with my (accidently) sour saison?
As a suggestion:
Heat your beer to 70 deg. Celcius (sorry, I'm metric and don't do Church-of-England units but I'm sure you can convert it to Farenheit yourself) in order to kill yeast and bacterial ...
- 2,298
6
votes
Re-using Caps in new Batches
I never considered reusing caps, in my opinion, they probably have suffered some sort of flaw in their ability to reseal a bottle and be able to retain pressure. If you want to try a few caps after ...
- 502
6
votes
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What exactly is krausen (and why does this batch not have much)?
During fermentation a thick layer of brown, gunky foam forms on top of the wort and sticks to the walls of the fermenter. This layer is known as the Krausen (from the German word "Kräus" which means "...
- 2,298
6
votes
Accepted
What is the good amount of beer to brew as a beginner?
This is a matter of personal preference, of course, but I suggest using a standard 5-gallon recipe (19L) but then cut all the ingredients in half and brew just 2.5 gallons (9.5L). Then if you like it,...
- 3,382
6
votes
Beer in the American West. Just what was it?
The era we accoiate with the cattle drives started in 1866 when ranchers in Texas took there cattle to the nearest railroad in Missouri. By the 1890's the railroads had expanded to most of the united ...
- 181
5
votes
Kegging with no fridge
Yes. The relation between temperature, pressure and volumes of CO₂ are true at higher-than-fridge temperatures, as well.
The biggest difference is that with the higher pressure required for the ...
- 10.1k
5
votes
Forgot My Fermenting Brew for a Month!
An extra month of aging isn't a problem for a beer with healthy yeast stored at an appropriate temperature. It might have been better if it was already bottled, but your yeast have had extra time to ...
- 3,020
5
votes
Accepted
Boosting a recipe for longer shelf life
'Do you think this will work with most recipes?'
I think it will. The thing about intentionally stronger flavors is that they tend to mask other unwanted flavors that develop over time. Precisely why ...
- 6,417
5
votes
My cooled wort got contaminated by tap water. What are the primary consequences of re-boiling?
Reboiling will increase bitterness of all the hops that went in 'late' in the kettle. Obviously, as you said you'll lose your aroma charge will decrease in proportion to the length of the reboil.
...
- 36.2k
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