BeerTools Discussion Forum

Can I put rice flakes in a mesh bag? I was
wondering if I could save some time this way
by not having to strain and deal with all the
sopping rice kernals.
I figure I will have to do an experimental brew
to know for sure.

I asked the same question in this forum a few months ago. Boil a mason jar and lid to sterilize it. Pour the sediment from your secondary fermemter into the jar. Keep this in the fridge until you are ready to brew again. You can "wash" the yeast with distilled water if you want a "cle...

My first fruit beer is in the final fermenter
and I was wondering if anybody could help me
calculate the ABV for it. I used the "finished
beer analysis" on this site, but that doesn't
account for the sugar in the fruit. I have a
feeling that much math is involved.

I use a 1/2 cup scoop to put DME in my brewpot.
After a few scoops it gets clumped on the scooper
and I just dunk it into the brewpot to disolve
it off. It takes a little longer to scoop 6+
pounds of DME this way, but I get it all in there.

I would watch it until Tuesday or even Wednesday evening. Check your temperature, it may be too cold. If you have no activity start some new yeast and re-pitch. I had this happen once with dry yeast. I assume that the yeast was bad. I made a small bit of wort with a 1/2 cup or so of DME and a small ...

If anybody was following my post on "Revised Pale Ale" I tasted it today and it is a winner. I am so happy with this beer I can't stand myself. I want to thank everyone for the advice on how to improve on the original recipe and especially whoever told me to use liquid yeast. If anyone wan...

Has anyone out there made "Leftovers" beer? I was just wondering since I am getting a small collection of packets of hops and a little malt extract here and there all piling up in my fridge. This is taking up valuable brew space. I just wondered if anybody has ever done this, and how it tu...

Well, it's bottling day. FG 1.011, and smells clean. Tasted the sample from the hydrometer vial and it is good. So after all the worrying and fretting that I had not hit anywhere close to center mass with this one was unwarented. This is close to what I want my house beer to be. So far. Oh yeah, con...

I have finished fermenting my first batch of brew using liquid yeast. (see my post "Revised Pale Ale") Liquid yeast is more expensive than dry, so I would like to "re-use" the yeast I have now. Before I bottle in the next couple of days could somebody let me know how to preserve ...

Water volume could have something to do with it. I started out with 3.5 gallons of water in my brewpot, but after boiling and cooling it was less than 3 gallons as measured in my fermenter. I added water to make 5 gallons. Next batch I will brew with 4 gallons instead of 3.5. Perhaps that will help ...

For those of you following my disorganized posts concerning my first attempt at formulating my own recipe, I thank you much. I opened a bottle of this ale today to check on carbonation and have a taste. Carbonation is adequate. Taste, hmmmm. I can taste the higher alcohol content (5.25% ABV; I am us...

I made this beer. 3.52lbs syrup, 2lbs DME, and 8oz 20L Crushed Crystal (steeped); hops are as described in the first post. I took the original gravity and it came out very low. 1.038 I just got a new hydrometer, so it may be off. However, I will check the beer after fermentation and if it is still l...

I have had similar experience with Muton's Dry ale yeast. I only used one pack, but the temperatures and fermentation seeming to be complete in only a couple of days was the same. I was nervous the first time and took a hydrometer reading three days in a row, but the last two batches I made with tha...

Bottled that brew the day before yesterday. I have broken my hydrometer :( I think the cat knocked it off the cabnet during one of her freakish episodes, so I don't have a final gravity to make alcohol content calculations. I tasted it and it is rather bitter, but not in an unpleasant way. I taste t...

I have gathered from most recipes that the aroma hops are left in until the wort is cooled and strained into the fermenter. And you would be right, I suppose, that it would mean variable aroma, depending on how long it takes to cool your wort. I guess that is one of the joys of being a homebrewer. E...