help

Hey All! I'm brand new here and very new to brewing in general. I have a lot of interest, but not a ton of time. I was looking at the different machines from PicoBrew and the newly announced PicoBrew Z caught my attention. Can anyone share their thoughts on this machine in general and if...

Yoohoo. I made 3 batches of mead a while ago with 3 kinds of honey and I found out the akacie/hickary liquid honey was pretty good and the wildflower solid honey was great on day 1 and then degraded in flavor over time. I guess it degraded in flavor due to me messing up with the sanitizer and...

I am new to brewing and I am interested in brewing a hoppy IPA. I have two brews under my belt that turned out well. I really want to experiment with dry hopping. I am not sure if I should just buy a normal kit and make modifications like using citra hops/buy more hops for dry hopping? Or...

Hey Brewers, Quick question I am in the middle of my second batch. I am using an Witbier extract kit from Brewers Best. I was steeping my grains in a smaller pot at the correct temperatures 148-153 degrees for thirty five minutes. I then placed my thermometer inside of the grain bag and went to...

Hello, I am very new to the whole home brew process. I have been researching mead for about 3 weeks now and still find a lot I still need to learn. I am about to start my first batch and wanted to get some advice. First I am probably breaking a cardinal sin and I am using a 1 gallon...

Hello all, I'm looking at creating my first melomel though I need some help/advice if anybody is willing to do so. I am looking to make a 1 gallon batch of plum and a 1 gallon batch of blackberry. So question number 1. When making a melomel do you have to take into account the natural sugars...

OK so i plan on building a kegerator from the ground up for cheaps just to get to the point I'll be getting a 1.7 cubic foot mini fridge for $20 that works perfect and is barely used and im going to gut it. I wanna keep it relatively light because I want to be able to move it easily and not...

So I just did my first batch of hard cider. And I just got done with secondary fermentation and something went wrong. The only thing I used was yeast nutrient and the cider. So after the first two weeks of fermentation I tasted it and it was decent. It was definitely fermented and it tasted...

Good afternoon everyone, A month ago I started a batch of traditional mead with raw Acacia blossom honey. This stuff fermented down to bone dry in 10 days flat, and I racked. Obviously I have to sample it, and it was TERRIBLE. Strange smell, maybe some H2S but ultimately just smells weird...

I'm converting a smaller, but full-size fridge to a fermentation chamber and hit my first major obstacle that I haven't found on any formus. Beside the compressor, there is what looks like a black rubber stopper that all the wiring goes into on its way to the thermostat (pictures below). I want...

Strange Request: I have been at home Brewer for about a year and my brews always come out with "something not correct". Looking for an experienced home brewer to come over and help me brew a batch on my equipment and maybe give me some tips and pointers. Equipment, materials, and beer are of...

Hello All, Just started a small 1 gallon batch of cider and I'm looking to do some flavors in this one. Possibly ginger or raspberry? I started primary fermentation on Friday. Is there anything I can add to the secondary to get a flavor going on, or did I need to incorporate the...

Hello All, Just started a small 1 gallon batch of cider and I'm looking to do some flavors in this one. Possibly ginger or raspberry? I started primary fermentation on Friday. Is there anything I can add to the secondary to get a flavor going on, or did I need to incorporate the...

So, slightly confused. I know I'm supposed to rack my beer from the fermenter to the bottling bucket after putting the priming sugar mixture in the bucket. But, couldn't I just rack the beer into a large pot that I mix the priming mixture into (after the liquid has cooled of course)? What's...

Hello fellow brewers. Ive been playing around with the idea of making a Dark Pilsner. I know Dark Lagers are very popular but being a bit of an experimentalist, I'm thinking why not a Dark Pilsner! Thing is i've never even made a Pilsner before. Does anyone have any advice or recipes to share?

Some of you may cringe reading this and I apologize, but I just completed my second “attempt” of brewing using the all grain method. First attempt? Total fail. Trouble started when the valve got clogged trying to get the wort from the mash tun into the boiling pot. So as you can imagine...

I made a chocolate Rasberry wine that I intended on turning into a dessert wine. It was all going well. I back sweetened with raspberry syrup and before bottling, I added a standard grape brandy. I believe I added too much brandy so it is a bit medicine tasting. So, I bottled it to age for 7...