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FAQ-Carboys and Glass Jugs

Question: How much fruit do I want to add to my beer?
Answer:

Fruit is becoming very popular to add to beer, and is not that difficult to work with. You can use fresh or frozen fruit for most beers. Most like to add the fruit to the wort with 15 minutes left of the boil. Then the fruit is kept in the primary fermenter for a week (unless otherwise noted). The amount of fruit used is relative to how much you want to taste the fruit in your beer. Here's a list of suggested quantities which can be tailored to suit your own taste. A few fruits you want to use fresh because they do not store in a freezer well. Fresh is usually the better way to go, but availability can dictate having to use frozen fruit. Don’t be afraid to experiment with the amounts depending on how much fruit flavor you want in your beer. Hint: Use a straining bag or muslin bag to hold the fruit. This way you end up with less mess to clean up in your fermenter....Click to Read full Answer

Question: How do I add fruit flavor to my beer?
Answer:

The addition of fruit to a beer has become more popular over the years as brewers have been trying to find different ways to impress their friends. Up until a few years ago, you never heard of a blueberry Stout, or raspberry wheat, but now there are several breweries making these types of beers. It might take a try or two to come up with the perfect combination, but the results can be very rewarding. Fruit Extract One of the easiest ways to add a fruit flavor to your beer is by the use of a fruit extract. Just like vanilla extract, fruit extract comes in liquid form and you just pour it into your beer. Real Fruit Some people like to use real fruit from their garden, or frozen works well too. Extracts are great from an ease of use standpoint, but they do represent the perfect flavor of a fruit....Click to Read full Answer

Question: What kinds of cleaning equipment does Midwest carry?
Answer:

We have several products to help you when it comes time to clean up your bottles, carboys and airlocks. The most common cleaning equipment we arm our customers with are the carboy brush, the bottle brush, and the jet bottle washer. The carboy brush is specially designed to scrub the hard-to-reach sides of your carboy. This feature is invaluable, especially when using glass carboys as your primary fermenter, as the krausen leaves a lot of proteins clinging to the sides. The bottle brush is exactly what you’ll need to prepare for bottling day. Finally, the jet bottle washer is a great way to rinse your bottles and carboys. You’ll need the optional faucet adapter if your faucet has internal threads. It carries a life-time guarantee and conserves water, too!...Click to Read full Answer

Question: My two carboys hit each other and broke. What can I do to prevent this?
Answer:

The 4-in-One Carboy Shield provides excellent protection against breakage. It will also protect your brew or wine from harmful light rays, heat and cold. Another alternative would be to make the move to Better Bottles, which are constructed of food grade plastic and are unbreakable....Click to Read full Answer

Question: What head space do I need in my secondary when making wine?
Answer:

You’ve got your wine transferred and are ready to add the metabisulphite to your wine. Head space becomes important after you have added the metabisulphite because you are killing the yeast. Up until now, your wine has been fermenting and that creates a CO2 layer over the wine. This CO2 layer protects the wine from oxidizing, and can help prevent bacteria from floating into the wine. CO2 isn’t much help from protecting the wine from bacteria, but it does help a little. Once you add metabisulphite the yeast starts to be killed off and you lose your CO2 layer. Now your wine is unprotected from oxidizing. You do want a small amount of air to contact the wine because this is what is going to help age the wine. A small amount of air will allow the wine to slowly oxidize, but it will also help the alcohol to mellow and the flavors to blend better. Wine makers get in trouble because they leave a large air gap during this stage, and all of a sudden they end up with a prune juice tasting wine. Not very appealing for most people....Click to Read full Answer

Question: Glass Carboy Secondary Fermenters
Answer:

Our 1, 3, 5, 6, and 6.5 gallon glass carboys are great, sanitary vessels for secondary fermentation and maturation of your wine, beer, meads, or other fermented beverages. They resist scratches and do not retain any flavors or odors. They are, also, more easily kept clean and sanitized than plastic fermenters. The 5 gallon carboy is a perfect secondary when used with our recipe kits or any 5 gallon wine kits. The #7 stopper or universal carboy bung work best in the 5 gallon carboy. The 6 gallon carboy uses the #6.5 stopper and is a perfect size for the Vintners’ Reserve and Selection Series wine kits. For a glass primary fermenter, the 6.5 gallon carboy gives sufficient head space for 5 gallon wine and beer batches....Click to Read full Answer

Question: What is two-stage fermentation and what are its advantages?
Answer:

It is fermenting by using two fermenters, instead of one, to make your beer. Most brewers will start in a plastic bucket, also called a primary. Then they will transfer the beer into a glass carboy, or secondary. So, why would you want to take this extra step? The main reason is for clarity. The main purpose of the secondary vessel is to facilitate the settling of the yeast and to allow the beer to age. This extra step will go a long way in helping with the clarity of your beer, and the flavor will improve as well. The flavor improves because a lot of that sediment can be bits of grain or hops, and that can leave an off flavor in your beer. So, if you are looking to make the best beer possible, you have to transfer the beer at least once....Click to Read full Answer

Question: How long can fermented beer remain in carboy without bottling or kegging?
Answer:

This is, again, an arguable question but I would not recommend leaving your beer in the secondary for more than a few months if you are bottling it. If you bottle after a solid month in the secondary, your beer will be very clear. Also beer ages faster in the bottle than it does in the carboy. Once it is bottled and conditioned it can be cold aged (lagered) for as long as you wish (almost) before consumption. Be aware that some styles of beer may be in carboy for up to a year for proper taste....Click to Read full Answer

Question: My rubber stopper is in my carboy, now what? Is my beer ruined? How do I get it out?
Answer:

RELAX. Everything's going to be just fine. This has happened once to just about everyone. -Fix another sanitized bung and airlock to the carboy and allow the primary fermentation to be completed. -Proceed to siphon it into a secondary like you normally would (if you are single stage fermenting then wait until fermentation is fully completed and then siphon to a bottling bucket and complete the bottling process. -Once the beer is in secondary or bottled you can dump and rinse out the trub that has collected at the bottom of the carboy with the bung in it. -Next invert the carboy and guide the trapped bung into the neck of the carboy so that it is as close to the opening as possible. -Then take a smaller screwdriver and insert it into the carboy opening and through the hole in the bung. -At this point it will serve you well to breathe deeply, remain calm, and BE PATIENT. -Once the screwdriver is through or at least up into the hole in the bung you can, in fulcrum fashion, CAREFULLY push the handle of the driver up against the lip of the carboy and force the carboy bung back out through the opening. Note: Please understand that this takes a little doing and you will need to be persistent and careful while doing it, but it does work. -After extricating the bung you can be fairly certain, by the very unpleasant nature of the whole experience, that you will not do that again!...Click to Read full Answer

Question: Approximately how long do you have to shake a 5 gallon carboy to get oxygen saturation (8ppm)?
Answer:

Shaking the carboy vigorously for 45 seconds will do it....Click to Read full Answer

Question: No activity in the airlock
Answer:

If it has been more than 3 days: -Make sure the lid is tightly secured to the bucket. If you are using a plastic bucket as a primary fermenter, about 75% of the time the beer is fermenting, but the lid isn't on tight so the CO2 created by fermentation is escaping through the leak rather than the airlock. -The next thing to check would be the gravity reading. If your reading has dropped from the original gravity reading, or the starting gravity reading our kits suggest, then fermentation has taken place....Click to Read full Answer

Question: My fermenter has blown the bung and airlock off, what now?
Answer:

If your airlock has blown off the primary fermenter there is no reason to worry, being that the rapidly escaping carbon dioxide gas is creating an upward draft, which is keeping atmospheric air (i.e. airborne microbes and wild yeast) out of the primary vessel and out of contact with your beer. Once discovering this, merely re-sanitize the bung and airlock and reposition it back on your fermenter. If the fermentation is still too rigorous then a blow-off tube can be attached in lieu of the bung and airlock. Your beer SHOULD NOT be thrown out, 9.9 out 10 times everything will turn out just fine. Read on for more information regarding possible explanations and solutions for your occurrence....Click to Read full Answer