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ifuckedjesus posted:I'm no pro - but I used water mixed with starsan for my airlock at first, but it bubbled like crazy & it created these huge soap bubbles that were going everywhere out the top of my airlock. That's a good thing. It indicates outward pressure and a strong barrier of sanitizer.
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# ¿ Oct 24, 2011 08:56 |
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# ¿ Mar 29, 2024 15:45 |
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Plastic Jesus posted:So my first brew seems to feel it should have an FG of 1.02 (down from 1.08) so I'm going to let it have an FG of 1.02. However, I'm leaving for 10 days starting next Friday: if I bottle tonight will that give me enough time to discover any bottle bombs? I'd rather not have beer exploding in my empty apartment. If it's not enough time will it hurt anything to let the beer sit for another 2 weeks in the primary? As mentioned, malty or higher gravity beers tend to benefit from a few extra weeks in primary within reason. It's kind of up to whether or not you want to enjoy them when you get back or not.
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# ¿ Oct 29, 2011 23:07 |
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Retemnav posted:Stove-top brewing: canning pot or stock pot? I did a test brew on the stove awhile back where I had all 4 burners going with 4 separate pots. I found the enamel canning pot was the easiest to manage and boiled the most wort compared with some thicker stock pots. The test batch was to see how low I could go on equipment costs to get my brother brewing. It went really well but I boiled off a ton of liquid.
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# ¿ Nov 28, 2011 08:50 |
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Instructions?
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# ¿ Nov 16, 2012 08:53 |
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I used to have an IR thermometer (not sure how cheap) that I used on a fish tank that was a lot more accurate than that. Maybe +-1° F.
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# ¿ Nov 21, 2012 00:26 |
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http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f80/joes-ancient-orange-mead-49106/ This the bread yeast recipe that has been posted here several times and I love it. Great flavor, and balance and very hard to screw up. I don't see any reason to pay more for yeast unless for the value of experimenting. I'm about to make a 5 gallon batch. The one thing I would add to this from experience is that while you don't need to rack to secondary, it really cleans up nicely with 3-4 weeks off the yeast.
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# ¿ Nov 21, 2012 19:42 |
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Who Dat posted:I will be brewing mead
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# ¿ Nov 26, 2012 06:41 |
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Midorka posted:Okay so stove isn't strong enough to boil ~2 gallons of water, lid off. Anyone have any ideas on what to do to get a 3.5 gallon boil going on at home? Am I going to be forced to go propane? If so does anyone have a recommendation for a cheap/strong burner. I once did 4 pots on 4 stove burners to put a batch together but I wouldn't recommend it if you can just buy a turkey fryer. I had to periodically shift boiling wort to keep the volume somewhat even, and hop additions were a pain. Between that and several other disasters including a melted paint bag in my mash, I had to dump that batch. It was manageable for a first batch or if you live in a small apartment in the arctic but otherwise just go gas until you can build an electric setup.
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# ¿ Nov 26, 2012 20:58 |
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Zakath posted:I'm sure this has been answered previously in the thread, but what's the best way to back-sweeten a cider? I used white labs sweet mead for mine, but it still took it from 1.062 to 0.998. It's tasting pretty good but it's slightly dry. What should I do?
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# ¿ Dec 4, 2012 00:19 |
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fullroundaction posted:This is going to sound incredibly dumb, but can someone explain to me how the false bottoms on the Rubbermade-style cylindrical mash tuns work? I got a fat 1.5" - 2" diameter "bazooka tube" as they're called at my local shop and it has given me outstanding efficiency and flow. I was skeptical but cheap, and I now like it better than my buddy's false bottom setup. Yours looks a lot more narrow. My local shop sells a lot of Rubbermaid conversions and was telling me the narrow tubes weren't very good.
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# ¿ Dec 7, 2012 00:15 |
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In the 10-gal igloo I have trouble doing full 10-gal high gravity batches without another tun. In the converted keg it's no problem. I've found it helps to pre-heat with boiling water (a gallon or two, just swish it around long enough to warm everything up) and to have a good blanket and lid. Are most square/rectangle coolers made of heat / food safe plastic? The big gatorade style Igloos are often marketed for hot beverages too but I never see that for traditional coolers. I poured boiling water into one of my Igloos and it warped quite a bit. Now it's my brother's mash tun.
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# ¿ Dec 10, 2012 21:54 |
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Raise your hand if you bought a huge box of Oxy from Costco and found out it wasn't the odor free kind when you got home and opened it.
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# ¿ Dec 14, 2012 01:51 |
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I saved Anchor bottles for a year and about 20% of them cracked on the lip either during bottling or when uncapping to drink. I lost so much cider, and ended up going with Sierra Nevada style after that and have had zero problems. I bet a majority of us use cappers that come with starter kits. They're fine. I would find a few brands whose bottles don't break and stock up.
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# ¿ Dec 14, 2012 07:52 |
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Nanpa posted:If they sit in there, will they bump up the hoppy side of things over time? I doubt it. Hop oils don't take that long to extract, and hop flavor tends to mellow over time.
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# ¿ Dec 17, 2012 19:26 |
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Cointelprofessional posted:A barley wine, an imperial stout, and a sour. mead, baltic porter
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# ¿ Jan 23, 2013 22:02 |
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Who Dat posted:So I put together my first mead last night. Straight orange blossom, no frills. Seems to be fermenting nicely already as of this morning. Just gotta get bottles, corks, and a corker. As much as they say you don't need secondary, I like doing it for a month or two as it provides a noticeably more clean/smooth taste and reduces the amount of yeast I have to deal with at the bottom of the bottle. It's a bit counter to the whole "you can't screw this up look how easy it is" mindset a lot of recipes use to get people started, but I enjoy the final product more. For comparison, I don't mind yeast in most beers but in mead it's a lot more off-putting to me.
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# ¿ Jan 28, 2013 20:53 |
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Think I can get away with making plum wine without the campden tabs for the first day or so before adding yeast?
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# ¿ Sep 3, 2013 03:46 |
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I made a Pliny clone and seriously underpitched it. It sat for about 2 months before I kegged it, and it's a disgusting mess. Is it too late to re-pitch from a largish starter?
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# ¿ Apr 9, 2016 22:44 |
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# ¿ Mar 29, 2024 15:45 |
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Old Ingredients: I was recently laid off and am planning to use some of my time to get back into brewing. I have large quantities of old whole grain (2 row, maris otter) and hops (leaf and pellet, frozen). The grain is about 4 years old, and the hops 2-3 years. I'm looking to save money and brew 10 gallon batches about every couple of weeks. I can propagate yeast and make starters, but propane will be expensive on my rig. Is it worth trying to use these old ops and grain, or should I definitely scrap them and get new?
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# ¿ Oct 21, 2017 23:25 |