Recent content by photobru

Unless you plan on adding the sugar along with the bourbon I don't think soaking the sugar is going to do much other than sanitize it. It's not going to dissolve, and I can't imagine it'll soak up anything either. If you are adding the bourbon itself, I'm not sure what kind of advantage that...

Ok, definitely not doing that then. Do you think I'll be ok with just burping the bottles after a week and a half?

It's an all grain batch. I'm going to check them over the next week, and if necessary I'll recap the bottles and then I'm going to stovetop pasteurize them regardless just to be extra safe.

I just bottled a session IPA that I made for a bottle swap (so it's extra important I don't get bottle bombs), and I'm pretty sure it wasn't finished yet. It needed time to bottle condition it so it couldn't go any longer. I only took one gravity reading when bottling (it was only a 2.5 gal...

You should be fine with the 5 gallon cooler, even with most 5 gallon batches. Reason being that if you're ever unable to fit the full volume mash in the cooler, you can just mash using half your water and then batch sparge with the other half. I think you can also do that with BIAB, but it's...

If this is the case, I'd go with RM-MN's suggestion and save yourself a bunch of money. If your main reason for doing 5 gallon batches is the recipe, as long as it's not a kit just use half the amount of ingredients called for and you've got a 2.5 gal batch. And if it's an AG kit, you might be...

You can just set it up how you normally would and then unplug the keyboard, mouse, and monitor, and as long as it's working properly you'll be able to access it remotely. For wifi you'll just need a USB wifi dongle, which is incredibly easy to configure on the Pi. EDIT: if you meant to just be...

I say either get a 10 gal kettle or plan on sparging somehow if you're set on an 8 gal kettle. I have an 8 gal and it's too small for 5 gal BIAB batches. I've actually switched to mashing in a bag (MIAB) in a cooler, which I find easier in general, plus it allows me to mash more grain and...

When I chose the wire for my hops I went with the assumption that one hop plant might weigh up to 20 lbs, so in your case thats 12 plants per cable, x 20 lbs = 240 lbs per cable. Not entirely sure how that translates into tensile strength, but I just went by the estimated max weight of my hops.

I would definitely keep boiling it. Call me paranoid, but any liquid that touches my wort gets boiled for 15 minutes first.

Should be fine. I've never had any issues with mine and I've gone at least three weeks, although the sooner you brew the better. I try not make a habit of letting it sit though.

Well then at least you'll be spared the pangs of guilt I get when the guy at the LHBS asks if I need anything else, since I'm clearly not buying everything I need to brew from them :o

That's not too bad. I go with Northern Brewer for my extracts, I think they're cheaper depending on what type you want and the quantity, plus they do $8 flat rate shipping. An LHBS is probably your worst bet for cheap ingredients, but you're supporting your local brewing community that way...

One week isn't very long as far as bottle conditioning goes, my beers are rarely done carbing that quickly (though that doesn't keep me from trying them early anyway :D).

I'd probably go with the champagne bottles with cages just to be safe, or at least normal capped bottles since you don't know how long the bacteria will keep going at your sugars and you don't want the corks popping out.