BeerTools Discussion Forum

Just wondering what a "cold break" is, and why do you do this? I am assuming this removes unwanted junk from the wort prior to fermenting, thus giving better flavour. I am trying to eradicate an underlying (barely there) musty type flavour from my brew. Would your technique help? Also, wha...

I suggested trying to brew maple sap beer to some friends the other day and they thought I was nuts! I knew there were others out there who would give it a try. I was also thinking of birch sap, has anyone tried that before? I live near Vancouver BC so I don't have a good source of tree sap of any s...

Where I come from a little elbow grease goes a long way in gettin' a job done.

I have found the quickest way to remove labels is to submerge and soak in hot water for 1 to 2 hrs and then use a scraper (the straight edge of a butter knife works well) and a small amount of elbow grease. The label and glue come right off. If you have a big sink it would be easy to knock off 48 35...

My rule of thumb is once I can see the beer (ie, little or no foam is present) I transfer to the secondary. Sometimes this takes 2 days, sometimes 3 or 4. Airlock observation is not always reliable because the bucket may have a poor seal. Using time as a guage is unreliable too because it is hard to...

I use specialty grains this way: heat water to 70-75 Celsius and steep in a bowl for 30-45 mins. During this time my kettle comes to boil. I then strain the "tea" into another bowl, add this liquid to my kettle, and then sparge with another 1 or 2 litres of hot water. Don't strain or sparg...

I am a new homebrewer, but I have never had bottling troubles. What I do is transfer the beer to a sanitized 6 gallon bucket and then start the siphon again to fill bottles. For the siphon I use a racking cane with about 4 feet of food grade plastic tubing with a clamp on the tube that makes it easy...