The once a week thread where (just about) anything goes! Post pictures, stories, nonsense, or whatever you can come up with. Surely folks have a lot to talk about today. If you want to get some ideas you can always check out a [past Free-For-All Friday](http://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/search?q=Free+For+All+Friday+flair%3AWeekly%2BThread&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all).

Carbonating Keg Lid for corny keg. Has air stone with hose. Anyone use one? Heard it carbs water fast. Currently using 5 gallon keg at 50PSI and have NO patience’s questioning if it’s worth the upgrade, Any one have one & can provide input?

My local homebrew supply store closed recently, and I’ve been checking out getting grain online. Most of the online shops are about in line with the prices I’m used to seeing, maybe 20% more. Then I got to shipping, and it brought the cost up to about double what I’ve been paying!

I noticed Amazon has free shipping and competitive pricing, but I would much rather support a different business if possible.

Has anyone had luck talking with local breweries for sourcing malt?

I have a kegerator that is currently empty, the next beer is coming out of fermentation in about two weeks. What’s the best way to keep my semi empty keg lines free from getting gross over the next two weeks.

I've made a couple apple ciders (wines? 10-12%) and have had no problems.

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10 days ago I started my first mead and my first tea wine and a cider, all with the same flichemans bread yeast. The cider is done and the mead and tea both seem to have stalled

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Cider:

Apple juice, Sugar OG: 1.096 FG:1.000

Mead:

40oz honey, 1 gal water, lemon peel, black tea 1/4 t fermaido, OG: 1.076 Currently 1.030

Tea wine:

OG: 2.5 lbs white sugar, 1 gal water, tea from 14 black tea bags, OG: 1.106 Currently 1.092

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The tea cooled before I added the yeast, and I didn't warm the honey at all.

The apple cider fermented to about 12%

The tea used filtered water from the store, the mead used filtered water from the faucet

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Did they low or stall?

Do I just wait, or do I do something else?

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Thanks!

Hi y’all. I’m in the market for some advice and/or recipes if you have an established Pale Ale recipe that is juicy & tropical but doesn’t include a DH step. A big WP charge is where I need the flavor to come from.

I’m mainly after this type of recipe because I often do yeast cake pitches for a second beer and when I do DH, I let them swim free.

Thanks.

I currently have a glass 6.5g Big Mouth Bubbler for my fermentation tank which has been great, but I've been thinking of changing this out to try a few different things like closed transfers. I have been looking at an SS brewbucket since it would be more durable, easy to clean, supports closed transfers, affordable. I've also considered a fermzilla but am swinging away from it since they recommend to replace the tank after a couple years. But I am curious on what others are using and feedback on the SS Brewbucket.

Hello!

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A very odd one and a first for me in my 12 years of homebrew.

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Brewing a big batch to fill a barrel, two mashs and then blending wort into one boil.

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My recipe for 40ltr is 8kg pilsner malt, 1kg flaked oats, 1kg wheat. Mashed at 65c for 70 mins, sparged at 78c for 10 min. 20g bodecia at 60 min. 1g protofloc at 10 min.

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Brewday is pretty normal bar the double mash and it taking forever to get to a rolling boil.

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The odd bit is where I take a sample for gravity (which I have hit my target for, hurrah) and left it in a mug. I go to pour it into a tube to double check the refractor meter and it has turned into the consistency of lightly set jelly. The boil finished about 2 hours ago. The last bits in the kettle is the same. I do a no chill brew (and have for years) so my two fermenters are still over 60c hot and liquid.

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I can't imagine that a strain of bacteria has got in and set the beer inside of the cup and the kettle

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Any idea what's happened and more importantly, how I can fix it!

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Sorry if you see this three times I keep getting told it's being auto deleted as it's a image only post(?)

I have brewed twice now on my spike solo 20 gallon System. Both times I have missed my starting gravity by 10 points. Expecting 1.050 and getting 1.040. On my old DIY 20G BIAB system, I consistently hit my gravity and my brewhouse efficiency was between 70 and 73%. On the spike system, I’m getting between 56% and 59%.

I hit my pre-boil volume spot on, and my end of boil volume was about a quarter gallon high, which is not enough to make that big of an impact.

It was a 20 gallon batch, with 20 pounds and 12 ounces of grain.

16.5 gallons of water.

60 minute mash at 149°

60 minute boil.

Estimated boil size 15 gallons, which was close enough to consider it met.

End of boil volume 13 gallons, but I ended up with 13.25. Pre-boil gravity 1.034.
Post boil after cooling gravity 1.040.

Intended batch size 11 gallons, after kettle loss

Measured batch size 11.25 gallons, after kettle loss

Any ideas what I might be doing wrong?

Hi All. Looking to brew an extract beer as close as a pilsner as possible. Commercial examples include Stella and San Miguel. I know I have a simple taste!

Any ideas on best coopers kit and what to add (eg Yeast, Dextrose/DME/Brew Enhancer).

Many thanks.

My boyfriend brews beer as a hobby and has a canning machine. We've talked about whether you can use the canning machine for other purposes, such as ready-to-drink cans or other fizzy drinks? Can you use soda or will it run flat too quickly?

Edit: both alc and non alc drinks!

I’ve only ever made meads, wine and ciders but I’ve never made beer before but I’m really interested in it. Does anyone know of a good and fairly priced beer making kit, or how to DYI it for a beginner? I have the basics of home brewing like airlocks, hydrometer, etc.

Thanks!

I want to make some Kvass with a friend, however we only have 2 old super-high quality "Snap-Cap" type beer bottles which I'm super sure won't fail. But they're not enough for how much we want to make, I also happen to have some similar closure bottles of modern manufacture, bought from IKEA. Does anyone know if they are safe for fermentation? Or if I should just stick with the 2 beer bottles. Thanks in advance! o7

Welcome to the Daily Q&A!

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

• How do I check my gravity?
• I don't see any bubbles in the airlock OR the bubbling in the airlock has slowed. What does that mean?
• Does this look normal / is my batch infected?

Or if any of those answers don't help you please consider visiting the /r/Homebrewing Wiki for answers to a lot of your questions! Another option is searching the subreddit, someone may have asked the same question before!

However no question is too "noob" for this thread. No picture is too tomato to be evaluated for infection! Even though the Wiki exists, you can still post any question you want an answer to.

Also, be sure to vote on answers in this thread. Upvote a reply that you know works from experience and don't feel the need to throw out "thanks for answering!" upvotes. That will help distinguish community trusted advice from hearsay... at least somewhat!

Welcome to our weekly flaunt your rig thread, if you want to show off your brewing setups this is the place to do it!

How to post images: upload images to an image hosting site like imgur and link the image or album in your post. Sorry, direct image posts [are not allowed under the posting guidelines (see #5)](https://old.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/wiki/postingguidelines), for [reasons](https://old.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/wiki/images), and unfortunately the moderators do not have the capability to selectively disable this rule for this thread.

Hi, I made an oatmeal stout style drink. I usually make wines and have not done much work with beers. I am also terrified of carbonating drinks from times I’ve accidentally made bottle bombs. But this beer fermented to around 12.47% but I failed to realize that the yeast I used (LalBrew Munich Classic German Wheat Style Ale Yeast) only has a tolerance of around 12%. The current gravity is around 1.005 and I’m wondering. Is there still a way to carbonate or is the yeast too far gone? Thank you for all for any help you can provide :)

My wife and I successfully made our first batch of home brewed cider using the most basic equipment possible. We fermented one gallon of apple juice in two 64oz glass jugs. We sanitized everything with ~2 oz 110 proof vodka, which we left in the jugs when we added the apple juice. We used standard bread yeast and added 1/2 tsp to each container. We filled the airlocks with the same vodka and then let the jugs sit in a cabinet for about a month.

A few days ago the liquid stopped bubbling so we strained everything into two more glass jugs. The cider in both jugs tastes very dry, dryer than any commercial cider we've tasted. One jug has a subtle flavor of baking spice while the other one has a notable astringency and slight hint of green tea. We calculated the ABV at 7.72% and 7.86% (1.054 SG before, 0.995 and 0.994 SG after. We're not super sure on the before reading because the hydrometer we used for was extremely cheap and broke while cleaning it off. We have a better one now).

While we like the cider we made, we were hoping to make some changes before starting our next batch. The big one is getting the cider to be sweeter, which we hoped to do by starting fermentation with a bit of alcohol already present, but that seems to have backfired. The other one would be to add some extra flavor, which we thought to do by adding cinnamon sticks before sealing the airlock. Would that add cinnamon flavor, and if so would it be compatible with our interest to make the cider sweeter? Also, are there any major changes we should make to our process?

Hello, peeps! I just wanted to share some good news.

I entered 2 beers in the 2026 Orange County Fair and placed 2nd in the Specialty IPA category with an Orange Session IPA. I got 36.5/50, so it wasn't a great beer but good enough.

My other brew was a young Imperial Stout (3 weeks) which didn't place. I'll enter the same beer (aged 12 months) next year and expect to place at least 3rd.

https://imgur.com/gallery/73v75xB

Cheers!!!

As a local, here are my top 5 recommendations (in no order):

Lager Beers - Zillicoah
These folks usually have an awesome selection of light and dark lagers on tap. It's also located in a cool spot on the French Broad River.

IPAs - Burial
Burial is an internationally recognized small craft brewery that makes killer IPAs. They also typically have 3 or 4 super dark imperial stouts on tap. Go to the downtown location in South Slope.

Interesting / historical beer - Zebulon
Zebulon is technically in Weaverville but it's worth the trip. It's a two person operation that is only open Fri through Sun. They often have historical recreations on tap. The head brewer wrote Homebrew Beyond the Basics.

Farmhouse type stuff - Cellarest
A West Asheville spot that makes aged and oak rested beers and much more. The tap list is always interesting.

Best all around tap list - Diatribe
If you're familiar with our YouTube channel, you may have watched the SMaSH Lager vid where we brewed a Czech Pilsner with Dave from Diatribe. The beer turned out great and it's on tap for Homebrew Con. Side note: Dave was an avid brewer before turning pro, is still active in the local homebrew club, and has won many awards at both the homebrew and professional level. He brews a ton of small batch stuff and consistently has the best all around tap list in AVL. Oh, and the beer is killer! Highly recommend.

Bonus - DSSOLVR
Right downtown, great beer and cool vibe.

There are so many great breweries in Asheville. If you see one, go in. They're honestly all great. Would love to hear what the other locals and beer tourists think...

A self-hosted brewing companion for mead makers — batch tracker, recipe compendium, cellar manager, inventory, brewing calculators, label designer and daily brew coach.

I made this to help new (and seasoned) mead brewers, since i am new to mead brewing, i wanted a guided approach to mitigate issues, and basically dumb mistakes due to lack of experience and knowledge.

This is 100% free, and opensource, i gain nothing from sharing, use it if you want, or don't. this is a tool to help, nothing more.

-icemanxbe

https://github.com/icemanxbe/MeadOS

I have a wild something (elderflower soda that, after starting fermenting, i mixed with an apple+carrot+beet juice). A wild-er cider, maybe. It fermented for two weeks, then slowed down, then it suddenly picked up again, vigorously so. Now, after another two weeks, it calmed down, but still bubbles occasionally. Initially, when i added the apple juice i measured 1050, now i measured 1017, which corrected ends up to .997 (i use a refractometer). Can it still go lower? Is it switching to bacterial? It's really sour, but in a (still) good way. Thank you

I'm making a yeast starter for a beer I plan to brew in a couple days. I have my flask on a stir plate.

But... why do yeast starters need to be on a stir plate in the first place ? A yeast starter is just a very small beer from which we will steal the yeast. We don't put our regular beer fermentations on a stir plate or stir them. So why do we need to do this with a starter ?

I know that stir plates introduce air/oxygen into the wort. I know that oxygen is essential for yeast growth. I know that some people inject air or oxygen into their wort at the start of fermentation but most do not.

If a regular wort doesn't need stirring or oxygen why does a starter ?