What is the best way to sterilize things like dry hops, spices or fruit before putting them in the fermenter? Some stuff you can obviously boil. But boiling hops, say, would defeat the purpose of dry-hopping it seems. Yet adding straight dry hops to the fermenter seems like a good way to get contamination.
Imagine that brew-day rolls around and you find yourself without an airlock for your carboy or bucket. What other things can you use in it's stead? Further imagine that you do not have the materials for a blow-off tube. Touch on infection risk and what to do if you also do not have a stopper. Inspiration for this question goes to WhatsBillDoing.
Brewed my first two batches this month and still trying to figure this process out. I'm using a couple (similar to this, but maybe not the same material) buckets (with spigots) for fermenting. They worked really well and sealed great but after cleaning them, they both still smell like beer. I used Oxiclean and hot water the first time and removed anything that was stuck on the sides with a soft sponge. Thought that would do it but a few …
I have my equipment in a town that is 2 hours from where I live, this last month is being hard to travel there too often so it is making very complicate the fermenting and bottling process. So I'm wondering if I can bring home the fermenter and continue the process here. Should I bring the wort without adding the Yeasts? Should I add the yeasts and then bring the fermenter?
I am currently fermenting an IPA at room temperature in a Fermentasaurus. It has built up a nice bit of pressure which is carbonating my beer, GREAT! Nature: awesome. Now I've been looking at better ways of bottling my beer. Normally I would add priming sugar and bottle condition it. However, I already have perfectly carbonated beer now, what a waste to start over! Kegging is not within my budget at the moment, so that's out of the question for …
Last night I put a batch of wine going (very simple setup - a plastic bucket with a sealed lid and a cork in the top for a plastic airlock). This morning, I can tell the sugar has settled to the bottom (you can feel and hear it swishing around the bottom if you pick it up and move it a little). Should I open the sealed lid to stir it all up again, or leave it alone?
What are the benefits of completely seperating hot debris, hot break and cold break from the wort? Getting these things out of the wort and putting nothing but clean and clear wort in the fermentor has a rewarding feel to it, but achieving that nirvana can be somewhat challenging depending upon one's equipment (and patience). Does the resultant beer improve when there is no hop debris? Is the beer clearer after removing break material? Before someone considers taking this extra …
What is the best method for preparing different fruits for fruit additions into secondary fermentors? There are issues of sanitation and good fruit to wort contact, via chopping, slicing, mincing or puree.
I see some white molds on top of my plastic wine fermenter bucket just in first 3 days old pear wine , my question is that if it is dangerous or not? if not then how can i get rid of those molds?
Can you brew say 7kg of sugar in say a 10l fermenter as opposed to a more standard 25l fermenter. I mean technically the sugar will still ferment in the smaller vessel or is that not the case will the yeast be overcome by the high sugar to low water ratio? In other words I have I think a 10l-15l fermenter and want to brew up to 7kg of sugar mash on it. Will all the sugar ferment?
What are the dangers of Tempeh cultures (Rhizopus Oligosporus and Rhizopus Oryzae) ? After handling raw Tempeh you should wash your hands and all surfaces, cutting boards, knives and utensils with soap and hot water. Tempeh manufacturers that sell raw Tempeh must inform their clients about above safety measures, for example by mentioning it on the label. -https://www.tempeh.info/faq/faq.php
I asked this on Twitter a while back, but I thought I might get some other thoughts on it. I have one of those 5g Poland Spring water jugs. If I get a bung that fits it, is there any reason I couldn't use it as a fermenter (either primary or secondary?). Some people have said it should be fine, others have said that "chemicals in the plastic" will leech into my beer and produce off-flavors. I find this latter …
What are the key points to consider when using a conical fermenter to drain the yeast and leave only clean beer? My goal is: removing yeast, with (a) few loss of beer, (b) have beer not remain with yeast particles (potentially caused from the turbolences of the yeast removal process itself)? Background Just some short time ago I bought a 115 liters conical bottom fermenter in stainless steel. A main intention of this purchase was to reduce both workload and …
I believe my first homebrew is a lost cause. I'm at 3 weeks, and each week I've done a gravity reading and a taste. The flavor has gotten increasingly sour(astringent) with each week. It's almost vinegary, but with a citrus twist. It's like eating the pith of an orange peel and it's getting worse with each test. My understanding is that I likely have some sort of infection: http://beersmith.com/blog/2012/08/12/sour-off-flavors-in-home-brewed-beer/ Recipe: BSG's Bavarian Hef extract kit 2 x 3.3 lb cans …
How do people with conical (or other sealed) fermenters avoid sucking liquid from the airlock into the vessel when they take samples or remove trub through the bottom valve? Do they just remove a plug from the top and let air in to replace the liquid volume that's been lost? If so, doesn't that cause a contamination/oxidation risk?
I brewed a 5 gallon batch of IPA beer, the OG was 1.067 and 2 weeks later it only dropped to 1036. A stuck fermentation I was told after I transferred it from my fast fermenter to two 3 gallon kegs. I forced carbonated both and tried the beer a few days later. Way to sweet for my taste. My question/idea is to use Co2 to prime the fermenter then transfer from the keg to fermenter via Co2, re pitch …
More of an open-ended question really, I've been using Vin Classe Sterilising powder and find it hard to tell if my 25 litre fermenters are properly sterile, I've had a few issues with wine going off quickly once bottled but this may be the glass rather than the fermenter at fault? I've just been using empty wine bottles to store a few bottles at a time and within 24 hours sometimes I've found the wine tastes a little off, would …
With my budget being somewhat limited I can only really afford to put my wine into sanitised used bottles from store bought wine, rather than proper bottles with corks. My main concern is oxidation and I'm wondering if I'm better off keeping the bulk of my wine in the fermenter (all cleared and syphoned - ready to drink) until I come to drink it? As my wine is still fairly carbonated is there a way to ensure the head-space of …
Just syphoned a youngs 30 bottle kit into a plastic 5 gallon fermenter. How should I store this to stop it going bad? What's the highest temperature it can be stored at safely? and how can I ensure air doesn't get to the wine (I'm assuming as CO2 is released from the wine it should act as a buffer?) Should I really be bottling the wine? In the past I've found that a day or so after filling up a …
Premise As a chemical engineering student, I tried my best to avoid any chemical at all (When they say trust me, you should never do so). As such, I resorted to steam to sanitize my fermenter and bottles. However, the steam comes out of the household appliance with a plastic scent to it. I know, by fact, that this indicates a presence of plastic degradation molecules: however, I still tried sanitizing a part of the bottles this way as the …