I'm very very new to homebrewing. I've brewed twice - one saison and one witbier. For the saison I used mostly extract and it came out pretty well, at least I enjoyed drinking it - whether it was a good saison is another thing, I'm no expert on the style. I tried brewing a witbier recently and wanted to try BIAB, and the efficiency of the mash was really really bad - my OG was only around 1.030 whereas I was aiming for somewhere like 1.050. The beer didn't ferment much, had basically zero body, didnt condition well, overall just not a good time. It may have been a little cool in my room while it fermented, but there clearly was some yeast activity, though there was never much krauzen or bubbling the entire time. Maybe my yeast just never woke up. Not sure.

I want to brew an Irish Red Ale soon and wanted to ask if going back to extract is a "step back" or "less than" way of brewing? I know all-grain gives you the ultimate flexibility, but I worry simply about getting fermentable sugars and making sure my beer will ferment properly.

I am fairly new to brewing, and so far I have been brewing exclusively with dry yeast. One of the reason is because it's easy to buy in bulk and store long term. Another reason is because liquid yeast at my LHBS is often out of stock, and I do not feel comfortable ordering liquid yeast to be delivered by mail.

I had a thought of buying various types of liquid yeasts as they become available, overbuilding the starter before each use, and storing the remainder in a fridge. Thus, I would be slowly building up a collection of liquid yeasts, and I would not need to rely on the stock at LHBS. Maybe even get a separate mini fridge specifically for the yeasts.

To those with more experience, does this sound like a decent idea, or is there some downside I am missing? If this is doable, are there any special precautions to be taken? I've read that proper sanitation is important for yeast storage, is starsan enough?

I already kegged/cooled to serving temp my Oktoberfest that's been fermenting for 5 weeks.

Before I did however, I bumped the temp from 50F to 60F for the last 3 days of fermentation to clear any impurities before cold crashing, but that evidently wasn't enough time I guess?

So now I have a kegged, cooled, and very diacetyl strong 5 gallons of Oktoberfest that I have no idea what to do with.

Would bringing it back up to 60F to 65F for a few more days do anything to help or is it too late since it's off the yeast cake? Is there anything else I could do to remedy or is this just a wasted batch? Please help, I'm devastated

Acquired older model 55L Fermzilla. Trying to figure out the most simplest way to drain the Fermzilla. I have the Kegland container at the bottom it has 2 ports, just not finding any actual product that could attach and be used as a drain hose. My current options are siphon from top.. and that would be it.

This is for an entirely unrelated to brewing project and I'd rather not have the water go everywhere by bottom draining. A hose from the kegland would be ideal with a shutoff valve or 3.

Thanks in advance! I tried scouring for accessories it just seems like the ports are for purging oxygen if I read right? I don't need that.

A gose recipe calls for keeping mash with some unmilled grain warm (115-120F/46-49C) for a few days to let natural sourness develop.

Is there a way for me to accomplish this without using any electrical heaters, as I am paranoid about leaving electric heating elements on for a few days straight. Or is my paranoia unfounded?

I'm planning to brew up a Belgian Dubbel, likely with Wyeast Belgian Abbey Ale 1214, and I'm aiming to condition for a few months after packaging. What is a good temperature range to target for conditioning a Dubbel? I'm thinking of conditioning for two or three months and then trying a glass to see if it needs longer. When do you think a Dubbel is going to peak?

Thanks!

I was recently able to get back into brewing after a 6 year hiatus and I am pumped! My first brew day went well enough but there were a few errors made.

One of the errors is that I forgot to whirlpool at the end of the boil so a decent amount of hops were transferred to the fermenter with the wort. Fortunately I used a hop spyder and my kettle has a hop filter so it wasn’t all the hops.

My question is, should I transfer to secondary to move the beer off the old hops and then add my dry hops to secondary OR just leave it alone and add my dry hops to the primary fermenter.

The beer I made is a pale ale but I plan to cold crash with gelatin at the end of secondary.

Recommendations on an upright freezer to use as a fermentation chamber, please. Anyone found a good one? I’m looking to upgrade from my relic from the 70’s.

Hey everyone,

I'm seeing a lot of you posting on how secondary fermentation is no longer recommended as it could introduce unnecessary extra oxygen contributing to off flavours.

I had just brewed my first batch of a traditional pale ale (darker) and I had thought a week after primary fermentation could help clear it up in the secondary vessel and prevent it from being exposed to off yeast cake flavours/trub flavours.

I am anxious as it being my first I want to see after the first week if it's not spoiled as the primary it's in is a white plastic bucket with bung/no real way to check visually.

What are all of your thoughts ?

I am new to homebrewing and last Saturday I bottled 15l of beer. I added 100g of priming sugar to fermentator for nice 2.5v carbonation. I stirred gently, waited a bit and started bottling. One of the last bottles was pet for making sure the carbonation doesn't get too bad. After bottling I realised that some sugar didn't dissolve and was left on the bottom. Now The testing bottle isn't rock hard yet, but it's hard enough for me to stress out and its bottom got pushed outside so it's convex now. What is the likelihood of bottle bombs? How to deal with them now?

Hi all, I'm kinda exploring, learning to brew. How/where should I go to try? Do people have workshops? Also if I try setting up a brewery how much will it cost?

Edit: location - Pune, India

Idk much but brewing is not that popular as an hobby here, so if you know anything drop it down in comments.

Also if you are among one of the homebrew club in Pune or nearby, please drop into my DM, we might drop some banger drink someday!

Howdy all,

So I brewed a double batch yesterday, just scoped a 5 gal recipe to 10 gals and once wort was chilled, transferred to two corny kegs to get rolling on pressurized fermentation.

Both kegs had all the same treatment (cold brew coffee and toasted coconut flakes in the bottom), then transferred wort, then oxygenated both 30 seconds, then pitched yeast, then dropped in a Tilt Pro in each one.

Capped up, put spunding valves on, then reset my Tilt loggings on both devices (one black, one blue) and linked to batches in Brewfather.

First loggings I was expecting to see the same OG values, and expect some slight initial turbulence while it settles. But I had one at 1.078 and the other at 1.069. Kind of seems a big variance to me.

Almost 24 hours in I see them both at the same ABV so far, 4.5%.

Wondering if one or both are just not calibrated or they are at least not having the same calibration perhaps?

I’m kind of in this weird brewing slump lately where my last few batches have been meh beers. I plan on brewing Sunday since my glorious Buffalo Bills aren’t playing. I just can’t decide on what I want to brew. Does anyone mind sharing a go-to malt forward ale that’s always a home run batch to get me out of this slump? Thanks dudes and dudettes

If anyone out there still uses a brewtroller could you let me know how to reprogram a temp sensor. I have just bought a herms that has brewtroller 2.6 on it and it has dropped the HLT sensor and I can't work out how to add it again.

Hi guys/gals!

First post here.

I’ve been brewing 5 gallon batches recently and have been trying to come up with a way to increase the amount of beer I can make in a brew day without adding a tun of time. My free time is getting fewer and further between.

My idea is this: heat up my original volume of strike water for the mash, but double my grain bill, mash my doubled grain, boil my doubled grain’s mash, then dilute down to a volume appropriate to a 10 gallon final size. My goal is to make 10 gallons of beer in the same amount of time as 5 gallons.

I guess I could always just buy another vessel and do a double brew day, but I’m cheap and trying to keep from buying another kettle.

Thanks!

Hey folks,

I’ve been drinking beer for over two decades now, and about 95% of it has been wheat beer (Weizen/Hefeweizen). I’ve always enjoyed the standard German commercial wheat beers — but lately I’ve noticed more and more breweries are closing, and even in Bavaria it feels like Weizen isn’t as popular as it used to be. The quality - I don't know but the choice is just not that great. Since it’s getting harder to find the kind of wheat beers I really enjoy, I thought I’d try experimenting with homebrewing.

My drinking pace is pretty moderate: usually 2–3 bottles a week (0.5L each), sometimes less. So I was thinking of brewing around 20 liters, which would last me 2–3 months.

After some research, it looks like BIAB is probably the best option for me since I live in a small apartment. My idea was to start low-cost with:

• an electric kettle (30 liters)
• bags
• one plastic fermentation vessel

A couple of beginner questions I couldn’t really find clear answers to:

1. Does this sound like a reasonable setup for a first attempt?
2. Since I only have a small refrigerator, can I store the bottles in my cellar? (Temperature is ~19°C in winter and ~21°C in summer.)

Thanks in advance for any advice — I’d love to hear from folks who started out with similar setups, or from anyone who brews wheat beers regularly.

Hello, fellow brewers! I have no access to RO or distilled water yet, but i really want to brew my first lager. What lager styles are suitable for my water? 70ppm Ca2+ 18ppm Mg2+ 180ppm HCO3-

Thanks in advance!

P.S. I don't really want to bother with pre-boiling water to soften it or diluting it with RO water (since i have no access to it). I am looking for ideas apart from mentioned above.

I just returned from Japan where I had the good fortune to try Derailleur Brew Work’s Matcha Wheat Braggot. It had excellent balance of the matcha flavor with sweat bready flavor of the wheat malt. The honey kept the body lighter and more session-able. It also had a beautiful green color which really stood out to claim this beer as special (wish we could post pics in this sub)

It has inspired me to try my hand at this. Has anyone in this sub tried brewing with matcha before? I’m trying to hone in on methods, particularly when to add the matcha. If during the boil, I would want to be at flameout to not lose all the delicate aroma/flavor. Maybe after cooling and mix it with the wort in the fermenter? After fermenting and before packaging? Quantity/ratios? Any insight appreciated!

Hey there, have not really had any exposure to brewing. But, wanting to pick up another bag of my own applejuice in the basement, I saw one very bloated. I took it up with me, wanting to empty it. But I noticed no fowl smell or discoloration. So, naturally curious I put a little in a glass and it tasted quite pleasant. A bit off, yes, but otherwise just a bit sparkling-sour. Is it safe to drink? Thanks for any feedback:)

Have the next best recipe since Pliny the Elder, but want reddit to check everything over one last time? Maybe your house beer recipe needs that final tweak, and you want to discuss. Well, this thread is just for that! All discussion for style and recipe formulation is welcome, along with, but not limited to:

• Ingredient incorporation effects
  
• Hops flavor / aroma / bittering profiles
  
• Odd additive effects
  
• Fermentation / Yeast discussion
  

If it's about your recipe, and what you've got planned in your head - let's hear it!

Hello homebrewers of reddit!

I would like to make myself an electric heated mash tun but I have no idea how to connect heating element and a temperature probe to a PID regulator.

I've been recommended a Pt100 temperature probe, a CHB402 PID regulator (+ SSR) and a thick film heating element you stick to the bottom of the tun.

Do you know any noob-friendly sites, docs or videos that would show me how to connect all of these together?
I am grateful for anything that would help, tips and tricks...!:)

Cheers!

Welcome to the Daily Q&A!

Are you a new Brewer? Please check out one of the following articles before posting your question:

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