This is the show where we take YOUR questions about homebrew and craft beer as well as interview fellow homebrewers and industry professionals! If you have a question that you’d like for us to discuss on a future episode, please call our hotline @ 325-305-6017 and leave a voicemail message after the beep. More info and resources can be found at www.HomebrewHappyHour.com
Transporting a fermenting batch, does trub affect your hydrometer reading, calibrating an electric system, & using a clean but unsanitized keg – Ep. 245
Sep 02, 2021
Show notes
Howdy, Homebrewer!
Welcome back to another jam-packed episode of our Homebrew Happy Hour podcast… the podcast where we answer all of your home brewing questions and discuss anything related to craft beer!
A SUBTLE REMINDER:
If you appreciate the things we do here at Homebrew Happy Hour, consider joining our Trub Club! Not only will you be supporting our efforts, but you’ll also receive exclusive perks such as HUGE discounts on HomebrewSupply.com and Kegconnection.com, welcome packs with our merch, discounts to BrewersFriend.com, and lots more! Click the link and join today — https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=21132635
On Today’s Show:
Sorry about taking last week off! I was actually out sick and I’m still recovering from it but I’m ‘normal’ enough to crank out a new episode for y’all and I’m thankful that Todd was able to join me as well. In this week’s episode, we help a listener who is brewing off-site and wants to take their portion of a batch home with them immediately after brewing so they’re curious if anything might get ‘messed up’ in transit.
Then, we take a question from a new brewer who wants some advice on taking hydrometer readings. Should the test tube be only clear liquid or is it OK if some floaties make their way into the tube?
After that, we have a listener write in who is looking to switch to electric brewing but they want to know how often they should expect to calibrate the temperature controllers on an e-brewing system.
Finally, we wrap up with a question from someone who accidentally transferred beer into a clean but unsanitized keg. Is his batch going to get infected or is he over thinking it?
We want to hear from you!
If you have a question that you’d like us to discuss on a future episode, please click on the “Submit a Question” link at the top of our website or you can now call in your questions via our questions hotline @ 325-305-6107 and leave your message after the beep. This is a friendly reminder that, if we choose your question for a future episode, we give you a $25 gift card to that episode’s sponsor!
Today’s show is brought to you by Taplist.io – Create beautiful, professional looking digital taplist menu boards with ease by using Taplist.io. Check it out for free at the link below.
$500 off the MSRP, making it $4495.95
Free 15 gallon recipe kit of your choice
3 packs of Imperial Yeast with your recipe kit
Free 1-year membership to BrewersFriend.com
Free premium refractometer with a hard case
Free premium pH meter and testing strips
Free 16oz bottle of San Step sanitizer
Free 1lb bag of Brew Clean powdered cleaner Free metal tintacker bar sign for the Brautag Free Brautag baseball cap
https://brautag.com/
Sparkling water secrets, easy kolsch recipes, beer pairings advice, & getting your partner into brewing with you – Ep. 244
Aug 19, 2021
Show notes
Hi there!
Welcome back to another fun-filled episode of our Homebrew Happy Hour podcast… the podcast where we answer all of your home brewing questions and discuss anything related to craft beer!
A SUBTLE REMINDER:
If you appreciate the things we do here at Homebrew Happy Hour, consider joining our Trub Club! Not only will you be supporting our efforts, but you’ll also receive exclusive perks such as HUGE discounts on HomebrewSupply.com and Kegconnection.com, welcome packs with our merch, discounts to BrewersFriend.com, and lots more! Click the link and join today — https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=21132635
If you have a question that you’d like us to discuss on a future episode, please click on the “Submit a Question” link at the top of our website or you can now call in your questions via our questions hotline @ 325-305-6107 and leave your message after the beep. This is a friendly reminder that, if we choose your question for a future episode, we give you a $25 gift card to that episode’s sponsor!
$500 off the MSRP, making it $4495.95
Free 15 gallon recipe kit of your choice
3 packs of Imperial Yeast with your recipe kit
Free 1-year membership to BrewersFriend.com
Free premium refractometer with a hard case
Free premium pH meter and testing strips
Free 16oz bottle of San Step sanitizer
Free 1lb bag of Brew Clean powdered cleaner Free metal tintacker bar sign for the Brautag Free Brautag baseball cap
https://brautag.com/
An interview with Scott Mast from Hang’em High Hops & Chris Vogel from Great Lake Hops – Ep. 243
Aug 13, 2021
Show notes
Happy to have you back, friend!
Welcome to another fun-filled jam-packed episode of our Homebrew Happy Hour podcast… the podcast where we answer all of your home brewing questions and discuss anything related to craft beer!
A SUBTLE REMINDER:
If you appreciate the things we do here at Homebrew Happy Hour, consider joining our Trub Club! Not only will you be supporting our efforts, but you’ll also receive exclusive perks such as HUGE discounts on HomebrewSupply.com and Kegconnection.com, welcome packs with our merch, discounts to BrewersFriend.com, and lots more! Click the link and join today — https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=21132635
On Today’s Show:
We’re excited to welcome Scott Mast and Chris Vogel on the show! Scott is a hop farmer in Michigan with 8 years in the business and owner of Hang’em High Hops, which sells Great Lakes varieties to professional and home brewers. Hang’em High Hops is a 28-acre hop farm established in 2017 located in beautiful Northern Michigan and offer hop varieties such as the ones we taste tested in this video: https://youtu.be/wB6D0qP12bM
Chris Vogel is an employee for Great Lakes hops focused on introducing Great Lakes proprietary hops to both hop growers and to craft breweries.
It was awesome having Scott & Chris on and learning more about Hang’em High Hops!
We want to hear from you!
If you have a question that you’d like us to discuss on a future episode, please click on the “Submit a Question” link at the top of our website or you can now call in your questions via our questions hotline @ 325-305-6107 and leave your message after the beep. This is a friendly reminder that, if we choose your question for a future episode, we give you a $25 gift card to that episode’s sponsor!
$500 off the MSRP, making it $4495.95
Free 15 gallon recipe kit of your choice
3 packs of Imperial Yeast with your recipe kit
Free 1-year membership to BrewersFriend.com
Free premium refractometer with a hard case
Free premium pH meter and testing strips
Free 16oz bottle of San Step sanitizer
Free 1lb bag of Brew Clean powdered cleaner Free metal tintacker bar sign for the Brautag Free Brautag baseball cap
https://brautag.com/
Choosing your hops for a SMaSH recipe, head space when filling bottles, duplicate brew days but different results, & what to do with swollen packs of liquid yeast – Ep. 242
Aug 06, 2021
Show notes
Hope you’re doing well, homebrewer!
We welcome you back for another episode of our Homebrew Happy Hour podcast… the podcast where we answer all of your home brewing questions and discuss anything related to craft beer!
A SUBTLE REMINDER:
If you appreciate the things we do here at Homebrew Happy Hour, consider joining our Trub Club! Not only will you be supporting our efforts, but you’ll also receive exclusive perks such as HUGE discounts on HomebrewSupply.com and Kegconnection.com, welcome packs with our merch, discounts to BrewersFriend.com, and lots more! Click the link and join today — https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=21132635
On Today’s Show:
We start off the show with a question about selecting hops when developing a single hop and single mash (SMaSH) recipe. Thankfully, we have hop head Ladik Joe Ermis on the show with us this week and he was a huge help on this question. Shop fresh hops for your next batch here: https://www.kegconnection.com/hops/
Then, we had a question about filling bottles (gross, amirite?) and whether or not you should leave plenty of head space or if you can fill the bottle all the way up to the top. For bottling supplies, click here: https://www.kegconnection.com/bottle-filler/
Our third question was an interesting one because the listener initially brewed a batch of the award winning Brian’s Kolsch recipe kit – enjoyed it so much – then he bought a second recipe kit and brewed it the exact same way only to have slightly different results. His second batch was sweeter than his first and we try to help him figure out ‘why’. Brew the incredible Brian’s Kolsch recipe kit yourself: https://www.kegconnection.com/brians-kolsch-kolsch-cup-2021-grand-champion-recipe/
Finally, our fourth and final question on this week’s episode came from a listener who is a member of our Trub Club (https://www.patreon.com/HomebrewHappyHour) and receives recipe kits every month. During these Summer months, his pack of Imperial Yeast arrived slightly swollen and he isn’t sure whether he should pitch it as is or if he should create a starter for his batch. Shop Imperial Yeast here: https://www.kegconnection.com/imperial-yeast/
We want to hear from you!
If you have a question that you’d like us to discuss on a future episode, please click on the “Submit a Question” link at the top of our website or you can now call in your questions via our questions hotline @ 325-305-6107 and leave your message after the beep. This is a friendly reminder that, if we choose your question for a future episode, we give you a $25 gift card to that episode’s sponsor!
$500 off the MSRP, making it $4495.95
Free 15 gallon recipe kit of your choice
3 packs of Imperial Yeast with your recipe kit
Free 1-year membership to BrewersFriend.com
Free premium refractometer with a hard case
Free premium pH meter and testing strips
Free 16oz bottle of San Step sanitizer
Free 1lb bag of Brew Clean powdered cleaner Free metal tintacker bar sign for the Brautag Free Brautag baseball cap
https://brautag.com/
Dip tube dilemma, liquid line length in a draft system, tips for travelling with kegs, & some of our brew day mistakes – Ep. 241
Jul 29, 2021
Show notes
Hi, friend!
Thank you for joining us and yet another fun-filled episode of our Homebrew Happy Hour podcast… the podcast where we answer all of your home brewing questions and discuss anything related to craft beer!
A SUBTLE REMINDER:
If you appreciate the things we do here at Homebrew Happy Hour, consider joining our Trub Club! Not only will you be supporting our efforts, but you’ll also receive exclusive perks such as HUGE discounts on HomebrewSupply.com and Kegconnection.com, welcome packs with our merch, discounts to BrewersFriend.com, and lots more! Click the link and join today — https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=21132635
On Today’s Show:
Even though James is at the beach, he still made it a point to drop in and check on us to make sure we could do this week’s episode. What a guy!
Our first question was about dip tube lengths in a homebrew keg and whether or not it matters that the gas dip tube is just as long as the liquid side (which basically touches the bottom of the keg). Check out homebrew kegs, dip tubes, and other accessories here: https://www.kegconnection.com/homebrew-kegs/
The next question came from a listener who wants to know if there is a formula to follow that will ensure the proper length of liquid tubing in his kegerator system. This is the most Todd question I could’ve included on the show so you can trust that he thoroughly answered this. For liquid tubing, visit here: https://www.kegconnection.com/beer-hose/
After that, we discussed a question submitted by a community member who is travelling on vacation and wants to take his homebrew keg of beer with him. We get this question a lot and it’s good to remind people the helpful tips we have for taking your beer on the go! For a great draft kit solution, check this out: https://www.kegconnection.com/draft-beer-at-home-and-on-the-go-deluxe-kegerator-kit/
We wrapped up this week’s show with a question about our biggest brew day mistakes that still resulted in decent beer. Believe it or not, we’re no strangers to making mistakes (even during our brew days!) so we had a lot of fun with this question. For the freshest ingredients please visit here: https://www.kegconnection.com/ingredients
We want to hear from you!
If you have a question that you’d like us to discuss on a future episode, please click on the “Submit a Question” link at the top of our website or you can now call in your questions via our questions hotline @ 325-305-6107 and leave your message after the beep. This is a friendly reminder that, if we choose your question for a future episode, we give you a $25 gift card to that episode’s sponsor!
$500 off the MSRP, making it $4495.95
Free 15 gallon recipe kit of your choice
3 packs of Imperial Yeast with your recipe kit
Free 1-year membership to BrewersFriend.com
Free premium refractometer with a hard case
Free premium pH meter and testing strips
Free 16oz bottle of San Step sanitizer
Free 1lb bag of Brew Clean powdered cleaner Free metal tintacker bar sign for the Brautag Free Brautag baseball cap
https://brautag.com/
CMBecker disconnect maintenance, keg quality differences, weevils in my grains, & scaling recipes from small to bigger batches – Ep. 240
Jul 22, 2021
Show notes
Howdy, homebrewer!
We are happy for you to join us for yet another fun-filled episode of our Homebrew Happy Hour podcast… the podcast where we answer all of your home brewing questions and discuss anything related to craft beer!
A SUBTLE REMINDER:
If you appreciate the things we do here at Homebrew Happy Hour, consider joining our Trub Club! Not only will you be supporting our efforts, but you’ll also receive exclusive perks such as HUGE discounts on HomebrewSupply.com and Kegconnection.com, welcome packs with our merch, discounts to BrewersFriend.com, and lots more! Click the link and join today — https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=21132635
On Today’s Show:
Our first question for this week’s show asked if there is any recommended or required maintenance for our popular CMB disconnects. Thankfully, we have Mr. CMBecker himself – James Carlson – on our show and he was able to thoroughly answer this for our listener, Phil. If you’re interested in using the best disconnects on the market, check them out here: https://www.kegconnection.com/disconnects/
Next, we help out John who wanted to know more about the different “grades” of kegs that we personally use and if it’s “worth” spending the little bit of extra money on buying new kegs versus used/refurbished kegs. To shop top quality new and used kegs, visit here: https://www.kegconnection.com/homebrew-kegs/
After that, our third question for this week’s show came from a member of our community who wanted to know if the presence of a weevil in his grain bag (he reassured us that he didn’t get his grains from us, lol) meant that the grains are now unusable. You might be surprised by our answer! Shop the highest quality grains here: https://www.kegconnection.com/brewing-grains/
Then we wrapped up this week’s show with a question from our buddy Rob who wanted to know about scaling recipes. We hope we demystified it a little for you because it really can be as easy as using an awesome tool like Brewer’s Friend to do it for you OR you can buy multiple quantities of your favorite recipe kits to bring up the volume (if you want 15 gallon batch of your favorite 5 gallon recipe kit, buy 3 of those kits!). Shop the best award winning recipe kits here: https://www.kegconnection.com/beer-recipe-kits/
We want to hear from you!
If you have a question that you’d like us to discuss on a future episode, please click on the “Submit a Question” link at the top of our website or you can now call in your questions via our questions hotline @ 325-305-6107 and leave your message after the beep. This is a friendly reminder that, if we choose your question for a future episode, we give you a $25 gift card to that episode’s sponsor!
$500 off the MSRP, making it $4495.95
Free 15 gallon recipe kit of your choice
3 packs of Imperial Yeast with your recipe kit
Free 1-year membership to BrewersFriend.com
Free premium refractometer with a hard case
Free premium pH meter and testing strips
Free 16oz bottle of San Step sanitizer
Free 1lb bag of Brew Clean powdered cleaner Free metal tintacker bar sign for the Brautag Free Brautag baseball cap
https://brautag.com/
DIY false bottom, fruity notes in my kölsch, deodorizing brew day smells, & insulating beer lines in a tower installation – Ep. 239
Jul 15, 2021
Show notes
Great to have you back, homebrewer!
We’re so excited for you to join us for yet another fun-filled episode of our Homebrew Happy Hour podcast… the podcast where we answer all of your home brewing questions and discuss anything related to craft beer!
A SUBTLE REMINDER:
If you appreciate the things we do here at Homebrew Happy Hour, consider joining our Trub Club! Not only will you be supporting our efforts, but you’ll also receive exclusive perks such as HUGE discounts on HomebrewSupply.com and Kegconnection.com, welcome packs with our merch, discounts to BrewersFriend.com, and lots more! Click the link and join today — https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=21132635
On Today’s Show:
We take a question from a listener who is ready to start allgrain brewing and wants to know which false bottom to get OR if they should just make their own. We recommended this one (it’s usually low in stock and gets sold as soon as we stock them!): https://homebrewsupply.com/stainless-steel-domed-false-bottom-12/
Then, we discuss a question submitted that asked why fruity notes might appear in a kolsch but not until weeks after kegging it. Having some subtle fruity notes in your kolsch is super normal but James had some ideas on how to minimize it if that’s not a desired flavor you’re going for. The kolsch kit mentioned in this question is: https://www.kegconnection.com/brians-kolsch-kolsch-cup-2021-grand-champion-recipe/
Then, we get a funny question from a guy who loves to brew but his girlfriend can’t stand the smell. While we can’t relate to that, we did our best to offer some good (and some truly awful) advice for our friend.
We wrapped up this week’s show with a question about keeping beer lines as cool as possible, specifically in a tower installation scenario. Todd had some solid advice and also mentioned utilizing this: https://www.kegconnection.com/beer-tower-cooler-kit/
We want to hear from you!
If you have a question that you’d like us to discuss on a future episode, please click on the “Submit a Question” link at the top of our website or you can now call in your questions via our questions hotline @ 325-305-6107 and leave your message after the beep. This is a friendly reminder that, if we choose your question for a future episode, we give you a $25 gift card to that episode’s sponsor!
$500 off the MSRP, making it $4495.95
Free 15 gallon recipe kit of your choice
3 packs of Imperial Yeast with your recipe kit
Free 1-year membership to BrewersFriend.com
Free premium refractometer with a hard case
Free premium pH meter and testing strips
Free 16oz bottle of San Step sanitizer
Free 1lb bag of Brew Clean powdered cleaner Free metal tintacker bar sign for the Brautag Free Brautag baseball cap
https://brautag.com/
LHBS closing, brewing with mystery hops, would you rather have good water or fermentation temp control, & using commercial kegs for my homebrewed beer – Ep. 238
Jul 08, 2021
Show notes
We hope you’re doing well, homebrewer!
We’re so excited to have you back for another fun-filled episode of our Homebrew Happy Hour podcast… the podcast where we answer all of your home brewing questions and discuss anything related to craft beer!
A SUBTLE REMINDER:
If you appreciate the things we do here at Homebrew Happy Hour, consider joining our Trub Club! Not only will you be supporting our efforts, but you’ll also receive exclusive perks such as HUGE discounts on HomebrewSupply.com and Kegconnection.com, welcome packs with our merch, discounts to BrewersFriend.com, and lots more! Click the link and join today — https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=21132635
On Today’s Show:
We start our show with a question from a listener who’s local homebrew supply shop, unfortunately, had to close their doors and he wants to know what to look for when ordering from an online retailer. Spoiler alert: we’re very biased about Kegconnection.com and HomebrewSupply.com!
Then, we discuss what we might do if we found ourselves in the same position as a community member who was given a large amount of “mystery” hops. He has no idea how to identify them and he doesn’t want them to go to waste. What would you do in his situation?
After that, we took a question that posed an odd scenario: if you had to choose between having “good” water versus having temperature controlled fermentation – which would you choose?
Finally, we wrap up this week’s show with a text message submission asking about using sanke kegs instead of corny kegs for kegging homebrewed beer.
We want to hear from you!
If you have a question that you’d like us to discuss on a future episode, please click on the “Submit a Question” link at the top of our website or you can now call in your questions via our questions hotline @ 325-305-6107 and leave your message after the beep. This is a friendly reminder that, if we choose your question for a future episode, we give you a $25 gift card to that episode’s sponsor!
$500 off the MSRP, making it $4495.95
Free 15 gallon recipe kit of your choice
3 packs of Imperial Yeast with your recipe kit
Free 1-year membership to BrewersFriend.com
Free premium refractometer with a hard case
Free premium pH meter and testing strips
Free 16oz bottle of San Step sanitizer
Free 1lb bag of Brew Clean powdered cleaner Free metal tintacker bar sign for the Brautag Free Brautag baseball cap
https://brautag.com/
Airlock activity, when to use gelatin, immersion vs counterflow chillers, & dry vs liquid yeast when making a starter – Ep. 237
Jul 01, 2021
Show notes
Welcome back, friend!
We’re so excited to have you here for another fun-filled episode of our Homebrew Happy Hour podcast… the podcast where we answer all of your home brewing questions and discuss anything related to craft beer!
A SUBTLE REMINDER:
If you appreciate the things we do here at Homebrew Happy Hour, consider joining our Trub Club! Not only will you be supporting our efforts, but you’ll also receive exclusive perks such as HUGE discounts on HomebrewSupply.com and Kegconnection.com, welcome packs with our merch, discounts to BrewersFriend.com, and lots more! Click the link and join today — https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=21132635
If you have a question that you’d like us to discuss on a future episode, please click on the “Submit a Question” link at the top of our website or you can now call in your questions via our questions hotline @ 325-305-6107 and leave your message after the beep. This is a friendly reminder that, if we choose your question for a future episode, we give you a $25 gift card to that episode’s sponsor!
$500 off the MSRP, making it $4495.95
Free 15 gallon recipe kit of your choice
3 packs of Imperial Yeast with your recipe kit
Free 1-year membership to BrewersFriend.com
Free premium refractometer with a hard case
Free premium pH meter and testing strips
Free 16oz bottle of San Step sanitizer
Free 1lb bag of Brew Clean powdered cleaner Free metal tintacker bar sign for the Brautag Free Brautag baseball cap
https://brautag.com/
How long does kegged homebrew last, kettle size requirements, replacing heating elements annually, & filling growlers with a counter pressure bottle filler – Ep. 236
Jun 24, 2021
Show notes
Howdy, Homebrewer!
Welcome back to our Homebrew Happy Hour podcast… the podcast where we answer all of your home brewing questions and discuss anything related to craft beer!
A SUBTLE REMINDER:
If you appreciate the things we do here at Homebrew Happy Hour, consider joining our Trub Club! Not only will you be supporting our efforts, but you’ll also receive exclusive perks such as HUGE discounts on HomebrewSupply.com and Kegconnection.com, welcome packs with our merch, discounts to BrewersFriend.com, and lots more! Click the link and join today — https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=21132635
On Today’s Show:
Todd and James were nice enough to join me to take your questions because Lord knows I can’t do this show on my own! Specifically, I get called out for still having breakfast stout on tap (don’t judge me – I’m trying to make it last!). We also talk about what size kettle you should have if you’re trying to brew specific gallon amounts of beer. Then, we talk about the need (or lack thereof) to replace heating elements on your electric brewing system. We close our the Q&A section with a listener who received a Blichmann Beer Gun and wants to know if he should use it for filling his growlers as well as bottles.
We want to hear from you!
If you have a question that you’d like us to discuss on a future episode, please click on the “Submit a Question” link at the top of our website or you can now call in your questions via our questions hotline @ 325-305-6107 and leave your message after the beep. This is a friendly reminder that, if we choose your question for a future episode, we give you a $25 gift card to that episode’s sponsor!
$500 off the MSRP, making it $4495.95
Free 15 gallon recipe kit of your choice
3 packs of Imperial Yeast with your recipe kit
Free 1-year membership to BrewersFriend.com
Free premium refractometer with a hard case
Free premium pH meter and testing strips
Free 16oz bottle of San Step sanitizer
Free 1lb bag of Brew Clean powdered cleaner Free metal tintacker bar sign for the Brautag Free Brautag baseball cap
https://brautag.com/
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