Category: Ready to Use

Tip: Labeling Your Kegs, Carboys, and Fermentation Buckets

Have you ever looked at a keg, fermentation bucket, or carboy and wondered, "Wait, what's in this one?" Wouldn't it be nicer to take a quick glance at your keg and know, this is my German Pils, which is 5.2% ABV, and was brewed on 2018/12/18? Or look at a fermentation bucket, and know it's your Irish Red, which was brewed on 2019/02/16, and the target FG is 1.009? A simple label will make your life SO...MUCH...EASIER. Here are three simple ways to label your kegs and fermenters.

Keeping a Homebrew Log – Notes You Should Take for Each Beer

Are you keeping a homebrew log? If not, why not? Are you overwhelmed by the hundreds of data fields in your homebrewing software/app? Ever considered creating your own homebrewing log as an alternative? In this Homebrew Note, I shed some light on things you should consider tracking and a method for doing so. I even provide a template log that you can modify to fit your specific needs.

Simple Steps for Correcting Your Homebrew’s Gravity and/or Volume After Mash

Despite our best efforts, all grain brewers will often need to adjust our post-mash/pre-boil gravity and/or volume to hit our targets. Mashing is not a totally smooth and predictable process so even with focus, experience, and care, we can be off more than we'd like. With that in mind, I thought I'd share my notes for the ways you can make corrections to realign your pre-boil gravity and volume with your targets. When you do, you can feel confident that you are far more likely to hit your final gravity and volume targets and produce the beer you intended. Want to learn the easy steps to put your homebrew back on track?

Making Multiple Yeast Starters in a Pressure Canner

Liquid yeast is awesome for one primary reason - variety. This variety enables you to choose a yeast that helps you achieve the precise flavor profile you're targeting. It gives you flexibility in esters, attenuation, alcohol tolerance, fermenting temp ranges, and more. However, if you're using liquid yeast, you're almost certainly going to need a starter and starters can be a pain in the ass to make on a one-at-a-time basis. That's why I, and many other people, create multiple starters at once by pressure canning them. If you aren't familiar with pressure canning, it may sound daunting but it really isn't. You just need to understand the key components of the process. So let's get to it!

Tip: Stock Up on Gel Ice Packs

During various homebrewing tasks, you'll need to drop the temperature of liquids you're working with, that liquid often being wort. Of course, you'll also have occasions where you'll want to chill your delicious bottles or growlers of homebrew for drinking. Do yourself and your significant other a favor and stop raiding the ice maker. In this Homebrew Tip, we'll discuss creating your own stash of reusable gel-based ice packs.

Making a Yeast Starter

This Homebrew Note assumes you know why pitching adequate yeast is important and how to calculate the appropriate amount of yeast to pitch. If not, read the Note on Calculating How Much Yeast to Pitch first. In this Homewbrew Note, you'll learn how to make a yeast starter for your liquid yeast.

Tip: Make a Sanitizer Spray Bottle

As you probably know, anything that touches your wort or beer after the wort has been boiled must be sanitized. So naturally, one of the things you'll find yourself doing all the time as a homebrewer is sanitizing something to keep your wort/beer from getting infected. The easiest and most economical way I've found to do that is to keep a spray bottle of sanitizer around for just such an occasion. This Homebrew Tip provides you the simple process for creating your own sanitizer spray bottle.

Rehydrating Dry Yeast

After dehydration, dry yeast cells are dormant which helps their shelf life but it isn't so great for fermentation. Rehydration helps revitalize those yeast cells. Think of the rehydration process as your yeast's morning coffee. This Homebrew Note will teach you how to get those yeast active and healthy for an optimal fermentation.