We went from a nice day to evacuating schools and friends homes going up in flames. Fire is crazy, and it proved that here in south Georgia. After the initial shock and scrambling to get friends situated and safe, the pace changed to letting them get over the shock while waiting to get back in...

When in the brew process should I be testing Ph? Just got 100 strips to play with and my finished ale is below the lowest reading of 4.6. I was considering playing with Ph to see how it changed flavor profile. The strips are a bit disappointing and a meter will likely be needed if I pursue this...

Where do the BF folks discuss hops? Anyone else thrilled with the 2023 crop of Galaxy hops? I'm on batch 3 & 4 this year and loving it. Nice change from my Mosaic/Citra grind. Know about a great hop harvest year? Do share.

How many questions can I get into one post? I'm going to do this 3.5 gallon pina colata brew and have a lot of questions. Coconut flavor has been allusive. I plan on 11 oz of toasted coconut in the last 15 minutes of the boil and 22 oz fresh sweetened coconut "dry hop" for 5 days before...

Am I alone in liking Cashmere hops? I tried some with a Mosaic recipe and really liked them. I tried the Cashmere for bittering and liked them even more and have done my last 5 batches with them, including 2 with only Cashmere. Yeast - I made the same Cashmere only recipe with Safale 04 and 05...

A Blessed New Year to all my fellow brewers! Made a batch and pitch yeast at 11:00 AM. No better way to start the new year. 2023 should be promising and tasty.

What temperature do you bottle condition when Voss Kviek yeast was used? Can you condition/carbonate at room temperature or do you need to keep the bottles in the 95-104 F range? Thanks ahead of time for anyone responding who has used Voss Kviek and bottled.

This post is inspired by the "Plaato V2 Valve Introduces O2" and the discussion of cold crashing and carbonation. I boiled up 5.5 oz of dextrose in 550 ml of distilled water, and put 10 ml in my 12 oz bottles and 20 ml in the 22 oz bottles, and filed directly from the fermenter to avoid O2 from...

I asked my brew mentor if I should add some table sugar and the prompt reply was a quick, "Never use table sugar". The reason explained was 12 carbons in table sugar vs 6 in dextrose (In science terms, a different molecule). Also, different different byproducts. The moonshiners around here use...

Have any of you tried using fresh frozen mango? I'm thinking of putting 3 pounds in the blender and adding in the last 5 minutes of the boil, bring to a boil, and shut off. Just enough boil to kill off any unwanted bacteria and yeast. The plan is to strain out the pulp on the way into the...

One observation and one question, and then dextrose. Observation - Using distilled water for DME brewing has been mentioned several times in recent forum posts. I have hard water and been using it right along but look forward to making this change to distilled water and maybe improve my brew...

What is the straight stuff on the comparable amount/weight of fresh whole hop cones to pellets? I have a nice pound of this year's hop harvest and there is no shortage of conflicting information on the web. Some say 5 oz. fresh cone is equal to 1 oz. pellets. Other say 10 to 1. Then there is...

I was sure I could break down all my equipment and keep it clean since I have worked in a microbiology lab. Wrong. After 36 batches, I had a visible film in my clear tubing and a sure sign I was headed for an infection. Wort will surely grow a bio-film quicker and better than anything I've seen...

It was a rainy day so what for you do? Brew! A very pleasant surprise from a recipe I whipped together on a whim here at BF with some Cashmere hops I've been wanting to try. Really like this and it came out much better than expected...

I have seen people post that they pour everything from the boil into their fermenter. I was initially horrified and tasting grass as I read it. Question - Has anyone taken their bagged hops like Citra added in the last 5 minutes or -0- minutes from the boil into the primary fermenter? I have...

I'm a newer brewer that has taken 29 batches to figure out hops/malt and now venturing into yeast options. The "C" hops have gotten my attention and now looking for a yeast that can take the summer in SE Georgia/N Florida humid summers without killing the AC bill. I'm looking at Omega Yeast...

After visiting many micro-brewery operations and drooling over all the stainless and copper, I return home to my plastic buckets and secondary fementer "brewery" tucked away in an unused bathroom. Like other home "plastic bucket brewers", I have struggled with leaky lids. I thought back to...

Does anyone have information about preventing or reducing tyramine production during brewing? My understanding is tyramine is produced by Lactobacillis brevis and perhaps some other bacterium. Is this an unavoidable contaminant in brewing beer or the result of bad sanitation? Tyramine is also...

Retired and needed something to do, like Brew! A beginners plastic bucket brew kit and a year later, I've managed to brew 24 batches. Friends a family love the brew and we have a great time making flights of the four most recent brews and sitting around with good food. Cheers to you all!