In the past I've assumed they haven't been done yet because they didn't have an alcoholic kick to them. This time around the active period just seemed too quick, it's not a yeast that supposed to finish that quickly, especially in relatively cool house. I could be wrong - maybe a little...

I don't know, I've never gotten into the science of the brewing and don't measure the SG, trusting instead that the kits will have things close enough to where they will brew me a beer I enjoy. A yooper huh? Me too. Ishpeming.

I don't do a lot of brewing, and my batches are often spread out over time. I have noticed I do get more stalled ferments than average and I've never been able to figure out why. Several days ago I put on an oatmeal stout kit, adding nutmet, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Things seemed...

Yeah, well...... Ya live, ya learn. They haven't exploded yet, but I'm going to have to drink a lot of beer quickly! Other than that, flavor-wise, the straight kit is the strongest, very citrusy aroma, sharp bite. The kit with wine yeast is not as sharp and the aroma has more caramel. The...

It took a little longer than I'd wanted, but I split up my brew when I got it in the secondaries last night. I've got it brewing 4 ways now: 1 gallon straight kit; a gallon kit + Lavalin EC-1118 wine yeast; 1 gallon kit + 1 lb mango; 3 gallons kit + 3# mango + Lavalin EC-1118 wine yeast. I...

Point very well taken. I hear what you're saying and understand. I don't think I'm going all mad scientist here, I'm doing plenty of research, and your point of splitting the batch makes perfect sense.

Yes, but going to the store and getting a 6 pack of busch lite works too. Why home brew if you look at it that way? And, actually, if you research it even some commercial enterprises are having good luck combining the two kinds of yeasts. It's just a matter of knowing which yeasts both work...

Have you tried different wine/champagne yeasts to compare? I've found articles that say some work well and some don't. I've also found information saying some wine yeasts will kill off beer yeasts and the wine yeasts can't digest the complex sugars found in worts very well so the beer can...

I'm trying to find the kind of yeast it was; they just list "yeast" in the ingredients online (other ingredients: 6.6 lb light LME, 1 lb corn sugar; 8 oz Caramel grains, 8 oz Victory grains, 4 oz. Carpools grains; 1 oz Columbus hops, 1 oz citra hops, 2 oz amarillo hops, 1.5 oz cascade hops.) I...

I'm a relatively new homebrewer. I made my first kit about a decade ago, made several batches and then got out of it for a decade. In the meantime I made many fruit wines and at least 1 batch of hard cider every year. Getting back into beer last year I started slow with a few kits and now...

Depends what I'm making, but yes - typically a partial boil and topping off for beer.

Thanks Flars and NoseyBear. That's what I was looking for. Odds are I won't be brewing any very light beer! lol Threw an experiment on yesterday - based on a Stout extract kit, I added oats (toasted), espresso, and lactose; along with minimal amounts of vanilla and cocoa powder. :D

boiling it the day before is a great concept, and one I keep thinking about. Doesn't seem to happen! lol too scattered around here for that right now. A charcoal filter might not be a bad idea. :) So, you're saying it might not be a good idea to use water straight from the tap in my case?

I'm actually picking up a cooler from a friend who got out of beer making several years ago and I'll probably start to do that, but it doesn't answer the question about the safety of well water?

My first question has to do with water. A lot of the recipes I see call for heating the wort and adding it to the carboy, then add cold water to cool it down. I have untreated well water which potentially has little critters floating around in it. So far I've been lucky and have had good...

Hey all, I'd consider myself pretty much a newbie. I've brewed a handful of batches of kit beer, the last two I've gone and experimented a bit. I'd like to get more into it and now that my kitchen is being remodeled and I have more room for carboys and projects in it I can see it happening. A...