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I'm moving from stovetop to outdoor propane burner, and have been looking at simple propane burners. The SP10 gets a lot of good reviews, but it sits low to the ground, and I would think a tall cooker would be more my preference. Lowe's also carries the Bayou Classic Outdoor Fish Fryer /...

A friend and I were drinking a commercial belgian white while bottling a batch of weizenbier, and after closing the lid on the fermenter, we got to thinking about how to add a hint of orange to our brew. It was too late to do it during the boil, and I'm not into secondary fermentation. After...

My friend and I just brewed a batch of Brewer's Best Weizenbier. It's been in primary fermentation for 14 hours, and it's chugging away. Got to thinking about Blue Moon, and thought it would be nice to add the hint of orange, so I looked at recipes, which call for the addition orange...

Just bought a Ferrari vinator sulfiter bottle rinser for my bottle sanitizing. Works great! After we finished bottling, I took it apart to rinse it and allow it to dry out, and noticed that the spring is now a little bent. It worked fine, but I'm concerned about taking it apart each time. Is...

Bottled a 5 gallon batch of True Brew Nut Brown Ale today. I boiled 1.5 cups of water, stirred in the 5 oz. of priming sugar, and boiled for 5 minutes. Turned off heat and let it sit for about 20-30 minutes with the pot lid on. After carefully siphoning a few inches of brew into the bottling...

My first ever batch (Mr. Beer Porter) came out looking OK, decent carbonation, but tastes kinda blah. It's drinkable, but lacks flavor. I know, it's Mr. Beer, but if it wasn't for Mr. Beer, I wouldn't have taken the leap into brewing (now brewing 5 gallons in "real" equipment). I've tried...

My sister is interested in brewing a batch with me. Her favorite beer is Coors Light, and she occasionally drinks Corona. Which kits would you suggest to approximate these types of beer? I have a basic understanding of brewing lagers vs. ales, so any advice on brewing this type of beer would...

I've designed my bottle label, and would like to know what printer label stock to purchase. I want the labels to adhere to a cold beer bottle, but I'd like to be able to easily soak the labels off if needed. It looks like I'll be printing 12 labels per sheet. Any help from experienced beer...

Just cracked open a beer from my new batch. It's a True Brew American Amber. Good color, head, carbonation and clarity. It has a slightly metalllic taste that reminds me of a copper ale. What causes this flavor?

Made the mistake of trying to top off the airlock (using Star San) while it was installed. After a few times squirting the Star San, but it not reaching the fill line on the airlock, I realized that the Star San was going down the airlock into my batch. Lesson learned: Remove airlock and top...

My basement is at a constant 50 degrees, so I went to the home brew store looking for a lager kit. For various reasons, I ended up buying a nut brown ale kit, then later got to thinking that it wouldn't ferment at 50 degrees with the ale yeast that comes with it. I have an 11.5 oz package of...

A friend just gave me a 6.5 gallon bottling bucket with grommeted lid, airlock and spigot. I don't have a primary fermenter, and was thinking about doing everything in the bottling bucket - fermenting, batch priming, then bottling. I've read on this site that at least one person does batch...

My basement is a constant 50 degrees this time of year, so I understand that fermenting an ale there is not a good idea. I'd like to brew the Classic American Light that came with my Mr. Beer kit. Can I use a lager yeast with this kit, so that I can ferment it at 50 degrees? Will the...

My Mr. Beer American Porter has been fermenting for two weeks, and when I took a sample, the color and flavor reminded me more of Newcastle Brown Ale than a Porter. Not bad, just a little weak. Will the flavor get richer as it conditions? I was thinking of batch priming with molasses, maple...

Mr. Beer instructions say to put 3/4 tsp of sugar in each bottle before filling. If I batch prime instead of bottle prime, do I put the equivalent amount of sugar in the batch? I believe it works out to be 1/3 cup (2 gal beer = 21 twelve oz bottles x 3/4 tsp = 16 tsp = 1/3 cup)

Do they make see-through lids for plastic fermenter buckets? I would like to see how the brew is fermenting, without the need for a glass/plastic carboy. I'm looking at buying a brewing kit, and all the kits I've seen come with white or blue lids.

First brew, using Mr. Beer's American Porter hopped LME. It's been fermenting for 7 days, and the aroma has changed from yeasty to more like alcohol and kinda sweet smell, like Robitussin cough syrup. Is this OK, or is it a sign that my batch is tainted? I plan to taste it in a week or two...

I followed the instructions on the Mr. Beer kit (using refrigerated water), and when I measured the temp of the wort before pitching, it was 52 degrees. I figured since I had followed the instructions, I should pitch, so I did. Someone had advised me to pitch at 62 degrees, despite the...

Just brewed my first batch, with a Mr. Beer kit. The instructions don't call for sloshing the wort after pitching the yeast to aerate, but after reading about it on many sites, I sloshed for about a minute. Then I read that you need to slosh for several minutes to aerate the wort sufficiently...

I'm going to use brown bottles from beer I purchased, such as Sam Adams, Founders, etc. All are 12 oz bottles. Some are tall, others are short. Is there a difference in the quality of the bottles between beer brands? Are some made of stronger or weaker glass, and more/less prone to exploding...