Recent content by Noldar

Weird and bad flavors can come from MANY different variables. To help identify the problem, list your recipe and any notes you have on your brew. How long in primary, secondary (if done), bottled, ect. Weird flavors can range from infection from lack of cleaning (which you hint at) to too...

Alesmith IPA, Dreadnaught by Three Floyd's Brewing, Imperial IPA (I2PA) by Rogue. I have some recipes in my brewing book in the study, lemme know if you want some (all extract).

I would say you are probably okay. Sometimes yeast can produce a smell of rotten eggs. Since you just pitched the yeast a few days ago, I doubt you have yeast autolysis going on. Relax, wait a while, rack to a secondary or bottle and give it a go (after a few weeks of bottle condition) ;) If...

While not quite that confident ... I did do a whole heck of a lot of reading before I started my first batch. I think by my 3rd - 4th beer I had a really nice routine set up that produces good beer.

I'm going to brew a nice mead and a strong Belgian ale this summer and let them sit until the big apocalypse.

That's why I first came here. Even if you fail to use the search function, there are enough good people to steer you in the right direction. Now to find more of these people who live around me to brew with ;)

Wheat beers tend to ferment fast and furious. I usually don't put Wheat beers into a secondary because, in my opinion, you don't want to clear it too much. The foam is supposed to fall back into the beer, so don't worry about that. With my Wheat Beers, I let them sit in the primary for 2-3...

To answer your question, no the air will not harm it. While fermenting there will be a nice layer of C02 blanketing over the beer not allowing any nasties to grow. I'd recommend grabbing a big (6g - 7.5g) carboy to use as your primary. I was never a big fan of the buckets.

I would pitch immediately rather then let the it sit.

I usually follow the 1-2-3 rule. 1 week primary, 2 weeks secondary, 3 weeks in the bottles. If you are going straight from primary to bottles, I'd say let it sit in the primary for 2-3 weeks before bottling.

Yep, I'd never throw away a beer that you think "might" be ruined. Throw it into bottles and let it sit for a while. Try some after a month, if it still stinks, wait another month. There have been beers that were just horrible 1 month in the bottle that turned out pretty darn good after 4 - 5.

You'll be fine, BrewVint Cleanitizer is a No Rinse cleaner, so it won't ruin your beer.

He said they were not fine. What type of non-twist bottle did you use? Some have an over sized lip that will not work (British and Canadian bottles). Also, do you have another capper to test on the bottles to see if it is the bench capper? If you do have a wing-type capper, do not use on...

Congrats! I sampled my first beer it seemed every 24-48 hours of the brewing/fermenting process. It's great to see the excitement of new brewers. Keep up the work!

Lol, awesome pictures.