I have brewed 7 or 8 different beers now. I'll have to go check ales vs lagers, but lighter clearer beers have not carbonated as well as amber and darker ones that are cloudy. I let the bottles sit for 2 weeks at 69-70f. Per the online software I'm using enough priming sugar. Any suggestions?

I am looking for dry hop amount suggestions for a 5-gal or 19-L batch of English IPA. I am planning on using Fuggles and East Kent Goldings. Thanks.

I've recently brewed a Juniper beer(not at all Sahti, being boiled) and felt like sharing my 2 cents.

Recipe:

90% Pale Ale, 10% Rye Malt. Mash 1.5h at 68-63C. 10g of juniper branches in mash for 5L(~1 gal).

First wort + sparge gravity 1.056. + inverted white sugar, as a result OG 1.070.

Boil 60m. Hops: Perle 5g(0.18oz) 60m. Perle (same) 30m.

1 juniper branch 2g weight at 15m, removed after 10m, cause i've sampled the wort and it seemed already bitter enough.

Voss Kveik 1th gen 1 tsp.

1 week ferment(though it was visually done in 3 days). FG 1.016.

Results.

This was intended to be a beer for the end of the fall. You know, these bleak days, wet snow on the concrete pavements, barren trees reaching with dry branches to low gray clouds, barring any warmth and light. A booze to be strong and bitter, to have a mug of, sitting nearby the fireplace and listening(or humming along)

Under dvergar i sal
breier larm i mot sval
Millom rekkjer av bord
Leikar eld I mot ljor

Well, i failed. My bad was to remove the juniper too early. As it turned out, Voss deals with terpentines just as efficiently as with cohumulones and alpha-acids. The beer does not have juniper at all. I suppose rye also contributed to that. Perle also could be replaced with something more expressive, like Northern Brewer or Magnum.

It's still a not-so-bad dark(more like dark amber) ale, frankly decent compared with available commercial ones. But to achieve desired bitterness it seems like i have to increase juniper weight and boil time at least twice. Voss really biotransforms everything, as my other experiments with split batches and medium-ibued IPA's have shown.

So next brew is in order soon. Meanwhile:

Drinking toasts from the ale-bowls
the bard strikes his strings
The dice its silent chant
Your fortune and fate
Where warriors sit
cheerful in the beer-hall

I made a batch using lutra kveik and pressure fermented for 4 days at 12psi and then cold crashed hooked up to CO2 for 2 days before transferring to a keg with biofine last night around 9pm. There was a bit left over in the fermenter so I tried a sample and it definitely needed more carbonation.

I was wondering how much time I should expect to wait after doing the above? The keg is currently on gas at 12 psi and I am shooting for around 2.5 CO2 volume.

I’m soon ready to bottle my cider, and with 60 liters I have quite a few bottles to clean and sterilize.

Usually for my small batches with few bottles I just dunk them in my sink filled with water and cleaner (using something that requires soaking), but that’s one hell of a chore for this many bottles.

Any tips or tools to use?

I have a Christmas party in 3 weeks and am struggling to come up with a solid recipe. I'm thinking maybe a dark mild? It's a pretty quick turnaround but I'm kegging so I'm not toooo worried about it. Mostly wanting to make something crowd-pleasing and sessionable, but still Christmas-y and interesting.

My first time using this yeast and it was really hard to get ahold of. Eventually found 1 brewshop online in my country that had a smack pack version of it, but they did warn me it was a year past its expiration date. Bought it anyway and activated the pack 24 h before pitching to allow for plenty of time for the yeast to activate in the bag. Never used a smack pack before, but I think the bag blew up a little bit. It by no means ballooned or blew up dramatically.

Brew day yesterday and been about 20 h since I pitched yeast. No sign of anything yet, no airlock activity, no krausen and no cloudiness. Offcourse going to monitor and give it a couple more days to kick off if it is just slow, but does anyone have experience with this yeast and how quick it kicks off?

Also, if it doesnt kick off, should I repitch another yeast to save the batch? Have got some US-05 laying around..

Ive recently acquired a 240v 15 gallon system. I believe its 5500 watts. I hope that's correct. The person I bought it told me to install a spa breaker and a gfi plug. I known need to run a 240 wire and all that jazz, im not real good with electric so I won't do it myself. My question is do I need the breaker? Thats my main concern here. Its an older brew boss controller thats powering a water heater element. Likewise said, im not the smartest at working with electric, it scares me and I wont touch it. I known plenty of people who are willing to help and known their stuff. I just want to get ahead of the game and have all the components ready to roll when they show up. Im itching to go from the brewzilla to a big boy system.

Any recommendations on the best CIP Spray Ball for cleaning 5-10 gallon tanks?

I have the Spike spray ball, but it does a poor job of hitting the top of the inside of the tank.

I use a submersible pump (standard big box store purchase) in a bucket of cleaning solution, so head pressure isn't the problem.

I have a feeling this won't work sheerly because I've never heard of anyone else doing this, but I'm wondering if someone smarter than me could explain to me why it wouldn't work.

Rather than buying a third tank that would be used exclusively for the occasional nitro stout, if I acquired a carb stone keg lid like this one here: https://kegco.com/products/carbonating-keg-lid. I then hook the pure nitro tank to the gas in on the lid, hook the regular gas in up to low pressure CO2 and the let that dissolve into the beer normally, could this work?

I want to grab a nitro cylinder to add a cold brew tap to my keezer soon, so I'm wondering before I do if this could work. If so, I'll pick up a dual tap regulator for the nitro cylinder. If not, I'll stick with a regular regulator.

Got a buddy who's a trucker like me and he keeps a little setup going in his sleeper, swears the constant vibration from driving actually helps with something during fermentation. Sounds like nonsense to me but his pale ale was genuinely better than my last batch and I brewed mine sitting still in a nice temp controlled closet. Anybody know if there's actual science behind agitation during ferment or is this guy just lucky with his yeast strain.

Hi guys.

I'm thinking of getting into homebrewing, but am a bit limited in my bottling options home.

I have thought of using old soda bottles (1,5 L) out of plastic since they're meant to contain pressure from carbonated drinks. And I've got heaps.

Would you recommend it, and if so, are there any extra steps I need to do apart from sterilizing the bottles, if I want to use them?

Cheers.

Hey everyone, looking for a bit of a sanity check on a rum wash I just put together.
Here is my recipe and setup:
**Fermentables:** 5 kg molasses + 3 kg brown sugar (plus water to volume, standard wash size).
**Yeast:** A dedicated rum yeast rated for up to 15% ABV.
**Nutrients:** Fermaid O.
My math/calculations suggest that this amount of sugar shouldn't push the wash past the yeast's 15% ABV tolerance. I figured it would ferment out completely clean and chew through everything.
However, someone reviewing my numbers online is arguing that the initial density/sugar concentration is way too high and that the yeast will stall or die off due to osmotic pressure/stress before reaching that 15%. They suggested keeping the density below 18–20°P.
Is this starting sugar load actually high enough to kill off or severely stress a rum yeast, or should a 15% tolerant strain handle a wash like this without issues as long as nutrients and temps are managed? Appreciate any insights!

Welcome to the Daily Q&A!

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

• How do I check my gravity?

• I don't see any bubbles in the airlock OR the bubbling in the airlock has slowed. What does that mean?

• Does this look normal / is my batch infected?

Or if any of those answers don't help you please consider visiting the /r/Homebrewing Wiki for answers to a lot of your questions! Another option is searching the subreddit, someone may have asked the same question before!

However no question is too "noob" for this thread. No picture is too tomato to be evaluated for infection! Even though the Wiki exists, you can still post any question you want an answer to.

Also, be sure to vote on answers in this thread. Upvote a reply that you know works from experience and don't feel the need to throw out "thanks for answering!" upvotes. That will help distinguish community trusted advice from hearsay... at least somewhat!

Introduction
So I made my first batch of beer ever. I looked at a billion recipes, and decided to just try coming up with my own with random grains I impulsively bought beforehand because “they looked good” at the grain store.

Recipe
In a brewers edge mash and boil I picked up for 60 bucks at my local grain store (hell of a steal imo)

7 ibs merris otter
2 ibs cherrywood smoke malt
1 ibs of Weyermann caaramber
1 oz chocolate malt

0.5 oz cluster at 60 min
0.5 cluster at 45 min
1 oz Willamette at 10 min

1 packet of the blue S04 English ale yeast

Brew Process
Strike temp 152 for an hour with a grain basket and grain bag. I used both together because in my prior experience… making other delicious stuff… the screen on the grain basket still let particles through leading to a scorching situation.

Lifted grain basket and carefully squeezed as much liquid as I could out of the grain bag. Removed grains and brought vessel to a rolling boil around 204 degrees (I’m at a high elevation).

60 min boil - hops

I didn’t have a wort chiller at the time so I sanitized a large metal pot, transferred the boiling liquid and put it into a tub with cold water, stirring the wort and replacing the cooling water in the tub as it warmed up. This took about 2 hours.

Ferment Process
Sanitized anything and everything that the beer touched obsessively upon transfer into a 5 gallon carboy. Pitched S04 English ale yeast at 70 degrees, maintained 67-68 degree ferment for 7 days.

Day 1 - Lots of bubbles
Day 2 - Came home to what I can only describe as mount Kilauea (fermenter was too small).
Day 3- violent ferment began to stabilize and healthy yeast cap sat on top
Day 4 - yeast dropped to bottom
Day 5-7 - Diacetyl rest

I read S04 ferments quickly so I figured 7 days was fine. My initial gravity reading was 1.056, unfortunately during my excitement of brewing my very first beer, I dropped the gravity meter in the tube and shattered it.. lol I sanitized my wort pump and pulled 8oz to taste test. It was absolutely delicious! The caramel/toffee was present, it had a bitterness that was just what I was looking for. The grains shined through perfectly.

Transfer Process
Pumped c02 into pin lock five gallon keg, dropped sanitized transfer tube into bottom. Filled, did 24 hours at 40 psi. Released pressure, refilled to 10 psi.

3 days in the kegerator went by and I started noticing the grain and toffee notes going away. It became more bitter. It’s still drinkable, and still a tasty beer, just not that exciting first couple of glasses that I thought it was going to be the remainder of the 5 days in its keg (I got overly excited and consumed it quickly between myself and my wife).

The Question/s
Did I miscalculate the hops?

If so, and I want that delicious sweet and grain flavor what hops should I use next time and at what intervals in the boil?

Was it the failure to cool rapidly?

Am I some sick twisted psychopath that just enjoys the taste of semi-flat room temp beer and the carbonation and temperatures mask the grain more?

This is my second time fermenting

For the holidays I decided to make blueberry,cranberry, and grape wine using K-1 yeast

The original gravity was 1.110 or 1.115 around 15% approximate abv , over the past week my 3 gallon fermenting carboy hasn't changed in gravity even though my smaller half gallon ferment of this batch has dropped to 1.070 abv

Im just wondering if something may have happened such as a stalled ferment, it's just confusing since both carboys were filled from the same liquid and must

How would I go about possibly fixing this batch since I've already sunk about $25 in berries

Going into this, I’m sure someone has done it more efficiently or for cheaper. And I’d love to hear about that. This is just something that I cobbled together and set up earlier today, and it seems to be working! I’ve had this running for around an hour and the temp has dropped from 72 F to 60 F. Hopefully I remember to update later on about if I was able to get down to 40 F or even lower.

My fermenter is a SS Brewtech Brewbucket (1.0) with their chilling coil Kit. I have a bucket filled with water and an aquarium pump sending water through the chilling coils. Keeping the bucket cold has been my main challenge. Been using ice packs which thaw quickly, or ice which melts and adds to the volume of the water. Left me looking for alternatives without spending top dollar for a fancy glycol chiller.

I was able to get a deal on an open box VEVOR Aquarium Chiller 52 Gallon, 1/10 HP Water Chiller (copied and pasted from website for specificity) and am running that to chill the water in the bucket to 40 F as a start before I try to go lower.

Based on the 1 hour-ish of performance I’m feeling excited and like I finally have a reliable temperature control system for my brewing which has been a massive headache for me over the years.

Have a Dry Irish Stout finishing up in my fermenter now, but if this works as well as it seeming to I might need to crank out a pilsner or amber lager before the holidays just to celebrate the temp control!

UPDATE: My fermenter is down to 39 F after 3 or 4 hours, so can confirm this works effectively!

First attempt at using lactose. I'm going to do an Oreo stout. When is the best time to add the lactos? Last 10 min of boil ?

Hi all! My name is Albie, and one of my dearest friends has an exciting life event coming up and I would love to surpise him by brewing one of his old beer recipes for a celebration. Only a handful of problems: I'm new to brewing, and the recipe is for a 5 gallon recipe.

I am someone who loves challenge! So I'm hoping you can help orient me a bit.

Here are the recipes! (See imgur link in comments)

Is there a video that would assist in some of the step-by-step-ness of it all? Is there a recipe that would be the best for a beginner?

TYIA for being kind and patient with me!

Is a 5.5 gallon kettle enough for 5 gallons of finished product? I want to make beer from a 5 gallon kit, but curious about kettle size. I’ve heard you can use a more concentrated wort and then add water to it so you can yield more than you can actually boil.

I have this with the floating dip tube. Any ideas on how to get the float and the filter out to clean them?

edit: It is a 20L, I made a typo in the title. Thank you, u/nodekku.

I want to, to the best of my ability, recreate Nidhoggr's Elderflower Mead. It's a UK Mead I got once here in the States and loved. As I have been watching video after video I found that they use a significantly higher amount of honey than what most meads would use. I believe the ratio is 4.35lb of honey for every one gallon. Typical meads seems to be 2.5 to 3.5lbs. I'd hate to buy all of the ingredients and have to dump it because I killed fermentation right at the beginning with this ratio that I'm only guessing on given an interview the creator did on YouTube.

I also wanted to ask what is best used to feed the yeast during fermentation? Is there a brands that are better for beers more than wines or meads? Thanks for any help you can provide!

Ive only ever made one mead before and I've planned to make a braggot and I dont know what honey and yeast might go well with a beer kit I bought for it and I was wondering if anyone has ever bought the beer kit and can speak on what honey and yeast will complementthe flavors. I want to make it at about 8-10% abv and im unsure of how to figure out how much sugar will bring me to that number without having any left over for carbonation after brewing.

I don’t have much experience and have 3 different car boys fermenting various meads with different fruits. Is there a set time-frame to remove fermenting fruits before they alter the flavor or..? (I’ve had to swirl the fruit daily to keep them moist, so I don’t know how that affects it either)
Any help is appreciated!