Recent content by Alsace

Good point about the temperature. I did a ton of british ales this fall and winter, and I think my keezer might still be set around 48 degrees. Wonder if that warmer temp could be causing some of this.

Hey, thanks for the suggestion. I think I will do just that. I wonder how many times I'll think I'm having my last beer of the night, spray the faucet out, and then find out I'm pulling another! I AM going to build a proper collar and get real faucets some day, but I have nightmares about my...

I've been kegging for a few years. I use a converted chest freezer. I run a case fan inside at all times for air circulation, and always have a tub of Damp rid in there to keep things nice and dry. I typically clean all my beer lines once a month, sometimes once every two months, and I've...

I think the calcium will still be of use as it aids in yeast flocculation. Thanks for all the ideas. I ended up reboiling a cup of wort with the forgotten minerals and then adding them in before pitching. But you are right to point out that I won't get all the benefits of a true kettle addition.

Just wrapping up a Vienna lager here. I forgot to add my kettle additions of gypsum and calcium chloride and I am now aerating the cooled wort. It would be nice to get them in there because my water is low in calcium, but I am worried about adding them at this point because its post boil and I...

Just drilled and filled my lid with spray foam following jhallorans idea. Of course I couldn't bring myself to drill any less than one hole per spoke. It was just too fun. Thanks for the idea, I can't wait to try this out in a few days.

I'm using an ac axial fan. I think it is 15 watts or something. I didn't realize there was such a big difference in power consumption. But then again, it says it moves 81 CFM. I chose it because they had an easy set up at the shop where I found it where I could wire it to a plug using plastic...

Are you talking about the outside wall or the lid?

I will definitly drill from the outside, I was just thinking about the water that might contact the foam when I am cleaning the lid after a mash.

Thanks for the idea with the spray foam insulation. How many holes did you drill? And did you have to seal off the holes to prevent them from contacting water or are they ok with that?

I just set up a fermentation chamber in a chest freezer. I only have a single stage temp controller, and I was running a fermwrap with it. The ambient in my basement was 59 and I had the controller set at 61. What I didn't account for was the heat generated by my muffin fan. I left the set...

I mash in a 7 gal. round rubbermaid, which has worked really well for about 40 batches. I remember when I got it set up originally I was finding it would hold the mash temp within a degree over an hour. In the last few batches I have been seeing really low numbers by the end of the hour. I...

I just came by a free chest freezer and I want to set up a fermentation chamber. I know JZ uses a dual stage set-up with a fermwrap-ed carboy inside a chest freezer. I guess I have two questions: 1. Is it really necessary to have both a heating and cooling element at work? Wouldn't it be...

Hi all, I'm gearing up to brew two American IPAs and I was hoping to get some good ideas for hop combos. I have a pretty nice inventory at my disposal right now, but I haven't played around with combining them much. Here's what I have to work with: Chinook, Simcoe, Columbus, Centennial...

A lot of people will tell you not to judge fermentation by the bubbles in the airlock, but the truth is that you can get a pretty good idea of what's going on from the air lock. Don't bother taking a hydrometer reading until the airlock has completely stopped bubbling. Then, when you take your...