Recent content by briggssteel

It was "drinking water" from Walmart or target I believe. The kind that comes in gallon jugs. I'm pretty sure that water is run through an RO filter it says.

I typically just pour it back in and try not to get too crazy and pour somewhat slowly. This last batch I put a piece of foil at the top so it would take most of the force of the pour. I still has a good amount of grain coming out but the batch was sort of atypical because I used a can of...

Thanks for the responses. I only batch sparge once. What I meant was that I'll collect a quart or two dump it back in the top 4 or 5 times until it's no longer cloudy for first runnings and sparge. Also I only brew with RO water and typically add calcium chloride or gypsum to get the calcium at...

Most of my beers lately have had astringency. Not over the top, but it's there. I think I may have found the culprit. When I recirculate/sparge I always end up with grain particles coming through. I took a preboil sample and there was about a couple inches of grain particles that settled in the...

I was listening to the brewing network and Jamil mentioned not to brew in a drafty environment to avoid contamination. Maybe I'm taking it out of context or something but I think it was on the Scottish ale show. Now I know people brew outside all the time so this confused me. I brew in my garage...

You absolutely can. I only bottle condition as well. Volumes aren't specific to kegging and still apply to bottle conditioning. It's still a specific amount of C02 dissolved into solution. By using either of the calculators we posted, it will give you the C02 volume you desire. That way, you can...

Use this calculator to get your amounts for priming sugar: http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator/carbonation.html You want to carbonate to a certain volume depending on style. On the low end would be a mild at 1 to 1.5 volumes. On the higher end think a hefeweizen which will have around...

For what it's worth I use the brewersfriend.com brewhouse efficiency calculator. It usually tells me I get around 72-75% efficiency. When I build my recipe I use the brewer's friend recipe builder and plug in 73 or 74% efficiency. My last couple of batches I've been within a couple of points of...

I wouldn't think his water would be contributing to hot alcohol flavors IMO. I'm thinking it has to be some issue involving yeast/fermentation/oxygen or something of that nature. Although if the water tastes bad I definitely wouldn't use it. I use all RO water for my beers although that has it's...

You wouldn't be getting fusels at 72. Once you start getting into the upper 70's and 80's you'll start getting hot alcohol pitching at those temperatures. So you can probably rule that out. It's still normally recommended to pitch around your fermentation temp or colder (especially for lagers)...

I would think the culprit is fermentation temp if you're not controlling it in a fridge with a temp controller. If it's not that, try switching to liquid yeast for a batch to see if that helps. You could also be under pitching. Use the mr malty yeast calculator to find out how much you need. I...

Martin, Some questions regarding adding roast and crystal grains at the end of the mash. 1. Which grains should be added at the end specifically? Is it all Crystal and roasted grains or just at a certain lovibond point? 2. At what point in the mash should they be added and for how long...

Try the brew365.com water calculator. It works well for me. You'll need to measure your equipment loss if you haven't already. I usually mash at 133- 1.4 quarts per gallon. The other big thing is that you'll need a calibrated stick to measure your kettle volume. Simply do this by putting in a...

If the Colorphast PH strips really do read 0.3 low that's bad for accuracy's sake, but makes me feel better about my PH. When I plugged everything into Martin's Bru n water software it gave me a PH of 5.1 without pickling lime, so you're probably onto something about them reading low. Maybe...

Ouch on the little old lady comment. Haha. Good to know it's not that dangerous though so I'll probably use it next time I do a darker beer. I used the Colorphast PH strips at room temperature. The 4.9 was a guesstimate but the color was definitely closer to 5.0 than 4.7 on the chart. I kept...