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Write down everything. Write down everything. Write down everything. 😀

This is definitely true. My brewery only brews Belgian styles and we step mash every recipe, but 1 (our Belgian style IPA). Most recipes go through 2 rests, but our wit has 3 rests. Step mashing is also very beneficial when brewing single malt beers because it adds complexity and depth to the base grain you're using. Step mashing basically utilizes different enzymes to break down different starches into sugars. Single infusion mash beers are only utilizing 1 enzyme because the other enzymes were destroyed above certain temps. But by stepping your mash at different temps for different time periods, you are utilizing more types of enzymes, which also results in better mash efficiency and better attenuation in the end.

This Saturday itll be me and a big kettle of wort and hops getting picked straight from the bine continuously for the duration of the boil. Question is, do i make 10 or 15 gallons? No idea how potent my hops are but theres quite a few of them to be picked.

I want smell-o'vision so bad!!!

i think the advice is sound. identify your target before you shoot. decide what you want to brew, find a recipe for it online or other, scale it to your batch size with brewing software or do some math. then go get your ingredients and brew it up. many here have brewed with random ingredients before, but that is probably after brewing many batches and kind of know what to expect. you'll probably make better beer. just my free advice.

My bottle washing method: drink beer recycle bottle brew beer buy new bottles its more money but a lot less work

I use a Gephhhfftermeter. I listen to the sound when I open the cap. Is is pft? pffft? PFFT? or Pffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff………………….. time to clean up? British beer is pft. German Wiezen is PFFT.

In your link it says sucrose breaks down (when by yeast via enzyme invertase) to 50% Glucose, 50% Fructose so that leads to Carbo drops --> 27% Glucose & 73% Sucrose--> 63% Glucose, 37% Fructose Sugar dots --> 100% Sucrose --> 50% Glucose , 50% Fructose (via enzyme invertase) So other than the yeast having to break down more sucrose (and they need to do it for both) I don't think it is grossly different - unless there are conditions that prevent that. Conveniently, sugar dots are 0.5 tsp, I use --> 1 per 12 oz, 2 per .75 mL, 3 per 1L. (Sometimes less for dark ales)

"The delicious Belgian malt flavor profile comes more from the rests in the mashing than from special, difficult to source, expensive malts." hmmm.....🤔

Wow. There's appealing to a broad audience and then there's giving entirely unrealistic expectations of results. I tried my first Lock/Stock at five months. It was good. At nine months it was great. At 15 months+ it's fantastic.

Drink beer (or two) rinse well with hot water and dish soap. Before brewing sanitize with oxygen cleaner. Same for plastic bottles.

Glad to see someone else using the finger in the bottle trick. If I don't do this, I end up with a ring where the top of the beer was. You know there is a certain poster on here (not naming him but his last name rhymes with deer) who thinks I'm imagining "ring around the bottle."

I used Centennial 60 min for my bittering and then Hallertau Blanc 15min. Turned out really well using that combo. I've never used Tettnang, so I know nothing on that hops characteristics.

I agree. I brewed 10 gallons this weekend, 5 gallons AG wouldve taken just as much time, 2 gallons wouldve taken just as much time. Brew more now so you dont have to brew later. Split yeasts, add fruit, experiment and youll learn twice as fast

1st of all, if @Creeps McLane told you something, you can take that to the bank! LOL. I believe that the default in BS is .5 gallons per hour for the boil off rate. I would argue that mine is higher, so I agree with you. sounds right. I usually start off with almost 5 gallons (4.7) and struggle to get 4 gallons into my fermenter....trying to leave some of the hop sludge behind.

@StretchNM buy 1 year of beersmith. you'll be hooked! write everything down in the notes tab on BS.

I'm thinking Pre-Prohibition American Pale Ale -- Rahr 6-row, flaked corn, a little Crystal and fermenting with K-97. I grabbed a couple hop cones, checked out their lupulin and am picking up on some herbal notes, a hint of light sage, and some resiny aromas. This will be interesting...

Same here!

Thank you for all your comments on here. To address a few: 1) Security concerns on Facebook are real so don't join if you are concerned at all. It OK. 2) Facebook is a totally different group than the forum here. There is no need to join if you prefer to be here. 3) Every business goes through staffing changes and we have had many people throughout the years. Our former brewmasters include Eric Green who started one of the best craft breweries in Arizona, Dragoon Brewery, Gene Sandoval started Blackrock Brewing, Pat Butler joined Dragoon Brewing, Sam Diggens joined Sentinel Brewing, and most recently we had Josh move up to Pinetop Brewing Co. Then we have others like Tim, Tyson and Renae that were here for a time and then were able to continue to grow themselves (millennials change jobs 4 times between 21 and 32 according to LinkedIn study). We continue to bring in new people with or without experience. Right now we have two current agents with over 25 years experience in brewing not counting the additional 65 years of experience with the other people in the office. 4) It may appear that Mr. Beer participation is lagging in the forum, but instead the amount of searches that go on just show that people are finding the answers that they need. Similar to what many of you have said, they dont go that next step and further participate. With almost a half a million posts, they will find their answer. We have had to adjust our way of communicating and now had more people participating in our support chat on our website more than anything else. This too could possibly take away from participation here. 5) The homebrewing business has changed drastically over the past decade. Interest grew dramatically up to 2012 then slowed, then in 2015 reverse and many people lost interest. The craft beer craze that we all enjoy has some to blame as we all can go to one of many close by craft breweries and enjoy what we once could only brew. 6) With more people working, there is less time to brew. There is almost a perfect correlation to the unemployment rate to the interest in "how to brew" google searches. Most businesses go through this cycle and it will come back around with more interest developing again in short order. When that does happen we will have this forum, Facebook, our site and continue to look at all options where people want to be contacted. This forum is not going anywhere soon. We will continue to upgrade and maintain. We will continue to engage when needed and point new brewers here to get their answers. Please continue to be the warm and engaging group that you all are.

hey @Cato i have an altbier grainbill loaded in BS. what kind of hops did you use and what schedule during boil? curious? i have hallertau blanc (60 min) and tettnang (15 min) in my recipe that i have yet to brew. wyeast german ale yeast.

Since I've got two pales conditioning and one amber/dark , Witch's Flight PM, about to bottle, I checked my grains and I have enough for a 3 gal batch of Das Altbier, so that will be next and then while ordering the yeast for it today I also ordered some Galaxy hops, (never tried Galaxy), and Mangrove Jack's M44 yeast . I'll do an LBK pale ale that I can fit in the fridge with the Alt. There's my plan for the next 3-4 weeks.

I'd suggest that in the future you sit down and plan what you want to do. For example, brew a 2.5 gallon batch in an LBK (which will hold 2.5 gallons just fine). Or a 2 gallon batch. Then find a recipe that you like online (there are thousands of extract recipes), convert it to the size you're going to brew, come up with a list of ingredients, and then go buy the ingredients (or order online). I come up with my recipes and the list of ingredients, and because my store is online also I cost them out. I then go and pull my grains for recipe #1, crush them, and seal the bag, labeling it. Then I go do #2. And so on. When I check out, if the bill is different I have them review what they entered wrong... Just buying stuff while at a store is backwards.

Community Members 288 236 posts Report post Posted Saturday at 01:13 PM "A while back I brewed a little 1-gallon all-grain Kit. It was weak and impotent (which really taxed my ego). It consisted of 1-1/2 lb of 2-row and 1/2 ounce of Kent Goldings hops." Don't feel bad, this was a pretty light brew anyway. a quick scan on recipe builder puts it a little over 4% ABV even with the right amount of water. So it will taste pretty thin. Your new amounts look like just under 6% so a big difference. Do you remember what ABV did the kit claim?

my bottle washing method.....drink beer, rinse out bottle pretty good. put in box in garage. when i feel like washing 50 or so bottles, i use oxy clean free, hot water, a bottle brush and a bottle tree. not that bad. i must say that i haven't washed bottles in a while now.

Me too. Except we rinse good, then fill with water UNTIL we are ready to wash at the end of the day. More efficient than washing 1 at a time, and nothing dries in bottle.

I just wash them as I use them, with hot water and a bit of unscented dish soap. Shake well, refill with hot water, repeat a few times. If there's any persistent crud I hit it with a bottle brush. Rinse and put on rack to dry.

Thanks, Jdub. I will check into this beersmith and compare the schekel cost against value. Moments ago, I measured my boil-off rate = .6 gal per hour. Does that sound right? So, according to BIAB Calculator, for my 1-gallon batch I will need 1.95 gallons to start and will have 1.25 gallons for the fermenter. This is essentially the same as what @Creeps McLane provided (except that this program says I need a little more water to start).

#THIS!

Beersmith costs money. Its super nice if you plan on brewing AG. After a few batches you input your systems figures and then you never have to woory about it again. I dont measure anything anymore, the program does is all for me

I find this easy to use - http://www.biabcalculator.com/ I found my rates different. Instead of 1.25 gallons per hour boiloff, I get 0.7, probably due to my stove not being as hot as a big propane flame. I also find my grain absorption to be different, instead of .045 gallons per pound, I use .075 gallons per pound. Of course, without exact measurements one doesn't know whether it's boil off, or absorption, but I seem to now routinely get 3.45 gallons pre-boil and around 2.6 - 2.75 gallons post boil, with 2.5 gallons going into the LBK. I found I needed to double crush my grains, and change QBrew's efficiency from 75% to 65%. I don't sparge at all, but I do squeeze.

Mash water + displacement of grains lets you know your volume which would let you know how full your kettle is gonna be. Youll lose water absorbing into the grains so you should be left with 1.6 when you lift out your bag and give it a slight squeeze. If you want to have 1 gallon at bottling then you’ll need the lbk. Assuming a slight loss to trub in the glass carboy youll end up with maybe 0.8ish gallons at bottling. Beersmith assumes a boil off rate. Thats dependant on your kettle and vigor of boil. I triple the assumed loss with my set up which includes loss in the lines and pump. I put the hops for your recipe at 60 minutes just because you really didnt say what you intended to do for a hopping schedule. Stupid question but your grains are milled right?

@StretchNM Using beersmith stove top mini biab, batch size changed to 1 gallon, mash profile of biab medium body (obviously no sparge) OG: 1.057 FG: 1.014 ABV: 5.7% SRM: 7 IBU: 40 mash water: 1.76 Volume needed: 1.94 preboil: 1.6 post boil: 1.3 into fermenter: 1.3 bottling / trub loss: 0.3 bottling volume: 1

Winner, winner, chicken dinner. There should be no difference in carbonation regardless of what you use (except for cost or ease of use) between table sugar, carbonation drops, sugar dots, sugar cubes, honey, LME, ... HOWEVER, time after time people post that the carbonation drops yield less carbonation. And people have done side by side tests. Conclusion - they don't contain the amount of sugar they say they do. People also fail to take into account how much residual carbonation may be left in the wort before bottling. The reality is most newer brewers don't carb by style. A British ale has much less carbonation than a German Weizen for example. Could be as much as little as 1/3rd the carbonation, or up to 1/2 the carbonation. I for one use table sugar and batch prime. I do NOT measure my final wort available (most don't), I figure I have 2.5 gallons (320 oz), and put in between 50 and 65 grams of sugar, based on style. Most batches I get about 25 oz less wort, so that's 8% less wort, which means I'm going to get 8.5% more carbonation than I had planned. And, most people couldn't tell the difference between 2.0 and 2.3 or 2.5 volumes of CO2. And to conduct a test you'd need to have the right instruments to read the level of carbonation, which are quite expensive. It's called a Gehaltemeter, and costs around $1,500. Hooks to the brite tank at a brewery, which is the tank that fermented beer is stored in to carbonate, and then either serve or keg/bottle.

I know this is an old topic, but wanted to third that this is a solid recipe. I’ve made it three times and always satisfies my stout fans. I’m going to try to age some longer than three months to see how good it will get.

Finally getting to the point where South Dakota is emailing events that fall during the time ill be there. 22 days and counting. @Bonsai & Brew, here we come!

I'm still brewing mash-in-sack on the stovetop and have been doing step-mashes per your link to the Devil's Backbone mash schedule posted some months ago -- 20 min. at 136 F, 20 min. at 148, and 20 min. at 158 F. I don't know that it's made a noticeable difference in my all-grain recipes but I do enjoy the challenge of trying to hit those stops.🍻

That sums up my methods too. Pressed for time, not thinking things through, and tired. Lots of times my second idea is the best one but i dont have the time to think it through that far.

interesting article. i think i get the freshest ingredients that are available to me as a small time home brewer, however time is my biggest enemy. often times i am feeling rushed when i'm brewing, and telling everyone around me that i'm almost finished. i make alot of mistakes b/c i'm rushed a lot.

So...I get this spam mail called RapidFlabMelter, promising me that I can melt 1.5 lbs of flab a day if I buy their product. Yeah. Then I think, now there would be a great name for a new micro brew: 'Rapid Flab Builder'. And the beer would at least be telling it like it really is!! 😍

Yours look about as far along as mine are. Perhaps they have the same harvest window? You going with a fresh hop beer or you gonna store them for future use?

On a different note - did you notice that Mr B now includes TWO LMEs with the Deluxe refills?!!!!!!!!!!

@MRB-Rick Thank you for your post. Knowing that our concerns are relevant to Mr. Beer and that you have addressed them is good for us all. Also the update to our perceived lack of participation in this forum is wonderful. Knowing that the questions that we have spent a lot of time answering are still providing help is awesome. Even though I no longer brew with Mr. Beer products, I use this forum to help those who like me are starting out their journey with Mr. Beer. I hope that somehow my answers and the answers of others here have kept some brewers in the hobby that would have left otherwise. Your post alone will make me continue to check this forum every day as I have always done. Prost, Dawg

Yeah, they hit our roses and other flowers and were wreaking havoc. The beetle trap nabbed a ton of em, but I finally got a bottle of Liquid Sevin and had to spray. Here in VB, they're about done. Guess they have a fairly short life cycle. Lol, when I put out the beetle trap, I got the bait scent on my hands and had to go inside and wash it off, cause they were flocking to me so heavy it was ridiculous. On my shirt, in my hair, not good!

I had to go against my morals and spray for Japanese beetles this morning. Theyre devouring my raspberries and im scared theyll move to my hops next. Theres already evidence of them but they’re havoc must be stopped! I got organic and safe for veggies.

Kinda freaked out today. I saw a few leaves had some strange white residue on them, I immediately starting googling powdery and downy mildew pics. Then i go to work and think on it for a bit. The white residue seemed to be kind of in a straight line affecting 5-6 leaves. Then I determined, it was bird poop... 🦅 💩. Im gonna stop worrying about it. RDWHAHB

Only one way to check this out. Brew two identical batches side by side and only aerate one of them. Then when both batches are ready to drink, do a blind triangle test with tasters to see which beer is preferred and if they are able to pick out the different beer. I am still going to aerate.

I dont know where youre seeing 2.5 gallon kegs but everywhere i see 3 gallon kegs they're almost as expensive as a 5 gallon one. Dont buy a little one if you are going to want a 5 gallon one someday anyway

Any sugar you add will promote more fermentation unless you stabilized it or pasteurized it. You could backsweeten your cider to taste, then carbonate it in the bottles, but you'd have to keep a close eye on them and check them for firmness every few days. As soon as they are firm, test one for carbonation. If carbonated, refrigerate the rest right away to prevent any further fermentation, otherwise your bottles will explode. If using glass bottles, you could pasteurize them as soon as carbonated, but how would you even tell that they are carbonated if you can't squeeze them? So that's a problem. Honestly, the best way to sweeten your cider is to invest in a kegging system. Then you can sweeten it as much as you like and artificially carbonate the cider. Using this method, you can even stabilize the cider with some potassium sorbate and sodium metabisulphate so if you decide to fill bottles from the keg, you won't have to worry about refermentation. Of course, this is more complicated, and only suggested if you're really into sweet ciders and can afford the cost and the space. As scouterbill mentioned, you can use lactose as it's an unfermentable sugar, but it won't sweeten your cider as much as something like Angry Orchard. Also, if you're lactose intolerant, it's probably not a good idea. Another, more natural method is to replace some of the water you're using in your batch of cider with pasteurized 100% apple juice. I usually like to replace 1 gallon of water with a gallon of really good apple juice (I like Gravenstein apple juice, personally, but it's not cheap). Depending on the juice you use, many times it will leave residual sugars behind giving your cider a nice subtle sweetness. Again, not as sweet as AO, but not too dry either. Finally, try using a lower attenuating yeast, such as S-33. This should leave some residual sugars behind, but you will also take a slight hit in ABV.

I keg all my beer. If I need to bottle some, then I simply fill some bottles with a counter-pressure bottle filler. Very rarely though, I will bottle-condition certain beers that need to be aged (barleywines, Biere de Garde, some sours, etc). And yes, you can carbonate 2 gallons in 2.5 gallon kegs. I use our 5 gallon kegs here at work for our 2 gallon test batches if I'm low on 2 gallon kegs. The best thing about kegging your beer is that you can get the exact carbonation you want (I suppose you can with sugar, too, but it's not nearly as accurate). Also, you can have drinkable beer within a couple of days if you force carbonate. I have a hefeweizen recipe that only has 3 ingredients and will ferment to completion in 7 days. After kegging, it's a total of 9 days from start to finish and it's drinkable right away. It's the fastest beer I've ever made. It's really good, too.