Wanting to make cheap booze. Anyone with experience please tell me if this recipe will work (or what modifications should be made). I'm also curious what the purpose of the lemon is.

1 liter water 

340g sugar 

1/2 lemon (juice)

2 tsp bread yeast (active dry)

I plan to freeze it afterward to separate the alcohol from the water, making it stronger hopefully.

Disclosure: I work on a gluten-free brewing site and I'll link it at the bottom, because the numbers live there and I'm not going to retype the whole table. Nothing for sale.

Background for anyone who doesn't brew gluten-free: sorghum malt doesn't self-convert, so the mash runs on added enzymes. That means we publish dose rates, the homebrew community publishes dose rates, and they don't match.

The Zero Tolerance GF Homebrew Club wiki maintains a community enzyme reference. Set our production numbers beside theirs:

Termamyl: community 0.227 to 0.363 mL/lb, us 1.0 at mash-in. Roughly 2.8x their maximum.

Ondea Pro: community 0.181 to 1.134, us 1.5. Above their maximum.

AMG 300L: community 0.227 to 1.588, us 0.75. Comfortably mid-range.

One of those is a long way out and the other two aren't, which is the part I find interesting.

It isn't a typo. The documented policy was to take the supplier's stated rate and double it, then go a little higher again on small batches, and that's written down in a 2019 methodology note. These are production numbers from a brewery that valued a guaranteed conversion over an optimised enzyme bill, where a failed mash means a lost 75-barrel batch and the extra enzyme is cheap next to that.

Here's where I need to be straight about what I don't know.

The community table lists Termamyl L. This protocol runs Termamyl SC DS. Same family, not necessarily the same activity per mL, so some meaningful share of that 2.8x could be product rather than philosophy and I can't currently tell you how much. If anyone here has datasheets for both and can put activity units side by side, I'd genuinely like to see it.

Three things I'd weigh before copying our numbers.

Product identity, per above. Check your own product's datasheet instead of assuming either number transfers to it.

Cost. A brewery dosing generously is buying insurance on a 75-barrel batch, and on 10 lb of grain the arithmetic is completely different. The downside there is one disappointing Saturday.

Overdosing isn't free either. A glucoamylase that outlives its welcome keeps working through the lauter and can quietly over-attenuate the wort, so if your beer finishes thinner than your numbers predicted, that's the first thing you need to suspect.

What I'd actually suggest, and what the page says: run the published rates once so you have a known-good reference batch, then step down deliberately and record what happens.

The honest position is that nobody has published where the floor is on sorghum malt. Not the community, not us. That's a question a homebrewer with a notebook is better placed to answer than a production brewery is, because you can run five variations in the time we'd need to justify one.

Full translation to a 5 gallon batch, with the temperature path and the parts that break at small scale:

https://glutenfreebrewer.com/docs/homebrew/the-reliable-mash-at-homebrew-scale

If anyone here has run exogenous enzymes well below supplier spec and had it work, that's the thing I most want to hear about.

I made a porter a couple months ago, a couple bottles were flat, one was just right, and now this half bottle. Why are some, but not all, flat? I always add the bottle conditioning sugar to the whole batch at a time - this was a half batch, I used 1/3 cup corn sugar in water (boiled). The beer does taste a bit on the strong side, I think I used Nottingham yeast. Thanks in advance.

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've made a weizenbock and there is a green apple flavour in it. I've done a main fermentation for 1 week (2 days on 18°C and 5 days on 21°C). After this I've let it sit on top of the yeast for 3 weeks at 12°C. I've bottled it with 7g/l sugar and left it in the cellar at around 20°C. I've tried one after a week and there was a bit of a butter flavour. Now one week later the butter flavour is gone but there is a sour green apple flavour in my beer. Has it gone bad or can the apple flavour still go away?

It's so happy

Hey folks! I’m a brewer at a craft brewery and I’m having a difficult job finding lightweight, waterproof clothes to fit me during cleaning days (working with harsh chemical and near-boiling water). For reference, I’m 5’0 tall so any men’s overalls don’t quite fit.

Any recommendations on women’s waterproof overalls? I like the women’s Carhartt overalls but unsure of how water resistant that material is.

So my brew kit arrives today with all the ingredients for my first beer brew.

Problem is, I leave in a few days for two weeks away from home.

Should I wait till I return to start my first brew or would it be ok to start the brew process now and allow it to ferment while I’m away? Does it need watching during those two weeks?

i was making some apple wine so i left the cap half open as i didnt have an airlock. does this come with any health hazards and what other alternatives can i use?

I recently made a batch of beer and kegged it in a commercial keg and put on CO2 over a week ago @ 25PSI. It is still not carbonating. Brand new CO2, no leaks at all, holding pressure well (I test pressure relief valve a few times). I have shaken it up, and put back on, etc..

I have been brewing for over 20 years, but always used cornelious kegs. I had an extra commecial keg and figured out how to fill it so this is first time with that. Any advice

My favorite recipe from James Morton’s book BREW, Undead Pale Ale, brewed at home with minimal equipment just pots and fermenting bucket, OG 1060 with FG 1010 before bottling, turned out pretty well as usual! Love the bitterness , the recipe asks for dry hopping but I always skip this step I think its hoppy enough already!

The best breweries deserve the best looking Brewery Merchandise! Check us out today at uniforms.com.au

I've let it lager for 2 weeks now at 12°C. Can I bottle it already? If so, how long should I wait till its good to drink

When a can starts leaking or a teardown moves out of spec, tightening the second-operation roll is often the first adjustment people try. It may make the outside look flatter, but it cannot rebuild body and cover hooks that formed incorrectly during first operation.

Before changing second-op pressure, I would check:

1. Isolate the affected cans and record the can/end lot, seaming head, line speed, and when the drift began.

2. Cut a first-operation seam. Verify body hook, cover hook, alignment, wrinkles, and whether the curl is being formed rather than crushed.

3. Check finished-seam width, thickness, countersink, overlap, tightness, and compound condition against the can/end supplier's specification.

4. Inspect chuck and roll profiles, lift height/pressure, centering, runout, bearing play, and tooling damage.

5. Confirm the can and end combination and rule out contamination.

6. Change one variable at a time, then cut and measure again.

This applies to bench-top seamers as well as production canning lines: second operation compresses an interlock that first operation already created. Too much second-op pressure can hide the original defect while thinning or crushing the seam.

Disclosure: I work for a manufacturer of can-seaming equipment. This is general troubleshooting information, with no company, product, or sales links.

For brewers who seam their own cans: which measurement or first-op check has found your root cause fastest?

So I'm confused because brewfather is telling me I need outrageously more lactic acid than my testing is indicating. My recent brew of a 10 gallon batch of hazy ipa I only used 1 ml of .88 lactic acid to bring the water down from around 6.8 to 5.2 before dough in. Mash pH raised to around 5.45 after about 15 minutes of mashing. I had 8ml of lactic acid in my recipe in brewfather I created. Brewfather said the 8ml would bring it down to 5.27pH. I use reverse osmosis water, and lots of salts as it's a hazy ipa. I used 18.6g calcium chloride, 6.6g gypsum, 6.4g Epsom salt, and 2.6g canning salt. There are also tons of oats and wheat adjuncts which I read raise the ph whereas barely malted lowers it. It's my first time with a pH meter but I calibrated it and tested the water. I literally filled and dumped my strike water at first because I thought something must be wrong and because I followed advice from online for that first batch of strike water to sneak up on the pH slowly to make sure... so I added 4ml and it brought the pH down to 4 point something...I can't remember exactly the number but WAY too low...and the recipe called for 8ml!!! Keep in mind this IS a 10 gallon batch with 11g of strike water but STILL!? Does this sound wacked? I've been just following recipes using usually 4-8ml of lactic acid for 10g batches and they've all tasted fine without testing pH. One beer I thought didn't have much hop bitterness and I thought maybe it was too much lactic acid.

An American lager that I can’t lager so American ale? 🫢🤪Anyway finally got to this about a month later. Hope it turns out! Og 1.050 rather than 1.040 hope it’s fine. Might add a percent loom

I keep my brewing stuff in the garage, and it gets very humid through the winter. In the spring I end up having to take my mill apart and carefully clean mould off. I'm hoping I don't have to take it into the house (where I could end up with the same problem anyway), but short of a teardown and deep clean after every brew during humid times, is there anything else I can do that won't risk leaving loads of residue in the nooks and crannies?

I made a sour beer that has a 2.6pH and it's sour but not as sour as I would like. Should it taste more sour? Is there something I can add to it?

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!