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 ...
Evil Zymurgist's user avatar
6 votes
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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, ...
Robert's user avatar
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6 votes
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How do you wash nylon grain bags for first use?

Toss them in the laundry with your whites. No farbric softner. Then air dry.
Evil Zymurgist's user avatar
6 votes

Making a strong belgian ale

Mistake 1, really doesn't matter all will be fine. You may end up with a little more bitterness extraction, but is has been reported that FWH can lead to a more mellow bitterness. I really would not ...
Mr_road's user avatar
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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 "...
Frank van Wensveen's user avatar
5 votes

Does specific gravity keep increasing after conversion is complete?

Tbh I'm not sure what the question is. Palmer in one of Brew Strong podcasts says that approx 80% of all conversion occurs within the first 20 minutes or so. Longer mash time is required to finish ...
Roman's user avatar
  • 1,498
5 votes

First time brewing with Mr. Beer

"Rafts" or anything floating at this stage sounds infected. If you had good fermentation it's unlikely it will be harmful to sample. Open one, see if you can recover the floaty. If its white / ...
Evil Zymurgist's user avatar
5 votes
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Can I cold crash if I'll be bottle-conditioning?

Once you have cold crashed there will still be enough yeast to carb up your beer, given enough time. I suggest leaving your beers in primary for your usual amount of time, but racking to secondary ...
Mr_road's user avatar
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5 votes
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Priming solution or add sugar to individual bottles?

You do have the answer in your question. When brewing my first kit, I put the sugar in each bottle and here is my experience: Have to measure sugar for each bottle, difficult and time consuming when ...
Philippe's user avatar
  • 4,806
4 votes

How big of a batch can I brew on a 16k BTU burner?

Your best bet is doing a partial boil brew, boiling 2 gallons of concentrated wort then adding 3 gallons sanitary water to the fermentor for 5 gallon batch. Typically this is done with extracts. ...
Evil Zymurgist's user avatar
4 votes

First all-grain batch, probably a disaster.

No you are just fine. Relax, Denny Conn says "Barley wants to be turned into beer" and that is a great realization in this hobby, just make sure the yeast are fermenting...and enjoy the brew. ...
Pale Ale's user avatar
  • 397
4 votes
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Can transporting bottles affect the outcome of the brew?

If anything it likely helped get them carbonated faster. Assuming you let the sediment that gets stirred up by moving settle before drinking, there is no harm in moving bottles.
Denny Conn's user avatar
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4 votes

Apple wine fermentation

It's a great idea. Everybody loves to overcomplicate nutrient additions. I don't. Just add them at the beginning, it works fine.
dmtaylor's user avatar
  • 3,417
4 votes

Balloon-airlock filling up fast

It’s normal, but if you have a very good balloon on there, it might not pass air quickly enough. You can loosen it a touch to let some air out from time to time, but I highly recommend you spend $4 ...
Escoce's user avatar
  • 975
3 votes

First time brewing with Mr. Beer

Floating things in the bottle after that period of time doesn't sound good... Did you add some sort of solids like dry hops or spices to the fermentation? Could be yeast of course, but this usually ...
JesseB1234's user avatar
3 votes
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Is this an okay recipe?

Without knowing the AA of the hops, it's pretty much impossible to tell you how much to use. You can get by without the specialty malts, but steeping maybe 1/2 lb. of C60 will add a bit of depth and ...
Denny Conn's user avatar
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3 votes

Using health food malt extract

5gals/24L of beer made with 1Kg of (liquid) malt extract and 1Kg of sugar will be rather weak/thin. I would recommend at least 2Kg (or even 3Kg) of malt extract with the sugar in 5gal/24L. Depending ...
barking.pete's user avatar
  • 5,631
3 votes

Does specific gravity keep increasing after conversion is complete?

Conversion of starches to sugar is only part of the issue. The iodine test will tell you when the starches are gone, but it won't tell you which sugars are in the solution. A longer mash will allow ...
GigaFemto's user avatar
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3 votes
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Does specific gravity keep increasing after conversion is complete?

Short answer for your question is no. But I don't really understand what you were measuring during the mash steps. Mash is usually thick until you do a sparge to get the most solids out of your grain. ...
NStorm's user avatar
  • 145
3 votes

How do you wash nylon grain bags for first use?

No soap. Don't weaken them in the sun. Just drop in PBW for at least 1/2hr. Rinse in hot water (at least as hot as the water was when you started soaking it). Drip dry
Peter Campen's user avatar
3 votes
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LME Sour Recipe Suggestions

Sour brewing doesn't mean all grain brewing by any stretch. Sour beers start with wort just like anything other beer; how you get your wort doesn't matter. Of course all-grain affords you more ...
brewchez's user avatar
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3 votes
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New England IPA - What sets it apart from a "traditional" IPA?

As a home brewer, I consider the style an IPA but it is characterized by the following: Little or no early additions of hops to the boil, 60/30 minutes. (Mash hopping is okay). A heavy late addition ...
Pale Ale's user avatar
  • 397
3 votes

New England IPA - What sets it apart from a "traditional" IPA?

According to an article on vinepair[1]: "New England IPAs are beers that are purposely hazy or cloudy, which can give these brews a smooth, creamy mouthfeel – a departure from the light/dry mouthfeel ...
Mr_road's user avatar
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3 votes
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Caramel Coffee Mead

I've heard there are some honeys (carrot, goldenrod) that will give more caramel-like flavors - you could also try lightly boiling the honey to make your mead a bochet, which I'm told will create ...
ele's user avatar
  • 46
2 votes
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How big of a batch can I brew on a 16k BTU burner?

You should be ok for the 2-3 gallon batch size you're after. I regularly BIAB 1-2 gallon batches on the large burner of a regular kitchen cooker, the timings you have seem reasonable. 20-30 min ...
RYFN's user avatar
  • 357
2 votes

Home brew and beer pump

You need to look for "Beer Engine hand pump". It requires no CO2 or pressurised kegs, the beer is held in a traditional cask and the appropriate lines connect the cask to the the hand pump. 4 or 5 ...
Jay's user avatar
  • 21
2 votes

How do you wash nylon grain bags for first use?

A good old fashioned hot water soak, a brewing sanitiser and sun bleach to dry will do the trick. Sometimes that plastic smell you describe is impossible to completely get rid of though. At least you ...
Dwayne Charrington's user avatar
2 votes
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Preboil volume doesn't fit my pot

Have you been using your 5 gallon carboy for the extract batches? Partial (concentrated) boil and split boil are popular techniques for filling a fermenter that's larger than your kettle. Whatever ...
Simon's user avatar
  • 386
2 votes

How do you wash nylon grain bags for first use?

Boil new bag in water for a few minutes. Dry in microwave. Clean. Sterile. Done. Repeat for next use.
barking.pete's user avatar
  • 5,631
2 votes

Making a strong belgian ale

1. Hops before boil This won't be an issue if the recipe calls for them to be a 45min+ addition. 2. Yeast pitch If the recipe calls for two, then use two. Most yeast packs are intended for 5 ...
Evil Zymurgist's user avatar

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