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Whether you are making beer, wine, cider, or mead, you undoubtedly love your hobby, especially the making and drinking part, but practically no one likes the cleaning and sanitizing (okay, so there are a few deranged individuals who love cleaning and sanitizing, but we'll leave their care up to the psychologists). However, cleaning and sanitizing your fermentation equipment doesn’t have to be a time-consuming chore—especially if you approach these tasks with the proper strategy. In this article, we are going to outline the easiest and fastest way to clean and sanitize, which will leave you with more time for the fun parts—the brewing and drinking!

The fastest way to clean and sanitize your equipment is based upon two principles, which we will explore in more detail below:

• Clean Immediately After Use
• Sanitize Right Before Use

Clean Immediately After Use

The best time to clean your brewing gear is right after you’re done using it, when everything is still dirty. This makes sense, because it’s after you’ve used the equipment that it’s dirty. This is just like washing dishes after a meal—it’s much easier to get rid of the mess while it’s still fresh. Letting dirty equipment sit around only makes the cleanup more difficult. Cleaning your fermentation equipment follows the same logic. Also, because you’ve just finished using your equipment, there’s a good chance you won’t be using it right away, so you take advantage of this opportunity and let your equipment soak for extended times, such as overnight or even for an entire day.

For the actual cleaning, oxygen-based cleaners like B-Brite or One Step, and caustic cleaners like PBW (Powdered Brewery Wash) are excellent choices. They work well by soaking, which means less scrubbing for you. Just fill your bucket or carboy to the top with water and cleaner, and let it soak overnight. Since you won’t need the equipment again until your next brew day, you can save your time by letting the cleaner do its work while you focus on other things.

If you’re cleaning glass equipment like carboys or bottles, feel free to use a brush. But with plastic equipment, avoid using brushes or anything abrasive—scratches can harbor bacteria, and scratched plastic can be tough to get truly clean. For long items like siphons, use a long, narrow tray like a wallpaper tray to soak them properly.

After an overnight soak, give everything a good inspection to make sure it's clean. If not, give the equipment more time to soak. If you have heavy caked-on fermentation residue, then you can pour out the old solution and mix up new cleaning solution. Once everything is clean, it’s time to rinse everything thoroughly. Make sure to let all of the equipment dry completely before storing it. Proper drying is important—you don’t want mildew growing on your gear during storage.

Sanitize Right Before Use

Sanitizing your brewing equipment is quick and easy when your gear is already clean. Star San is a fantastic option for this because it’s fast and doesn’t require rinsing. Unlike cleaning, you don’t have to fill your entire bucket or carboy. Just mix up a gallon of Star San and gently swirl it around inside the container to wet all surfaces. If Star San is splashed around, it will foam up like dishwashing soap. Thus, to keep the foaming to a minimum, swirl gently and avoid vigorous splashing. Let the equipment drain well, but you don’t need to rinse it. If you do prefer to rinse, make sure your water is safe to drink.

Keep It Simple, Keep It Clean

By cleaning your equipment right after brewing and sanitizing right before use, you’re setting yourself up for brewing success without extra hassle. Soak overnight, rinse, dry, and sanitize—a simple routine that makes your next brew day a breeze.

Comparing Caustic Cleaners for Home Brewing: B-Brite, One Step, and PBW

When brewing at beer home, proper cleanliness and sanitization is crucial to producing the best tasting beer. Before we can effectively sanitize our equipment, we must make sure it is clean. There are many cleaning products on the market, but in this article we will focus on three of the most popular brands available for home brewers: B-Brite, One Step, and PBW (Powdered Brewery Wash). Let’s take a look at these cleaning agents to understand which is the best to use based upon your situation.

B-Brite & One Step: Non-Caustic and Easy-to-Use

B-Brite and One Step are very similar in terms of their properties and use, so we’ll discuss them together. Both are non-caustic cleaners, making them user-friendly and safe for most surfaces used in home brewing.

Key Features:

• Non-Caustic: B-Brite and One Step are safe for materials like stainless steel, glass, and plastic. Unlike stronger, caustic cleaners, they don’t require gloves or special handling.
• Oxygen-Based: These cleaners rely on oxygen via sodium percarbonate to break down organic materials, which makes them effective for removing grime and stains.
• No Rinse (for some applications): In low concentrations, they can be used without a rinse step, saving time. However, many brewers prefer to rinse thoroughly to avoid any residue that could affect your beer's taste.
• Environmentally Friendly: Both products are biodegradable, making them a greener option for eco-conscious brewers.
• Low Cost: B-Brite and One Step are inexpensive, which leaves you with more money to purchase brewing ingredients! 

Ideal Use:

• Cleaning fermenters, bottles, tubing, and general brewing equipment.
• Great for light cleaning tasks where heavy-duty grime isn’t present.
• Suitable for smaller homebrew setups where convenience is key.

PBW (Powdered Brewery Wash): The Heavy-Duty Cleaner

PBW, on the other hand, is a stronger, caustic-based cleaner formulated specifically for the tough cleaning tasks. PBW was originally developed for commercial breweries, but PBW has become the go-to cleaner for homebrewers who need something more powerful.

Key Features:

• Caustic Formula: PBW contains sodium metasilicate and other ingredients that break down tough organic deposits, especially dried-on grime, proteins, and hop residues. PBW is not as caustic as sodium hydroxide (lye), but the sodium metasilicate is alkaline enough to effectively clean without the extreme hazards of more caustic substances.

• Versatile: PBW works well in both soft and hard water conditions, making it suitable for almost any brewing environment.

• Safe for Equipment: Unlike B-Brite or One Step, gloves are recommended when using PBW. Although PBW is powerful, it's safe for use on stainless steel, glass, and plastic when used at recommended concentrations. PBW can also be used on copper and brass, but with some caution: prolonged exposure or high concentrations on copper or brass can cause discoloration or damage. Thus, for copper and brass, use the proper concentration, avoid extended soaking times and immediately rinse thoroughly.
• Heat-Activated: PBW works best in warm to hot water, which increases its effectiveness in removing stubborn deposits. Of course, regular precautions apply. Never add warm or hot water to glass carboys, because the sudden thermal shock can cause the carboys to break. 
• More Expensive: PBW does cost more than both B-Brite and One Step, but a lot of home brewers say it's worth it. You can use PBW in every situation, so some home brewers prefer the simplicity of just using one type of cleaner.

Ideal Use:

• Ideal for cleaning brew kettles, mash tuns, and equipment with heavy organic residues. Many home brewers with large stainless fermenters use CIP (clean-in-place) spray balls, so they do not have to completely fill their vessels with solution for cleaning.
• Excellent for deep cleaning or when you’ve let equipment sit dirty for too long.
• Preferred by homebrewers with larger setups or those who brew frequently and need heavy-duty cleaning power.
• Great for other household tasks, like cleaning stainless steel thermoses and water bottles.

Comparison at a Glance:

Conclusion

Choosing between B-Brite, One Step, and PBW depends on your cleaning situation. If you’re looking for an inexpensive, mild, easy-to-use cleaner for everyday cleaning tasks, B-Brite and One Step are great options. However, if you need a more powerful cleaner for larger brewing equipment or stubborn grime, PBW is better.

Proper cleaning requires the proper compounds, and each of these cleaners are good to have in your home brewer’s toolkit. This way you're always prepared for every situation, whether you’re bottling your latest batch or deep cleaning your brew kettle.

If you’ve been brewing beer with extract kits for a while, you’ve undoubtedly heard about all-grain brewing and maybe even wondered if it’s the next step for you. Both methods have their pros and cons, and deciding whether to make the switch isn’t easy. If done correctly, all-grain brewing offers more control and flexibility, but it also requires more time, expensive equipment, and know-how. Extract brewing, on the other hand, is quicker and less complicated, but you sacrifice some of the creative freedom that comes with brewing from scratch, if that is important. For most beer styles it makes no difference. So, how do you know which method is right for you? Let’s break down some key points to consider before diving headfirst into all-grain brewing.

When trying to decide whether to make the jump to all grain brewing, there are both practical and wishful considerations.

Practical Considerations

• Do You Have Enough Time?
• Do You Have the Space?
• Are You Prepared to Spend the Money?
• Are You Interested in All Grain Because of the Process?

Wishful Considerations

• Will You Make Better Beer?
• Will You Actually Save Money?

Practical Considerations

• Do You Have Enough Time? How much time you have (or lack of time) is probably the greatest consideration whether you should pursue all-grain brewing. Anyone can set aside an entire day to all grain brew. And anyone can set aside a second day to all grain brew. Of course you can. It’s currently a priority. But if you are a busy person with a lot of other things going on, then you will inevitably face the following situation: you are running out of beer and you need to brew but you have a million other things that need to get done, and how will you set aside a day to brew and…, suddenly your beloved hobby of brewing beer begins to feel like work, and then it’s no fun, and then you quit brewing. But you loved brewing and drinking your creations, but then it became no fun. This scenario happens to all grain brewers all of the time. If you truly do not have enough time to all grain brew, then don’t. Keep your life simple and continue making great beers with extracts.
• Do You Have the Space? All grain brewing is not particularly feasible for people living in apartments. If you live with a significant other, they will likely protest when your all grain equipment takes over the kitchen.
• Are You Prepared to Spend the Money?  Even “inexpensive” all grain setups are at least four times the cost of basic extract brewing equipment. Part of this is the nature of all grain. When brewing all grain, you must boil at least the total volume of the batch. In other words, if you are making a five gallon batch, you typically begin with 6 gallons and boil it down to 5 gallons. Thus, you must have a large kettle, gas burner, and wort chiller. These can also be combined in the popular all-in-one systems.
• Are You Interested in All Grain Because of the Process?  Over the years we have found that the worst all grain brewers are the paint-by-the-numbers type. By “worst” we mean brewers who have inconsistent results and have no idea why they have inconsistent results. By “paint-by-the-numbers” we mean brewers who have no theoretical knowledge of what they’re doing but instead only blindly following some recipe. They do not understand how one’s brewing efficiency determines their original gravity but how precisely controlled mashing temperature determines their wort fermentability and thus their final gravity. They believe that in a HERMS system they have a homogeneous flow of sweet liquor through the mash bed instead of flowing through cut channels, and then they wonder why their efficiency is poor. They know nothing of fully modified malts, proteolytic enzymes, wort turbidity, β-glucans or the difference between beta- and alpha amylase. All grain brewing is not difficult, but like any hobby it requires learning. All grain brewing is like flying a plane. You are turning off the auto-pilot, so you need to know how to fly the plane. If you are fascinated by the process, then you should definitely pursue all grain brewing, but if you don’t understand what you are doing, then don’t set your expectations very high.

Wishful Considerations

• Will You Make Better Beer? For some reason many all grain brewers want you to believe this, and they will go to great length on homebrew forums to drive this point forward, but it is not true. An experienced extract brewer brewing the proper beer styles and using optimum techniques will achieve results on par with all grain brewing. Sure, some styles lend themselves better to all grain brewing, such as delicate pilsners or helles, or decoction focused brews like dunkel, bock or marzen. But extract brewers making hefeweizens, pale ales, IPAs, stouts, porters, amber ales, red ales, altbier (this list goes on and on), can easily produce beers indistinguishable from their all grain counterparts.

By the way, we have a theory as to why the all grain brewers tend to push their opinions so heavily on forums: all grain brews are arguably the most enthusiastic brewers, and by default all grain brewer they have more time. Thus, they have the time and enthusiasm to spend exorbitant time posting on forums. Most casual brewers who just want to have fun and make tasty beer could generally care a less.

• Will You Actually Save Money? The answer to this question is an overwhelming no. Sure, all grain brewing saves money on the cost of ingredients, but that’s where the savings immediately end. If you are financially-minded and amortize the ingredient-cost-savings of all grain brewing, you would discover, depending on your equipment type that you would need to brew between 50 – 100 five gallon batches of beer just to break even compared to brewing with extracts.  Most people never brew that many all-grain batches in their lifetime. Also, unless you’re unemployed, home brewing has never saved money. If you compute your income’s hourly time value, you always see that if you work the same hours you spent brewing, you could purchase way more beer than you have produced. So, moral of the story: don’t all grain brew to save money. In fact, don’t brew any beer to save money. It’s your hobby, so do it because it gives you joy.

Final Thoughts

At the end of the day, whether you brew with extracts or pursue all-grain really depends on what you’re looking to get out of the hobby. Extract brewing is fun, quick and convenient. But if you’re drawn to the process and brewing techniques—and you don’t mind the extra time, money and effort—then all-grain is worthwhile. Whichever path you choose, the most important thing is to keep brewing beer you enjoy and having fun with it. There’s no “right” way to brew, just the way that works best for you.

By its very nature, home brewing your own beer is a rewarding hobby, because come on – when you’re done, you have beer. What couldn’t be great about this? But like other hobbies, many home brewers seem to revel in making the process as complicated as possible, and their expensive, exotic brewing rigs become a badge of honor and bragging rights, which they then promote over all avenues of social media and then preach how everyone needs to use fancy equipment to make good beer. In reality, however, this is not true. Home brewing beer doesn’t have to be complicated or involve elaborate, expensive equipment. In fact, many if not most home brewers who have continued to brew for years if not decades do so because they’ve found ways to keep their process as simple as possible.

Here are 10 tips to help you streamline your home beer brewing to keep things easy and keep you brewing.

1. Use a Big Fermenter
   One of the easiest ways to prevent a mess during fermentation is to use a larger fermenter, such as a 9-gallon bucket, even if you’re brewing a standard 5-gallon batch. High-alcohol and wheat-based beers are notorious for foaming over smaller fermenters. Having the extra space of a 9 gallon bucket dramatically prevents the risk of the krasusen produced during fermentation overflowing the fermenter and spewing out the top. Though using a larger fermenter is a small change, it can save a lot of cleanup headaches and ensure your brew stays where it belongs – in the fermenter and not on the ceiling!
2. Use a Plastic Bucket Fermenter
   Yes, we admit it. Stainless fermenters look cool, but they’re expensive, and sure, glass carboys seem wholesome, but they’re heavy, breakable, and a pain to clean. Plastic bucket fermenters, on the other hand, are inexpensive, lightweight, and much easy to manage. You don’t have to worry about them shattering, and they’re just as effective at keeping your beer safe during fermentation. Plus, cleaning them is easy compared to dealing with the narrow neck of a carboy.
3. Skip the Secondary Fermenter
   Although old habits are hard to change, and a lot of old information keeps floating around the internet, an increasing number of home brewers are skipping using a secondary fermenter unless they’re brewing a beer with special requirements, such as dry hopping. While aging a beer in a secondary fermentater allows time for extra clarification, for most styles it’s unnecessary. If you’re brewing most non-dry hopped ales, you can leave the beer in the primary fermenter the entire time and still get the same results as if you had used a secondary. This saves your time, which is precious, and it eliminates one more piece of equipment to clean and sanitize. For more information about using a secondary fermenter, click here.
4. Use an Auto-Siphon
   Manually siphoning beer with a hose can be a major annoyance, but an auto-siphon makes the process simple. Most home brewers use auto-siphons these days, and for good reason—it helps you move your beer from one container to another without disturbing the sediment or introducing oxygen, which can deplete the fresh flavor of your beer. It’s a simple tool that’s well worth having as a part of your brewing equipment.
5. Skip the Bottling Bucket
   Yes, you read that correctly – just siphon the beer onto the floor. Just kidding – and checking if you are still paying attention or just TikToking. For most home brewers, bottling the beer is a tedious, time-consuming step. Some might even call it a pain in the ass. However, you can simplify the bottling process by filling your bottles directly from the fermenter. Use carbonation drops instead of fussing with powdered priming sugar. Just make sure to siphon carefully, especially towards the bottom of the fermenter, to avoid getting too much sediment into your bottles. This approach reduces the number of steps and equipment needed, making cleanup easier too.
6. Use Bigger Bottles
   Filling bottles is one of the more tedious parts of home brewing, so why not make it quicker? Using larger bottles, like 22-ounce bombers, means you have fewer bottles to fill. It’s the same amount of beer, but you’re cutting your work in half. You can still fill a few 12-ounce bottles if you like giving them as gifts, but for your personal stash, bigger bottles are the way to go. And don’t kid yourself: you would’ve drank two of those 12 oz beers, so just cut out the middle man and go bigger.
7. Keg Your Beer
   If you’re really serious about simplifying your home brewing process, kegging is the way to go. While it does require a bit of upfront investment, once you’re set up, kegging is much faster than bottling. Instead of filling, capping, and sanitizing dozens of bottles, you just transfer your beer to a keg, and you’re ready to go. Plus, there’s nothing quite like pouring your own beer from a tap at home, meaning it’s good for the psyche, so if you want to do something favorable for your mental health, then keg your beer.
8. Skip the Hydrometer
   Taking gravity readings can be useful for measuring how much alcohol is in your beer, but it’s not always necessary to take an original gravity reading. Most reliable recipes will list the expected original gravity, so unless you’re really into tracking every detail of your brew, you can skip this step and save yourself a bit of time and effort. Plus, most chill brewers drink a couple of beers while brewing, and after that, they could care a less about gravity readings, so why bother.
9. Use Time-Efficient Cleaning and Sanitizing Strategy
   Cleaning and sanitizing are essential parts of brewing, but they don’t have to be a hassle. Get into the habit of cleaning your equipment right after using it, while any residue is still easy to remove. A good cleaner, like PBW, B-Brite or One Step, works wonders. For sanitizing, use a no-rinse sanitizer like Star San just before you need your equipment. Disassembling parts like siphons and bottle fillers, and soaking them overnight if necessary, will keep them in good shape and ensure your beer stays uncontaminated. For more information about cleaning and sanitizing, click here.
10. Brew with Extracts
    All-grain brewing can be fun and gives you more control over your beer, but it’s also time-consuming. If you want to save time without sacrificing quality, brewing with malt extracts is a great option. In fact, experienced extract brewers win as many competitions as all-grain brewers. While certain styles like pilsners or lagers might benefit from the all-grain process, most styles turn out just as well with extracts. If you’re a skilled brewer, you can achieve professional results regardless if you are brewing all grain or extract, but extract can give you all of the rewards without all the extra effort.
11. Use Dry Yeast
    Hey, this is a rip-off! This blog post says "10 Tips", and you've thrown in an extra! You people are dishonest, and I want my money back! No, seriously, fellow brewers, dry yeast makes life easy. Its quality is equal to liquid yeast, it's cheaper (at least half the price of liquid yeast), it has the same or greater cell count, it survives just fine without refrigeration, it doesn't require a starter, and the list goes on and on. Many brewers believe liquid yeast is better because it costs more, but this is not true. Years ago liquid yeast had been better, and this reputation still follows liquid yeast to this day, but the results say otherwise. If you want to learn more about using dry and liquid yeast, click here.

So remember, there are many ways you can simplify your brewing process and spend less time worrying about equipment and procedures, and more time enjoying the fruits of your labor—delicious home-brewed beer!

Do I Need to Use a Secondary Fermenter?

Tl;dr  Screw it, don’t use a secondary. Unless you need to. (Thanks Jeff! Like! Thumbs up! What an Award winning blog!)

A hotly debated topic in home brewing is whether or not you need to use a secondary fermenter. As human beings, naturally, we prefer things do be black and white. We want a definite answer. But unfortunately, like many things in brewing, the answer isn’t black and white—it depends on your goals and the type of beer you’re brewing. Let’s dive into the pros, cons, and alternatives so you can make an informed decision for your next batch. Or just screw it and not use a secondary.

But before we begin, let’s address the elephant in the room. What is secondary fermentation? Is there really a second fermentation? Generally speaking, no. There’s just fermentation. Now, if you want to feel haughty, then we can call it primary fermentation, which somehow implies a secondary fermentation, but there’s still just the single fermentation. Fermentation generally begins slow, goes like a bat-out-of-hell, and then fizzles out. If you’re a math geek, then you’d plot it out and admire something like a bell curve. But unless you are adding extra fermentables to your already fermented beer, like fruits or syrup feeding, which will indeed kick up a second fermentation, then there is truly just one fermentation. (BTW, adding priming sugar and bottling beer is a bona fide example of a second fermentation.)

So from here on out, if we say secondary fermentation, we are referring to the act of using a secondary fermenter, where, coincidentally, the primary fermentation may working on its way to fizzling out.

(By the way, if you really want to geek out about true secondary fermentation, then consider cider or wine. Natural unpasteurized cider or wine often harbors beneficial malolactic bacteria, which indeed produces a secondary fermentation that can last for months. But that’s another story, and if you want, you can read about it here.)

What is the Purpose of a Secondary Fermenter?

The idea of a secondary fermenter comes from the professional brewing industry. Originally, professional brewers used secondary fermentation to clarify beer, reduce sediment, reduce autolysis risk and allow for extended aging, such as with lagers. Using a secondary fermenter is also useful when you plan to add extras like fruit, dry hops, or oak chips to your beer. In these cases, racking your beer into a secondary fermenter gives you a greater ability to deal with the extra additives, like hops, that you’ve added to the beer.

As a side note, home brewers for generations had been using secondary fermenters in an effort to avoid the dreaded yeast autolysis, which, in the context of home brewing, turned out to mostly be a myth. To learn more about the autolysis myth, click here.

Pros of Using a Secondary Fermenter

So, why might you want to use a secondary fermenter? Here’s what you get:

1. Clarification: If you’re aiming for a crystal-clear beer, using a secondary fermenter can help by separating the beer from the sediment that forms during primary fermentation. The longer you let the beer sit, the more the sediment settles, leaving you with a clearer final product.
2. High Gravity Flavor Development: For select styles of beer, typically of the high gravity sort such as barleywines, imperial stouts, Belgian abbey beers, wee heavies and so on, secondary fermenter extended aging gives the beer time to mellow out and let those flavors integrate fully.
3. Lagering: While in home beer making the risk of autolysis has been greatly overestimated, most lager brewers prefer not to cold age the beer for weeks or months in the primary fermenter, and real things happen during this extended secondary aging, such as chill-haze-protein-polyphenol precipitation, ester, sulfur and diacetyl reduction, to name a few.
4. Dry Hopping: Historically, IPA brewers always used a secondary fermenter for dry hopping. Using a secondary fermenter can make dealing with the floating hop mass more manageable, though many brewers are simply dry hopping in the primary fermenter and then later carefully siphoning to leave behind the extra hops.
5. Timing: If you’re brewing back-to-back batches, moving beer to a secondary fermenter frees up your primary fermenter for the next brew. This allows you to continue brewing without waiting for your beer to finish conditioning. Of course, you could just buy another primary fermenter instead of buying that secondary fermenter.

Cons of Using a Secondary Fermenter

But, like all things in brewing (and in life), there are some downsides:

1. Risk of Contamination: Every time you transfer beer, you introduce a risk of contamination. Bacteria and wild yeast love to sneak in during transfers, which can spoil your batch. If your sanitation isn’t on point, this could lead to off-flavors or, worse, a ruined batch.
2. Oxidation: When transferring beer to a secondary fermenter, it can come into contact with oxygen. Oxidation can lead to stale flavors or a papery taste, which isn’t something you want in your finished beer. Certain beers like hazy IPAs are especially susceptible to oxidation. Home brewers with CO2 cylinders can flush out fermenters with CO2 so their beer never contacts oxygen, but of course this requires extra advanced equipment.
3. Unnecessary Step: For many beers, especially those meant to be consumed fresh, secondary fermentation is simply not necessary. With modern brewing practices and improved yeast strains, most brewers these days skip the secondary fermenter altogether without any loss of beer quality. And let’s face it, transferring the beer to a secondary fermenter takes additional time, and everyone is busy, so I you can same an hour or two in the brewing process, why not take advantage of it?

No Secondary Fermenter? What Am I Going to do Now?

If you are going to skip using a secondary fermenter, just remember: you are not alone. You have alternatives:

1. Extended Primary Fermentation: Instead of transferring to a secondary, you can simply leave your beer in the primary fermenter for a longer period. This allows more sediment to settle, essentially achieving the same results as a secondary fermenter without the added steps.
2. Cold Crashing: Cold crashing involves chilling your beer down to near-freezing temperatures before bottling. This causes sediment to drop out quickly, giving you a clearer beer without the need for a secondary fermenter.

So in Practice, When Should You Actually Consider Using a Secondary Fermenter?

Ultimately, you make your decision based upon the pros listed above:

• Complex Beers: High-ABV beers, heavily hopped brews, or those with added fruit or spices often benefit from the extended aging and flavor development a secondary fermenter provides.
• Dry Hopped Beers: Some brewers swear on using a secondary to manage the chaos of dry hopping.
• Clarity: If you’re entering a competition or simply want a beautifully clear beer, aging the beer in a secondary fermenter can help with this requirement.

The Consensus in Modern Homebrewing

Times have changed, beer styles have evolved, and so have our home brewing practices. Most homebrewers now skip using a secondary fermenter unless they have a specific reason to use it. We’ve learned that in most cases, we can achieve the same great beer without the extra step, so why spend the extra time?

Ultimately, whether or not you decide to use a secondary fermenter depends on your specific situation and goals. For some styles and situations, it’s a useful step. For others, it can be an unnecessary time-consuming drudgery that makes home brewing feel more like work than a fun hobby that leads to phenomenal beer. The more you brew, experiment and gain experience, you will find what methodology works best for you. Happy brewing!

Is Yeast Autolysis Really a Problem with Home Brewing Beer?

Yeast autolysis. The dreaded condition whereby the diseased and mutated yeast violently explodes and spews foul flavors into our beers before permeating the room, the house and eventually our souls! Okay, that’s hyperbole, but hey, isn’t it fun? In terms based on reality (a place where I prefer not to be), yeast autolysis is the process where yeast cells die, burst their cell walls (autolize) and release unwanted compounds into the beer. I like the dramatic explosion analogy better. High degrees of yeast autolysis lead to off flavors such as sulfur, rubber, soap, or even meaty notes, and unless you’re tossing meat into your fermenter, we’re guessing you probably don’t want the meaty notes in there.

Yeast autolysis has long been a concern among home brewers – the concern about leaving beer in the primary fermenter for too long, the yeast dies, and… you know the rest of the story. However, our understanding of yeast autolysis in the context of homebrewing has evolved significantly.

The History of Exploding Yeast (Or, Autolysis in a Nutshell)

Professional breweries think they’re so mighty. They look down upon us with their towering, conical fermenters, where we cower below, fearfully peering up beside our 7-gallon buckets. But professional breweries have an Achilles heel. Their fermenters are gargantuan, and their yeast sediment depth is measured in feet. And the pressure at the bottom of their haughty, towering fermenters is tremendously high, and this pressure can cause yeast death and autolysis if the beer is left on the yeast cake for too long.

In the early days of homebrewing, and long before the internet, home brewers relied on books to learn about the craft. Few books existed on the topic, and many were based upon a combination of lore with an integration of practices adopted from the professional brewing industry. Professional breweries, because of their tall fermenters, absolutely had to be wary of autolysis, so these early beer writers assumed home brewers had the same concern. We read these books and took the information as gospel. Thus, home brewers manically racked their beer from the primary fermenter to a secondary fermenter—often within a week—to avoid this dreaded autolysis. Now that the beer was safe from autolysis, as home brewers believed, they could safely allow the beer to settle and clarify in the secondary for a longer time.

Our Modern Understanding of Autolysis and Homebrewing

Home brewing has come a long way since its early beginnings when we sprinkled mostly dead yeast over our oxidized wort made from bulging cans of malt extract. Today, home brewers actively research new brewing techniques, which has expanded our collective homebrewing knowledge exponentially. And while today it may sound obvious, we have learned that our homebrew environment does not resemble commercial breweries:

1. Fermenter Size and Pressure: Compared to professional breweries, homebrewers fermenters (5 to 10 gallons) are laughably smaller. The pressure on the yeast cake at the bottom of our fermenters is fractionally less than at professional breweries. Thus, we have a low risk of yeast autolysis.
2. Improved Yeast Health: Compared to the abysmal yeast quality of yesteryear, the quality and viability of modern yeast strains have improved by orders of magnitude. Our modern yeast is robust and less prone to autolysis. This is true for both liquid and dry yeasts.
3. Extended Primary Fermentation: Many experienced homebrewers now, if desired, leave their beer in the primary fermenter for three to four weeks, sometimes even longer, without experiencing any autolysis-driven off flavors. Conversely, this extended aging time allows the yeast to clean up byproducts of fermentation, such as diacetyl (movie theater popcorn butter) and acetaldehyde (green apple), leading to a cleaner, more polished final beer.
4. Reduced Need for Secondary Fermenters: Today for most styles of beer, homebrewers do not use a secondary fermenter. Of course, exceptions apply. When brewing IPAs, homebrewers find using a secondary helpful to manage the various stages of dry hoping. Also, homebrewers will commonly use secondary fermenters for aging beer on fruit, wood, or other adjuncts. 
5. Increased Need to Make Life Easy: So maybe this plays to the laziness in all of us, but if you don’t need to use a secondary for a specific purpose, then why bother? We all appreciate saving time, and having more time means we have more time to drink beer, and if a secondary’s use is unnecessary, then skip it. After all, each time you transfer the beer between vessels, you increase the risk of oxidation and the omnipresent risk of bacterial contamination.

Final Thoughts on Maniacal, Suicidal Exploding Yeast (Okay, Autolysis)

Among the modern homebrewing elite (and if you want to be elite, then think like us!), our consensus is that leaving beer in the primary fermenter for extended periods—up to a month or more—is safe and can even be beneficial. Homebrewers’ fear of autolysis was overblown, because we assumed professional breweries’ methodology also applied to us, which it didn’t. And with this paradigm shift, we can spend less time worrying about non-issues and unnecessarily transferring the beer and spend more time drinking the beer, which is where our priority should be!

Is Liquid Yeast Better Than Dry Yeast? A Dive into the Deep Slurry and the Evolution of Home Brewing Yeasts

Since the introduction of liquid yeast in the late 1980s, homebrewers have been debating whether liquid yeast is better than dry yeast, and this debate can get intense, sometimes even resulting in beer drinking contests, where beer aficionados have to enjoy many different kinds of beers. Oh, no. The question of dried versus liquid yeast exists in a historical context, and to help you truly understand this topic so you can speak condescendingly to the poor uninitiated saps, we need to delve into the history of yeast in home brewing, the evolution of both liquid and dried yeast, and how modern advancements have blurred or in many cases erased the lines between these two forms of yeast. So grab a beer and let’s do this crazy thing!

The Early Dark Days of Homebrewing:  The Domination of Dried Yeast

In the early days of home brewing, and before 1978 when home beer making was officially legalized, dried yeast was the only option available to brewers. This was long before the craft beer movement took off, during a time when home brewing was often a hobby practiced by enthusiasts (read crackpots or nutcases) who were obsessed (or deluded) on creating something beyond the bland, mass-produced beers (swill) that dominated the market. And who today wouldn’t trade that hazy IPA for a case of Blatz? And by the way, coincidentally, “Blatz” is not only the sound the can makes when you open this stuff, but it’s also the sound you make when you’re hurling in the toilet at 3:00 AM. Just saying….

Dry yeast was—and still is—a highly stable and convenient product. It can be stored for long periods without refrigeration and is easy to ship. However, the variety of dried yeast strains available years ago was limited, and the quality of the yeast was sketchy. At that time, the process of drying yeast was crude and typically produced a low viability yield compared to today’s modern dried yeasts.

Even the best beers brewed with these early dried yeasts were a taste departure from commercial beers, not only because of the unique (okay, the bat-shit crazy) recipes, but also due to the omnipresent “homebrew” aftertaste that was difficult to eliminate. This background “homebrew” taste was generally the result of the low-quality of the yeast.

The Emergence of Liquid Yeast: A Game (and Beer) Changer. It Changed Our World, Man!

The introduction of liquid yeast in the late 1980s introduced a huge improvement in quality, and homebrewers immediately noticed these taste improvements. Companies like Wyeast and White Labs began offering liquid yeast cultures that were pure, fresher, contained more viable cells, and included a wider variety of strains, many of which came directly from commercial breweries. These liquid yeasts allowed homebrewers to experiment with more authentic and specialized strains, creating beers that resembled commercial craft beers in flavor, aroma, and mouthfeel. And thus began liquid yeast’s good reputation that continues to this day.

Liquid yeast offered several advantages over dry yeast:

• Viability and Vitality: Liquid yeast packs contained live (though dormant) yeast cells in its natural state of hydration, which were often more viable than their dry counterparts. This led to a more vigorous fermentation, reducing the risk of off-flavors.
• Purity: Liquid yeast was produced with greater quality control, meaning it was pure yeast without the presence of small quantities of off-flavor producing bacteria, which commonly plagued the early dried yeast strains.
• Variety: Liquid yeast producers offered a vast selection of strains, including those used by famous breweries. This gave homebrewers access to the same yeast strains used to produce their favorite commercial beers, and in many cases, like German hefeweizens, the taste impact was profound.
• Fermentation Characteristics: Liquid yeasts tended to have more predictable and consistent fermentation flavor profiles, which was crucial for brewers aiming to replicate specific beer styles. You could make a bock taste lock a bock and a wee heavy taste like a wee heavy.

Because of these advantages, liquid yeast quickly gained popularity, and dried yeasts’ reputation suffered. Many brewers regarded dry yeast as inferior and associated it with the homebrew aftertaste that they were trying to avoid.

The Rise of Modern Dry Yeast: A Revolution in Quality

I suppose this is ultimately a story of capitalism and competition, and to use the parlance of professional Nobel-prize-winning economists, the dried yeast producers “got their asses kicked,” and they didn’t like that.  In recent years, however, the quality difference between liquid and dry yeast has narrowed to the point of insignificance. Advances in yeast drying technology have led to the development of dry yeast strains that are virtually identical to their liquid counterparts in measurable flavor and performance. Companies like Fermentis and Lallemand have invested heavily in research and development to bring the quality of their dry yeast to the same level as liquid yeast.

Here’s how modern dry yeast has caught up (or how they got their asses un-kicked):

• Improved Drying Techniques: Newer methods of drying yeast involve carefully controlled processes that maintain higher viability rates. The yeast cells are healthier and more robust when rehydrated, leading to more consistent fermentations. Gone are the days when the machine operators would call out, “Hey, Jimmy Jim Bob, hold my beer and watch me dry this!”
• Strain Development: Yeast manufacturers have developed new strains specifically for drying, ensuring that these strains can survive the drying process without losing their desirable characteristics.
• Increased Viability: Modern dry yeast contains a significantly higher number of viable cells per gram compared to older dried yeast, making it comparable to liquid yeast in terms of cell count, fermentation flavor, rate and attenuation.
• Extended Shelf Life: Dry yeast can be stored for long periods without refrigeration, which is a significant advantage for shipping packs across the country.
• Price: Dry yeast costs significantly less than liquid yeast.

A good example of dried versus liquid is Safale US-05 versus Wyeast 1056 (American Ale), which are genetically identical. Many brewers have conducted side-by-side comparisons and found little if any difference in the final beer, which shows how far dry yeast has come.

Conclusion: Why Not Have the Best of Both Worlds?

So, is liquid yeast better than dry yeast? Or what if you reversed this question and asked if dry yeast is better than liquid yeast? The answer is: it depends. For many years, liquid yeast was the top choice for homebrewers trying to produce the highest-quality beers with the most authentic flavors. However, the technological advancements in dry yeast production have leveled the playing field, making dry yeast a viable (ha ha, pun intended)—and more convenient—alternative.

For most homebrewers, the choice between liquid and dry yeast now comes down to personal preference, the specific strain required for the brew, and the practical considerations of storage and cost. While liquid yeast offers the advantage of a wider variety of strains, modern dry yeast is more convenient, has a longer shelf life, is half- to one-third the price, and performs as well as its liquid counterpart.

In the end, both forms of yeast have their place. The best choice is the one that suits your brewing needs and goals. There’s an old saying in the beer world: “What’s your favorite beer? The one that’s in front of me!” The same can be said for yeast. What’s your favorite? The one I’m using to make beer, because homebrewing is awesome!

Do I Need to Rehydrate Dry Yeast?

As a home maker of beer, wine, cider or mead, you will inevitably (and quickly) face the existential question of whether you should rehydrate dry yeast before pitching it into your batch - or should you simply sprinkle it in and walk away. Like many topics, there is no single best answer, and both techniques carry their own pros and cons. In this blog, we’ll examine the details of each approach to help you decide which method is best for you, or at least help you sleep better at night. We will generally be using the language of beer makers (like “pitching the wort, bro”), but the techniques and ideas are common to wine, cider and mead.

The Basics: What is Yeast Rehydration?

Rehydration involves dissolving dry yeast in a small amount of warm water (typically around 95-100°F or 35-38°C) for about 15 minutes before adding it to your wort or other beverage of choice. The rehydration process allows the yeast cells to absorb water and begin waking up from their dormant state, which allows the yeast to restructure its cell membrane and prepare them for a vigorous, healthy and happy fermentation.

Pros of Rehydrating Dry Yeast

1. Better Yeast Viability and Performance

Proper yeast rehydration leads to higher yeast viability, which is the standard fancy industry jargon simply meaning that you have the most live yeast cells ready to ferment your wort, and we all would agree that’s a good thing. When yeast is properly rehydrated, it will lead to a faster start to fermentation and potentially a more complete fermentation. This is definitely important when brewing high-gravity beers, where a strong and healthy yeast population is critical for achieving the desired high alcohol content, avoiding off-flavors, and completing the fermentation without giving you the headache of having to add more yeast at some later point to finish the job.

2. Reduced Risk of Stressed Yeast

Pitching dry yeast directly into wort, especially if the wort is cold, can shock the yeast cells. This shock can cause some cells to die or become stressed, which may lead to incomplete fermentation or off-flavors such as acetaldehyde (green apple) or diacetyl (the dreaded movie theater popcorn butter flavor). Proper rehydration helps the yeast begin fermentation without the added stress of adapting to the wort environment.

3. Improved Fermentation Consistency

Brewers who rehydrate their yeast commonly report consistent fermentation results. Since rehydrated yeast starts fermentation more quickly, it outcompetes any stray wild yeasts or bacteria that might be present, which reduces the risk of contamination and dreaded off-flavors. Consistent fermentation also means that your beer’s flavor profile is more predictable from batch to batch, which is important if you're trying to replicate a favorite recipe.

Cons of Rehydrating Dry Yeast

Oh, great, so you’ve just learned all of the wonderful advantages of yeast rehydration – can’t we just leave it at that? Nope. Like we’ve said earlier, there is no clear winner in the debate of whether to rehydrate or not, so let’s look at the cons.

1. Added Complexity and Inconvenience

Complexity is the bane to the lazy person, or perhaps we should say, the person who’s trying to maximize reward by doing very little. Rehydrating yeast adds an extra step to the brewing process, which is a drawback for brewers seeking simplicity, and what’s wrong with simplicity? Yeast rehydration requires additional equipment (a sanitized glass, thermometer, and water) and extra time. Yeast rehydration also requires careful temperature control and timing to make sure that the yeast is properly rehydrated without being deranged or heartlessly murdered. For new brewers, this added complexity can be intimidating, and the process can feel like more trouble than it’s worth. And that’s no fun.

2. Risk of Contamination

Like every step in brewing, when rehydrating yeast, there's a chance, however so slight, of contamination if the water or container used isn’t properly sanitized. Since the yeast is in a vulnerable state during rehydration, any chemical contaminants present (such as residual detergent from a poorly rinsed glass from the dishwasher) can potentially harm the yeast and thus the quality of the fermentation. Pitching dry yeast directly into the wort avoids this risk, as the wort is already sanitized by the boiling process.

Pros of Pitching Dry Yeast Directly

Okay, so if rehydrating dried yeast is so wonderful, then why for many homebrewers has pitching dry yeast directly into the wort become standard practice? Let’s check it out.

1. Simplicity

There’s something to be said for simplicity. Pitching dry yeast directly is simple, making it a tempting option for beginner and expert brewers. You open the packet, sprinkle the yeast onto the wort, and you’re done. If you’ve got good manual dexterity, you can even do this with a beer in one hand. This simplicity is one of the biggest advantages of direct pitching, particularly for those who are new to brewing or who want to minimize the number of steps involved in the process. And no brewers, however new or advanced, should feel the peer pressure to make the process more complicated.

2. Modern Yeast Strains

Given advancements in yeast production, overwhelmingly most modern dry yeast strains are robust enough to perform well without rehydration. We can’t overstate this fact. Years ago, dried yeast quality was marginal, and rehydration made a big difference. Beginning in the early 2000s, manufacturers developed advanced emulsification and drying procedures, which produced more robust yeast cells that could be added directly to the wort, making the brewing process simpler for home brewers, and we appreciated this. These advancements also increased the perception of dried yeasts’ quality. Before these advancements, liquid yeast had a quality advantage. Today, on a strain-by-strain comparison, dried yeast produces quality results equal to liquid yeast.

3. Minimized Risk of Contamination

Dry yeast is manufactured in a sterile-like conditions. Thus, the risk of introducing contaminants when pitching directly is negligible. By skipping the rehydration step, you eliminate possible sources of contamination, like accidentally using an improperly sanitized glass, thermometer or spoon during the rehydration.

Conclusion: To Rehydrate or Not to Rehydrate?

So after reading all of this, your take away is “who the hell knows?” I always rehydrate my dried yeast if I have the time, but typically I don’t have the time, so there you go. I have good results both ways, but yes, I do sleep better at night after rehydrating dried yeast. Ultimately, the decision to rehydrate dry yeast or pitch it directly boils down (pun intended) to personal brewing style. Rehydration offers benefits in terms of yeast health and fermentation vigor, especially for high-gravity high alcohol beers or when brewing under challenging conditions, like cool lager fermentations. However, direct pitching is much simpler, less prone to contamination, and, given the technological advancements in yeast manufacturing, extremely effective.

My recommendation has always been that if you’re new to brewing, direct pitching the dried yeast is the easiest and best option. As you gain experience, you can experiment with rehydration to see if it makes a noticeable difference in your brews. In the end, the best method is the one that consistently gives you the results you’re happy with, because that’s the reason we brew.

Ask any mead maker and they’ll tell you: mead making is cool. Mead making is mystical. Mead making is like stepping into the shoes of ancient alchemists of centuries past blending age-old traditions with the advantage of modern creativity. You're not just brewing a beverage - you're crafting a magical elixir that connects the past with the present, creating your own unique twist on a beverage enjoyed by Vikings, medieval knights, mystical druids and you!

One of the first steps in the process of mead making is preparing your honey. There are many different methods available, some traditional, some modern, and a simple internet search can quickly become overwhelming. In this blog, we'll explore the most popular methods for using honey in mead making, ranked in order by their overall popularity. We’ll present the information in outline form so you can get to the good information quickly, because, let's face it, most of us have that tldr mindset.

Wrapping it All Up

We fermentation hobbyists have a tendency to make things more complicated than they need to be. Preparing honey for mead making doesn't have to be complicated. Remember - making mead is as much about the journey as it is about the final product. Whether you choose to add your honey directly, use sulphites, pasteurize, or boil, each method has its own set of benefits that can lead to delicious and unique meads. Which one should you use? The direct addition is the easiest and most common, but experimenting with different techniques can be a fun way to discover what works best for you and your mead. And fun (hopefully) is the ultimate reason we engage with this hobby. Cheers!