Recent content by DavidP

Good writeup!

Well said. Brewers need to understand their equipment and any negative qualities it may have. I have a threaded spigot on my fermentation bucket, and I know that if I don't clean & sanitize it well enough it will harbor bacteria. Someday I probably will lose a batch because of this, but I'm...

Same thing here; vertical warping that has never affected the cooler since. I've been using mine for a good 4-5 years like this.

I put in a cup of the gunky crap left over from the previous batch; the beer won't "go" without it. (lame riff on the "superstitions" our brewer ancestors must have had :cross:)

Clean right after use with dish soap and a washcloth. Sanitizer before the next use. Same procedure for my fermenters, too.

Another happy JSP maltmill user (i.e. a "low end" mill), and that's a ****ty crush. Each kernel should be broken up into at least 4-5 chunks, there will be a good amount of flour.

Add me to the list of people with broken Star San caps. I've since transferred the remaining liquid to a pump soap dispenser - 8 pumps = 1/2 oz.

My biggest, most recent time-saver has been using a PID-controlled HLT. That gets set up first and heating while I get the rest of my equipment out. But a tip for newer brewers? How about going for as clean a wort as possible in order to avoid a transfer to secondary.

I am using an agitator driven by a 240V, 60 RPM gear motor. Initially I wasn't going to use one because during the heating phase convection currents did a good enough job of keeping the water moving. However once the HLT reaches target temp, the water tends to stratify. Just by dipping my lab...

I also used the SS locknut / o-ring combo in mounting my heating element and have had zero leaks. Are you mounting your elements on the bottom?

Interesting question! Ccaramel malts contain a mix of fermentable and unfermentable sugars (ref), so a "tea" made from your malt wouldn't have the same amount of usable sugars as a wort made from DME or base malt. However if you use the whole pound you just might get enough fermentables to...

In order to get a consistent taste Starbucks tends to over-roast their beans... try a light roast coffee from a local roaster and then you'll really start to pick out interesting flavors. Check out Sweet Maria's pictorial roasting guide for good info on how coffee flavor changes with the roast.

+1 on using your chill water for cleanup. I brew outside with only cold hose water. After rising out my kettle I'll pour in my collected hot waste water and use it as a wash tub. And if needed I'll heat the wash water to make it more effective.

I've always been confused by this thinking... both styles of sparging need a good filter bed to produce clear wort. The minimum height makes for a denser filter towards the bottom.

Also keep in mind that larger/wider coolers will have a shallower grain bed resulting in poorer filtration.