Answering Your TOP 10 HOMEBREWING QUESTIONS in Detail!

[@richardguernsey908]

The off flavor question: I have seen that people don't really brew the same recipe in iteration enough to find out if the recipe or the fermentation is at fault. Excellent video!

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

This is true! Thats the best way to narrow down a root cause.

[@renegade6747]

I hope to see more FAQ videos. I been watching for years and finally decided to try my hand at home brewing. Thanks again for the years of knowledge you have posted.

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

Really glad to hear that people enjoy this idea, I will start collecting more to do another one!

[@RegicideBrewing]

good Q&A here. I usually recommend people start with extract kits to see if they like brewing. Then if they do, I would usually recommend a brew in a bag. If they still stick with the hobby, I then recommend moving forward with more expensive equipment and what not. Extract kits tend to be a great intro to brewing.

[@FermentationAdventures]

Great info! I’m amazed by the people who buy a new Spike 3 vessel system having never brewed before. It does happen.

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

I know! Thats so much money to throw at something that might not work out

[@michaelfeeley4351]

Lol the “if you’re still with us” at the end had me chuckling. I’m both among the living and love your videos 👍🏻

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

Thanks for watching!

[@FrankGenoBruno]

As a owner of a Anvil Foundry, I highly recommend it. Easy to use!

[@TheBruSho]

Great topics and great video!

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

Thank you Trent!

[@Erik_Swiger]

1. Pitch more, pitch cooler, ferment cooler - makes perfect sense 2. Spent yeast absorbs off-flavors, but you still remove trub, right? So it happens more in the secondary? 3. Adding fruit to beer, using stabilizers, that's new to me, I'd like to hear more, please

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

The yeast metabolizing early off flavors really happens with the yeast still distributed in the beer moreso than the trub sludge so that doesn't really matter if you dump trub. As far as stabilizing its pretty straightforward. You add potassium metabisulfite and potassium sorbate to stob the yeast from reproducing and then you can add fruit to the secondary without worrying about extra fermentation.

[@kb2vca]

@@TheApartmentBrewer OK but as a wine maker, I know that if you stabilize with K-meta and K-sorbate, you cannot bottle or keg prime but you must force carbonate. That may not be a problem for many brewers but anyone who is unfamiliar with how stabilizing works may not be familiar with the fact that it prevents any - any additional yeast activity - which also means that you cannot simply pitch more yeast with the added sugars...

[@beeroquoisnation]

Good video Apartment . Some of these suggestions I wouldn't have any reference for, as I have never tried them. Things like nuances of Kwiek. Well rounded and informative. There is something for everybody in this production. Cheers.

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

Glad you appreciated the video, cheers!

[@perrymattes4285]

Always like your advice I went down a rabbit hole when i started and built everything myself. I do brew in a bag with a variable pressure fermentor. Of my own design.

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

Thats awesome!

[@twiliteturtle495]

As an addendum to the off-flavour question...my advice is before you start troubleshooting your fermentation as to why your beer tastes like X...LEAVE IT THE HELL ALONE and store it for a couple of weeks. A lot of what people perceive as fault will age out nicely, especially in anything with ABVs above the 6% spectrum. Of the three best beers I ever brewed, two were decidedly mediocre a week after fermentation finished and the other was nearly a chuck job that was fixed with six months on Brett Brux. Be. Patient.

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

1000% agree! Time heals most wounds

[@cmcurran5]

I recently had a beer get something in it and mold formed. Definitely wasn’t very careful during dry hopping. I had to try it just to learn more about off flavors.

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

Its never fun when that happens but hopefully you can avoid that happening in the future!

[@terryt-rexhanke746]

Thanks! Lots of good info here!

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

Glad to help!

[@losdaghost7688]

Great info as always!

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@codyhvac6067]

When I started I wish I would have gotten a bigger boil kettle. Now I need to upgrade to do bigger beers and bigger batches.

[@afhostie]

How big do you mean?

[@codyhvac6067]

@@afhostie I should have stated I’m a BIAB brewer. I have an 8 gallon kettle that came in a kit. Which works fine but it gets sketchy mashing in a big beer and I’d like to start doing 10gallon batches of my staple brews. So 15-20 would be great.

[@curtpick628]

Good answers Steve. Here's one for you. If you weren't given the Clawhammer system, would you pay the price since it's on the higher side for the type of system it is, and competition is less for the same system? Don't get me wrong. I think it looks like a wonderful system.

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

I honestly think I would. It is competitive in its tier of EBIAB systems and still costs less than similar systems like the spike solo/blichmann breweasy compact/brewtools. I say that because I dont think the anvil foundry/brewzilla are really in the same tier since they are more all-in-one solutions, plus the clawhammer 240V is 5500W which is no joke.

[@kommi1974]

Distilled water is literally cheaper everywhere in Portland, OR. I get it for $1.25/G. Spring water runs $1.75 or more.

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

You have it lucky!!

[@lafamillecarrington]

Great tip to hold off pitching the yeast until the temperature is below the fermentation temperature. I'll definitely be trying that on my next brewday.

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

It's cheap insurance!

[@tommanning7337]

Very cool man!!! 😎👍🏻👍🏻🍺🍺🍺🍺

[@nrhurley117]

I won a statewide brewing contest with my NEIPA in June. Had to put that “can you brew a great NEIPA on basic brewing equipment” convo we had in the comments to the test.

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

Congratulations!!!

[@jt4180]

I use a tilt in every batch. They are never accurate for FG. I only use it to track fermentation & know when it’s done. My final readings come from an Anton Paar Easy Dens. I would of liked to hear you talk about whirlpool. You make it seem so easy. Your transfer to fermenter seem so clean. You never seem to have any issues. Most of my troubles are during the whirlpool. I have the ClawHammer 5 gallon system with their new whirlpool arm. It will not create a cone. I have to use a filter (that clogs) when transferring to fermenter. It also considerably reduces the flow rate through the pump/exhilarator. I’ve tried to whirlpool many different ways & I always seem to have trouble. I’m to the point now where I don’t believe it’ll ever work properly in a single infusion unit. It’s been a little frustrating, I’ll probably go back to using a hop filter/basket. Your videos always skip over the details in this area. Any tips?

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

The easydens is a phenomenal tool! As far as the whirlpool, are you turning the pump OFF after you whirlpool it for a however long you are? The cone will never form if the pump is always running.

[@jt4180]

@@TheApartmentBrewer I’ll whirlpool for 10-15 minutes then turn the pump off & let it settle for 10 minutes. When I transfer to fermenter, the first gallon or so is always full of hops. I’ll usually filter this out through a strainer. I’ve never been able to form a good cone with the 5 gallon system.

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

Hmm that's basically the same process I use. Not sure if it's a bazooka screen that you use but that may actually be messing with the cone forming in the kettle center. I got rid of that to keep the flow rate high. Still have yet to clog that pump. I'd also look into making sure the whirlpool arm is staying tangential to the kettle and not pointing inward

[@jt4180]

@@TheApartmentBrewer I don’t use the bazooka screen. Yeah, ClawHammers new whirlpool arm does have a lot of play/wiggle room. As soon as you turn on the pump it moves to wherever it wants. I’ll have to rig something up to hold it in place so it’s not pointing towards the middle and give it another shot.

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

I usually wedge it next to the thermowell to help it stay in place. Good luck!

[@markgarner9832]

Good video, thanks.

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@alexbaumgartner441]

Just had a beer where the FG according to Tilt was 1.016 and wasn't going down, checked with an ordinary hydrometer and the actual FG was 1.010

[@kommi1974]

Those Tilts are garbage. Unreliable and just a gimmick. Nothing beats a hydrometer.

[@TheChemicalOli]

Good one! I appreciate especially the honest advice to beginners. Even if ur sponsors may not appreciate as well…

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

They'll be just fine haha. Don't want people to spend ludicrous amounts of money on something they may not enjoy

[@nerdaccount]

What is the expensive doodad did you buy and it really made a difference?

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

Gonna have to go with the Anton Paar EasyDens/SmartRef. I can't quite describe how much more convenient it is to take measurements and track fermentation

[@adamgorka368]

look, im gonna be honest: you rule, steve

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

Thanks man, you rule too!

[@benjacobs3820]

Do you have any good tips on cold crashing? Especially for those not able to pressure ferment!

[@cmcurran5]

Depends on your fermentation vessel. When i was using buckets I bought a cheap mini fridge. When my fermenters got bigger I found a cheap refrigerator

[@benjacobs3820]

How did you stop the oxygen being sucked back in through the airlock when the beer cooled down? I've tried the balloon trick, but it wasn't very successful!

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

If the balloon trick isn't working for you I would honestly say don't even bother with cold crashing, it's not worth the oxidation risk if you're not set up for it. If you are kegging, just transfer to a keg and it will cold crash in the keg. If not, let your bottles store cold after carbonating until they clarify.

[@natsellar8982]

I've been told by professional brewers that a refractometer won't give an accurate reading after fermentation. It's only good for measuring your wort. Is that true?

[@williamcaddy1386]

The SG/Brix readings on a refractometer only accurately correspond to the actual (hydrometer) values when alcohol is not present. After fermentation has started, you can take readings using a refractometer, however those values will need to be adjusted using a refractometer calculation, most brewing websites and brewing apps will do this calculation for you.

[@benjacobs3820]

I made that mistake when I first got a refractometer. I wondered why everyone was getting so hammered off my 3% beers!

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

This is correct, the presence of alcohol will skew the readings and you'll need to convert. Some digital refractometers will actually do this for you though so that is another option.

[@afhostie]

I've had no issues getting distilled water at Walmart for very cheap

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

Depends on where you live, that is definitely not the case for me.

[@minhlouis3750]

Even though the water where i live is good for saisons and hefes (lol), i still hooked up a RO system. I think most homebrewer's suffer from brewer's paranoia, you don't need much apart from the fundamentals to brew good beer.

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

That's very true!

[@Sibula]

I wish it was that hard to get infected.... Most of my brews so far have been infected, mostly by pediococcus I think, no matter how well I try to clean and sanitize everything. I'm starting to think it might be the plastic fermenters even if they don't seem to be scratched.

[@raymondtele]

That’s terrible and must be very frustrating. Even if you aren’t 100% sure, if your beer is chronically infected get rid off of anything plastic, like buckets, tubbing, siphons, etc, and get new everything. Metal gear must be broken down, clean well with PBW and then treated with boiling water to kill everything. Valves are tricky though, just get new ones. It’s painful, but necessary. Good luck!

[@Sibula]

@@raymondtele Thanks, yeah, I pretty much just have the plastic fermenters and a siphon, the rest is stainless. One thing I've considered is the tap on my AIO, but I've brushed it with PBW as well as I could each time and ran the 5 liters of PWB water through it after circulation cleaning the pump in it. I really hope swapping the fermenters will do the trick, luckily it's only like 30€ for two plus another 10€ or so for a new siphon.

[@GREEENZO]

@@Sibulaif it’s a ball valve, definitely take it apart and soak it for 4 hours or overnight in hot PBW, then rinse well, then sanitize for at least 30 seconds (Starsan needs 30 seconds of contact time which people seem to forget). Critters can definitely hide in the crevices of ball valves. Hot wort SHOULD sanitize everything the wort touches but it isn’t unheard of for that to be a source of infection

[@Sibula]

@@GREEENZO I'll try that next brewday, thanks

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

I think this was pretty well answered above, I would still guess its on your cold side. Not sure how you're chilling but if you use a plate or counterflow chiller this could be a potential source as well.

[@jamesjobe4307]

Question: How long can you store/refrigerate your bottled beer before it gets "skunky"?

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

If refrigerated you can get many months to years out of them if they have been packaged properly.

[@leroygross9144]

Do you butter using yeast Nutrient?🤔

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

Not exactly sure what youre asking here...

[@leroygross9144]

You do know wyeast beer Nutrient blend, I'm wondering if you ever use any or any kind of yeast Nutrients at all?

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

I do use wyeast beer nutrient as a yeast nutrient in every brew

[@-Spasser-]

How long would a keg Last after you intruduce it 2 co2 Thinking 5 gallons off beer take more than a week to kill So Can draft systems. Make sense '

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

If you are careful about your packaging and you don't expose it to oxygen during packaging or after, theoretically a keg can last as long as a bottle.

It is very simple, and affordable to distill your own water.

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

True, but it also takes a very long time

[@charlespartak2435]

Ive got a question for you. Im subscribed to your channel. I have watched your monk beer vids. Have you ever tried harvesting yeast from a bottle of chimay ?

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

I haven't tried harvesting yeast from any bottle yet but it's an interesting idea!

[@askaryambus]

Mold, yeast, bacteria, micro organism... any germophobes or hypochondriacs in the crowd? 🙃 Thank you for posting tho!

[@GREEENZO]

Only thing to be afraid of is boiling liquids honestly!

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

Microorganisms make beer what it is!

[@theimpatientbrewer]

I'm always still there at the end of the videos. I have learnt so much from watching your videos.

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

I appreciate you!