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A US pint is 16 fluid oz. Where a UK imperial Pint is 20 fluid ounces.
The government has really strict standards for alcohol content because of taxes, and companies would certainly not give away extra product, so we should review the instruments and procedures we used for testing that bottle. In my experience testing alcohol is a very finicky process and you...
A newcomer to the already large and ever expanding IPA world is the Cold IPA. At first glance of the new style you would think it's simply a rebranded IPL. Upon digging a little deeper, the credited creators of the style Wayfinder Beer & Great Notion Brewing did pull out a few...
There’s a lot to brewing. Although it’s relatively simple to learn, it can take a lifetime to master, and with all the different yeast, malts, hops, and specialty versions of each it can get more than a little complicated. This infographic is to help you understand the ingredients...
Mashing is a process used during all grain brewing to convert the starches in the grain to sugars. Depending mostly on the temperature and time of the mash a variety of sugar compositions can be produced. Brew in a bag (BIAB) is an easy way to go about mashing grain with very little special...
Fermentation is the magic that turns wort into beer. Home brewers have a plethora of options for what type of container to choose for fermentation. The selection process may seem daunting, but four key considerations outlined here might help select a vessel that’s appropriate for the...
In my opinion, one of the simplest things you can do to improve your homebrew is to pitch the proper amount of yeast. Most beginner homebrew kits come with a small packet of dry yeast which the instructions tell new brewers to sprinkle over their cooled wort with no explanation or...
Homebrewing is an age old hobby, passion, and way of life for thousands of people across the world. The ability to hand craft something as enjoyable as beer and share it with friends is second to none for those that share the addiction. Some of the caveats for "joining the club"...
Often in brewing it’s the small things which make the biggest differences on brew day, and connecting the vessels is one of those small things. Whether your system is two plastic buckets on two tiers, or three shiny 26 gallon stainless steel tuns with pumps, these need to receive and...
Why Cool?
Firstly, yeast can’t handle temps around 95F and up. So at some point, somehow, you’re going to need to cool your wort to a happy 65-68 degrees (for ales) or cooler (for lagers). There are several ways to accomplish this, some being more hands on than others. The...
At some point in every homebrewers journey they may feel the need to be able to better describe beer to others - hoppy or sweet just won’t cut it to most people inquiring about a beer. Being able to effectively evaluate your beer allows homebrewers to find flaws and identify areas of a...
Kombucha has been called an elixir of health by many people, and has gained popularity in the western world over the last ten or so years for its natural healing properties. For over two thousand years Kombucha has been a part of eastern culture and it has been reputed to aid in longevity...
The fermentation process can look alien at times, which may make you ask yourself "is this infected?" Once you've asked yourself that question, you begin to go down the rabbit hole and start to contemplate dumping your homebrew down the drain. But before you take that step, you...
You did a bulk buy with friends, but you were a little more ambitious than you actually have time to brew, or maybe you had the time set aside and now you do not. Maybe you really found an awesome deal? When times present themselves, I always advise to bulk buy. This is an excellent way to...
For this tutorial we touch on the age old debate of plastic versus glass. In this article we’ll touch on the advantages and disadvantages of both and let you come to your own conclusion on what is best for you and your home brewery.
Plastic carboys
Plastic carboys are one of the...
We all know that there are different types of hops that come in various forms from pellets to whole cone and also hop resins like Hop Shot that is increasing in popularity. In this article I want to focus on the differences in pellets and whole cone hops and their applications to homebrewed...
As with making good beer, sanitation and cleanliness is key when making wine as well. Cleanliness will minimize and eliminate contamination and spoilage. This will save time, money and heartache. Below are the main steps and areas where clean and sanitized environments are crucial to avoid an...
Home winemakers often grow their own grapes or harvest wild ones, but did you know that you can grow your own hops at home for beermaking as well? In areas suited to the crop, you can devote a sunny garden plot and grow one of the raw ingredients for your own brew. First, you’ll want to...
This information is based on my experience with wine rather than beer, but principles still apply. Traditional beer barrels are thicker, as they have to withstand pressure and fairly rough treatment to and from pubs. ‘Roll out the barrel’ gives you some idea of the punishment...
For new homebrewers it can be difficult to navigate the sea of brewing terms and acronyms that are used while discussing homebrewing. I’ve been brewing for a while now, and I regularly come across terms that I don’t understand or are used in a different context. Below is a list of...
German Gluhwein is the name given for wine mulled with spices that is served warm. As weather grows colder, Gluhwein is a warm spicy treat that is great for gatherings with family and friends, or even just sharing a couple glasses on a cold night while watching TV. Mulled wine sounds like a...
Perform a quick search for “Stir Plate” and the results will cover a wide spectrum of products. The results will likely include everything from home-made devices built from computer fans and cigar boxes to medical laboratory grade devices with prices reaching thousands of dollars....
For thousands of years there was no concept of “homebrewing”, there was only brewing. As ancient mankind learned to ferment wine, then grapes, and finally grains to create an alcoholic beverage it was a process that was done in the home. This begs the question... when...
There are a lot of tools and gadgets available to us as homebrewers. There is a tool for just about everything to make our brew days easier. However, there are some tools that I would consider essential "must owns" for every homebrewer. These five gadgets are ones that I would not...
Carbonation may be one of the most overlooked and underrated component of beer. Water, barley, hops, and yeast take center stage, and it is often said that these are only four items needed to make beer. It is easy to believe that these four ingredients alone determine the outcome of the final...
OK, so you want to try all grain. But what goes into an all grain brew day? There are two basic methods of mashing grain, with branches off of those. Using a mash tun or using the Brew-In-A-Bag (BIAB) method. I’m going to focus on the more traditional mash tun, but rest assured...
Hops. They are the almighty ingredient in our beer. They preserve, bitter, and flavor our beer. In the past thirty years there has been renewed vigor and emphasis on the use and quantity of hops in beer (that’s about all I will say about the history because there are so many wonderful...
Not too long ago the discussion was East coast IPAs versus West coast IPAs, and apart from Heady Topper, the West coast had it in the bag. However, New England has risen up and defined a new way to IPA. The premise is all about extra hoppy IPAs with strong fruity characteristics that...
Making beer takes time. I don’t mean brew day, I mean the part between first pitching the yeast and drinking the final product. This, of course, refers to the fermentation and aging period. Depending on the style, starting gravity, fermentation temperature, yeast strain, and countless...
Brew in a Bag (commonly referred to as BIAB) is a method of brewing that eliminates the need for a mash tun and consolidates brewing into a single vessel prior to fermentation. To understand how BIAB differs from other methods of brewing you must first become familiar with the language that...
There is a short-list of hobbies out there where people really get the “bug” and dive head-long into a lifetime of enjoyment. For me, it was home brewing and photography. Then I realized you can’t drink photos. Now, it’s just home brewing. I...
Almost every brewer you’ll run into is friendly and humble about their particular level of skill. That’s because we all know what it’s like to start out having no idea what you’re doing. Everyone has been there, and wants to help newcomers thrive as brewers. With the...
Like most homebrewers, I rapidly developed a fascination with all things fermentation and extract related. I jumped into mead, vanilla extract, and root beer almost immediately. I've also tried my hand at wine. My first attempt, I bought a few pounds of grapes from the store (not wine...
What is it about the arrival of Old Man Winter that makes the thought of sipping on a strong big beer just perfect? Winter ale recipes are all about roaring fires and a dark brew that will keep you warm and bring cheer during the festive months. Porters and stouts are the staple of...
When it comes to beer we all know there is no shortage of styles and varieties, but did you know that for every beer there is a proper glass to serve it in? There are many different types of beer glasses, and a lot of crossover between which beer style is appropriate for which glass. With...
What’s the Difference?
Cleaning and sanitizing your equipment is a topic that is stressed over and over in the brewing community. That’s because it is absolutely imperative to successful beer making. There are many ways to go about it, but the important thing is that you...
What is a Brand?
It’s kind of a broad term, but it all comes down to a consistent “image” or style that is recognizable between products of the same maker. In this case, if two labeled homebrews sat next to each other, could you tell they were all from the same brewer...
It's officially Fall. And that means pumpkin season is here. You can hate pumpkin beer all you want, and that's fine because this article isn't about that. It's about serving beer from one! There are two ways to approach this (both of which are really for show). One is a...
There are several common wine faults in wine such as oxidization, Volatile Acidity and Brettanomyces infection, which can be easily identified when you know what to look for. Below we will run over some of the common wine faults and how to identify them.
Oxidization
This is one of the...
• What Size Keezer Do I Need?
• What is Freeze Concentration?
• Can I bottle Beer In Plastic Soda Bottles?
• How Does Special B Malt Taste?
• Why Won't My Mead Clear? How Can I Clear My Mead?
What Size...
One of the first questions that many new brewers have is "When should I bottle my beer?". Well, the short answer is: When it’s done of course! However, the long answer is a bit more complicated, but boils down to: It depends. A variety of factors contribute to when...
When was the day that 80 IBUs (International bitterness unites) in a beer became too little, not bold enough, or just plain ordinary? The increasing demand for ultra hoppy beers has spiked over the last few years pushing brewer's to be creative with all kinds of hopping methods to...
There’s something about having a brew that you know well, is easy to make and most importantly that you and your friends like enough to always have on hand. For me, the style that lends itself best to being my “house beer” is an American Pale Ale. Unlike its big brother,...
Homebrewers enter the hobby in various ways, one-gallon kits, 5 gallon extract and even some adventurous types jump straight into 5 gallon all-grain setups. Very few move to full scale brew sculptures, but it's eye candy to look at and dream about. Here are...
Did you know there are roughly 10 Quintilian insects alive at any given time on the planet? That's a lot of bugs. Thankfully the FDA won't let any sort of insect infestations find their way into our craft beer right?
Wrong. In fact, if you just opened up a beer, I'd bet my...
Enjoy a handy carbonation chart telling you which level of PSI to use when force carbonating your hombrew! Find the temperature you're carbonating at, the style of beer in the keg, and voila! You now have a perfect range of PSI to finish the last leg of your next award winning homebrew....
Growing your own wine grapes is a great way for you to expand the amount of wine you produce and learn a lot more about what goes into your wine. You'll feel a lot more connected to your wines when they were grapes grown with your own hands, instead of juice and skins from a wine kit....
It’s All About Sugar and Yeast
It’s the magic combination that turns ordinary fluid into the age old concoction that is alcohol. Let’s say you brew your first all grain beer, and your numbers fall short. Suddenly your 5.3% Pale is will be a 4.1% session beer. Or maybe you...
Gluten comes from one the main ingredients in beer, it is a protein that resides in the malt we use. If someone has an allergy to gluten it used to mean no more homebrewing. Today however there are several options available to brewers with full gluten allergies and gluten sensitivities....
On the back label of many Pinot Noirs we see the term “Cold Soak” listed as part of the winemaking process. If you make your way into a tasting room in the Sonoma Valley of California or the Willamette Valley of Oregon, you may have a winemaker or tasting room host divulge in a...
Bringing your homebrew from place to place can be a hassle, especially when you're looking to pour more than a 12 pack where you're going. This is where a jockey box comes in. A jockey box allows you to serve five, ten, or even more gallons of cold beer on the go. Here's how...
The hot Summer weather brings new challenges to brewing, especially when it comes to shipping yeast. The temperatures yeast are subjected to while shipping can cause a lot of issues for a brewer, so it's important to follow the best procedure possible to ensure healthy yeast upon arrival....
By Mathew King
As homebrewers, almost all of us have been there at some point: aching back, bent caps glued to the floor by sticky beer drops, clogged siphon, only thirty bottles left to go and then a three week wait. Let’s face it, bottling is the worst part about making beer....
The human nose is capable of detecting trillions of scents. Unfortunately, we all have a different threshold. Below I will list common “ off flavors ” and well-known alternative scents to help you with a mental frame of reference.
Off Flavors in Beer, and How to Avoid Them...
A yeast starter is not always required, but often recommended for a healthy fermentation. The goal of a yeast starter is to increase the number of viable yeast cells to a number that is suited to the volume and gravity of your beer. These characteristics, the volume and gravity of your beer,...
When brewing beer gravity readings are typically done just before sealing the fermenter and again after fermentation has completed. These are called the original gravity and final gravity respectively. As the yeast converts the relatively high density sugar to lower density alcohol...
Winemaking is a fun and rewarding hobby, both for the very serious oenophile as well as the 'country' winemaker. While all have different ideas on what constitutes a good wine, most will even disagree on what a wine is! There are many winemakers who will argue that wine is a fermented...
Wine is an alcoholic beverage whose fermentables come from grapes. Not grocery store grapes (known as table grapes), but from wine making varieties not sold in supermarkets. This is because wine grapes aren’t really good for eating. Wine grapes are, smaller, more pungent, and have...
Adjuncts can stir a lot of different emotions in the homebrewing world, but in this article you’re only going to find feelings of love, hope and potential for all the opportunities they provide you. To understand what we’re really talking about here, you need to think beyond the...
Hey nobody's perfect, and anyone can make a mistake that can have an adverse effect on their beer. Here are 10 mistakes homebrewers often make and how you can avoid them.
1. Pitching Enough Yeast
Probably the most common mistake made by homebrewers and one that can have...
Homebrewers are renowned for being creative, not only by coming up with beer recipes, but also for building an array of brewing equipment. This creativity includes converting commercial sanke kegs into Hot Liquor Tanks (HLTs), Mash Tuns and Brew Kettles (called a keggle). In this...
Volume is one of the many quintessential measurements we as homebrewers use to rule our brewing lives. Whether it be pre-boil volume to determine our end result yield, or the right amount of water to sparge with, these quantities can undeniably make or break your beer and brew day. Thankfully...
Growing hops and grapes is a terrific way to connect back with the raw products that make our beer and wine so delectable. We covered hop growing in a previous article, and plan to cover home vineyards soon, but wanted to share some inspiration first. You can spend a fortune in time...
You know the story. You’ve ordered a beer and you’re watching in horror as the bartender fills your glass with a serving of foam that shoots from the tap. They waste valuable beer by attempting to scrape off the excess foam, and you waste valuable drinking time waiting for the...
The term Secondary Fermentation typically refers to the period post-primary fermentation where beer is transferred from the primary fermentation vessel to a “secondary” vessel and given additional conditioning time. However, as the circumstances of brewing and materials...
Congratulations you had a successful brew day, even if there were a few hiccups you have successfully brewed your first beer, and waited patiently for your beer to finish fermenting, now you are thinking to yourself, how do I bottle this and turn it into carbonated & delicious beer?...
Souring beers is an ancient practice that has been around as long as beer itself. Before science had a good understanding of microbes and sanitation, there really wasn’t much of a way around at least some flavoring from bacterial byproducts.
But as modern brewing practices emerged,...
You've been brewing for a while now, and maybe some of your equipment is a bit run down or well used. Maybe your brewhouse is behind on the times, and you're looking for an upgrade... But where do you begin? Upgrading your brewhouse is actually as easy as pie. That being, the brew-day,...
Homebrewing is a rewarding hobby, but it does take a certain amount of patience to reap those rewards. So it is that we all eventually come to the same question how can I get my beer from grain to glass faster, without sacrificing quality, that is what this article is about. In this article I...
Below is a list of common wine grape varieties, their characteristics and the winemaking practices that best suit them. There are of course, plenty more, and the options for blending varietals or adding fruit goes without saying. It's okay if you just came for the beautiful grape photos....
Hops, that little green flower that you add to your beer. They are vital most beer styles. They add a bitterness that balances the sweet malty wort, flavors and aromas that range from spicy and piney to fruity and citrusy, and provide anti spoiling agents in their bitter oils to help keep beer...
If you want to get your brewing career off to a flying start, your number one aim should really be a fermentation chamber after your starting equipment of course. A fermentation chamber can provide optimum temperature of your fermentation, which helps control ester profiles and reduce...
Are you a wine connoisseur or a person of refined tastes? Well this article is not for you. Every once in awhile we come across something fun, and through HomebrewTalk we found something fun: alcoholic Mountain Dew Wine. What's not to love about Mountain Dew and wine; two of...
Oxygen is somewhat of a tricky subject as you need to pay attention to how much you're adding, as well as when you're adding it. Properly oxygenating your wort plays a big role in yeast's ability to reproduce and complete a healthy fermentation. However adding it at the wrong time...
Kegs can be a real pleasure to use. I can package fifteen gallons of beer in about an hour these days, my carbonation is always what I expect, and having draft beer always on hand adds an extra cool factor to gatherings at my house. I don’t have to store, clean, and de-label hundreds of...
Cheesecloth actually has a wide array of uses. Everything from cheese making to homebrewing to medical uses. But what IS cheesecloth? By definition "cheesecloth is a gauzy, lightweight, woven cotton fabric with tiny holes that allow air to flow through the fabric". While...
A refractometer is used to measure the amount of sugar in a solution. This is done based on the refraction index of the liquid. More sugar in solution will produce a higher refraction index. The scale of the refractometer is calibrated to read the equivalent concentration of sugar...
Winter is wrapping up, so for those of us who hibernate brewing wise (or just in general), it's almost time to dust off the kettle and fill our propane tanks. If you got a fat refund from the IRS, you may be thinking about an upgrade in the brewing department. Here are five great DIY...
Infection is a term use to describe an unintended flavor created by wild yeasts or bacteria. Usually brewers find that sanitation practices are to blame for an infection. So you’ve made a batch of beer, maybe it’s your first or maybe it’s your tenth, but this fermentation is...
Alcoholic ginger ale is gaining popularity today, but has been around for centuries. Long before Not Your Father’s Ginger Ale in the United States, Crabbie’s and other brands enjoyed a long history of success in the United Kingdom. Regardless of where you live, the good news is...
Wine is a slow product to make. I found this out when I first took the brave step of risking a reasonable amount of home-grown fruit for a chance of making something equally tasty. Some suggested a fruit wine could be drunk as soon as one month after starting fermentation, but most worthwhile...
I don’t have to tell you about the stunningly wide variety of beers you can create at home. You already know. But what about root beer? It has “beer” in its name, but we don’t often think about it in homebrewing discussions. After all, most of us don’t think about...
Brewers make wort, yeast makes beer. The eternal maxim surrounding our fantastic hobby. The role of the brewer is to make sure that the right wort, the right yeast, and the right conditions are set up to make a great beer. When I first started formulating my own recipes, yeast...
Summer is on the wane. The weather is starting to cool. That means it’s almost hop harvesting time, and that means a lot of new hop growers are probably starting to see the cones filling up their bines and are wondering, “What do I do now?” Don’t worry, we...
There are two common reasons you might use sugar additions in a homebrew recipe. Either it was planned in advance for a particular recipe, or you are using it as a stopgap measure to recover from a poor gravity reading in an all-grain recipe. I will address both reasons here. If you have never...
There are so many types of brewing malt available to us homebrewers that making a unique recipe actually isn't that hard despite there being over 4,000 breweries in the United States alone. The table below is a list of each arranged by Lovibond (color). Show the Base Malts...
I was looking to ship a few beers to a distant friend recently. After some research, I’ve discovered that shipping beer is anything but a cakewalk… I’m going to speak to this in three phases; the legality/”rules” issue(s), the physical packing itself, and...
Do you clean and sanitize everything that touches your beer? Do you make sure to buy the best hops? Do you spend countless hours poring over blogs about whether you should ferment in plastic or glass? Many homebrewers take all of these great steps, but at the end of the brew day, they fail to...
Many people start home brewing for a number of reasons. Some take up the hobby as a bit of fun, others are unhappy with the price and choice of real ale or craft beer in pubs, and others start so they can make beer to suit their own styles and tastes. In all cases the resulting beer...
Award-winning beer comes from a 60-minute boil. So all brewers should boil for 60 minutes. Guess what? The same can be said for 70 minutes, 45 minutes, 120 minutes and so on. There is no hard and fast rule about boiling times so let’s explore how to determine what boil time is best for...
So you've patiently waited for your wine to be finished, and now you're ready to bottle your wine. But how do you bottle your wine? It's a simple process, but just like before, you need to be careful not to introduce spoilage factors or too much oxygen in doing so.
First...
Mashing is a tool that all grain brewers use to convert the starches in grain into fermentable sugars. If you're new to all-grain brewing or are ready to take the leap from extract, this is a great article to get your feet wet. If you're contemplating between extract vs...
At some point in your homebrewing career, you are likely to take a gravity reading during a brew session, and think, "what the heck went wrong?" If you can be bothered, you search through the vast halls of the university of homebrewing that lives on the Internet. Then you land upon...
What is Mead?:
Mead is a wine whose fermentable ingredients come from honey instead of grapes. It has existed in society for thousands of years. When honey was harder to collect, it was a drink reserved for upper class citizens. Thanks to some really brave people with smoke cans and mesh...
Methods for homebrewing beer typically fall underneath one of two styles, Extract or All-Grain. Whether you are a new brewer choosing the path you’ll take, or an experienced one entertaining a change of pace, we’ll look at both methods with an unbiased approach to help you...
If you’ve been brewing for a while you’ve probably noticed how quickly the price of yeast stacks up. At my local homebrew shop, a smack-pack of WYeast is about $9, and a fresh packet of dry yeast is $4.50. I brew about twice a month and almost always use liquid yeast, so...
Oak is a truly remarkable wood - and that isn't the carpenter in me speaking although it’s pretty good for that too. Oak’s gentle influence in alcohol from spirits to wine to beer that makes it desirable. While oak barrels are well known for their use in wine-making,...
One of the first questions that many new brewers have is "When should I bottle my beer?". Well, the short answer is: When it’s done of course! However, the long answer is a bit more complicated, but boils down to: It depends. A variety of factors contribute to when...
You might’ve heard that the quicker you chill your wort after boiling, the less likely it is for bacteria and other unwanted microbes to spoil it. You might also have heard that an immersion chiller is a common way to quickly cool wort. While there are many low-cost options available to...
Making the move to Brew in a Bag (BIAB) is a great way to get into all-grain brewing. Not only is everything done in one kettle, the process is much less complicated than a normal all-grain brewing. Plus, it can be done in even the smallest of spaces. Simply put, this is how...
You may be thinking of getting into kegging, and want to know about the different types of kegs available to you. It seems there is a lot of information to learn about kegging your own beer, and it’s all explained using language that assumes you already know everything about kegging....
I love wood-aged, high-gravity beers. Russian Imperial Stouts, Old Ales, Barleywines, even the occasional Imperial Czech Premium Pale Lager (more commonly known as a Bohemian Pilsner). As a consequence, I don't always have the space to facilitate aging these wonderful brews, and my itch to...
Coffee and stout go together like cake and ice cream. It just works. The roasty malt, big body, and in some cases sweetness of a stout lend themselves wonderfully to pairing with coffee additions. Let’s go over some methods to adding coffee into your beer.
Cold and Hot Brewed Coffee...
Carbonation is carbon dioxide (a yeast byproduct of fermentation) being held in solution. It makes our beer bubbly, and carbonating one way or another is a necessary step in creating finished beer. Sometimes, however, things don’t go quite right and your beer becomes over-carbonated....
Living in an urban area can leave a homebrewer with a lot of leftover spent grain, and nothing you can really do with it besides throwing it out. In rural areas you can compost, or give the grains to a local farm, but neither are really do-able in a city. However, you can make bread from a...
Priming sugar, for those who bottle their homebrew, is the sugar you add at bottling time to carbonate (prime) the beer. A given beer's level of carbonation is measured in "Volumes of CO2", which are defined by the style it is. Each style has it's own ideal level of...
We all have seen or heard the horror stories about a dry yeast packet taped to the top of a malt extract can with directions that read “sprinkle yeast on top of wort.” That simple phrase invokes feelings of sadness in me as I think of the number of homebrewers that our community...
While the airlock is releasing CO2, it is also keeping things like bugs and bacteria out of your beer or wine. But what’s going on if the airlock is still? There are many things it can mean and we’ll go over them.
What is the Purpose of an Airlock Anyways?...
According to Wikipedia: Traditional ginger ale (or ginger beer) is a naturally sweetened and carbonated, non-alcoholic beverage. It is produced by the natural fermentation of prepared ginger, spices, yeast and sugar.
Thank you for the insight Wikipedia, I...
The purpose of grain crushing is to crack open the outer husk of the grain, exposing the rich center. Well-milled grain will leave the husk in tact, like the opening of a clam. This will make the grain bed more coarse in the fermenter or grain bag, which will allow the water to pass...
Want to get a little bit closer to that clone you’re making? Want to save money building up your yeast bank? Consider harvesting yeast from the bottle. Harvesting yeast from a commercial beer has been around a long time, and why shouldn’t it? So much flavor of a beer...
Beer enthusiasts seek out and enjoy a lot of stronger styles, and with good reason. The richness, complexity, and depth of flavor we find in a stronger beer like a DIPA, an Imperial Stout, or a Wee Heavy just can’t be beat. The market keeps fulfilling the demand for these beers, and...
You just spent a few weeks fermenting your wine, and several more months on top of that aging the wine to perfection. When it comes time to bottle, choosing the right wine cork for your needs is the last step before adding the wine to your cellar. Let's look at what types of wine...
Did I ruin my homebrew? If you are asking yourself this question you are venturing where almost every homebrewer before you has gone. It is a common concern, but one that you shouldn’t worry too strongly about. As the great Charlie Papazain stated, “Relax, Don’t Worry, Have a...
By David Doucette
All grain brewing covers a large scope of brewers and brewing setups. Brew in a bag all the way to fully electric 3 vessel systems. Sometimes you don’t always have the space or equipment you need, and have to do a partial boil. Let’s go over the difference...
Making wine is a fun and rewarding area of homebrewing. While you can make it simply by mixing the components to a kit together, setting, and forgetting; you can increase the quality of your wine by testing and adjusting your wines gravity, pH, and TA accordingly.
Testing Sugar in Wine...
Mash, and sparge and grist, oh my! Mash, and sparge and grist, oh my! Just as Dorothy was overwhelmed when she entered Oz, moving into all-grain homebrewing can seem just as daunting. With a little determination, the right tools, and some helpful friends you will soon be on the yellow brick...
When I did my first all-grain batch, I had no end of issues with keeping the mash temperature where I wanted it. It seemed simply impossible to get it even close to stable for a whole hour; I’d overshoot, then see the temperature drop too far, and I was always correcting by adding...
Rumored to be originally popularized by traditional German breweries for more efficient lautering, grain conditioning is a simple technique that involves applying a small amount of water to a grain bill prior to milling. Over a small amount of time, this freshly applied moisture is absorbed...
The term Barleywine (also known as “Barley Wine” in the U.K.) is somewhat of a misnomer. Containing no fruit, it is actually a very strong all-barley beer. Ranging in strength from 8% ABV to as high as 25%, Barleywine fortifies itself with an impressive grain bill...
You’ve made a few extract-based beer kits, maybe even put together a few recipes of your own. You’re using steeped caramel and roasted malts to add color and flavor to your beer, and everything’s going great. But you want to expand your repertoire, and...
I know quite a few brewers who view liquid yeast as the “next step”. Their initial learn-to-brew kit, like many others, probably came with dry yeast of some sort and so, obviously, it is the inferior cost-effective product. This is, fortunately, not the case, and dry yeast is a...
One of the most essential pieces of equipment in a homebrewer's arsenal is an auto-siphon. Besting the alternative methods, like sucking on a rubber tube, the auto-siphon allows you to transfer your homebrew from one vessel to another with limited oxygen exposure. In this article we...
The lupulin shift has hit most homebrewers in full stride. I need more hops, you need more hops, and your neighbor Ted needs more hops. Our desire for heavily hopped beers has only grown throughout the years, and with hops sometimes running over 3$ an ounce, a batch of IPA can get expensive in...
The daunting decision to move away from bottling, and into kegging, is one that most homebrewers must face at some point in their brewing career. In addition to the variety of keg styles, sizes, and materials available on the market today; figuring out how to store and serve those kegs can be...
UPDATED 8/23/2023: This hop we were excited about back in 2021 has been released and is officially named Elani. We hope to be bringing it in soon for sale.
We just got back from Yakima doing 2021 hop selection and had a chance to rub a new experimental hop dubbed YQH-1320. It was...
Gas regulators are designed to do precisely that—regulate gas pressure—so it can be cause for concern when you notice your gas pressure "creeping up". Sometimes this happens naturally over time and use, but for new regulators it's more commonly attributed to cold...
Whole cone hops (also called whole leaf hops) are the dried cone flowers from the female hop plant. Pellet hops are the same flowers that have been ground up and pushed through a heated extrusion die, turning them into a pellet. To learn about the advantages and disadvantages of using whole...
Beer thread is the standard threading used on commercial Sanke keg couplers and beer faucet shanks. It is commonly measured as 29/32"-14 in the U.S. and 5/8" BSP in Europe and other parts of the world. Although the difference in measurement can be quite confusing, you can trust that...
There are approximatly 165 cans (12oz) beers in a standard 15.5 gallon keg. This is assuming 100% of the beer gets dispense with zero loss, reality with foam and such is most people estimate 150 Twelve ounce pours when working with a regular full sized keg.
5 Gallon homebrew kegs...
A hydrometer is a specific gravity density meter, typically a floating glass piece to get specific gravity readings of your wort/beer to tell you your progress of the fermentation. A refractometer serves a similar purpose measuring the refractive index.
A...
Yes. The wire glass rack/holder comes standard on all kegerators but will need to be removed to fit 3 kegs. It is a quick job and then you can install the glass rack in another close location in your bar or brew room.
The cooling tube, which originates at the fan inside the unit, snakes up the tower to keep it cold. Simply push it up the tower and it will stay in place with no clips or hooks necessary.
Clean the TrübTrapper prior to use.
Place the TrübTrapper in the bottom center of your boil kettle before you fill it so the silicone gasket is in full contact with the kettle bottom and your dip tube is outside the ring. Trub is retained inside the ring, wort is collected from...
Yes, you are correct! We somehow convinced our President Chris Graham to suit up for this shot. We love our job!
Stainless steel itself shouldn't rust, you are right there. Especially a high grade 304 Ss like we use on all of our products. But what can rust are surface particles of iron that are sometimes left residual from the manufacturing process and the tools used to grind and polish...
We would not hesitate to use these for wine storage for 6 months, give or take depending on the kind of wine and the size of the tank (more on that later). Speidels are made from thick HDPE, the same material as Flextanks are made from. For those not familiar with Flextanks these are similar...
Yes! The difference in growth rate between California and Engilsh is pretty minimal so doing a starter won't change the population ratio.
Yes you can, however repitching multiple times may promote a higher percentage of English yeast cells. This is mainly because English is more flocculent so more of it will be at the bottom for collection (assuming you use a conical fermentor). With a carboy, or other flat bottom...
Yes! That's the art side of personal brewing. Creative brewers may combine strains to achieve unique new, personalized flavor profiles. Experimenting is a natural step in the process of crafting one's own series of Signature Beers. For example, a mellow-tasting Hefeweizen can be...
Q: I’m trying to achieve a rich, malty aroma in my beers that rivals that of such beers as Ayinger Maibock, Pilsner Urquell, and Anchor Steam. I know decoction works well, bur is there an easier way to come close? Different types of malt, perhaps? Different types of yeast?...
Halting Fermentation at a Specific Gravity
Q: Thanks for your feedback on “soured beer” and Guinness (5,6). My question of the day is: How do you stop fermentation at a specific gravity? The reason I ask is that the good people at Hale’s Ales (Kirkland and...
Head Retention Problems
Q: I make my usual Scottish mild from a 1.6-kilogram can of lightly hopped malt extract syrup mixed with ¾ kilogram of dark dry malt and just less than 1 kilogram of corn sugar. I prime with 1¼ cups of corn sugar per 5-gallon batch before...
Turning a Fridge into a Walk-in Cooler
Q: I have a chest-type freezer that works well for lagering. It gives me little space, however, for lagering and controlled fermentation year round. Can I turn a currently serviceable refrigerator/freezer into a small “walk in”...
Often times the airlock will slow down and brewers will assume the fermentation is completed. The airlock is a good indicator, however is not the best method of knowing that fermentation is completely finished. If you suspect your beer is done, it is best to double check with a...
Sparge Temperature
Q: Which is more critical when sparging: the temperature of the mash or the temperature of the sparge water? Could I use 185 °F (85 °C) sparge water if the mash temperature stays below 168 °F (76 °C)?
A: The critical thing is the temperature of the...
RECORDKEEPING
Q: What records should we keep of our brewing activities? Can you recommend a good format?
A: Record each beer recipe and all measurements associated with the brew, such as the volume and strike temperature of the mash water, mash temperatures at the various times and...
Metallic tastes in beers
Q: I’ve had some trouble with a metallic taste in my beers. I use a stainless steel keg converted to a brew kettle. It’s very nice, but I find I have to scrub the stuffing out of it to get rid of all the baked-on crud. Could this be causing...
Stuck Mashes
Q: My latest home brewing session resulted in a stuck mash. I had 15 lb of grist in a Thermos picnic cooler with a false bottom. I had to scoop out most of the grist to get the flow going. I’m sure the batch will be badly oxidized. What can I do to reduce the...
If your draft faucet is stuck, first disconnect the keg from the beer line. Then remove the faucet from the shank or tower. Mix a small solution of PBW or BLC and hot water (approximately 140F), and let the faucet soak in for 30 minutes. Wearing rubber dish gloves remove the faucet and...
Often times the fittings on a regulator or gas manifold are 5/16" but homebrew quick disconnects are 1/4". This happens because industry standard in beer dispensing is 5/16" and industry standard in the soda industry (which is where kegs and keg qd's come from) is...
Pretty much all homebrewing kettles, and all the kettles sold by MoreBeer!, are now made of Stainless Steel. The price of stainless steel has come down in price over the last 10 years to a point where Enamel Coated, Aluminum, or any other type of kettle need not even be...
When the needle reads half way in the red you are about 10% full. You should be able to push approximately another 5 gallons of beer when you're at this level of remaining gas.
I can see my beer fermenting, but there are no bubbles in the airlock - why? Inspeck the airlock for a crack in the stem of the airlock. If that is not the problem make sure that stopper or the lid on your container is seated properly. Bucket lids are particularly problematic to...
Ultimately, the quantity of fruit used will depend on the flavor you are looking for. As a starting point we recommend using two pounds per 5 gallons. Cut up the fresh fruit, remove any pits and place in the freezer. Freezing helps extract more flavor and will also reduce any...
You have a few options here - try making a double-strength batch of coffee in your french press and adding that to your fermenter. You can also try cold steeping coffee (letting the grounds steep in the fridge for 2 days). Most brewers have had less-than-stellar results steeping...
Yes! Did you know there is zinc in copper? Zinc is an essential nutrient source for yeast to consume as they grow and multiply. The heat helps extract small amount of zinc found in copper. It's a win/win for your fermentation and for you as a brewer. ...
Store them in the freezer in their original oxygen barrier packaging. If you open the hops try to remove all air from the bag and store hop bag in zip lock back in the freezer. Other ways to store hops such as using vacuum sealers or vacuum jars are great but require the purchase of...
Yes one of the reasons we love the Camp Cheff burner is the perfect height for gravity draining wort into a carboy or bucket for fermentation.
Yes PET and PETE refer to the same material, Polyethylene Terephthalate. You can also check out the Wikipedia page for Polyethylene Terephthalate at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyethylene_terephthalate
We think it is actually better. While both are of great quality, this PET carboy is thicker and does not have ribs. The thicker walls could lead to less oxygen ingress (not proved) and not having ribs makes it easier to clean. Our PET Carboys are made by the Vintage Shop in Canada and they had...
As you browse through our MoreBeer! catalog and website, you'll discover that we offer the expert knowledge base and excellent Customer Service needed to help you from your first home beer making experience all the way into commercial beer brewing. Call us and speak directly with an expert...
Fill your hydrometer jar with water, preferably RO or distilled water. Take a reading at a room temperature between 60-65F. If you're hydrometer reads zero at the top of the miniscus water line you are still accurate. If your hydrometer is off by 1 to 2 points (and this is...
No, some yeast strains form a tight krausen like that - the beer is perfectly ok! Take a sample, and if the beer is done (has reached approximately 25% of its starting gravity) your can proceed with racking it into your keg or bottling bucket. Don't worry about the krausen at...
Only 50% of the yeast cells will survive the rehydration process if added directly to wort. Your beer will still ferment but there is a much higher chance for a stuck fermentation, high residulat gravity, and the flavors produced by the stressed yeast will not be as good. We...
Transferring into bottles directly can be done, however most people prefer to go to a bottling bucket first, due to the ease of adding dissolved corn sugar. If you stir in the bottling sugar into the fermenter you will disturb this yeast bed and mix it back into the beer. This may or may not...
Brewer's follow their own unique schedules for dumping trub and yeast based on their style of beer made. Our general plan is to dump trub after the initial ferment has started to slow down. This removes a majority of the trub, the main item we are trying to eliminate. After a few days we...
Yes. During the warm summer months, the solubility of high gravity beers (1.060 ) is very low, so you will need to oxygenate a bit longer to achieve the same results.
This is a big question. We will try to cover it briefly here. There is a huge body of literature written on this subject both for homebrewing and professional brewing. Why add oxygen at all? Yeast has two metabolic pathways. The one it prefers is to eat sugar and O2 to make CO2 and water. This...
Oxygenation involves injecting the wort with 99% pure oxygen. Aeration involves injecting the wort with air, of which only 21% (by mole) is oxygen. Both obtain the same end result of supplying the yeast with oxygen. Aeration will take longer and if you are using a small fermenter foaming may...
Yeast consume oxygen during the aerobic replication process. The objective is to build strong cell membranes capable of withstanding higher alcohol contents, and also to build up metabolic energy used during later anaerobic fermentation. In oxygen-depleted wort conditions (zero oxygen), yeast...
The counter pressure bottle filler allows you to fill bottles with per-carbonated beer. It works like this: - You first carbonate the beer in the keg (important, do not over carbonate or you will have problems with foam.) - Then you set up the filler with equal pressure to the filler and the...
The colder the temperature, the lower the pressure you need to maintain carbonation. For example, a keg held at 35 degrees with 10psi of applied pressure will have the same carbonation rate as a keg held at 43 degrees with 15psi of applied pressure. To set your system up correctly, you need to...
The pads are sanitary until open, so no sanitizing is necessary. To sanitize the filter housing we submerse it in a bucket of sanitizer.
The pressure is not all that important - slower is generally better for quality. We recommend filtering at 4-6 psi for starters. You can judge the flow by sight and slow down or speed up as necessary. The actual pressure needed will vary with how the filter cartridge is handling the workload...
There are a few ways to answer this question as there are many variables. The 10" poly-spun filters are designed to be a one-time use and then discarded. With that in mind we usually recommend setting up to filter a few batches that day instead of the one. Depending on how much sediment...
To bottle your beer we will assume that your beer has gone through proper fermentation and is ready to bottle. First you need to prepare your bottling sugar. We recommend that you boil 4 oz of corn sugar (dextrose) with approximately two cups of water for 5 minutes at a low simmer. After...
We are going to assume that you are making an ale. Provided that you fermented your ale between a temperature of 62-75 degrees we are going to assume that fermentation will be done in two weeks. This is the case 99% of the time within the above temperature range. However it is an assumption...
Mashing is the process that converts the starch in the malt to sugar so the yeast can use the sugar as a food source. When barley is malted a variety of enzymes are created and each one has it's own temperature region that allows it to be active. A step mash holds the grist and a specific...
In a recirculation, your grain bed will set up and act as the main filter. The screen is there to support the grain but not act as the final filter. The small gap around the edge of the false bottom and the kettle gets clogged with grain quite quickly. Over the years we have had them made as...
You want to be mashing anywhere in the range of 146F to 156F. Mashing at lower temperatures yields more readily fermentable short-chain sugars and yields a drier beer. Higher temperature mashes yield beers with higher final gravities and more body. Mashing over 158F tends to yield beers that...
There are many different theories on water to grain ratio, but pretty commonly excepted is anywhere from .9 to 1.1 quarts of water per 1 pound of grain. With that in mind here is what we found. At 1.1 quarts of water per 1 pound of grain we were able to fit 28 lbs of grain with the ag403 false...
We have designed our BrewSculptures to be used outdoors only. The burners will take up a lot of the oxygen in the air and leave you with none to breathe! Some BrewSculpture owners have had success in putting large, industrial vent hoods over their BrewSculptures, along with a large fan...
We ship our BrewSculptures on a pallet via freight trucks, due to their size. They are wrapped in bubble wrap and protected in a semi-ridged frame. You can see a picture of a palletized BrewSculpture under the base model's on our website. For example our: 1550 Tippy BrewSculpture Product...
Yes, there needs to be someone to inspect the shipment for damage, sign for it, and unload the truck. We can request that the delivery truck have a lift gate, but that is usually an extra charge. If you have a nice neighbor or a brew buddy, they might be able to help you take it off the truck...
The short answer - Both! You can use both pellets and whole at any stage of the brewing process with our BrewSculptures. If you use pellets, we recommend putting them into a fine mesh bag to contain as much of the pellet material as possible. If you plan on using whole hops, you can either use...
Yes, though some people are concerned with lead on the surface of the brass that is left over from machining. Search for our tip on removing lead from brass. That being said, most brewers prefer to use stainless steel when they can.
Yes, in small amounts. The law sets limits for the lead content in brass fittings to be used in drinking water to 8%. In a normal water supply the calcium carbonate from the water will line the fitting after a few years and stop all leaching of this lead. In a brewery the acidity of wort and beer...
Yes, and it is very simple to do! The recipe is:
2 parts White vinegar
1 part Hydrogen peroxide.
When the water turns blue after you have soaked the parts for 15 minutes. Remove them and rinse well. This only removes the lead from the surface. As the acidity of the wort dissolves the...
Yes! Our 20 gallon systems do indeed handle 10 gallon batches easily. Some BrewSculpture owners will choose to buy a 10 gallon boil kettle to better control evaporation rates during the boil.
This is a fairly common issue, and one that is easily fixed. Much of it does depend on a few key points : 1 - That the pump is below the spigot level of the vessel you are pumping from, and that the tubing isn't excessively long below the spigot level. As these pumps are designed to push...
Reverse Osmosis strips all minerals from the water. This is not ideal for brewing since the yeast use some of the minerals for nutrients and the minerals provide a background flavor in many cases. If you get really sophisticated with your water you can start with RO and add minerals back. This...
There are two methods of pitching lager yeasts. Brewers use both methods with success, but each brewer tends to have a preferred approach. A) Starting Warm then Cool Down. This is the easiest method for the average homebrewer. Pitch yeast at 60-65F, reduce the wort temperature 10F per each 12...
Quick Answer: 4 Months Long Answer: Yeast is a living organism. As such, it needs to exist in certain conditions to survive. Dry yeast can stay alive for about one year, but yeast in liquid form-even though it's superior in taste and performance is more perishable. After 30 days in the...
While the quality of dry yeast has greatly increased in the last decade, pure liquid yeast strains predictably make the best beer. Here's why: Basically, it comes down to four major brewer benefits: 1) Extremely High Quality, 2) Extremely Large Selection, 3) Extremely Sterile...
Flocculation: This refers to yeast's tendency to clump together at the end of fermentation and drop to the bottom of the fermenter. Yeast strains are separated into three main degrees of flocculation: High, Medium, and Low. A yeast strain that has low flocculation will take a longer time...
Attenuation: The percentage of sugar that a yeast will be able to ferment. Low-attenuation yeast result in maltier beers. High-attentuation yeast results in drier, less sweet, beers.
About 1 years on a slant and 6-12 months on a plate before you have to redo your slant or plate. Yeast can be kept indefinitely but you have to 'transfer' them to new agar after awhile as agar will dry out with time.
Secondary fermentation on ales is something that a lot of people do because that is how most of the older homebrewing books taught people how to ferment. The theory was that you remove the yeast and trub from the ferment so that you have less flavor impact on the beer, and that less sediment...
This usually happens when the beer goes through temperature changes. The yeast stops fermenting when it gets cold as the metabolic activity of the yeast slows down. It then proceeds to start up again when the fermenter warms up. If your fermentation gets stuck warm up the beer to the desired...
We answer this question a lot because we don't mention the use of secondary fermenters in our instructions and other instructions do. First lets take a look at the supposed benefits of secondary fermenters. The first one we have always read was that the beer would clear out more in the...
Fermenting in a corny is the same as any other fermentation vessel with a couple of added issues. The first issue is the blow off. You can under fill a keg (3-4 gallons) and use a hose from the gas-in fitting to a bucket of water. The drawback to this method is the gas-in fitting is easily...
Your ferment will be very sluggish, as the activity of the yeast is halted by colder temperatures. The yeast eventually become dormant, stop fermenting, and drop to the bottom of the fermenter. To resume normal fermentation, heat the wort to the optimum temperature range and swirl it to mix...
If White Labs or Wyeast fermentation will begin 5-15 hours after pitching. As the yeast nears its 4 month shelf life fermentation will begin somewhat later, usually between 15-20 hours. The first sign of fermentation will be a raised airlock. This signals CO2 production. A fine layer of foam...
You will need to order the FE610A un-wired Ranco controller and wire it yourself. This only includes the controller itself and not the AC wire or the outlets. They are compatible with 120/240V and 50/60hz.
Filtering requires pressure to push the beer through a set of filter pads. Pressure can be achieved using CO2 to push the beer from one keg through a filter and into the next keg, or with the use of a diaphragm pump to push beer through a set of filter pads (though the later arrangement poses...
Most people use a pump to recirculate wort during mashing, to pump hot water during sparging, or to move hot wort from the boil through a counter-flow wort chiller.
When brewing extract it is not neccesary to adjust your brewing water - except for filtering tap water with a carbon filter prior to use. With that said you can adjust your brewing water but this a more advanced step and usually reserved for those brewing all-grain, where there is...
Our first response to this questions is, "Are you fermenting in a plastic bucket?" 8 times out of 10 when we get this question the problem is that the lid is not securely fastened onto the top and the CO2 is coming out of the crack in the lid and not through the airlock. Our lid does...
A diacetyl rest is used when making lagers and ales. After a beer has fermented to near final gravity the beer is raised from fermenting temperature to a higher temperature roughly 3-4 degrees Fahrenheit above the original fermentation temperature and allowed to sit for two-four days. The...
First we need to know whether you are fermenting an ale or a lager. An ale will typically be best at a temperature of 62-72 degrees. Most ales excluding Belgians ferment cleaner beer at the lower end around 62-66F. A lager will typically ferment best between 48 to 54 degrees. Those are just...
In order to brew ales in hot weather and lagers in warm weather it is best to ferment in a consistent, temperature controlled environment. This can be achieved for very little money by acquiring a used refrigerator or freezer along with purchasing a Temperature Controller from MoreBeer!. How...
This is an advanced question and one which won't really affects us as homebrewers due to our limited type of fermenting vessels. Certain designs have effects on flavor. For example, a wide fermenter, such as those used by Samuel Smith, will cause more ester production due the amount of...
It depends on the yeast strain and temperature conditions, but you can expect fermentation with a lager to be done within four weeks. This is not a hard and fast rule. You may have fermentation that is done in as little as two weeks as well. We recommend a minimum primary fermentation at...
It depends on the ale yeast strain and temperature conditions, but you can expect fermentation with an ale to be done within two weeks. This is not a hard and fast rule. You may have fermentation that is done in as little as three to five days. Remember: Just because sugar has been consumed...
If you have waited two weeks for an ale, or four weeks for a lager, or you're just curious. Most veteran homebrewers will tell you the beer is done once the airlock stops bubbling but this isn't a sure thing that fermentation is complete. This is where a hydrometer is sometimes worth...
No! The acidity of the wort will dissolve iron into your wort causing off flavors and haze.
Conventional wisdom says no. Aluminum is dissolved in an acidic environment and will enter the wort. Most metals are scrubbed out by the yeast and we would expect aluminum would end up in the yeast and not the beer but, we know of no studies showing this to be true. To be safe, we would not...
Yes! Some brewers believe copper is the best material for brewing beer. It causes some interesting reactions to happen with the sugar that are believed to make the beer taste more like carmel. Also copper transfers heat very well. We have seen micro-photographs of the surface of a kettle just...
We don't recommend using fixed thermometers (weldless or weld in) on boil kettles that use immersion wort chillers to cool the wort. Most kettles aren't terribly wide, so they have a hard time accommodating a 2 or 6 inch probe and the wort chiller at the same time. Any damage to the...
The big problem is venting the exhaust gasses. You will either need a restaurant hood our build an enclosed burner like your hot water heater. A good plumbing text can teach you how to size the duct and make-up air vents. If you choose the hood, Make-up air is important to not suck flue gasses...
No! It is very dangerous to use propane in any place that does not drain to the outside. If you spray water in you brewery if there is any place it can puddle without flowing outside then you should not use propane. If there is any leaks it will puddle. Any pools of propane are extremely...
First find the scale that we as brewers use - which is the one that reads 1.000 at the top. Make sure there is no CO2 in solution! Do this by pouring the sample between two glasses untill there is no foaming. Slowly drop in the hydrometer and let it come to rest. Spin the hydrometer in the...
You are over carbonating the beer by doing it this way. A lot of old information suggests that by increasing the CO2 to high psi levels for a few days, this will result in faster carbonation . Which it does, but the main problem is that you tend to end up with excess foaming. The following are...
It sounds like you need to rebuild your regulator, which is very simple - the parts come in a small kit. To install the rebuild kit you'll need to disassemble the regulator. Changing out the interior requires the use of a vise clamp to hold the regulator down and in place, and a monkey...
All the CO2 cartridges we sell are all food grade cartridges. When CO2 cartridges are made there is oil used in the machining process. If the cartridges are steamed cleaned on the inside after construction they are considered food grade. The company that we buy from steam cleans all of their...
As for the regulator, you can go a couple of ways. The cheapest way is with a C02 "T", (D1860) The only problem here is that if you tap two kegs at different pressures, or release the pressure on one keg while the other is hooked up, your going to have beer flowing back up your gas...
No, not really. Most people store the CO2 tank inside the refrigerator. We will make a few notes: When a tank is placed in the refrigerator the pressure on your regulator will slightly drop because of the decrease in temperature and subsequent compression of the liquid inside the tank. Also,...
The co2 tank can go inside or outside the refrigerator. There are three things in the long run to consider when deciding where to put the co2 tank when making a kegerator. First, just a FYI that co2 is a liquid and we use the gas the comes off of the liquid. Since it is a gas, it will expand...
The question is whether it is better to ferment in a 6.5 gallon carboy or bucket where you have an airlock and there is no blow off versus fermenting in a 5 gallon carboy with a tube attached to the top of the carboy that goes into a jar of water that acts as a blowoff and airlock. With the...
One method is to use a section of 1/2" tubing and wedge it into the inside of a 3-piece airlock (you have to remove the plastic bubbler piece.) Another more popular method is to use an orange carboy cap and attach a section of 1/2" tubing. We have used both methods, never had a...
The beer is fine. When a ferment is going this wildly it is pushing off so much CO2 that no other microrganisms can fall in and contaminate it. Also, the yeast are replicating so fast that if any wild yeast or bacteria fell in most likely it would be consumed by the yeast. Take the airlock and...
There are usually a few contributing factors to a violent blow off of your airlock. First is the yeast selection. Certain yeast have a greater propensity to create a "big fluffy head". The yeast that are known for big head productions are White Labs Trappist, WLP300 Hefeweizen, and...
The advantages of a bucket is that it is very affordable and easy to use. The bucket fermenters that come with our kits have a spigot about 1" up from the bottom. The advantage of this is that it when it comes time to transfer one simply flips open the valve, effectively eliminating...
We often field this question at the last minute after a brewer realizes they don't have corn sugar. In a pinch, you can use other sugars to bottle with. We recommend, and use, corn sugar because it is easily digested by yeast which are already in a semi-dormant state. If you use another...
How much sugar you add depends upon the level of carbonation you desire. The amount can range from 3 to 6 oz (about .5 to 1.1 cups) for 5 gallons which will provide a level of carbonation ranging from very low to extremely high. While there are some traditional guidelines for how much...
Clarifying presents many issues when it comes to bottling. You have two ways to go about clarifying your beer. First is to work on anything that can help clear the beer out during the boil. This constitutes a good rolling boil (the entire volume of wort if possible) and use of a clarifying aid...
For most homebrewers a pressure set at 8-12PSI is the sweet spot. Your beer has to be stored cold from 34-40F for this pressure to work properly and you will need 5 feet of 3/16" ID line to serve the beer from.
Pilsen water is the lowest in minerals of any water. First you would add a small amount of minerals to distilled or RO water as calculated by Promash brewing software. Then you would boil the water, let it cool and rack off the sediment. As soon as you rack off, reheat and start the brew. Just...
The yeast is the most important ingredient to refrigerate once you receive your order. Hops should be refrigerated after a couple days if they're left out at room temp. Hops can be frozen and will last for 2-3 years still preserving their freshness. Malt extract should be left at room...
All of our liquid malt extracts yield about 1.035 gravity points per pound of malt extract per gallon of water. For example if you used 5 lbs of extract in a 5 gallon batch it would yield a 1.035 starting gravity. Another way to think of it is that for each pound of liquid extract someone adds...
Quick answer, Yes. Long answer, No. When designing a recipe that is generic for 5 gallon batches, you have to take some liberties at guessing what style of boil the brewer practices. Based off of that, sometimes there is a fair amount of bittering hops used as partial boils (5 gallon kettle or...
All of our dry malt extracts yield approximately 1.045 gravity points per pound of malt per gallon of water. For Example: if you used 5lbs of extract in a 5 gallon batch it will yield a 1.045 specific gravity (SG). Another way to think of it is that for each pound of dry malt extract someone...
You want a positive sealing food grade container that will keep both bugs and moisture out. Our 6 gallon, food-grade buckets are a good solution to storing un-milled grain for 2-3 months. We recommend using a tup-a-wear container that has a rubber seal preventing any oxygen exposure.
1) Remove vial from refrigerator. Allow to warm to room temperature for at least 2 hours. 2) Recommended Process for Use of Flask: Double Boiler Method It is important for your safety to heat water in the flask with a heat source that distributes heat evenly. Our manufacturer has confirmed...
We build starters for 3 main reasons. First, to ensure yeast health. By making a starter 1-3 days in advance, you ensure that your yeast is healthy and strong and ready to do its job. Second, to create more yeast. By making the starter you will increase the cell count of the yeast, giving you...
Being that there are all kinds of recipes out there we often get asked how to change a recipe to match the way they currently brew. This can be fairly simple actually, but there are a few variables that change for each individual. You can look at the situation two ways, first, if you use...
This is an interesting experiment to do. One of our close friends did a test with raw raspberries and entered them into a competition to see what the results would be. He chose a fairly neutral beer to start with, we wish he did an American Wheat, but he chose a brown ale instead. He used the...
We provide malt analysis on our web page to give you an idea of the different values. We receive malt every week. Unfortunately, we cannot update the analysis to cover every batch. This would take using all of the previous malt before we brought new malt into the building to make sure we did...
YES! If you can follow a recipe and keep clean, there is nothing stopping you from making great beer in your home - beer you can be proud of and your friends will love!
The MoreBeer! mission is to provide reliable equipment and quality ingredients that make the home brewing...
If you’re a hop head you’ve heard terms like Myrcene, Geraniol or Linalool, these are forms of terpenes and are fairly well documented and measured within hops and their oil makeup. But you probably heard the word Thiol used a lot in the last few years, especially when talking...
Temperature control in one of these tanks is easy, the control will be based off of a small temperature controller (FE610, fe611, fe608) which regulates the power on either a heating or cooling device. For heating, fermwraps can be used on a small scale. Simply affix these small wraps to the...
First, a secondary fermenter is considered a fermenter, usually a carboy, that you transfer your beer into after the primary fermentation is finished. Usually only recommended by MoreBeer! when there is a reason to do so - you are fermenting with fruit and need to get the beer off the fruit,...
When is oxygen okay?
Q: I am somewhat confused about when it is okay to aerate your beer. I’ve heard that oxygen is important for fermentation, but racking to clarify beer can introduce unwanted air and expose beer to infection. What gives?
A: These questions...
Q: After fermenting my ale at 70 °F (21 °C), I racked it into the secondary and slowly cooled it down to 45 °F (7 °C) in a refrigerator. I am concerned that the yeast may be too dormant to carbonate when it is time to prime. Am I worrying for no reason, or should I look to...
Q: Someone I spoke with at a prominent malting company told me that I shouldn’t add my specialty grains at the beginning of the mash as I’m accustomed to doing. He says that I should only mash these grains for half an hour. Bur I find I get much better flavors and extract...
Q: It’s been seven years since I started dispensing my homebrew with a Cornelius keg system, and I’ve never been happier until now. I just came across a tank of “the mix” (nitrogen/CO2) and an old Murphy’s faucet designed for dispensing with the mix. I...
Yes all MoreBeer! BrewSculptures now include our Ultimate Sparge Arm. In fact the BrewSculpture were the inspiration for this design. We've talked with customers at trade shows and during brew sessions and listened to feedback about what they wanted... easy adjustment, reduction of...
The stated volume of our Plastic Carboy fermenters is to the brim of the of the vessel. Often, with Glass Carboys, the stated volume is measured at the shoulder as opposed to the brim, and that is where the confusion can come from.
These crystals are from the storage solution changing from a liquid to a solid. The storage solution is meant to protect your probe from drying out during storage and shipping.
Your probe simply needs to be conditioned to prepare it for use.
To condition the probe, use tap water...
