Even if you are using regular beer bottles for your
homebrew, try using at least one plastic bottle. You can easily tell when your
beer is carbonated by the firmness of this bottle.
You may think the temperature in your room is well within the
desired range for your brew; however, be careful where you place your carboy in
that room. I was reading a comment from a brewer on the internet in which he
stated he used to keep his carboys in room next to the wall. Little did he know
that cold air was coming through the wall via an electrical outlet. The brew was
10° cooler than the room. An easy way to keep a check of the temperature of
your brew is with a stick-on
thermometer. It is a plastic adhesive strip, which
is stuck on the outside of the fermenter. It gives the temperature reading the
instant it touches the side of the fermenter. It is inexpensive and easy to
read.
Try using dry malt extract instead of corn sugar as your
priming sugar at the bottling stage for a creamier head on your beer. ( Use 1
1/2 cups of dry malt instead of 1 cup of corn sugar.)
Sometimes a vigorous fermentation can come up into the airlock. Remove your
airlock and insert a piece of siphon hose into the bung, insert the end into a
jar half full of water. replace air lock when fermentation subsides.
Keep your beer away from direct sunlight while it is brewing and when it is
in bottles. Sunstruck beer tastes skunky. If you use Corona bottles keep them
covered or in cases.
Immersing the can of malt in hot water will make pouring easier.
Do not immerse anything in the cooled wort. Wooden spoons or hand can be a
disaster.
Do not aerate or splash your beer once fermentation has begun.
Scratched surfaces on plastic brewing equipment harbour bacteria. Discard
worn, badly stained and scratched primary fermenter and siphon hoses.
Do not use wood or metal spoons to stir your must, as wood is hard to
sterilize and metal could scratch the inside of your plastic fermenter.
Remove stubborn beer labels with baking soda. Use 2 to 3 tablespoons of
baking soda in 5 gallons of hot water then soak for 30 to 45 minutes. Even pesky
labels come off easily. You will still need to sanitize bottles before bottling.
If you want to reduce the amount of time it takes for yeast to settle, try
using Super-Kleer.
Use of a proper sterilizing solution is important. Bleach or soap will taint
your beer resulting in a loss of head and an off-taste.
Leaving your beer in the primary more than ten days will leave on an
off-taste on your beer and airborne bacteria could contaminate your beer.
Yeast energizer will ensure a quick and complete fermentation and will reduce
the levels of draceytyl in your beer.
Heading Liquid will help the beer retain its head.
Beermakers who dislike swallowing wort, risking the chance of bacteria
infection by sucking on the siphon hose at the beginning of the racking process
can use the
Auto-Siphon. This instrument works well and is highly appreciated by
many home brewer