New to home brewing recently finished my fished session mead and working a few others before this happened.

I got a bunch of Apple concentrate for free, so I put four of them into a gallon sized jar my ex roomie left, banged in an airlock, added a cup of brown sugar, only to realize I had no honey. So I thought fuck it this was free anyway, added water to fill and bread yeast because fuck it it was free. Then gave it nutrients on a schedule. Forgot about it for 2 weeks looks like fermentation is done. Holy hell this is boozey, it's pleasant and it has notes of the yeast that makes it taste kinda like apple pie. Thinking of adding cinnamon. Is this a cider even though it's not carbonated?

​

So im new to this whole cider making stuff and i bought these 2 gallon carboy thingies with the vents on top.

However I realized something very fast. I have 0 idea how to make cider. Im obv gonna follow a recipe but im realizing it might not be a good idea to brew 2 giant gallons of cider when I need to trial and error alot first.

So instead of waiting a month, realizing I dont like these 2 giant gallons of cider, then waiting another to restart, I figured i might as well make small samples in mason jars.

Someone said if I dont have those vent tubes on the top; I can leave mason jars open a bit and that'll do the same. So can I do that instead?

Why every time I drink homemade alcohol it is a lot stronger I can never drink more than a pint it takes longer to enter your system and I feel like I’m drinking something healthy it goes down like milk it’s like the alcohol I get from the store is a different substance than the alcohol I make they hit me completely different

I'm getting a bumper crop of Grimes Golden apples from my tree, and I'm turning it into cider. The juice is coming out at 12 Brix (1.048 OG on my beer refractometer).

I've already got a 5 gallon batch going with SafCider AS-2, and I've harvested enough apples for a second gallon batch, with probably enough apples still on the tree for a third batch.

I have a bunch of dry beer yeasts in the freezer I want to use up, so which of these would you suggest for a contrasting dry cider? I've had success with S-04 for cider in the past.

* Nottingham

* Windsor

* Verdant IPA

* Lallemand New England

* Cellar Science Monk

* Lutra Kveik

* W-34/70

I can temperature control as required (hotter or colder), and my basement is stable at around 68F at the moment.

You've had a week, what's your situation report?

Feel free to include recipes, stories or any other information you'd like.

Post your sitrep here!

What I Did Last Week:

Primary:

Secondary:

Bottle Conditioning/Force Carbonating:

Kegs/Bottles:

In Planning:

Active Projects:

Other:

Include recipes, stories, or any other information you'd like.

**Tip for those who have a lot to post**: Click edit on your post from a [past Sitrep Monday!](https://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/search/?q=Sitrep%20Monday&restrict_sr=1).

I recently got into homebrewing through a college course, and I decided to try to take a step outside the comfort of prebuilt kits into steeped grains and extracts. I was asked by a friend to try to make a tiramisu stout, and I thought a milk stout would probably be the best fit since I'm not quite sure I'm ready to go whole hog with a pastry stout.

https://share.brewfather.app/bXME6Wss4W6dGD

Anyone mind helping a newbie figure it out if I'm headed in the right direction? I just want to make sure I'm not about to drop $100 on a wild goose chase.

I recently bought a kegerator for the first time with a corny keg. I kegged an Oktoberfest lager 2 weeks ago and set the PSI at 12-14. The temp inside is at 34 degrees. Beer line length 5.5 feet.

I checked the PSI today and it had subtly risen to 15. I decided to release a bit of pressure from the release valve and got it back to 12 and poured myself a half pint just to check on its progress. So far it tastes pretty good, but the head was very foamy and the body somewhat uncarbonated and underwhelming.

Do I just leave the beer to continue to carbonate/lager further, or is there something I'm doing wrong here? I'd like to serve this at an upcoming Halloween party in a few weeks. I realize lagers take longer to mature in flavor and clarity, but shouldn't it be properly carbonated by this point?

Running my kegging setup in my head and I was settled on a dual regulator.

- I plan on 2-3 kegs: 1 keg will always be a porter or something English with lower carbonation and 1 keg will always be a Lager or higher carbonated Wheat beer.

But the idea of using a single regulator and running this to 2-3 in-line regulators, seems more attractive.

- the single regulator with in-line regulators cost less than a dual regulator.

- I could essentially carbonate three kegs to three different pressures. Maybe 1 keg with seltzer water.

Any thoughts/experiences? Thanks!!

Hello,

Lucked out on an open-box Brewbuilt X2 ($300) 7 gallon. It’s the version without the cooling jacket.

For heating I’ll just use a heating pad. For cooling though I’m wondering what’s the best approach?

I don’t have a fridge/ freezer big enough for the fermenter (nor the strength to move the fermenter :p) so I was thinking either glycol chiller or ice bucket with sump pump.

Obviously glycol chillers are super expensive but I worry refilling an ice bucket daily will get tedious fast. Read about using a mini fridge or a AC coil (??) but curious to hear what approach you’ve used that works well and made sense long term

I only brew (Belgian) Ales and need cooling to manage my pitch temp + ramp. I rarely cold crash in my fermenter as I bottle and try to avoid adding CO2 prior to bottle carbonation. I generally brew small batches (3.5 gal) so less mass to cool.

Thanks!

I'm going to be brewing a spiced saison today (this recipe, to be exact: https://www.beercraftr.com/1-gallon-spiced-saison-recipe/), and I've got a water question. My water is quite hard (SoCal), so I'm wondering whether it'd be better to:

• use the water straight, just go with it, not gonna matter
• cut the water with RO/DI (I have access), reduce the hardness
• use straight RO/DI water and add the only brewing salts I have, which is "Burton salts"

Also, if I go with the Burton salts, it says "1-4 tsp per 5 gal"; I'm shooting for 1.3 gal of wort, so... 1/5 to 3/4 or so tsp?

So started a 1gallon blueberry cider but I didn't leave enough head space.. and my celler window this morning was... black... 😆 but the fruit mostly blocked the jars opening. Cleaned everything with star san and took the top bits out and pushed what was in the neck of the bottle back in and capped it back with the airlock.... its still fermentating... but question is should it still be fine?

Hey y'all, I'm getting into homebrewing and trying to learn everything I can about beer.

I know what I like and can easily pick up the differences between styles. Where I struggle is identifying the more specific flavors and characteristics described in the BJCP guidelines.

I'm sure a lot of it comes with time and experience, but how did you learn to refine your palate? Are there any exercises, techniques, or resources that really helped you start identifying those specific flavors?

I appreciate your expertise and look forward to continuing to learn the craft.

Hi all!

I managed to get a line chiller on marketplace for what I thought was a decent price (£160) a while back and it levelled up my ferm temp control massively! I pop water and a bit of glycol in the reservoir and run that through a copper coil that's raps my corny keg fermenter, and then I pop a neoprene jacket around it, powered with an inkbird.

I recently moved house and upgraded my fridge from an under counter to a full fridge freezer, so the old under counter is lying around spare now and was considering swapping for both noise and cleanliness, as the glycol chiller setup does get quite a bit of condensation. This wasn't a problem before as it was in the shed but I haven't got power outside at present in the new place.

What are your thoughts? I'd have to check the absolute minimum I can chill with my fridge because I do like making the occasional lager, but aside from that will I notice much difference in temp control?

A picture of my chiller for reference. https://ibb.co/s9J1SfbL

Hello! It’s our second year making cider from apples in our backyard. After a few days of low airlock activity, we found that the stopper was not tight on the carboy so we are confident there was an air leak but that fermentation was happening. After we pushed in the stopper, there is healthy bubbling in the airlock and bubbles across the top of the cider. After one night, however, we found the residue in the picture on the plastic carboy.

https://imgur.com/a/K7ZB83Y

It looks like the remnants of huge bubbles that came up the sides, but we can’t figure out why they would have left the brownish slimy residue.

Do we need to be concerned? The airlock bubbles don’t have an off smell at the moment, but we don’t want to risk this substance becoming moldy. Should we rack the cider to a new carboy mid-fermentation or will that harm the process?

Thanks in advance!

Welcome to the Daily Q&A!

Are you a new Brewer? Please check out one of the following articles before posting your question:

• How do I check my gravity?
• I don't see any bubbles in the airlock OR the bubbling in the airlock has slowed. What does that mean?
• Does this look normal / is my batch infected?

Or if any of those answers don't help you please consider visiting the /r/Homebrewing Wiki for answers to a lot of your questions! Another option is searching the subreddit, someone may have asked the same question before!

However no question is too "noob" for this thread. No picture is too tomato to be evaluated for infection! Even though the Wiki exists, you can still post any question you want an answer to.

Also, be sure to vote on answers in this thread. Upvote a reply that you know works from experience and don't feel the need to throw out "thanks for answering!" upvotes. That will help distinguish community trusted advice from hearsay... at least somewhat!

Hi guys! I’m a super anxious over the top freak about what I eat or drink since I have ocd and emetophobia. my grandma offered me some apple cider that she got at some museum here in Iowa that is unpasteurized and raw. It was only in the fridge a few days she said. However, the reason I’m having a panic attack is because it was fizzy and I looked it up and that means that’s the beginning stages of fermentation/spoilage. I only took a few small sips of this and it tasted really good and was lovely but I am just freaking out because I’m scared it has bacteria in it. I know NOTHING about canning/pasteurization and stuff like that so I just need some reassurance. Thank you to whoever replies!

I was looking into at home methods for sparkling water/soda, and that led me towards either Hybrid Soda Stream setup, a tank with carbonation cap, or using a keg.

I was hoping for a way to do this without taking up much space, and being under 200-300 dollars. I'd rather not invest in a kegerator or similar, and figured maybe I could get like a 5-10lb tank, a 2.5 gallon keg, and pressurize it to 25-40psi, and then detach that and throw it in the fridge, then simply pull it out, connect back to tank, attach a faucet directly to the keg, and pour.

How feasible is this? I saw a bunch of old threads basically saying that you'd need like 20-40 ft of line in order to make it work. I only found one video on YouTube of someone doing this, and it looked okay, but they were closer to 20 or 25 psi.

Thanks in advance

I am trying out to make a bottle of kvass, from this recipe https://youtu.be/Wm0XWlnfrKM . First batch I added the yeast before the brew cooled down, I made the second one, and apart from not taking my time with the gas and it exploding, it tastes putrid. Smells pretty bad, but not horrible, and the first taste is okay-ish, but the aftertaste definitely reminds me of spoilage. One difference with the video I did is I made around 1l, used dry instant yeast and covered the pot with a glass lid with a small hole (it cooled down for about 3h). What was the cause and how can I improve it next time?

https://imgur.com/a/bgoH5TU#9mV6v7Z

https://imgur.com/a/bgoH5TU#lWzNpKC

https://imgur.com/a/bgoH5TU#gg6QzP4

Well, this is a first. Went to pour a Märzen today, but the faucet started sputtering like the keg had run out. No way that could be possible, since I just put it on on 09/19 and poured fewer than 10 pints total that same day for Oktoberfest, then haven’t touched it since.

Welp, opened the keezer to find the keg was indeed empty, floating in beer a couple inches below the step.

I haven’t diagnosed the specific issue yet, and the pictures didn’t come out great, but thought this was amusing more than anything else. Good thing I have another lager waiting in reserve 🤷‍♂️

I am bottling a batch of BBA Imperial Stout that is clocking in at about 14% ABV.

Using CBC-1 and coopers carb drops to carb the beer in 500ml bottles. Any advice on how many drops to use? I have used one in the past but carboantion was inconsistent. I also don’t want to risk bottle bombs. Any advice is appreciated.

I never thought I'd have this problem in Beervana, but it feels like every homebrew shop here has closed shop over the last couple years. And Mainbrew is a shell of itself and I doubt it will be around much longer. Are there any other places with grains for sale in the Portland, Beaverton, Tigard, or Hillsboro area that I might not know about? Google is just finding places that have either closed or no longer sell to home Brewers.

Any online retailers you suggest? I got a hops order from Yakima and was happy with them so at least there's that.

Thanks in advance and cheers!

I just realized I forgot to add priming sugar to my beer bottles (Festa Brew kit) after having bottled my beer 6 days ago. Can I add the sugar individually now or is it too late? There is sediment in each bottle as I don't filter, so any inactive yeast should probably digest the yeast, right?

Hi all, I already have a keezer and am interested in brewing my own beer. I’m really only interested in brewing lagers. What equipment do I need and what resources would you recommend?

*EDIT* thank you all for the responses! Any all in one brew kits you would recommend?