Homebrew

Drying my hops in a dehydrator anyone ever done this? How long does it take?

As we gain experience as homebrewers over time we pick up little tips and tricks that make our brews better and overall make things easier for us when we're brewing. Here's a few that I've developed over the years.

• Hang your siphon tubes and other lines on a hook to help with drying.

• If you're dealing with a cloudy beer take a page from the wine makers and add some bentonite to help clear your beer.

• When using turbo yeasts for sugar washes leave the lid partially open and stir daily for the first few days. This helps cut down on the turbo yeast off flavours that typically develop.

• When using a lower end four week wine kit let it clarify for an extra two to four weeks. This is something all the higher end kits suggest.

• We're not in the prohibition era. We have better yeast strains than bread yeasts for distillation. Just because your grandpappy had to do guerilla brewing in the backwoods doesn't mean you need to.

• Pre mix bentonite with warm water in a pitcher before adding it to your fermenter. It mixes much better this way.

• Wanna get laid? Share your fruit wines with the ladies. I find raspberry dragon fruit is a particularly good panty dropper. It might also help to be sociable and attractive.

• Don't brew drunk. Some dumb mistakes I've seen online were clearly made by someone getting to high off their own supply.

What small tips do you have to share?

An old fashioned alternative to the conventional wisdom of boiling the piss out of your wort. I've gotten a few interesting and complex beers out of going the raw ale route. I'm looking forward to experimenting more in the future.