7
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 possible they both have different attenuation levels. The yeast from one beer can continue to ferment the sugars of the other beer. Fermentation starts again ...
5
This looks like Pediococcus contamination: see here Is this lactobacillus?
More information about spoilage here: https://www.craftbrewingbusiness.com/news/four-bacteria-that-will-ruin-your-beer/
Lack of sanitation might have cause this.
5
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, you can brew it again, and if you don't like it, then you've only lost 2.5 gallons (9.5L). You will get about 1 case of beer, at least 24 bottles or maybe up ...
4
I would set the fermenter into a tub with 2 inches water in the bottom, and drape a wet t-shirt over the fermenter. This will cool it off just by about 5 degrees F, which might keep it under 70 F. To avoid potential fusel alcohols and unusual esters and phenols, you don't want it to get much hotter, so this method is ideal.
4
I'm not sure what exactly attracts slugs to beer. I would try to find out what specifically that is and replicate that as it might be cheaper.
However, in general it would be quite hard for you to brew beer cheaper than than the cheapest beer you can buy. Rather, doing so would probably require you to have some equipment, buying which would negate any cost ...
4
You could end up with bottle bombs, and even if you are lucky, when opening bottle with much more pressure, you risk gushing.
I would empty all bottles in a fermenter, leave it to ferment dry and bottle again with the right quantity of priming sugar. I prefer to prime the whole batch in a bottling bucket, then mix it well. When you prime the whole batch, ...
4
As Robert mentionned, it is still sugar even after 5 years! I usually disolve it in boiling water to kill any bacteria, before adding to a wort (after cooling a bit).
Almost no chances of spoiling the brew when added this way.
4
It is really hard to make a poisonous brew with regular, plant based ingredients. Fruit, sugar and some yeast is all you really need. The easiest is apple/grape juice, sugar and some bakers yeast. If you want to make real beer, that will involved either malt syrup, hops, water and yeast. But, unless you have homebrew shops everywhere like we do here in the ...
4
The process of making beer is safe if you are careful with sanitation. Most bacteria contamination will be visible or smellable.
However, poisoning can occur when adding ingredients or using cleaning agents that are not safe, and might not be detectable.
Never heard of beer poisoning recently, but I know of a commercial brewery that closed in Canada ...
3
It is very fast, probably due to the high temperature (the higher the faster it will ferment), the insulation jacket would keep it warmer. The type of yeast used cans also cause this, some yeast are more vigorous than others, but in the end, the main reason is the temperature.
Depending on your room temperature, you might not need an insulation jacket (I ...
3
At the high end (81F) plus an additional couple of degrees generated by the yeast there isn't much except Kveik that would make decent beer.
At the lower end, there are some Ale-strains that would produce okay beer, I suspect that you will have better results by finding a cooler room - or try to investigate some cooling hacks (wet wrapping + fan, or ...
2
A little late to the party but thought I would add my experience with Clarity Ferm. My wife is Celiac, and very sensitive, small cross contamination results in a serious reaction. I started using CF as soon as learned of it - about 5 years ago. I use it in every batch of beer. To be safe, my wife eases into a new batch gradually over many days, starting with ...
2
Posting an update here for folks who may visit this page in future, and to answer some of the queries I posted.
My final product
It tastes like a very very dry white wine.
No pineapple taste
No naartjie taste
No sugar taste
All converted to alcohol.
It's a tad tarty astringent, but by no means worse on the palate than a medium low price Chardonnay.
I ...
2
Do not close the lid of your fermenter. The first 3 to 4 days is when the most yeast action happens and a lot of gas is let out. So keep the lid slightly loose, it will be fine. What I do is close it tight and then give it a slight turn loose.
Just leave it in the fermenter for the 7 days before you bottle it. Make sure everything is super sterile. I'm ...
2
It should be fine, I would think, since it's the yeast that does the carbing in bottle conditioning. Yeast is stored in the fridge routinely before it's woken up, I just wouldn't want to give it any sudden temp changes. Might take a little longer to get it where you want it.
I routinely experience continued fermentation in beers that I keg & put in the ...
2
Answer on your first question: young fermented beer is always cloudy, it will only clear in the bottle. The cloudiness in this stage is caused by the yeast, and that takes some time to drop out.
And, it is connected to your second question. By keeping it warm, your beer will ferment out fine, but it will stay cloudy longer, because the yeast stays active.
...
2
I would take a gravity reading and taste it!
it looks like it fermented well, did it come out of the top?
if you had the white cap on it then that is definitely OK. CO2 is heavier than air, so would have protected the beer, and your white cap would have stopped bigger bogies from getting in.
but all in the taste, right?
2
OK. You're brewing kit beers, so I'm assuming your wort composition has been more or less consistent (i.e. 1 tin of hopped malt extract, 1 kg of brew blend which is mostly dextrose with some maltodextrin and some dry malt extract blended in, and water up to 23 litres / 6 gallons. That means your bottle bombs could only have a few possible causes.
You ...
2
Let the bubbling stop. Then put it in the fridge. Then after a couple of days of clearing put it in the fridge to let the yeast settle out.
Once this is done, carefully puur your fermented liquor off the lees(left over yeast), and drink. Do not expect this to be good, it will be liquid and contain alcohol, but it will likely taste awful.
I have made ginger ...
1
For the Top gauge this is your output pressure, adjusted by the screw
Numbers in red = PSI (marked bottom centre in red above the screws in the gauge)
Numbers in black = Kg/cm2 (marked bottom centre in black above the screws in the gauge) I think, picture not clear, but makes sense as 10Kg/cm2 = 142.233psi
so if you want 8psi it would be approx the first ...
1
You likely won't be sure if something infected it until at least the bottling stage.
However, the beer is probably fine. During that stage of fermentation, a healthy krousen and layer of CO2 is protecting your beer. Unless a bunch of bugs managed to fall into it, you are likely fine- and in any case it cannot harm you.
As an aside based on your picture, make ...
1
It doesn't really matter the model, just pick one that fits your capacity and space needs. As for putting it on its side, you can't do that. The compressor and cooling fluids are arranged to work with gravity to an extent and they need to be upright. In a chest freezer that means it needs to sit on its feet. You can get upright freezers though if that's ...
1
Living in Australia I have in the past found it necessary to cease brewing in the summer due to high temperatures. This summer just gone I discovered a solution by way of a newly released dry yeast, Kveik by Lallemand.
According to the manufacturer's website, this yeast supports brewing between 25-40degC (77-104degF). I used it while the ambient temperature ...
1
The general rules I used to know if yeast is done, is 3 consecutive days with the same gravity measure. At that point, you can conclude that it is done or stuck, but with a FG of 1.014, it seems low enough to me to call it done. People do not always reach the attenuation written on the yeast package.
It is never too late to add yeast, but adding more yeast ...
1
Most likely the “beer” reported by those news agencies was 80 proof (40% alcohol) made in a still. Likely not even a proper still but a converted pressure cooker... to call those moonshines “beer” is almost a joke.
Home brewing is safe, but not distillation from what I read, if you don’t know what you are doing, you could end up with very critical medical ...
1
You said you boiled and cooled it to distill it. Unless you are leaving out a lot of steps, you didn't distill your drink, you just boiled it. Boiling a drink like this will reduce the alcohol content and change the flavour, as well as producing more alcohol fumes, which may be why it smells stronger now. It shouldn't be any less safe to drink than it was ...
1
First of all, welcome to HB SE. Questions about distillation are usually not anwsered here, since it is not legal in many countries.
I would say that if you do not have the right equipment or knowledge, it can be very dangerous, do not take any chances. Brewing beer is relatively safe, distillation not so much.
1
Obligatory Disclaimer
I'm not at all experienced with brewing ... but I have some pretty good experience with spawning and cultivating mushrooms.
That sure looks like a fungal growth to me. Classic mycelium threads, building into a network.
Some Google Images for you that look pretty similar.
Google Images : mycelium fungus
As with all unknown fungi/...
1
Yes, you can absolutely use bakers yeast for beer brewing.
In Finland bakers yeast is a must for brewing historical Sahti beer.
I have experimented a few batches with bakers yeast, both dry and fresh and it seems to have relatively high alcohol tolerance with lots of banana like aroma. Apparent attenuation were quite high.
Remember to use actual yeast, as ...
1
If beer is "perfectly carbonated beer", then transferring it isn't a problem. What happen with "warm" beer is that it doesn't retain/absorb gas as a cold liquid. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideal_gas_law
Putting a keg at room temperature and purge it few time will lower the CO2 volume in liquid. Using it cold with pressure will add CO2 volume.
If ...
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