re: Homebrewing Thread: Volume II

PBW is a cleaner

Star San is a sanitizer

that kit comes with B-Brite, which is also a cleaner. I've never used it though.

and keep this in mind - you can't sanitize it if it's not clean, and just because you clean it doesn't mean it's sanitized

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What is this hydrometer you speak of?

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it's for brewers that do not use the binary method of measuring beer

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Brewed my Citra IPA last night. Only problem was the regulator on my burner crapped out as I was bringing the wort to a boil. Thankfully Walmart was just up the street. Pitched the yeast this morning.

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Hardware failures suck. Way to get it back rolling! How much are you dry hopping?

Yeah cleaning and sanitizing. Wears my arse out. It's the reason I don't bottle. Went straight for kegs. Not about to clean AND sanitize 50 bottles.

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Hardware failures suck. Way to get it back rolling! How much are you dry hopping?

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I used an ounce of Apollo to bitter, then 1oz Citra at 15 and 5 minutes, followed by 3oz Citra for a 30 minute whirlpool at 180°. I'll dry hop with another 3oz.

Nobody ever said "this beer has too much Citra."

How do you guys clean equipment/kegs?

I read about the woes of cleaning, but i find it more of an inconvenience than requring a lot of elbow grease.

The way i've cleaned everything (equipment, bottles, kegs, kettles, etc....) is to soak everything in warm to hot water with PBW for a night or 2. Drain, rinse, and scrub anything that was really dirty. However, the PBW breaks down most of the gunk on the equipment. So scrubbing is a matter of passing a sponge over the area or sometimes spraying it with the sink hose.
Then i repeat with sanitizer, except i simply rinse my equipment after i drain.

I haven't had issues yet with cleaning kegs. Same process and i simply use a line brush to clean the stainless lines.

For example, i brewed sunday and still have my equipment soaking in the spare bathroom because i simply haven't gotten around to draining the vessels. When i get home, i'll drain, rinse, scrub the brew kettle, then let things air dry.

I don't sanitize until a couple days before the next brew day.

I usually Clean and sanitize same day then put the equipment away and sanitize again just prior to usage. I usually hook my co2 to the keg and run the PBW through the line, then follow with hot water, then sanitizer. I may be doing overkill.

Need advice

- did a Dale's Pale Ale clone and came in way low on my OG. Was supposed to be around 1.060 and instead hit 1.044. This was kinda frustrating considering I had just used this recipe and hit the mark the first time I brewed it in early April. I just increaesd the batch size to 2.5 gallons and somehow was way off.

Can I/Should I add some sugar to the primary fementer to increase the ABV? It's been fermenting pretty well for 3 days now.

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Can I/Should I add some sugar to the primary fementer to increase the ABV? It's been fermenting pretty well for 3 days now.

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Yes, you can do that. It'll dry out a little more with the sugar, but it'll be fine.

I hear Belgian Candi sugar gets consumed fairly quick but it can supposedly darken the beer. I usually just ride with what I have.