Homebrewing Stack Exchange
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Why exactly does cold crashing work?

I'm trying to understand the mechanism behind cold crashing. When cold crashing, you cool the fermented brew, yeast and suspended solids settle. With my first cider, a very turbid bottle visible cleared in a day or two. Why do solids settle whan…
mart
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Any People with Celiacs Tried Clarity Ferm?

There's been a lot of discussion around Clarity Ferm, and it's ability to break down gluten in beer. The manufacturers just say it makes "gluten reduced beer", but Omission and others uses it to make what I believe is labelled a "gluten free". Some…
David Griffiths
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Why are Swings in Temperature Bad?

I started brewing back in may, at the beginning of a Californian summer. I quickly learned that the swamp cooler was necessary to prevent unwanted ester formation due to a too-high of temperature for a given yeast. The swamp cooler isn't good…
Matthew Moisen
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How do I avoid airlock foam overflow? Does it affect the fermentation process?

During my last small batch brew, American Wheat from Northern Brewer, I came home to find that the foam in the 1 gallon carboy had overflowed the three-piece air lock (which was a mess to clean out). I have read that if it looks like it may bubble…
kbjohnson90
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Bottling vs. Kegging

I have been home brewing for along time now, but have never kegged my beer. I hear a lot of people saying how much easier and better it is, but my main concern is the cost and equipment needed. What are the basics required (i.e. what would you…
Sean Nordquist
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How long can milled grain be stored?

At the rate that I'm going, I'm doing a homebrew roughly every second weekend. (Fun!) I will end up with a small stock of hops, and yeast I can keep around in the fridge for a while if I buy a few extra vials, but I'm wondering about milled…
object88
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Competitions & Kegging

I keg my beer but I would like to enter some of it into competitions. I've bottled directly out of the tap, but carbonation suffers. What would you do in this situation?
Dean Brundage
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Approximating Sugar to Apple Juice ratio in cider?

I haven't been able to find any reliable recipes or even rules-of-thumb when deciding the amount of sugar to juice ration in cider and perry. I'd like to know some approximations for sweet and dry versions.
Richard Stelling
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What are the benefits of fermenting under pressure?

I hear that some brewers ferment under pressure. What is the rationale/benefits of doing this?
mdma
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Pressure during fermentation

I imagine other parameters are more important (like temperature or pitching rate). Still, I was wondering if pressure has some effect on the fermentation process (for example on flocculation, fermentation time or flavour profile)
Paolo
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Using Plastic Water Jugs as Fermenters

I asked this on Twitter a while back, but I thought I might get some other thoughts on it. I have one of those 5g Poland Spring water jugs. If I get a bung that fits it, is there any reason I couldn't use it as a fermenter (either primary or…
WhatsBillDoing
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Why is there so much foam when I open the bottle?

I have a batch of beer, fermented and then bottled. When I open the bottle, there is a lot of foam and it flows out of the bottle for a while. What could cause this? I assume it's too much CO2 and thus too much priming sugar? (This is a 5 Gallon…
Michael Stum
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What are the harms of a boil over?

Besides forcing me to clean a lot more stuff than I would generally do, will a boil over harm my beer? I suppose I will loose a lot of the break material and according to brewstrong the break material has proteins vital for head retention, so I…
Cleber Goncalves
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Why does my beer smell like bananas?

The Imperial Stout I recently bottled, smells a little fruity, and has a strong tart taste up front. Is this something I should be patient with, as it may go change? And, how'd it happen?
tbeseda
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How do I make my ginger beer SPICY?

I've made tons of ginger beer (often just like this http://ieatfood.net/2009/12/18/real-ginger-ale/ ), I've tried various different recipes, and they all come out quite nicely. But I want a ginger beer that's SHARP. Everything I make has a nice…
Felix Sargent
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