Hi everyone,

I just wanted to share a little personal project I've been working on called Hopularity. Essentially a beer hop analytics app, mainly focused on hop combinations in commercially available beer, but can be used for all sorts of other insights as well.

I created this for myself but feel it may be useful to others as well, so thought I'd share it and see what other homebrewers think about it (it's free, no sign up required etc).

The back end reference data has been compiled by myself, manually, no AI scraping etc so the data is good. Over 1600 beers so far and growing as fast as I can find them and add them.

Some more info about it here https://www.biralleebrewing.com/2025/08/introducing-hopularity-beer-hop.html

Or go straight to the app https://hopularity.vercel.app/

Constructive feedback welcome/appreciated.

If you know of any breweries who publish the hops used in their beers (that I haven't already included) or if you run a commercial brewery and wish to contribute to the project by submitting the hops used in your beers, you can email me at [peter@biralleebrewing.com](mailto:peter@biralleebrewing.com)

Cheers

Have you ever tried this yeast for big beer? I wonder should I ferment it at the lower end of recommended fermentation temperature or at middle. I heard this yeast might produce a lot of esters that I would like to avoid

I've ordered some basic home brewing kit, including a ciderworks superior cider. Yummy.

I will post results here, but for now a couple of little questions for this beginner.

I bought a 10l polypin. I assume that, after first fermentation, I can siphon off from sediment and then keep it still, with 10l going to the polypin, and the rest being primed as usual for bottles?

Also, some kits come with flavouring. Why? Is this normal in the industry? I sort of imagined you just ferment the apple juice and be done with it. If you wanted a bit more apple flavour, I guess you could prime with a litre of sweet apple juice from the store (assuming no preservatives, of course!).

Wish me luck!

Hi, I tried looking at the FAQ but couldn't find what I wanted. I'm a beginner and have some questions.

I currently want to make wine/mead from fruit, I did all the research and there are still some things I don't understand.

How much time should I let the drink ferment? At first I thought it was like a week but then I saw that some places say to wait three weeks or more. Also, are yeast nutrients necessary? I don't know which ones to use or how to use them. Also, do I need to add potassium metabisulfite to the drink itself?

I also learned that you can carbonate the drink after it has been fermented, how do I do it? In which container? I don't want to spend money on a soda stream bottle, does a flip top bottle work? A capped bottle?

I think these are all of my question, I'd appreciate your answers!

My DIY kegerator has been in service for about 11 years now. I put it together the first year I was employed full time with a salary. It has been stickered with every brewery and cool business from across many travels. Two evenings ago, I put a sixtel in it and noticed it wasn't cooling at all and made zero noise. Occasionally, I would hear a light hum and a click. Can anyone take a look and let me know if they think this is salvageable or if she's done for good?

https://imgur.com/gallery/6BpLIM1 (see smaller second picture for the guts)

I figured I would have to upgrade eventually, but I just dumped a lot of money into other projects. I'm not an electrician but have done some light wiring, so I'm not completely inept but will need guidance if there is a potential fix. I would love to squeeze a few more years out of this thing if possible. It has been from the midwest to the east coast to the mountain west. Help!

Edit: Added a photo with the model of the fridge and wiring diagram, just in case it's helpful.

At least if it's kveik yeast, it won't care. I had an open package of kveik yeast (in a vaccum sealed bag at least) that I half used early last year (expiration june 2024). It's been sitting in a fridge drawer since then.

A few hours after pitching and it was already chewing away at the sugars. This video was less than 24 hours later.

https://imgur.com/a/4pxpDCw

You've had a week, what's your situation report?

Feel free to include recipes, stories or any other information you'd like.

Post your sitrep here!

What I Did Last Week:

Primary:

Secondary:

Bottle Conditioning/Force Carbonating:

Kegs/Bottles:

In Planning:

Active Projects:

Other:

Include recipes, stories, or any other information you'd like.

**Tip for those who have a lot to post**: Click edit on your post from a [past Sitrep Monday!](https://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/search/?q=Sitrep%20Monday&restrict_sr=1).

I have a BrewBuilt Icemaster 100 that I got 5 years ago (for $175 scratch and dent at MoreBeer!) and that has served me very well. But unfortunately it recently has developed a slow leak. I don't know where the leak is on the inside of the reservoir, but I see it dripping out from around the temp controller at the bottom corner.

I can't say that I didn't get my money's worth, but it still would be really nice to repair this rather than drop $800-$1200 on a new one.

Anyone have any good suggestions for how I can find the leak, and then seal it? It must be very small, since it's a slow drip.

Hello everyone,

I've been homebrewing for the past 6 months using a Northern Brewer 1 gallon kit and extract recipe kits with specialty grains. I want to start brewing 5 gallon batches and start making all-grain recipes too. What extra equipment will I need aside from a 5 gallon carboy/bucket and pot? How do y'all normally boil a 5 gallon pot? I don't think my kitchen stove is big enough for that. And what stuff do I need to start making all-grain recipes?

Also, are 2.5 gallon recipes common? 5 gallons might be a bit too much for me but I do want to scale up.

I already own a hydrometer, bottling wand, and some tubing, but I know I need to get a racking cane for siphoning.

Hey all-

I was able to chill my wort down to ~75 degrees using a wort chiller but even when I added in cold water the temp of the wort stayed about the same in the fermenter. I was too worried about letting the wort sit for too long so I pitched the yeast with the wort at 75 degrees. Is that going to royally screw up my beer or should it be OK? I kept reading conflicting on different forums so I made the call to pitch the yeast.

TIA for any answers/advice.

I’m brand spankin’ new to home brewing but I’d love some tips on something simple and relatively quick to get started.

I love dark beers, lagers, wine (which I know takes a very long time) and mead. I’d also love to make a weak spirit out of juice of some sort. Any tips are much appreciated!

Anybody ever see these 2-level O-rings from inside my disconnects? They are silicone but wearing down and no longer reliably seal. The picture shows the connector and O-ring but not the hose barb end which screws together.

If I can’t get new o-rings I’ll just have to buy new disconnects and that’s frustrating and wasteful.

These came from homebrewstuff.com maybe 15 years ago? Those guys now don’t have any info.

This forum is not letting me link a photo to this post so it is in the comment. Annoying. sorry.

Looking for some advice from stout brewers. I’m a long time home brewer but never made a stout before.

She’s finished fermenting and I’m leaving on the yeast cake at 16 celcius for a few more days for any off flavour clean up.

Tasted today and although gravity is 1.022 it’s definitely lacking sweetness to offset hops and the roasted malts. Current end of the flavour profile is bitter coffee, quite astringent. Drinkable but not that pleasant.

Questions I have for those with experience

Could this round out over 3 months or so conditioning in keg?

If not would you back sweeten now with lactose on transfer to the keg or wait until it’s had its 3 months, taste again and then back sweeten in the keg? I can do this without risk of oxygen exposure.

Any other recommendations?

Thanks all.

Hello,

I brewed a Rochefort 10 clone using the Candi syrup recipe on my Anvil 10.5 system (240V).

I am slowly learning and based on feedback provided by this great community last week, realized that Candi syrup recipes have 75% brewhouse efficiency targets. So this time around I loaded it in Brewfather app to scale it down to what I thought was a reasonable efficiency target of ~65% and for a 3.5 gallon batch (never package the whole 5 gallon and figure it would be less grain), which aligned with the default equipment value.

I followed all the recipe steps to a T (I think): - Only addition to grain bill was 1lb of rice hulls - Put 6.18 gallon of water and set temp at 150* F - Dropped my grains in the vessel and settled at 148* F for 60min - Recirculated using the Anvil pump and the screen on top. Also restricted the flow a bit as I saw previously suggested - Every 10-15’ I lifted the metal grain basket to facilitate recirculation and stirred my grain to move it around - I didn’t do a sparge but did a mash out at 170* F for 10-15min (took a few to ramp up to that temp) - Finally removed the grain basket and let it drain for 10min while my temp ramped to my boil. I collected further drip water in a bucket and threw it later in my boil - Boiled for 60min at 212 (vigorous boil at 100% power) with my 60min and 15min hop addition - Finally dropped in my syrup at flame out.

All good and well until the end of my brew day when I took my OG reading at 68* F of only 1.080, which according to Brewfather is an efficiency of only 52%.

While I know the more important part is to be consistent (I’ll scale my recipe for 55% going forward) I’d still like to at least hit 60-65% eventually as (a) it will reduce my grain bill (b) will reduce the overflow risk on my system (always worried that 12-15lb of grain almost displaces all the water).

Question for fellow anvil owners - what should I explore doing to improve my efficiency? What steps did I miss? Is that 60* efficiency default a mirage on brewer friends?

I read here before that grain crush fineness plays a big role but I’m getting my grain shipped and crushed by the big online suppliers and don’t have tons of controls here (unless I buy a grain crusher).

The link provides printscreen of the recipe I followed, my targets in Brewfather app and my readings after brew day.

https://imgur.com/a/Nya1UMK

Edit: here is my batch details - https://share.brewfather.app/j2y4q8XptqED2u

Hi, noob question here

Just finished my second ever mash yesterday and took a sample to measure the OG before pitching the yeast. Wort has cooled to room temp (21°c). The issue is: I cant tell if it reads 1,044 or 1,046 due to liquid surface tension… am I doing something wrong or we are supposed to eyeball it?

Btw the recipe is a belgian pale ale

https://imgur.com/a/q9lwy7n

Hi all

Wondering when the correct time is to take preboil gravity readings for a partial mash? I mash out and sparge. Normally this is when i take my preboil gravity for all grain. On partial mash do I add my extract and other fermentables then take the preboil reading?

Does anyone have a good recco for wine fridge that fits a 3 gallon carboy w/ airlock?

Hey everyone,

I’ve got a shotgun condenser already (from some distilling gear) and was wondering if I can just use that as a steam condenser for brewing instead of buying a Brewzilla steam condenser or Steam Slayer (spray type condensers).

I read somewhere that spray condensers might actually work better because they cool the steam a bit more and create some negative pressure, which is supposed to be a good thing? Not sure if that’s true or just overthinking it.

Has anyone here tried using a shotgun condenser for steam? Does it work fine, or is there a reason the spray ones are better?

Just trying to avoid buying extra gear if I don’t really need it. Any tips or experiences would be awesome!

Cheers

I have 3 carboys that have developed a white film after fermentation. Is this a pellicle?

Is there any way of fixing it? I have more apples to juice tomorrow and I can add more to leave less oxygen / start fermentation again.

https://imgur.com/a/tL942yv

I made cider with my parents last year with apples from their allotment and they're now excitedly sending me updates on this year's apple progress. My mum (who has the patience of a toddler) however, is trying to work out ways to use every single apple as some are ripe now but most won't be ready until October. We only have the equipment, space, and ability to coordinate the logistics for 1 batch so there's no chance of doing some now and some later.

My only idea would be for them to pick and juice the apples and either freeze the juice as it is, or boil it down to a more concentrated form and freeze that. Then when they visit, the frozen juice can be thawed and added to the rest. Is there any reason in particular why that wouldn't work?

Any other ideas?

[BREW SLAM 2025 - Toronto, ON]

https://www.gtabrews.ca/2025/08/brew-slam-2025-entry-registration-open/

Entry Registration Opens: Aug 22, 2025

Entry Deadline: Oct 18, 2025, 4:00 PM

Judging Dates: Oct 24 - 26, 2025

GTA Brews is excited to announce that registration is now open for our eighth annual nation-wide homebrew competition for beer, mead, and cider: Brew Slam 2025 (#BrewSlam)!

#BrewSlam is Canada’s largest homebrew competition, with hundreds of entrants from Canada and the USA. We can't wait to build on 2024's massive success (https://www.gtabrews.ca/brew-slam/brew-slam-2024-results/). That competition saw 552 entries from 140 entrants representing 8/10 provinces, judged by 60 judges over just 3 days, which made it the largest homebrew competition in Canada!

As of Aug 22nd, we have already secured over $10,500 in prizes from our fabulous sponsors (https://www.gtabrews.ca/brew-slam/2024-sponsors-prizes/). We expect this will increase significantly over the next few weeks leading up to the competition. We also have a brand new medal design to present to the winners!

To make this competition a success we need as many judges and stewards as possible. Please visit our Volunteer page (https://www.gtabrews.ca/brew-slam/volunteer) to learn what is involved and for instructions on how to sign up.

Don't forget to follow GTA Brews on Facebook and Instagram for the latest updates!

Competition Homepage: https://www.gtabrews.ca/brew-slam/

#BrewSlam #homebrew #gtabrews #toronto #bjcp

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!

I brewed a lime gose that I bottled ~6 months ago and it’s just… not very good. I didn’t bottle it before my move and I think the airlock failed during transport. The 3 bottles I’ve had all taste heavily oxidized. I don’t want to dump these due to waste but I really can’t see myself finishing this batch. At what point do you folks normally give up on a batch?

What effects would it have?