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What do most people do to aerate their wort? Previously I never even considered it…splashed the wort in when filling the carboy and still made beer. Now I’m starting to at least shake the carboy to aerate it. I would like to get a little more serious with minimal investment, don’t want to...

Thought I had the common cavitation issues, but I think its something else. Pumping hot liquids you'll be going along fine and then hear a short squeal/buzz, motor changes pitch slightly and all flow stops. I shut the pump off and let the motor spool down. Just before the motor stops it...

I use a lot of dry yeast. Tried yeast harvesting...it was a pain. Had a thought to stretch my yeast dollars by making a dry yeast starter. Figured I could make a starter with half a packet of dry yeast For one batch. That way I could get two batches out of one packet. Is this...

Did my first pilot run on my brew stand this weekend. This is the first time brewing with heater elements and think I could use some pointers. I have the output period on my temp controller set to 10 sec (range is 0.5-99 seconds). I thought this would be a compromise for life of the relays...

Has anyone attempted or considered using a plug in leaf blower for an exhaust fan? Saw at the Home Depot I can get a 390 cfm leaf blower with speed control for $50. Downside I guess would be louder than average blowers due to their compact size and high rpm motors. Also not sure how well...

Went to pull my carboy out of my temp controlled mini fridge and found the fabric "brew hauler" strap covered in mold. The good news is the beer appears fine. No mold growing in the fridge that I can see. Sprayed the interior down with star san and ran the brew hauler strap through the...

Help me clear something up. I'm a seasoned extract brewer looking to leap to all-grain. I see the terms fly and batch sparging thrown around a lot, but never found any clear definitions. This is what I'm assuming, please correct if wrong. Fly sparging: While draining your mash, you slowly...

Just got into kegging and had to get my CO2 tank refilled after only one week. Double checked all my orings, connections before putting on the fresh tank. Appears to be no leaks when checking with soapy water, but I'm paranoid now so I've been keeping the gas off. I've been giving it shot...

Do water heater elements normally thread in tight on the last few turns? I have two 1” NPT half couplings that I plan to weld onto my kettles. Noticed by hand fitting I could barely get a turn of engagement between the 1” NPSM heating elements and the 1” NPT couplings. I managed to access a...

I'm contemplating an electric brew stand using t-slot aluminum framing (80/20) The aluminum can handle the heat, but do most people put some sort of thermo insulation...like bricks or something, between their stand and the boil kettle? I'd think the stand would act as a big heat sink sucking...

Brewed an experimental beer using my own homegrown hops (cascade & brewers gold). Used BeerSmith to develop to an APA style. Did three different hop additions during boil, 2 weeks in primary, then dry hopped for another week. Bottled and primed with table sugar. I sampled some of the...

Saw a complete kegerator setup on my local Craigslist. Its a small dorm style fridge complete with two 2.5 gallon kegs, reg, and 10lb CO2 tank. The hang up is its listed around $500. I'm not up on all this, but that seems really high. What do you think?

I'm going to attempt a partial mash recipe. I'm planning on using my boil kettle with a grain bag. The recipe calls out something like 3 gallons of water for the mash and then topping off the water after sparging to get a set pre-boil volume. Since my kettle is big enough, couldn't I just...

My beer's been in a conical fermenter for a week now. Plan is to let it go 2 weeks before bottling. I forgot to take an original gravity reading so I was planning to start checking a few days prior to the 2 week mark. Since I have a conical it is real easy to open up a ball valve and...

Currently have a batch of Autumn Amber Ale in fermenter that I want try drinking in 5 weeks. What’s generally more beneficial to the average ale: more time in bottle or more time in fermenter? Planning on doing a minimum of 2 weeks in fermenter and would like at least 2 weeks in the...