Is there any reason that a batch of beer wouldn't turn out okay if you're boiling 3 gallons of wort then adding two gallons of cold water to get your cold break, when concerning hop addition? The 3 gallons would be concentrated considerably.

I only have a 5 gallon (and about an extra quart at the top) carboy. Here's my issue before I give my question. When I have only 4 gallons of wort and pitch the yeast, the fermentation get so active that it ALMOST comes out of the carboy. My question is, can I simply add a gallon of distilled...

It's only 3 days and the krausen is falling to the bottom already. Is this a bad sign?

I had my 2nd brew day last night. I did a partial mash and pitched 2 packets of yeast. This morning the air lock is going ape shit as expected but the smell seems a little funky. Nothing horrid but not what I was expecting. Can there be a contamination issue this early in the fermentation process?

I've been on here for about a month now. I decided to dive in, get my feet wet, and just try my best at an extract brew. I've learned a lot from the guys on here already. They pointed me in the right direction and I just tried my first beer from my first brew. It wasn't what I wanted it to turn...

I brewed it, fermented it, primed it and bottled it. No off flavors, and nothing like I wanted it to be. But it's a successful brew. It's more hoppy then I would have liked (wrong hops altogether) I'm starting my next brew day tomorrow with a whole new recipe. I'll put it in my recipes in the...

I've bottles my first batch of beer! I tasted a small amount left over and it tasted a little hoppy for me but as long as I can pop open a pint that isn't contaminated, I'll consider it a success. Here's my question: if I'm going to end up with bottle bombs, how long would that take to happen...

I know that the airlock isn't the way to determine this but I do know that I do have a good deal so no Co2 is escaping the carboy any other way. The airlock bubbles about every 20 minutes. This is the 14th day of fermentation of me wheat beer. I think its ready to bottle... any help would be...

Okay, I don't plan on doing anything stupid, but if I wanted to put in more sugar for higher abv% would it hurt? I'm looking to bottle this weekend so I'm not messing with this batch, but what if I did that during my next brew day? Just curious what the outcome would be.

I've had my first brew in the carboy for over a week. This Sunday will be bottling day, or at least I'm hoping so. Weird thing is, the airlock is still somewhat active. I kind of thought by now the activity would be near dead. But the yeast keeps on trucking. If there is still any activity by...

Is this needed? I've googled the reason for application and all I get is how much to use. I need to know if and why I would need to use it at all.

Okay, I have all my ingredients. Now I have one final question before brew day. How do I determine how high of heat to keep my wort? I know to bring it to a boil (of course) but then I see they keep a steady temp around 150°+/-. I'm not sure if that is celcius or Fahrenheit... Can I get some...

Rookie question: if I cut the hops quantity by half and doubled the time it was steeped, would I end up with the same result with flavor? Or close to it? I don' like really Hoppy beers, but my new favorite is brewed under the purity law. So it only has the 3 ingredients. Just wanting a little...

Can someone tell me a good website I can get a good selection of hops and barely?