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9 votes
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Does homebrewed beer have a "Golden Age"?

Beers do tend to age and have a sweet spot, per se, of when their flavor peaks. Every beer and beer style is different without a doubt. But what you are describing is more related to your experience ...
brewchez's user avatar
  • 36.2k
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 ...
Sam's user avatar
  • 411
6 votes
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Same priming sugar when using larger bottles?

I use the same amount of priming sugar, in the batch, and I use a mix of bottles. 12oz and 32oz. and they carbonate the same. if you are adding sugar to individual bottles, then the amount would be ...
jsolarski's user avatar
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6 votes
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Bottle Bombs or Paranoia

According to this calculator, adding 1.4oz of sugar to 2gal at 35°F is equivalent to adding 5.4oz at 68°F. At 35°F the disolved CO2 is around 1.61vol whereas at 68°F it is 0.86vol. In your case the ...
JeanMi's user avatar
  • 799
5 votes

Bottling Bucket - really necessary?

Most of the equipment is not really necessary. It may just make it much easier. When you use a bottling bucket, you rack from fermenter to bottling bucket, leaving a layer of dead yeast cells and ...
Robert's user avatar
  • 1,266
5 votes
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PET Bottle shelf life

IMHO PET bottles will keep beer very well for up to 6 months. Beer can be kept longer than that but I have noticed that "fizzy drinks" PET bottles can lose pressure after a year or so. Apparently the ...
barking.pete's user avatar
  • 5,641
5 votes

Conditioning and storing beer at temperatures around -5°C

It's fairly safe to say that bottle conditioning at -5°c will not yield good results. Even high ABV beers stored below freezing will form ice crystals and force a separation of the water and ethanol. ...
Evil Zymurgist's user avatar
5 votes
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Unexpected flavours after bottle conditioning

Bottle conditioning, not to be confused with bottle aging, is only for natural carbonation. You want to use a monosaccharide sugar like powdered corn sugar so it's easily and completely consumed by ...
Evil Zymurgist's user avatar
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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Cidery or wine flavor after bottle conditioning ale

I saw that "cidery due to too much simple sugar" issue mentioned in a few places, but for some weird reason I haven't experienced it, even though my bottling procedure always includes table (cane) ...
Roman's user avatar
  • 1,498
4 votes

30° Celsius bottle conditioning. How bad is it?

Not bad at all. The only time temperature control is crucial is during fermentation, not conditioning. I live in Queensland Australia where the temps exceed 30 Celsius regularly in the Summer and my ...
Dwayne Charrington's user avatar
4 votes
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How much yeast to add for bottle conditioning

There actually are a number of references in the literature to this issue. In general it seems that a standard target would be pitching (or to be more accurate, ensuring there are) 1 million healthy ...
Franklin P Combs's user avatar
4 votes
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Bottling Bucket - really necessary?

If you have a bucket w/ a tap in it, it sounds to me like you already have a bottling bucket. I'd probably buy another bucket w/o a tap to ferment in and bottle using your current bucket. You can ...
Freedom Francis's user avatar
4 votes

should i re-rack my beer?

Most people these days do not use secondary. It is not necessary and usually not recommended....Here's what John Palmer had to say.... https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=...
Denny Conn's user avatar
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4 votes
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Temperature fluctuations during carbonation/conditioning

IMHO the minor fluctuations in temperature don't really affect the overall flavour because the beer has a thermal capacity to resist rapid temp changes. Gradual changes over half a day will affect it ...
barking.pete's user avatar
  • 5,641
4 votes
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Bottled a Belgian ale not carbonating

This is a high gravity beer right? Just wait, it will get there. Ensure they are stored somewhere good for ale temperatures (> 15C / 60F). If you're really worried, give them a gentle shake every ...
Kingsley's user avatar
  • 2,060
3 votes

How can I contain unexpected bottle bombs

No matter how careful you are, you can pick up a wild yeast infection and wind up w/ gushers and bottle bombs. They do explode w/ some force--enough to cause minor injuries for sure--but a regular ...
Freedom Francis's user avatar
3 votes

30° Celsius bottle conditioning. How bad is it?

Temperature will affect the flavor in the long run, but you won't notice anything if it is only a short period of time. Once bottle conditioning is complete, you better store your beer in a cool ...
Philippe's user avatar
  • 4,806
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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Best yeast for bottle conditioning

In theory all strains could be used. One thing to watch out for is the attenuation level of the yeast, you don't want the new yeast to ferment more sugars than its primary predecessor. On top of the ...
JesseB1234's user avatar
3 votes

Can I increase the carbonation of already-bottled beer?

Yes, maybe. You can add a measured amount of sugar and that can increase your carbonation but you're inviting other problems. 1. The yeast may have temporarily stalled out, and if it takes off again ...
Robert Zormeir's user avatar
3 votes
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Can I increase the carbonation of already-bottled beer?

I have such experience, and it's possible: there is, almost always, enough yeast in the bottle to process the extra priming sugar. A few things to check before you try and do it: - are you sure all ...
Roman's user avatar
  • 1,498
3 votes

Storage Temperature

Beer should be stored cool. Around 7°C (45°F), never colder than 3°C (37°F) [#1]. Charles Bamforth says that every extra 10°C (50°F) of temperature doubles the rate of beer aging. So when your beer ...
Kingsley's user avatar
  • 2,060
3 votes

Is it Safe to Carbonate Beer in a Can?

I am the guy that asked the question you referenced. Since asking that question, I have canned 500+ 16oz cans of beer and session mead/melomel. I notice that it has only been a couple of months, which ...
Rob's user avatar
  • 506
3 votes

My newly bottled beer was in <40 degree weather for 6 hours; is it ruined?

You are right. Cold temperatures only slow down the yeast, not completely kill them. As long as the beer is kept at the correct temperature for the rest of the time, it should turn out fine.
Czernina's user avatar
  • 560
2 votes

Why is there so much foam when I open the bottle?

This is called gushing, and you usually get it with a combination of two factors: A lot of CO2 A lot of "crystallization nuclei" for the CO2 to build bubbles and gas out I currently have ...
RBloeth's user avatar
  • 131
2 votes

Bottle Conditioning with Saison Yeast - Any adjustments to priming sugar necessary?

if people are still wondering about these results.. both of these strains were found to be S. cerevisiae var. diastaticus and contain the gene that allows them to chop up dextrins and do this very ...
kimberly's user avatar
2 votes

How can I prime for bottle conditioning without oxidizing the beer?

It's actually going to be pretty difficult to cause excess oxidation if you aren't doing it intentionally or performing extra transfers. If you've had uneven priming then you are going to need to up ...
jaredaritter's user avatar
2 votes

How can I contain unexpected bottle bombs

Avoid it as previous answers have stated. Outside of that, if you are worried about it I would just condition in rubbermaid containers, mainly to contain the mess. That said, I've never had a bomb, ...
slambeth's user avatar
  • 131
2 votes

Great taste up to a month then rapidly deteriorates

The changes that can happen to your brew over time are caused by a couple different practices. Please note, I don't know your skill level, so I don't know how much you know about brewing. I'm not ...
1031 Brews's user avatar

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