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Tip: Don't bottle two batches after work. You may get distracted by hungry kids, normal family life, etc... and forget something important. As I was cleaning up from bottling two batches last night I noticed there was a cold pot of boiled sugar water on the stove. oops! Looks like my Cream...

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Thanks for the input! I ended up going with beerman0001's suggestion. I re-hydrated the yeast in boilded/cooled water in a mason jar. I then pitched half of the solution to each batch in the bottling bucket. I made separate priming solutions for each batch and stirred in the slurry and...

Brewers, I'm planning to bottle two batches of beer that have been in secondary for about 5 months so my intention is to re-yeast at bottling. I've never done this before, so I was thinking about making a small, (400ml) starter with one packet of dry yeast and splitting it in half to...

Brewers: I'm looking for some opinions. After calibrating my new thermometer in a 60/40 Ice/Water slush, these are the readings I saw. In your opinion and from your experience, which of these would you trust in the 145-170 F range? Does it even really matter for homebrew? What are your...

Thanks for the tips! I appreciate your insight and think I'll go ahead and go with the "normal" sugar amount -- maybe a little less. I don't want this barleywine to be too fizzy anyway, so I think that will be a fair compromise. :) :mug:

Brewers, I'm getting ready to bottle a Lord Fatbottom Barleywine batch and I'm trying to figure out the best plan for bottling sugar. Bottle-bombs and/or over-carbonation are things I would like to avoid. :p I will be re-yeasting, as it's been in secondary for about 5 months. With the...

Welcome! I just happened to notice your post and live in Bellevue as well. :p You just asked a few questions that have no definitive answer, so take what I write simply as opinions or suggestions. I've found the main purpose of a secondary tends to be for clarity - something you probably...

Another update: After noticing the rubbery smell begin to fade, I decided to let a few friends try this brew. I told them each there was a flaw and their job was to tell me what it was. After assuring them it was okay to drink, they all tasted it and none of them could pick out the rubber...

If you can't fit the tubing over the spigot, run it under some hot water for a few seconds and it might become pliable enough to fit nice and snug - no clamp required. :)

Update with Bottom Line Up Front: Beer is finally drinkable, but not something I want to share with my friends. If you drop a stopper in to your beer and it is a "cheap rubber" stopper, get it out asap, transfer your beer asap, or be prepared to take a few months to let it mellow out so you...

Has the smack pack swelled much? If so, how much? I'd suggest you activate it and see if it swells at all. If it does, make your starter as planned. Even if it swells a little after activation, your starter will probably revive enough to ferment well. If you're uncomfortable with that, step...

Yeah, I actually pushed my rubber stopper in to my carboy full of 5.5 gallons of freshly pitched wort. Has anyone ever done this and tasted the results of the fermentation? I think I can save the carboy, after watching this awesome video: http://blog.viddler.com/cdevroe/wine-cork/ My...

Awesome prizes! Sign me up! This was enough of a give-away to make me finally decide to purchase my membership to HBT. Good call! : )

Depending on the position in the bottle carb timeline, this could be normal. Did you chill both bottles for a day or two each before opening them? It's possible your bottle carb process is working as it should and the second bottle you opened is just getting ready to start working the CO2 back...

First - don't freak out. :) Re-pitching yeast is probably not your answer. You may have a stuck fermentation - or your fermentation may be complete and there is nothing to worry about, unless you were really hung up on a specific ABV as a measure of your success. This batch will probably turn...

I had an experience a couple months ago with an excessive amount of foam. I used the starsan as usual, draining on carboy rack, etc... but when I transferred my wort the foam was extremely thick (like a head of beer on a nitro pour) and filled the few inches of head-space in my carboy...

Since the internal temp of your actively fermenting beer will be higher than your external readings, you're probably in a good range for initial/active fermentation. Once your active fermentation stops, I'd suggest considering a way to get your fermentor at least an inch or two off the floor...

Excellent setup! I just started brewing a couple months ago and am still in the early stages of research for my kegging setup. This tap rig with the chilled lines is awesome. Thanks for the idea. :)

Greetings HBT gurus! The archives here have been very helpful and encouraging, as I've brewed my first two batches in the last couple weeks. I've been thinking about homebrewing for several years now and finally pulled the trigger this month. The wealth of information here is overwhelming...