Hey r/homebrewing,

Todd J @ Northern Brewer here. We've been hanging around this subreddit for a long time, and we know that mentioning our name here can fire folks up sometimes.

Northern Brewer has been through a lot of changes over the years. Some of them weren’t easy. Some of them were necessary as we adjusted to the changing homebrew hobby.

For anyone wondering who’s usually behind this account, I’m Todd J. I’ve been homebrewing for 20+ years and working at Northern Brewer for 14+. So yes, I’ve been around long enough to remember quite a few different versions of Northern Brewer.

There are still a bunch of people behind Northern Brewer who brew, care about this hobby, and want to see people keep making beer at home, especially as the homebrew landscape keeps changing and local shops become harder to find.

So, with that awkward family history out of the way...

We've launched a new Brew. Share. Enjoy. Rewards program.

The basic idea is pretty simple: buy brewing stuff, earn points, turn those points into discounts. You can use your rewards with most of our sales and coupon codes.

Details are here:
https://www.northernbrewer.com/pages/loyalty-rewards

We know a rewards program isn’t some magic reset button.

But we do want to keep earning your business, keep improving, and keep being part of the homebrewing community.

If you have any feedback on the new program or Northern Brewer in general, feel free to DM me here or send a note my way to [brewmaster@northernbrewer.com](mailto:brewmaster@northernbrewer.com). I’m happy to hear it.

Cheers,
Todd J @ NB

So I bought the Clawhammer AIO about a month ago to replace my anvil foundry. First brew went ok, aside from the recirculating arm leaking (Clawhammer overnighted a new one) but I used my other pump and old anvil recirculating set up. I did however get a stuck sparge, as I assume my crush is too fine. Got about 68% efficiency, which is not terrible. I calculated for 65%. Again, overall not a bad experience.

As there is not a ton of info available online about these systems, can someone with some experience answer a few questions?

1. While heating mash water, is it better to recirculate? Will this help get to temperature faster?

2. Mash with the lid on with the recirculation arm fed through the top of the lid or just leave the lid off?

3. Anyone forgo the mash overflow pipe and mash in a bag? I used to do this in the anvil.

4. Can you manually adjust the wattage without having to redo all the steps? The controller is not very user friendly.

Thanks.

I’ve been fermenting some mead for 6 weeks. It has a snot like film on top and inside the actual brew itself?
It’s white, maybe yellow? just looks like a super fine translucent fabric is floating in it

My wife thinks I'm crazy and hates the smell. But I grew up in La Crosse, WI only about 3 blocks from the brewery there. You could tell how far along their brews were just by how it made the area smell. Its almost nostalgic to me.

Do you like the smell or does it smell funky to you?

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).

As part of the brew tools suite inside BrewHalla is this super useful Brix to ABV calculator

https://ibb.co/xqVTVM1C

The tool suite is included in BrewHalla homebrewing app found here:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.brewhalla.beer

I’m brewing a malt-forward dark lager this weekend (sitting right around 6.5% ABV) specifically to gift to friends and family this coming Christmas. The plan is to carbonate it in a keg and then counter pressure bottle it right before the holidays.

​Since presentation matters a lot for holiday gifting, I’m putting together custom printed labels to make it look nice. However, I’m still trying to figure out the best packaging route to match the aesthetic.

​What style of bottle do you usually go for when gifting special homebrews - standard beer bottles, wine bottles, or champagne bottles? And what size hits the sweet spot for a strong dark lager meant to be shared - 0.33L, 0.5L, 0.75L, or 1L swing-tops?

​Would love to hear what works best for your gift brews!

I have a question regarding my grape wine. I received a few kilos of Kerner grapes from a relative. I immediately washed them, removed the bad ones and the vines, put them in a pot, crushed them and added pectic enzyme according to instructions. I let it sit in my fridge for 19h and then passed it through a cheese cloth to strain, added 2.5g of 71B (to almost 3 L of grape juice) and some yeast nutrient (Keltercraft K04). OG was 1.068. It started fermenting pretty fast and I had a very foamy and vigorous fermentation for about 3-4 days, then the visible activity slowed massively. After 7 days (and the 2 latest ones had almost 0 activity) I checked the gravity and it was at 0.992. I very carefully poured the liquid back (everything was perfectly sanitized). It smelled lovely and already tasted pretty good. I wanted to wait a few days, do a safety check of the gravity before racking. But after a few hours I saw a pretty big difference in colour.

Pictures here:
https://imgur.com/a/EbhYjpn

During the active fermentation and before checking gravity it was just as I expected. First very cloudy, but light in colour... like cloudy white wine. After that it cleared beautifully and very fast. I could already see through it quite well. It isn't too visible in the picture, tho. But after checking gravity it changed colour dramatically. It had a gradient from top to bottom, with an amber colour on the top, fading towards the bottom. Being scared of oxidation (and the big headroom in the bucket of primary) I racked it to a smaller vessel (the best I have for this size, it still has about 400-500 ml of air above it.
The racking homogenized the colour but after a few hours it happened again, in the new vessel.

Now the question is: What is it or could it be? Oxidation? Something else? And of course: What can/should I do now?

Thank you in advance for any and every bit of help! If you need any additional Information please just ask I am happy to provide it!

RECIPE
1kg honey
abit over 250ml mixed berry syrup
a half cup of black tea
1,175ml of water
OG - abit over 1.130 under 1.140
1/2 pectinase
YEAST - M05 mead yeast
pitched around 11:35pm 3/9/26
BERRY SYRUP recipe
511 grams of sugar
284 grams of water
Heated to 105 for 20 minutes

500 grams berries into separate pot

Added around 150ml of water to the bag to mix and then added to pot
Jar 259 grams
Jar filled 839 grams
Jar 2 171 grams
Jar 2 filled 511 grams

i started this mead ferment like an hour ago and the OG seems very very high but i’m just letting it chill if it ferments dry i’m fine with that if it stops sweet that’s fine too (actually would kinda be preferred)

i know the yeast tolerance goes to 18% which i think 1.130 comes out to around 17% or 19.31% depending on calculation method

the pectinase is so the berry doesn’t add pectin haze and such

do yall think i should add DAP in the morning once i see visible signs of fermentation? if so how much?

im leaving town on the 5th for maybe 2-3 weeks so wont be able to check on it again until then

About month ago I asked for some help with hoegaarden clone recipe. I received help and I kegged the beer just a moment ago.
Used priming sugar calculator for 4 liters and it suggested 38g sugar. In addition I put 20 psi of co2 in my keg.
Any more suggestions or psi recommendations?

I used this kegland regulator to add some co2 (I took it off the oxebar before taking this picture so it doesnt show the correct psi)

First beer batch kegged

I am brewing an Irish stout from a kit. The target OG was 1.042 and I hit it right on. It is supposed to have an expected FG of 1.010 to make a 4.2% ABV. for the past 3 days my gravity has read at 1.020. There has been activity in the airlock though. My refractometer seems to be working as water reads 1.000. My fermentation is also being done at a tempature range of 67°F-70°F which I feel is consistent enough.

What is going on? How can I get to the target?

Anyone in the greater sacramento area looking for a good brewing set up. I have everything from a malt mill to the draft kegerator draft system. Real nice equipment. Basically new stuff here. [jpkirk13@gmail.com](mailto:jpkirk13@gmail.com)

So I’ve never made a porter before. About to start small with a one gallon batch. Question is, what type of medium should I use to introduce pumpkin into the brew? Actual pumpkin that’s been roasted a bit and then add in the mash? Frozen pumpkin in the fermenter? Trying to figure out what’s going to yield me the most flavor safely.

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!

Just made a Rice IPA with Centennial and Cascade and dry-hopped for only 6 hours to try something new. What is the shortest or longest you've dry-hopped one of your beers?

Don't entirely know what i'm doing usually just follow other people's recipes. Fermentation days are just random numbers, not sure how long diactyl rest needs to be. Planning the dry hop right after the diactyl rest at 65F for 3 days before cold crashing and lagering. Any feedback greatly appreciated!

West Coast-Style Pilsner

Type: All Grain

IBU : 35 (Tinseth)

BU/GU : 0.65

Color : 4 SRM

Carbonation : 2.6 CO2-vol

Pre-Boil Gravity : 1.049

Original Gravity : 1.053

Final Gravity : 1.008

Custom BIAB

Batch Size : 3 gal

Boil Size : 3.53 gal

Post-Boil Vol : 3.26 gal

Mash Water : 3.95 gal

Sparge Water : 0 gal

Boil Time : 30 min

Total Water : 3.95 gal

Brewhouse Efficiency: 67%

Mash Efficiency: 69.9%

Mash Profile

High fermentability

150 °F - 60 min - Temperature

Mash in with 3.95 gal @ 150 °F

Fermentation Profile

55 °F - 14 days - Primary

65 °F - 3 days - Secondary

36 °F - 3 days - Cold Crash

34 °F - 45 days - Conditioning

Water Profile:

Ca 82 Mg 4 Na 11 Cl 65 SO 146 HCO 0

SO/Cl ratio: 2.3

Mash pH: 5.55

Fermentables (6 lb 5 oz)

5 lb - Pilsner 1.8 °L (79.2%)

1 lb - Pale Malt, 2-Row 1.9 °L (15.8%)

5 oz - Carapils 1.5 °L (5%)

Hops (4.8 oz)

30 min - 0.3 oz - Magnum - 13.5% (20 IBU)

Hop Stand

20 min hopstand @ 170 °F

20 min 170 °F - 1 oz - Citra - 14.1% (9 IBU)

20 min 170 °F - 0.5 oz - Mosaic - 18.8% (6 IBU)

Dry Hops

3 days - 2 oz - Citra - 14.1%

3 days - 1 oz - Mosaic - 18.8%

Miscellaneous

Mash - 1.5 g - Calcium Chloride (CaCl2)

Mash - 0.4 g - Canning Salt (NaCl)

Mash - 0.6 g - Epsom Salt (MgSO4)

Mash - 3.5 g - Gypsum (CaSO4)

Yeast

1 pkg - Fermentis Saflager Lager W-34/70

Talk me in or out of the tools... I am now using an fermzilla all-rounder with an old chest freezer and I am itching to get an upgrade. I am a little bit inclined to go with an unitank because the of bells and whistles and just because it looks quite cool.

Ferm chamber looks quite abit easier to operate and maintain, it also can double up as a fridge if i ever have to stop brewing...

I am looking for some experiences and reasons why you guys went with your tools, thank you!

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.

So in preparation for fall, I’m brewing a Weizenbock today. Once the boil got going, I tossed in my bittering hops and left the kettle alone to clean some kegs. 20 minutes later I come back to see a surprisingly calm all-in-one system. Apparently a fuse went out and the kettle was just standing around for somewhere between a couple and 20 minutes. Judging from the wort temperature, I guesstimate 10 minutes.

In the past, I may have panicked and worried. Instead I fixed the fuse, tapped a Kölsch and am currently sitting in the sun and waiting for the boil to get rolling again.

The point of this story is: Relax, Don’t worry, have a homebrew.

I am looking for suggestions on a solid all grain NEIPA recipe. I am a huge fan of Hop Butcher with my favorite being Neon Green Relish.

Also loving Parish Ghost in the Machine and Stone Fear Movie Lions.

What are some of your favorite commercial clone recipes and why?

I usually make Red Ales but started dabbling in Cider recently and this is my second attempt at it so I'm a little lost on where my batch is at.

2.5 weeks ago I made a 2.5 gal batch with an OG of 1.052 with apple juice, tea, some added sugar and Pectic Enzyme. 24 and 72 hours after it began fermentation, I added 0.5 tsp of Diamonium Phosphate. From the first attempt, the gravity was around 1.008 around this time but when I checked today with a refractometer showed it's sitting at 1.021. It's been fermenting in a constant 71 degrees using Red Star Premier Blanc yeast, tucked away in a very dark windowless corner. It appears to be very clear with a noticeable line of sediment at the bottom and the airlock stopped bubbling a week ago.

I'm wondering if the fermentation is stuck and to add a bit more yeast to eat up the remaining sugar or let it ride a bit longer. Does cider only ferment dry when using wine yeast? Thanks for any advise and help!

I picked a bunch of damsons this year. I have just put them in the freezer. I am balking at the idea of deseeding each of them. Last year i crushed all the damsons up. Started ferment and fished out all the seeds when the flesh broke down and the seeds started bobbing.

I was wondering if i could just defrost the fruit, crush it up, begin ferment, add sugar source and some water, ferment for several days and then pour the wort in my fruit press and press it all together?

I am wondering if putting the seeds as well as the flesh and wort in the fruit press, the press will crush the seeds, releasing nasty flavours and stuff or whether the seeds will hold their integrity and be a far easier way of seperating the seeds?

Thank you

Extra tidbits. Last year i tried fermenting a bunch of these damsons with a lot of honey and the fermentation stalled and i lost the whole batch which was very heart breaking. I since heard that having too much sugar at the start kf ferment can stall it...

I am planning on making the brew not too dissimilarly to trad wine where you ferment the crushed up fruit and then put it through the press after fermentation has taken hold, but just adding a bit of water and sugar to make it higher abv and a bigger batch. If theres any advice please feel free to offer it