BeerTools Discussion Forum

So I've done about a dozen batches of beer now. The first few came out much more carbonated than the last few, though I'm using the same amount of priming sugar. The only thing I can think of is that I'm getting better at leaving only a little liquid behind when I siphon, so I'm actually using a lit...

If it's not already super humid in your place, you could combine the towel with the water pan for some evaporative cooling effect. I did that over the summer when we got our little heat wave in CA: carboy in a pan of water with an old shirt draped over it. The water evaporates off the shirt and cool...

You mentioned a "long secondary" as a reason to use more yeast for bottling. This is true....but not after only 3 weeks. There should be enough yeast left in suspension in your beer to accomplish carbonation for a few months at least. Fresh yeast is more often needed after a long lagering ...

Two things to consider about light and beer: 1. Yeast likes the dark better. The brown fermenter should probably be fine to keep it dark enough. If you're worried, put it in a closet (I do) or cover it with a towel/blanket/old t-shirt. 2. UV light + hops = skunky. Direct sunlight has more UV than re...

The reason you're not supposed to boil fruit is the pectins in fruit will set at high temperatures. Pectin is what makes jelly turn from juice to gel. The end result for your beer will be a nasty haze. Pectic enzyme can be added if you want to boil fruit and this should get rid of haze problems. I w...

I've been extract brewing for awhile and I always--always--end up with beer that is darker than "expected". I think the extracts just have more color in them than if you did all-grain.

No worries, it's not about the color anyway. How does it taste?

I made a cider (though from frozen concentrate). It tasted quite "interesting" at first--very harsh and not that good. A few months later it is much better than it was before. Give it some time; I've heard ciders just take awhile before they turn the corner. You might also consider a diffe...

Sorry for the long delay. I can send you a couple of places for mead information. B3 has a pretty active mead section of their forum (morebeer.com); also gotmead.com has a ton of mead information and lots of helpful people (some of whom are also on the morebeer board). My advice, based on one comple...

I opened the first bottle of my ESB not too long ago. It was crystal clear in the carboy, but man did it get cloudy in the glass! Disappointed, but it was still pretty good. I've got some sitting in the frige now; with previous brews about a month there really helped the clarity. Just remember to pu...

is the water you add at the end thoroughly mixed into the wort? the heavy wort sits at the bottom of the carboy, so your readings might be diluted and thus pretty low. (look for a color gradient to see if there is stratification.) i always try to top off either right before the end of the boil (so i...

when making a starter for a mead, will it affect the flavor much if i use XLDME for my 1 quart starter? should i just use honey instead?

So how explosive are we talking? I'm only going to fill the carboy a little more than half full (small batch), so there should be plenty of headspace. Or is it the gas release rate that would be the problem, not the foamy stuff?

Thanks,
Aaron

I've been brewing for about a year now. I'd like to reuse the yeast cake at the bottom of the carboy for a second batch of another beer. Will pouring the new wort into the carboy oxygenate the mix enough or should I give it a real good stir? When I usually pitch yeast, I leave the carboy open for 15...