Topic: Fermentation
Tasting Fermentation
MEMBERS ONLYShould you taste your beers throughout the brewing and fermentation process? The Wiz thinks so.
Hops for lambics
MEMBERS ONLYThe Wiz answers a question about brewing lambics at home.
Open Fermentations
MEMBERS ONLYThe Wizard weighs in on open fermentation at home.
Fermenting High Gravity Beers
FREEBigger may or may not be better, but it’s a fact that high gravity beers don’t follow all the fermentation rules. Find out how to handle the big numbers.
Controlling Fermentation Temperature
FREEControlling the temperature of your fermentations is one of the best ways to improve the quality of your beers; we’ll show you how — from low-tech tricks to high-tech equipment.
Ferment in a Cornelius Keg
FREEFor those of you that keg your homebrew, chances are you’ve got at least one Cornelius keg sitting empty at any given time. Why not put them to good use as primary and/or secondary fermenters? And for those that don’t keg but are considering it in the future, picking up a keg or two for fermenting is a great way to start building up the equipment you’ll need for a kegerator. Used Cornelius kegs cost about $30 to $40, and with about $10 more in fittings and tubing you can have a 5-gallon (19-L) stainless steel fermenting vessel. The advantages of using a keg are that it’s light-tight, has built-in handles for easy transport and if you have a kegerator you can use your CO2 system to rack the beer in a completely closed environment with no siphoning.
Open Fermentation: Tips from the Pros
MEMBERS ONLYOllie Lagomarsino (Anchor), David Geary (D.L. Geary) and Steve Dresler (Sierra Nevada) open up about open fermentations.
Fermentability
MEMBERS ONLYYour beer’s final gravity is determined by the fermentability of the wort and the action of the yeast. Find out how to control these factors in your homebrews.
Racking to a secondary fermenter
MEMBERS ONLYPersonally, I like to minimize the number of times wort and beer are transferred because with each transfer there is a risk of damaging the beer either by contamination or oxidation. I, like most brewers these days, use cylindroconical fermenters and the only time the beer is typically moved is after fermentation — either en
Fermenting Belgian-Style Beers
FREEBelgian yeasts are different than other ale yeasts and the author of "Brew Like a Monk" teaches us how to tame these wild beasts and brew heavenly Belgian-inspired beers at home.
Fermentation Temperature Control: Tips from the Pros
FREETwo pros discuss the highs and lows of temperature control during fermentation.
Delayed Yeast Pitching
MEMBERS ONLYThis is a question deserving a brief answer! I think you are on the right track wanting to have your lager fermentations timed where you can use the same lagering schedule. I strongly discourage you, however, to delay pitching the first batch for an entire day because that is a recipe for a potential bacterial