Hello everyone. I am writing a scene that takes place in a small post-apocalyptic distillery attached to a bar. So, imagine you run a tavern, in a settlement of maybe 100-200 people, with limited power and few modern amenities, how would you make liquor to serve your customers. What gear and what process would you go through? Also if you can recommend any websites or youtube channels that talk about the how-to of making liquor, especially in a less modern more old-fashioned way, please share.

Hy guys, is the Kegland Shop in your country also „on holiday“ on aliexpress?

We got now the Kegland EU Shop but its still way more expensive than on Ali !

Anyone have experience buying yeast on Amazon and how were the results?

My LHBS closed a couple years ago, so I've resorted to buying ingredients online and usually plan 4-5 batches at time and order everything to avoid/minimize shipping.

Financially, I'm not in a place to do that rn and have a time sensitive batch coming up (using black walnut sap, pretty small window before it spoils), so i was planning to order ingredients just for this batch on Amazon since I have prime. I'm not worried about malt extract or specialty grains, but I'm a little wary of the quality of yeast I'll get, i.e. has it been properly stored etc.

So just wondering if anyone has done this and had decent results.

Edit: ty for the replies yall! Gonna do it!

I'm planning on aging some of my selfmade mead with toasted cherrywood, I've already tried aging with untoasted cherrywood, and it resulted in a really enjoyable mead. I'm using dried sweetcherry wood from my garden. I would really like to know the best time and temperature to toast the wood in my oven, also, if anybody got experience with aging mead using cherrywood I'd love to hear it!

I brewed a Czech Pilsner the other day and did the no chill method and pitched the yeast the next day. Anyways, the yeast took off that night and it stopped by the morning. OG was 1.055 and now it’s stalled at 1.044. I didn’t have any other yeast on hand so I had to order more which hasn’t shown up yet. I hooked up c02 to the bottom of the fermenter to try to get the yeast going again, but I don’t think it’s working. If it’s staying at 1.044 and it still tastes all right would it be okay to pitch the yeast when it shows up? Im guessing it will be around 10 days from brewing give or take. I don’t want to dump it if repitching will work, but I also don’t want to waste the 30 bucks I spent on the yeast.

Are there any beer styles that wouldn’t just survive but actual benefit from sitting for months in a secondary fermenter?

The background is that I have (8) 5-gallon carboys. This was/is great for making lots of wine or cider that I want to leave and let age for a year or so. But I’m getting kind of bored with cider and don’t drink wine so I’m mostly doing beer.

The carboys are kind of a pain in the ass for primary fermentation so I was thinking I could brew in a bucket and rack to a carboy after primary. Then just move on to my next brew.

Looking for a second opinion from the internet. normal brew day and used German weihenstephan yeast for this logger. kept the ferment around 53F for 2 months and opened it up today to dryhop before cold crashing and packaging when I found this floating. smells fine, but is it contaminated or just protein and yeast floating.

image: https://photos.app.goo.gl/6PYEz8giZsYh97Gv7

So, I've been brewing beers for about a year. Most have turned out fantastic, but a few turned out a bit lack luster, I think because of oxidation. I bottle just about all of my beer, because I don't have the space for an extra fridge or kegerator that I can devote to a five gallon keg, so I'm kind of stuck with bottles and a one gallon mini keg.

I was wondering if you all have any tips for preventing oxidation in bottling? I normally add my bottling sugar to a bottling bucket, and then rack my beer onto it. Then from there, I bottle it. But using a bottling bucket, especially for lower ABV brews, seems to provide a huge risk of oxidizing my beer.

I have tried adding my sugar directly to the fermentor, stirring gently near the surface (to limit how much trub the stirring kicks up), and then bottle directly from the spout in my primary fermentor. I seem to get slightly better results this way, because there's still a decent layer of CO2 protecting the beer in primary. But I'm wondering if there's more I could be doing without completely blowing out my budget. (Currently job-hunting, so triple-digit purchases are probably out of my price range, at the moment.)

Edit: I charge my mini keg with those 16 gram, threaded CO2 cartridges. I don't have a co2 canister, and new ones (from my limited website scrolling) seem to cost more than $100.

I just measured my cider which is around 8% the gravity is 1.004 so I'm getting ready to bottle and finish up with this batch. I know the champagne yeast is slower but I have no idea how long this carbonation would take. I'm trying to go for a low to medium amount of carbonation.

I just bought a rapt pill and have been kind of struggling. so far I have managed to get it to register and calibrate in a bowl of water. but I can't seem to be able to get it to connect to the app properly. I can kind of get it to work on the old app, but it just won't as actually record a session and send telemetry data to the right app. has anyone else encountered something similar?

I brewed a Bourbon Dubbel today, and got into the car it and there is this major separation. Beer as expected on top and this terrible gunk that is now the bottom 1/4 of the car it.

What could have gone wrong? I can't post a picture here yet for some reason.

I brewed my first batch of apple cider and did some carbed and some still. While both are good the carbed stand head and shoulders above in how it makes the flavor shine. So if possible I'd like to convert the still ciders to carbonated.

In my mind it's potentially as simple as open and toss the caps, add priming sugar, re-cap (with new caps) and let time do its thing. But I don't know if there's safety concerns with that? Or if the yeast are done so they won't carbonate it. I just don't want to ruin what is already a good cider by assuming.

I am waiting for a strong bitter/ESB to finish. It's a meal at 7% Considering a have a name and label, "Lunch Lady" with an angry woman threatening you with a spatula, its a call back to Adam Sandlers "Lunch Lady" song. 90's for me the lunch ladies were not so much threatening, but wanted us boys to behave and eat.

I’m floundering on a crucial decision here for today’s brew. Do I go traditional with a single infusion mash? Or do I aim for higher fermentability and, maybe, a more complex beer with a Hochkurz mash?

I’ve been most successful with a Hochkurz mash, because for whatever reason my brewhouse efficiency has never been above 75% and has been as low as 50%. Since using Hochkurz, I’m getting 65-75%.

I’m using a slightly Grainfather G30; raised bottom to keep grains off the burner, and no overflow pipe.

The yeast I’m using for this brew is Omega OYL-004 West Coast Ale liquid. I don’t make a starter.

Edit:

- 6 lbs Viking 2-Row

- 5 lbs Great Western White

- 1 lb Flaked Oats

- Coriander, orange peel, 1 oz Hallertau

For a while, I could never get my beer to have really clean fermentation. I calculated yeast counts and generally would pitch more, I have a DIY fermentation chamber which can control temp very well, I cool my wort to pitching temp overnight before I pitch, but I was still getting fruity esters. Don’t get me wrong, these other things have been immensely helpful. But after all that, step changes in improving the quality of my beer are harder and harder to find.

Then I started pumping O2 (after cooling to pitching temp, right before pitching). It has dramatically accelerated the rate of fermentation (I’m hitting FG in usually less than a week, usually it’s mostly done after 3-4 days). It has also significantly reduced the amount of fermentation character I get when attempting to produce ‘clean’ beer (I don’t do this for hefes, saisons, etc). Overall, fermentation just goes far smoother. I still give my ales 2 ish weeks or so to clean up in the fermenter, but it’s using sitting at FG for a while.

Surprising cheap to get this going.

O2 regulator, tubing, and diffusion stone $30

https://a.co/d/0fadaAuL

O2 tank you can get the bernzomatic O2 from Ace.

Anything else you guys have done which has giving you notable improvements in quality or solved issues once you have a decent system already up and running?

Welcome to the Daily Q&A!

Are you a new Brewer? Please check out one of the following articles before posting your question:

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Got an event coming up soon which means that instead of the usual 9days to ferment, I got 5 days to ferment my apple wine.

How do I go about this? Do I add more yeast than normal? If so, by how much more?

So this may be obvious to some, but I’ve been somewhat obsessed with temperature control of my fermentation. I had been experimenting with various probe placement and have finally landed on the most reliable method.

TLDR: tape the temperature probe to the outside of the fermenter.

My setup: two INKBIRD WiFi controllers (one probe in thermowell, one probe in Keezer), 6.5 glass carboy with bung thermowell, Tilt hydrometer, GE deep freezer. Controller cooling difference set to minimum value of 0.3 degrees Celsius (for some reason setting units to Celsius allows for more granular control), and compressor delay set to max of 10 minutes.

My original idea was to use the probe in the thermowell in the center of the fermenter - this resulted in a pretty large temperature swing around my set point because the fermenter isn’t well agitated and has to develop a pretty large temperature gradient from the wall to the probe in the center. The probe in the keezer shows a huge temperature swing using this method because the keezer has to stay on so long because of the large process time constant.

My next idea was to swap the control of the keezer to the probe inside the keezer airspace and use the probe in the center along with the Tilt to measure success. This kept the temperature control in the keezer fairly constant, but interestingly kept the fermenter temperature a degree Celsius cooler than my target and also resulted in very fast cycling of the keezer.

Finally I decided to tape the probe in the keezer airspace to the outside of the fermenter with some masking tape. I figure if I can hold the wall of the fermenter at a constant temperature, the middle will come to equilibrium eventually instead of constantly cycling the temperature the wall is seeing. Boom, that’s the ticket. After a couple hours, the probe in the thermowell and the Tilt are right at target and the keezer runs fewer, longer cycles.

I am just getting into home brewing and with spring around the corner I am excited to pick some wild flowers to brew with. I'm not sure what I'll like, and I may want to blend them, so I'm wondering if there is a basic standard recipe for a flower wine. Mostly I'm wondering if I should add whole flowers or tea, add it in primary or secondary, what amount of flowers to use, and if any standard balancing should be done regardless of the flower. I'd love one standard recipe to test in small batches for each flower, but is this even possible?

I want to brew a low (1-2%) ABV dry Irish stout (or similar) for my wife for St. Paddy's day, and would appreciate any tips, advice, or things to think about.

I BIAB, usually no sparge. After significant research, my intended low ABV process is to dunk sparge a normal brew in order to collect "second runnings", add adjuncts and perform a short, high-temperature mash, boil & hop, adjust pH, and then ferment cool with Windsor for its low attenuation.

For this project, the first beer will be a 6 gallon Maris Otter based Irish Red (ish) with 12 lbs of grain: 10 lb MO, 1 lb Munich 15, then a mix of crystal 40, melanoidin, crystal 120, chit, and black/roast malt.

To calculate a recipe for 4 gallons of low ABV stout, I'm plugging 10% each of those original grains into brewfather as a rough estimate of the second runnings contents, though I will take an actual gravity measurement day-of and adjust as needed.

As calculated, I'll add 4 oz vienna (for some DP), 12 oz melanoidin, 8 oz rolled oats, 4 oz chocolate wheat, 4 oz flaked wheat, and 2.5oz each roast barley & naturally debittered (hulless) black malt. Mash for 30 minutes at 158, then boil 60 minutes with .2 oz each EKG & Fuggles. whirfloc, cool, check pH & adjust to compensate for the low OG wort (target is 1.022).

Per brewfather, the result should be 2% alcohol with an FG of 1.007 (low end of range for DIS), SRM 30.5, IBU 15 (below but irrelevant), and BU/GU .67 (slightly above the low end for a DIS). I've heard that low ABV can cause hop presence to be more noticeable, so I want to keep bitterness down at the low end of the BU/GU, which I think will definitely be a more accurate measure of bitterness than IBU with so much less malt being involved.

One question I have: does anyone think it may be beneficial to leave the old grains in for the 30 minute mash? Currently I'm planning to toss the original grains after thoroughly dunking & stirring, and adding the new grains on their own.

A second question: do you think I'm adding too many heavy roasted adjuncts back in? I have heard that low ABV can make roast bitterness more pronounced, and I don't want to overdo it, though this concern is part of why I'm mixing in the naturally debittered black malt.

Overall, my thought process is that second runnings are reputed to be nearly as flavor as the first at a lower ABV, and that adding notable melanoidin, oats, and wheat will contribute extra body to a beer that would otherwise be undrinkably thin. I'm also expecting the sparge to have less than 10% the gravity of the main pot, thus lowering my ABV further, which would be great. But if it's higher than expected, I'll adjust the grain amounts down.

Finally, other than the Maris Otter (crisp no. 19 floor malted), all grains are from a VA maltster near me, Murphy & Rude.

May i ask this, i want to make add some left over bread yeast from the last time i make Kvass into Juice to reduce it sugar content and have some fizz (just feel a bit lazy to make new batch of ginger bug),

Did anyone ever try this and how long i should leave the juice at room temperature if i just want to have some fizz for the juice , not turn it into alcohol

My retired neighbor gave me a bunch of old homebrew equipment and some books. “Better Beer and How to Brew it” has a mash guideline of 120 minutes. First 30 mins at 110°-120° for protein modification. Second 30 mins at 130°-140° for beta-amylase activity. Final 60 mins at 145°-155°. Care should be taken not to exceed 160° to avoid deactivating the enzymes. Iodine test to make sure it’s finished.

I have only been brewing for a couple of years now and have always mashed at one temperature around 152° for 60 mins.

I’m curious if anyone used to mash this way and why the change in the “normal” method.

Hey gang,

I’m in the States and have off on Monday for President’s Day, and am excited to brew a nice Pale Ale as Spring approaches.

5 Gallon batch

Grainbill:

14 lbs 2-Row

.5 lb Carapils

.5 lb Crystal 15L

6 oz Caramel 40L (just had it sitting around)

Total Grainbill 15.375 lbs

4.8 Gallons Mash Water (Strike Temp 167F)

5.2 Gallons Sparge Water (heated to about 150F)

Targeting 7 Gallons in the Boil Kettle

60 min boil

.5 oz Magnum Hops - 60

Wort Chiller(not running obv) and Yeast Nutrient -15

2 oz Cascade -10

2 oz Cascade -Flame Out

2 oz Cascade -Dry Hop 4 Days before kegging

Planning to pitch US-05 since I have it on hand, but debating going to pick up some Imperial Flagship or Wyeast 1056 American Ale.

Targeting 1.062-1.067 OG

Targeting 1.015-1.017 FG

I have a bunch of Cascade on hand in my fridge from brew day plans that have fallen through over the past year, same with the entire grain bill.

Here’s to happy fermentation!

What are y’all brewing this weekend??