Recent content by jabberwalkie

Title really spells it out, but when can you stop calling yourself a beginner?

So FG remained stable today so I went ahead and bottled. I was shooting for 2.5 volumes of co2 which is on par for this style. Using brewersfriend priming sugar calculator it says there is already .83 dissolved co2 in there. Mixed my corn sugar with water add mixed it in my bottling bucket and...

Wow thanks for the quick response. My biggest fear is having shards of glass setting up shop in my face and walls

I have poured of John Palmer's book and Papazain's book and really haven't found a clear cut answer to how high of an FG is too high. The closest to an answer I found was 1: when the gravity readings have leveled off and 2: when gravity reading have decreased by 1/4-1/5 of the original. My goal...

Your brew should turn out tasting fine. Wort will darken during the boil if high heat is used for long period of time (caramelization usually from direct heat on a stove top or when directly on a gas flame), partial boil, high gravity wort and especially when using extract. A vigorous boil does...

great thanks

So I normally brew 1-3 gallon batches. When I use liquid yeast I feel using the entire smack pack or vial is over pitching and so far using about half the package has worked well. I just dont know how to keep ad store the remaining liquid to use at a later date. Could I store it in a sanitized...

The warmer months are heading towards us fast, so I wanted to brew a nice, easy drinking, refreshing beverage. I wanted something close to a blonde ale. This is an all extract boil with several hop additions (all German Hallertau). First problem, even though I split the DME additions 1/2 at the...

As you can tell by the title I'm new to home brewing and I've notice that the only way I truly learn is by failing. On my venture to be a good home brewer I decided that I would have to take the most basic ingredients and form my own recipe in order to get a reel appreciation of what each...

Growing up up in the sticks of Maryland we learned from our not so innocent Aunts and Uncles how to make "Cheap Booze". It wasn't uncommon for my friends and I to have a jug of hooch (cheap fruit juice, sugar and bread yeast), dandelion wine or just plain sugar water bubbling away in the back...

Thanks all for your help

Last night I brewed a Belgian Tripel extract with specialty grain kit. Its been in my primary fermenter for about 24 hours and now the krausen has bubbled up and out my blow off tube. My question is, should I take the blow off tube out, clean it up and replace it or just leave as is? The end of...

It smells and taste like apple cider vinegar. Serves me right for messing with it and not just leaving it alone. Thanks all for your help and suggestions. Will make a second attempt over the fall break.

I have officially made vinegar. Time to go back over my notes (and this thread) and start all over

Could it be extract twang?