BeerTools Discussion Forum

I stayed with Mr. Beer too long brewing their kits and adding stuff (DME etc.). Go for broke and get a real fermenting vessel. I personally like carboys and have used nothing less after my bout with Mr. Beer. There are plenty of good recipes posted to this site and by reviewing them you will find th...

When all grainers make a stout, they use the equivalent of light LME/ DME as the base and add specialty grains to impart the color and flavor. NB has a Dry Irish Stout that uses a pound of Roasted Barley and two pounds of Flaked Barley to add color and mouth feel. These, combined with specific hops ...

LME quality as will as fermentability depends on the manufacturer. LME also seem to darken the final product more than DME. Yes, there seems to be a larger selection of LME but the quality of that LME also varies. DME has a longer shelf life. I have become an all grainer a few years back and only us...

When you buy a vial or smack pack, it is older than two weeks. Why would you think that the yeast off the primary would have a shorter life? I will give you that special care has to be taken to ensure that you are putting viable yeast into hibernation. I call it the wash 'em, feed 'em and put them t...

The lid has a hole in it for an air lock but I don't see one installed. I would highly encourage you to upgrade to a larger fermentation vessel.

It's done. I took cherry planner shavings and placed them on tin foil on the grill and smoked them with pear wood for 30 minutes. Balled up the foil and put it in the oven for 10 minutes at 350 to sanitize and added a heaping TBS to my gallon jug. I am not commiting the whole batch to this just enca...

12 Volt DC power supply - available at Goodwill 12 Volt On/ Off Switch - Radio Shack 25 Ohm Rheostat (volume control) - Radio Shack 12 Volt Computer Fan Rare earth magnet from HD or craft store Box of choice Stir Bar - E-bay (I use 1.5 inch) This should give you some idea of what parts you’re lookin...

Eric, I hope you got the answers you were looking for from the Brothers out there. They all had something to contribute in solving your problem. In solving brewing problems always eliminate the easy stuff first before trying to tackle the tougher stuff. If, in your opinion there was sufficient resid...

Eric,
I am guessing on the fact you bottled it.
How long was your primary fermentation?
Did you secondary and if so, how long?
What did you use to prime it and what proceedures did you follow?
How long has it been sitting in the bottle and at what temp?
This will help us touble shoot this for you...

I gave it a test after adding the switch and volume control. I worked great. It worked well before but I had to center the flask on the plate ensuring the magnet was in the right spot before plugging it in. Now it's just a flip of the switch. Speed was previously controlled by the number of volts ap...

I, myself, don't whirlpool. I do use hop bags to limit the dregs in the bottom of the brew kettle however if I transfer some of the trub into the fermenter it's no big deal. I secondary anyway and it will get left behind. The trub really doesn't effect the beer short term. I brewed on the 1st and th...

I know most smoke the grains before the mash but I was thinging about smoking some cherry wood chips and adding them to the secondary. Thoughts????

I have often discribed my mash tun but never posted a picture so that others could get a visual of what it really looks like. So, 1 Jan just before putting it into action, I took this picture. The braid has copper wire fed through it to hold it's shape. The cross copper wire keeps it in the center o...

Is there any effect on the final beer by having a thinner mash? I was led to believe that off flavors come from too thin of mash. I am a double mash guy myself and usually achieve high 80's in efficiency. My first mash is one hour and second is 30 minutes. Sometimes I will do a little sparging on th...

B, A stir plate is used in making a yeast starter. A flask would sit on top of the box with a stir bar inside. It is used to aerate the starter by means of spinning a magnetic bar inside the flask. It keeps the yeast in suspension and feeding O2 for more yeast. There are a lot of sites out there tha...