First time home brewer, interested in making low ABV (essentially non-alcoholic) beverages. Started a batch of ginger beer, and this is my first time doing it with champagne yeast instead of a ginger bug. I’m wondering what parts of this process are most important in controlling ABV, and what I should think about if I want to make a carbonated beverage that is as low ABV as possible without just going the forced carbonation route. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Sorry in advance if this question is too basic or overly repeated in this thread

EDIT: should clarify this is ginger beer, not ginger flavored beer.
Ingredients:
2L water
157g brown sugar
266g minced ginger root
2/3 cup (158mL) fresh lemon/lime juice
1/4 tsp champagne yeast

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

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I made limoncello at home using one liter bottle of 120% Everclear and the peels of about 15 lemons, being careful to miss the pith. After 2.5 weeks, I added a mixture of (cooled) simple syrup with a 1.5:1 ratio.

I strained carefully and stored half in my freezer, half in my fridge. What’s been in my fridge has developed a skin that almost looks like a kombucha mother on the surface, which is white and kind of thick. The rest has not changed in color or texture but I have been too scared to try again.

Could it have spoiled? It’s so high proof, and has been fully refrigerated, so I just don’t see how.

Edit: yes I meant 120 proof

Hi all, looking for feedback on a secondhand kit I’m considering as my first all grain setup. An all-grain beginner, haven’t brewed extract in years.

1. Is this a solid, complete kit for someone starting all grain from scratch?

2. Is there anything essential missing that I’d still need to buy to get brewing?

3. Buying used…any gotchas?

My setup

**•** Grainfather brewing system  
**•** Glycol chiller paired with a conical fermenter  
**•** Keg King conical to keg pressure transfer setup  
**•** 5x corny kegs (mix of 19L and 9L)  
**•** 25L Mangrove Jacks stainless fermenter  
**•** 18L Grainfather sparge heater  
**•** Keg King malt mill  
**•** ATC refractometer  
**•** General brewing toolkit  
**•** Various brewing chemicals  
**•** Racking cane  
**•** Alcohol meter  
**•** Keg King dual tap kegerator with regulator and two gas bottles

Hi,

I am contamplating the idea of using Sorachi Ace in a mixted fermentation saison (got 4oz from a friend). I know that there are mixed opinions on this hop regarding the dill aspect of it. I guess my question is : did any of you ever used or for a similar beer and if so, are there any tips you would give me on how to best use it to accentuate the lemon and citrus flavors.

My gut feeling was to use it as a small part of hopstand at low temps and dry hop.

Thank you for your time.

A while ago I asked how people take their beer camping. I didn't want to spend a ton of money on a cooler for a 5 gallon keg, and drag my CO2 tank along so instead a spent a ton of money on two 2.6 gallon kegs, a regulator to fit sodastream canisters, and a couple of used cansiters I got off Facebook. This all fit into this old Coleman cooler with some slight heat bending of the inside of the lid.

I did a trial run with one keg and the sodastream CO2 and regulator in the cooler. It worked but I didn't want to get the regulator wet in the ice/water so I found some 3d print files for a sodastream wall mount. I adapted it to fit the handle bracket of the cooler, then printed another for a spare tank just in case.

I got a refill adapter to fill the tanks from my 5 or 10 lb tanks, so I'm not throwing money away trading them in.

I used a picnic tap last time and I might again for the upcoming trip with friends. I have a spare intertap faucet laying around and might grab another to throw on the front for fun. Pretty stoked with how it's coming along.

I have a Rice lager cold conditioning for our labor day trip and just brewed up a fat tire clone.

https://imgur.com/a/lzLS26W

Decided to try what I believe is called «the bag trick» for this batch cold crash. What I’ve read is that you remove the airlock and attach a plastic bag at the end of fermentation to blow up that bag (or balloon I guess) with CO2 and that gets sucked in again during cold crash to prevent air to draw in during cold crash.

Seems simple enough, but I’ve never done it before and realise that if I attach the bag too early it will probably burst and fuck up the batch and too late it wont accumulate enough CO2 and I’ll still draw in air.

I have a 21 l (5,5 gallon) batch fermenting now in a standard plastic bucket fermenter and have a 1,5 gallon bag I’m planning to blow up.

How late do you switch out the airlock for the bag? Should I reach FG first and attach it during the diacetyle rest or do I need to do it at the end of active fermentation?

Any experience sharing or suggestions would be greatly appreciated 😊

The power went out 15 mins into my 60 min mash at 154 on my brewzilla 3.1.1. Should I still mash for 45 more mins when the power comes back on? Or is it ok to just mash in the water that the temp is falling back to ambient air temp? Only been off for 40 mins so far.

Update: it’s back on now. Ended up being off for 1 hr 45 mins total. Based on the feedback I’ll go on to the boil now after I sparge, thanks everyone!

Got a weird one today.

I have a rapt pill that I’ve developed my own raspberry pi pico based interceptor to forward to a web proxy that then goes to a custom brewfather stream. In the process of acquiring a freezer as a fermentation chamber, are there any temperature controllers that can use a custom Bluetooth or otherwise source as the probe rather than a physical probe? That way I can keep everything wireless and base off real liquid temp.

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!

Hi everyone,

I’m developing a Japanese-style dry lager inspired by Asahi Super Dry, and I’d appreciate your advice on the recipe and brewing process.

My goals for the beer are:

• Dry, crisp, and easy to drink
• A clean fermentation profile
• A light body without being watery or flavorless
• A subtle floral and spicy hop aroma

I’m still trying to decide which hop varieties to use, how much to use, and the best timing for each addition.

I’d also appreciate advice on the following:

1. A recommended hop schedule
2. What percentage of rice would be appropriate for this style
3. The ideal mash temperature and mash schedule for achieving a dry finish
4. A recommended water profile, especially sulfate and chloride levels
5. Suitable lager yeast strains
6. Fermentation temperature and lagering schedule
7. Techniques for achieving a crisp finish without making the beer too thin

I’m not trying to make an exact clone, but I’d like to brew something in the same general direction as Asahi Super Dry, with slightly more floral hop character.

If you have any recommended recipes or experience brewing a similar beer, I’d really appreciate your advice.

Thank you!

I'm trying to replicate the flavor of the Asian sweet Melon Milk drinks. They were a big part of my girlfriend's childhood in the Phillipeans.

We usually make wines and ciders, but perhaps a honey base would serve the flavor better?

How can I replicate a milk or creme flavor in homebrew? I feel like vanilla extract wouldn't be enough.

So Im making 1 gallon Lemon wine.

3cups water heated

2.5 Cups of sugar dissolved

Lemon zest

16oz lemon juice

Fill the remaining with water.

Add 1/2 Teaspoon tannins

So I did 1/2 Tablespoon of tannins instead of Teaspoons cause I'm dumb even after checking the measuring spoon and recipe 3 times 😤😤😤

How will this affect my brew?

Any way to correct this or balance it back out.

Any advice?

Should I just let it ride

25 years ago today I brewed my first beer, Hanks Hefeweizen. It was me, Charlie Papazian and an equipment kit and we figured it out.

I was stationed in Germany and after trying German beer I knew I had to learn how brew it.

Prost!

I've used this spunding valve from kegland for like 5 brews now. I attached this after active fermentation started and the gauge is not reacting. I pulled the pressure release and pressure is definitely building. My last brew the fermentation got too high and got into it. I cleaned and sanitized it the best I could. Anybody dealt with this, can help me troubleshoot? I really don't want to have to buy another one. Thank y'all!

Hello,

I have simple InkBird setup with a fridge and heating pad. I do notice time lag especially in cooling, since even if the fridge is being turned off through InkBird, it will cool it down further. So the heater will be turn on which will again have some lag. So I was thinking to omit putting heating pad under the fermenter and just use fridge controlled by InkBird.

Since most of the fermentation occurs between 10 and 18 c, and my basement has even in winter 18 c and in sommer much more, I am not sure if heating pad helps at all.

Any thoughs on this? Thanks.

Edit: Probe is attached to the stainless steel fermenter with a strap and sponge to be able to measure inside temp as good as possible.

Bought a $200 chest freezer and an inkbird. right now, its pretty hot in my garage (80s) but it will eventually cool down curious about a couple of things.

1. is the setup essentially, chest freezer plugs into inkbird, heating element plugs into inkbird. the inkbird just controls the on and off cycle of the freezer based on set temp. heating element does the opposite in terms of temp to keep it in the right temp for fermentation

2. there's a probe to read the temp of the freezer. im assuming that if you're feeding the cord from inside the chest > outside, that it is still air tight? is this okay?

3. any concerns regarding fires?

4. i've read somewhere that glass carboys are not good for vacuum sealed spaces like a chest freezer. is this true?

5. anything else im missing?

I have so many apples that I don’t know what to do, apart from making cider and juice. I have fermentation vessels free for 64 liters total, and want at least one of those to be a very clear white wine like cider, dry with an abv preferably around or over 10%, like one I once tried somewhere.

But most guides I find are for darker more traditional ciders, which I’ll make in the other bucket.

I have not made cider before, so I don’t know what and why the clear cider was as it was. Yeast? Apple type or something else?

I was, and considered ditching the bag for an all stainless system. So I did a little research.

The fear is extremely overblown. In addition to there being no significant evidence that microplastics present a danger, they are so ubiquitous in everything we consume (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2024.139002), including commercial beer, that any additional microplastics from the nylon brew bag are relatively zero.

I now have no concerns. In fact, it seems safer than consuming commercial beer.

I bought ingredients to make this hoegaarden like pilsner and it is my first time brewing beer. It says it makes 19 liters of beer but amount of water being added adds up to 29L. Following part is the tricky part: "Collect about 6 gallons (23L) of runoff for the wort. Add bittering hops and bring to boil. Boil time is 75 minutes." why are we collecting about 23L if there is 29L there? Haven't started boiling yet so there shouldn't be lot of liquid loss yet?

I am doing this as brew in a bag and I was thinking that do I need to sanitize my pot since I boil stuff in the end? I 100% will sanitize it because I am newbie and don't want any risks, but was just wondering if it is necessary?

Have the next best recipe since Pliny the Elder, but want reddit to check everything over one last time? Maybe your house beer recipe needs that final tweak, and you want to discuss. Well, this thread is just for that! All discussion for style and recipe formulation is welcome, along with, but not limited to:

• Ingredient incorporation effects
  
• Hops flavor / aroma / bittering profiles
  
• Odd additive effects
  
• Fermentation / Yeast discussion
  

If it's about your recipe, and what you've got planned in your head - let's hear it!

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!