Most Popular
1500 questions
64
votes
5 answers
What equipment do I need to buy to start making beer?
What is the minimum equipment to start brewing some good beer at home?
Nathan Koop
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59
votes
4 answers
What's the point of secondary fermentation?
I've always bottled directly after the primary fermentation has finished. What's the point of the secondary fermentation? Can I use a bucket or is it something that really necessitates a glass carboy?
travis
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46
votes
33 answers
What software do most brewers use?
Just curious what most brewers are using these days as far as software goes. We are going to have to make a decision in the near future about this.
BeerSmith?
ProMash?
BeerTools?
Any others I haven't heard of?
Entrebrewer
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46
votes
30 answers
How do you label your bottles?
How do you mark, label, or otherwise identify the contents of your bottles? I'm currently using masking tape and a marker, but I'm curious what most other people use.
Fishtoaster
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44
votes
11 answers
If/When to move to secondary fermentation
Digression from What's the point of secondary fermentation?
What are the good rules of thumb for determining a. whether to use secondary fermentation at all and b. when to move from primary to secondary.
Preferably any rule of thumb should have both…
Mike S
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44
votes
18 answers
Improving Your Brewing Significantly
I made this wiki to allow folks to post what upgrades in process or equipement really take one's beer brewing to the next level. The bottle-necks to better and better brewing if you will. (This was inspired be a couple comments on another…
brewchez
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43
votes
16 answers
What are the benefits of using brewing sugar over types of sugar?
In many kits I've used, the instructions recommend using brewing sugar. Of course it's okay to use other sources of sugar, but I was wondering whether there are any benefits of using brewing sugar over these other types?
Lewis Norton
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43
votes
8 answers
How likely is contamination in an average batch?
I sanitize everything; carboy, bottles, bottle caps, tubing, funnels, etc; because I was essentially told that my beer would turn to deadly poison without it.
I accept sterilizing the lot once because I understand the complications of infections,…
Jarrod
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42
votes
22 answers
Are there any tricks for removing labels from bottles?
Some labels can be a pain to remove. I've tried soaking bottles in water with a little bit of dish soap but it doesn't really do much to break down the adhesive. What methods do you have for easily removing labels?
Joe Phillips
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41
votes
15 answers
Too long in Primary Fermentation?
What's the maximum amount of time for primary fermentation, assuming the beer is going straight to bottles next?
Will it over ferment and then fail to carbonate, if left too long in a carboy?
tbeseda
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41
votes
24 answers
What are the easiest and hardest commercial beer bottles to re-use for homebrew?
One of the great perks of homebrewing is the ability to reuse, rather than just recycle the bottles that come into your house. You just soak off the labels and re-use!
All bottles are not created equal, and neither are all labels. Some are easy to…
Rich Armstrong
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38
votes
17 answers
What can I do with my spent grain after mashing?
After brewing a batch of beer, I always end up with ~14 lbs of spent grain that I usually just toss in a pile in the corner of the yard.
Are there better things to do with it (i.e. cooking, baking, etc.), or better ways to get rid of it? Even though…
Jeff L
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36
votes
8 answers
What are the various ways to remove chlorine/chloramine from tap water?
OK, I actually know how to remove chlorine, but I'd like to have the pros and cons of each method spelled out. I will post an answer and mark it as a community wiki. Please edit it with your input.
JackSmith
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34
votes
25 answers
What do you get if you distill mead?
This is just out of curiosity...
I mean if you distill beer, you get whiskey... if you distill wine, you get cognac/brandy... if you distill fermented molasses, you get rum... if you distill fermented agave, you get tequila... if you distill…
Baard Kopperud
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33
votes
12 answers
How to add fruit to beer
What is the best way to add fruit to a beer? I'm afraid boiling it will break down the fruit too much (a muslin bag could fix this I guess), but I'm not sure how to add it to the fermenter without contaminating the beer. I suppose this answer could…
thaddeusmt
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