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I have been fortunate enough to have only made one beer in 25+ years that I have had to dump, not including the exploding bottles incident of 1995 that we will not talk about today🤣 I think the second one just happened. Both beers had a few things in comment namely a strong start (within...

A Magic Keg is what I call the inevitable phenomenon when I need an empty keg and am certain a keg is on its last drop so I plan to drink it empty but it keeps pouring pint after pint. Tonight in a quest to empty a keg that based on a quick lift up and down i thought was on its last leg, I am...

Looking for some help here with a very stuck fermentation. Made an 10 gal all grain batch of Alt a week ago (1.053 OG, target 1.013 FG). Had a strong start for a few days, then tapered of and quit at about day 5. 3 days of steady 1.030 readings (corrected refractometer, that's not it). I have...

This is my first season harvesting hops (2nd growing season). I have read lots of articles and posts on when to harvest and have an academic idea. However I am a bit visual and was hoping someone could share picture of ripe cones. The picture below is a couple Cascade cones. Is the amount...

Any tips on cooling my first wet hop beer? I use a single pass through a D36 plate chiller. I use muslin bags and/or a hop spider for pellets but plan to let the wet hops swim free. I was going to strain out most of the whole hops and then whirlpool but am concerned about a lot of hop material...

I have reviewed most of what is available from articles and books on calculating PPG from malt quality reports and see one inconsistency on how this typically done. Not all sources reduce the PPG to account for moisture, and appear to be on a dry basis. I am also curious how others look at...

Looking for tips on best way to bleed excess CO2 out of kegged beer. I primed a keg because I didn't have a free CO2 line and let it sit in the basement around 60deg for a few months. It is now well chilled and taped but severely over carbonated. I want it at 2.4 vol or about 10.5 psi at...

Anyone else ever get a slight oily iridescent sheen on the top of wort right of the kettle? Noticed this yesterday on the top of both fermentors. All grain amber ale, pumped through counterflow chiller. No unusual ingredients, just barley malt, hops, and some Irish moss. Only source of oils...

Perhaps I am overthinking this, but do you need to consider reduced viability in subsequent generations of re-pitched yeast, to account for the nonviable portion of yeast that was pitched in the prior batch? Or is the volume of new viable yeast produced in the fermentation enough to make this...

Here I am under the gun to have a keg on tap Saturday at noon and it is Thursday at 4pm. Beer is fully fermented, but yeast hasn't quite settled. Here is the plan, but this is a first for me, so looking for suggestions if this doesn't sound right. Beer is now in corny, purged head space with...

I spent my brewing past avoiding lagers because the lack of space and temp control for a proper lager fermentation. Had good success with Kolsch yeasts as the go to for my Mocktoberfest. Based on a conversation and a bit or reading I gave SafLager 34/70 a try in a true Oktoberfest recently at...

I have a corny keg that is about half full after a being on ice at a party and tapped with CO2 and picnic tap. I don’t have kegerator space for short term storage ~2 weeks until I bring this keg to another event and empty. I do have a garage that is a steady 54 deg F. I used a keg carb...

I have been asked at the last minute to provide a 5gal keg to a local charitable event. I have a basic Kolsch style sitting in a fermenter that I need to use for this. 5% ABV, 25 IBU. What ideas are out there to make a Kolsch a bit more interesting with only 10 days in secondary to transform...

I have been trying to reduce alkalinity with lime and dropped from about 360 ppm to 50 ppm as CaCO3. I also have high magnesium (52 ppm) and am hopeful that the precipitate contains some Mg. Brewersfriend water calculator assumes all of the precipitate is CaCO3 but I have read other articles...

Let me start by saying that I realize this is not the "right" way but I can change the calendar or my travel schedule and need to have beer on tap for a family function. So I brewed 2 - 5 gal batches (blonde - 1.045 and amber 1.050) and had a good primary fermentation (5 days at 65 degrees)...

I followed a lot of advice here and rather than a single pass immersion chiller opted to build out one with a standard submersible pond pump. I saw a lot of discussion on the right size pump, with a number suggesting you go as big as you can afford. I assembled and tested the system with...

I have had two batches now where I am way over my target FG. Both were mashed a bit hotter due to low FGs of a couple prior batches. These were mashed around 154. All other aspects have been about the same between the brewing process, including cooling, pitching, yeast starting, etc. I have...

I have a homemade 25 ft coil immersion chiller that I have used for years with partial boil extract batches with great results. Basic tap water system, no re circulation pump. Shifted to full boil all-grain and the coil just can't get it done anymore. Only cools to about 100 in 15 minutes...

I am thinking about making a 10 gallon batch of Oktoberfest (w/ Kolch yeast) and kegging into a Firkin. I am planning to prime with gyle from the boil. Using a few calculators online I think I have a handle on the amount of gyle (4 qts at 1.054), but does anyone have an idea how long it will...

Looking for feedback on my first attempt at using washed yeast. I washed the Wyeast 1056 out of the primary from a batch that fermented very aggressively (88% attenuation). Washed once with distilled water, got a nice clean sample. Used a jar of washed yeast with about 60ml of solids (2 weeks...