As the title suggests, I was wondering if there was list of environment-friendly sanitizers (such as Star San, as they declare) for brewing equipment out there. In particular, I was looking for a powder sanitizer (such as potassium/sodium metabisulfite) which was guaranteed to be eco-friendly. Any tips?
Not having any cooling mechanism for my fermenter(s), this time of year I can get more favorable temperatures outside than inside. I'm specifically talking about ciders in glass containers, but I'm also curious about hopped beer in glass and plastic containers. (hops in glass outside is obviously bad due to UV exposure) Is there any reason I shouldn't ferment outside, or cold crash outside? At what time in the fermentation process do I need to worry about temperature swings? UV …
I collected a lot of six pack boxes to put bottles of homebrew in. Now, I've got a better container. Since I can't recycle six pack boxes, is there anything I could do with them other than throw them out?
I live at an elevation of about 300 feet, and that's where I brew my beer. Recently, I took some home brew to my parents' house to share with them. When tasting the beer there, the mouth feel seemed a bit excessive and I definitely noticed a sweeter-than-normal taste. We sampled an IPA, a Nut Brown, and a Porter, all of which were affected. My parents live at 3000 ft. I'm curious if elevation affects taste, or if my sense …
Having recently purchased my new home, and quite happy to be done with apartment living, my mind naturally wanders to wanting to start up some home brew now that I have the space. I have what I think might be a great closet in my basement that I think will be a good candidate for a 5 gallon batch of beer. What considerations should take into account when deciding if this closet is a good home brew environment?
There's a lot of talk these days about individual carbon footprints, CO2 in the air, and global warming. Knowing that our little friends the yeasts exist basically to turn sugars into CO2 and alcohol, I'm wondering just how much of the gas a 5-gallon batch adds to the atmosphere and how it compares to other common activities that create CO2. I'd also be interested in finding more information about how to calculate a total carbon footprint for a batch, including …