9
votes
Accepted
Can I mix two yeasts to add different flavours when I make beer?
This can work very nicely from my experience, I often use S-04 and US-05. The S-04 gives esters as you suspect and the US-05 gives a higher attenuation and a thinner body.
The majority of esters are ...
9
votes
Accepted
Do I need the dregs from primary fermentation for carbonation?
No. The settled yeast (trub/dregs) from primary shouldn't be included in bottling. There's plenty of yeast in suspension to bottle condition, unless your cold weather was enough to completely crash ...
7
votes
Steps to take as a first timer brewery
Get yourself a decent homebrewing book. John Palmer's book "How to Brew" is a great starting place.
Watch some youtube videos on homebrewing. This one has a million views. (You guys are lucky, when ...
7
votes
Accepted
Can I over-filter my beer?
If you are worried about the yeast getting through that bag, you have nothing to worry about. When we talk about sterile filtration, the generally accepted size of the filter is .45u (micron). 1000 ...
7
votes
Accepted
Accidentally used 100% unsanitized gear for brew - should I toss it?
Your brew is fine. If there's a problem it will be obvious when you taste it. Relax.
6
votes
Should I boil water before adding it to the cooled wort?
I have no idea about the OP's water but here in Sussex UK I use the water straight out of the tap. I would not boil it - I would just add it to the wort in the FV, pitch the yeast and let it ferment. ...
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, ...
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 ...
6
votes
How to brew moonshine?
Moonshine is the name for illegally made spirits of non-specific ingredients. So I will answer your question as if you asked something like: "How do I make spirits".
Caveat: Currently, as far as I ...
6
votes
I forgot to take my first Gravity reading
It isn't too much of a big deal. If you have the nutritional information from the honey you can calculate how much of it was pure sugar (mainly glucose in honey I believe). Then it is a simple case of ...
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,...
5
votes
Recipe websites catering to beginners?
Since the science and techniques of brewing is exactly the same for beginners as they are for somebody who has been brewing for years, are you asking for recipes for malt extract (known as extract ...
5
votes
Can I mix two yeasts to add different flavours when I make beer?
You can do it, but there's no way to control which will dominate so it's a crapshoot with hard to predict results. I prefer to go another way... split the batch and ferment each half with a different ...
5
votes
Should I boil water before adding it to the cooled wort?
It depends, obviously. In many countries tap water is close to a few microorganisms in a milliliter, which would theoretically guarantee it to be safe. There should be test results available online or ...
5
votes
Step by Step homebrewing from extract - need verification and clarification
IMHO there is too much "all grain brewing tehcnique" being used in an extract brew process.
There is no particular need to steep the grains at 70C. They are providing some flavours and body to the ...
5
votes
Accepted
Messed up West Coast IPA recipe, could dryhopping make it good?
Wait!!! Does the beer taste good?
If so, just leave it, it wont be as bitter as the recipe sure, but good beer is good beer. It's probably OK.
Hop additions are numbered by the amount of boil ...
5
votes
Accepted
Brewing Low ABV Lager
Many websites can provide recipes. Take a look at some other posts like :
Recipe websites catering to beginners?
But since you already have a recipe, you just need to lower the ABV a little, take ...
5
votes
Baloon air lock not inflating after second day
You may not have a perfect seal, so the gas is dissipating into the atmosphere. This is not a problem. The airlock serves only as a safety mechanism - it prevents buildup of gas, while also preventing ...
5
votes
Accepted
Is my final gravity too high for bottling?
In general, you can consider you fermentation completed when you get the same gravity reading for 3 days in a row. It is either completed or stuck (I won't go on the details here, but do a search on '...
5
votes
Fermented juice with potassium sorbate
Preservatives make it harder to ferment but not impossible.
Sounds like your yeast has been able to ferment so I think you should be fine to carry on as normal. You may have saved it by putting in two ...
4
votes
How strong you can brew a beer using Brubox kit?
Beer kits generally end up somewhere near or just below the 5% ABV mark. It is easy to add sugar/glucose to the wort to make it a higher ABV. Generally using added sugars one can get to somewhere ...
4
votes
Can I over-filter my beer?
No. Unless it's a cloudy style that relies on particulates.
But putting that bag over your racking cane will probably just clog up and be a frustrating mess.
I would use finings and cold crash. Then ...
4
votes
Lack of sweetness and carbonation
What was your recipe and process? Asking the question properly will get you a good answer faster.
My first thought is that most of the sugars in apples are fermentable, so you will always get a ...
4
votes
Lack of sweetness and carbonation
No errors, even if you didn't get the results expected.
The lack of sweetness is normal since all sugar is fermented. You will see similar results with other fruit juice and even mead, when fermented ...
4
votes
Accepted
Ale Popped the Bung
Apart from your carpet, Everything Is Ok.
It's very normal during the active fermentation stage that a large amount of vigorous yeast comes to the top of the brew. If the amount of beer enables the ...
4
votes
Sour beer at home?
Like anything in brewing, it can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make it. I'll provide only the simple answer because I prefer to keep things simple.
1) First, you need to read How To ...
4
votes
Accepted
48 hours into ferment. Fermenter temperature is 73°F. Should I cool it?
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. ...
4
votes
Fermented juice with potassium sorbate
Potassium sorbate doesn't really kill off the yeast, it just stops it from reproducing. The bubbling can indicate active fermentation, but a better way to check if anything is happening is to sample ...
3
votes
Can you use nutritional Brewer yeast in the beer making process?
If your talking about the dietary suplement "Brewers Yeast", then No.
This is the same species of yeast used in brewing but it's dead and is used as a supplement for it's minerals etc.
3
votes
My OG is 1.030 and I'm only at 4 gallons?
If that is truly your OG and not current SG, then the problem is likely with your measurement. When you top off the wort is heavier than the water and sinks to the bottom. It's really difficult to ...
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