Recent content by JakeFegely

I would not worry about that last tiny bit of attenuation. If you are within .001 of target that seems great to me. I would not mess with adding more yeast and then having to bring the temp back up to get them active. Finish the lagering, package and enjoy!

I've had efficiency problems with high OG mashes as well. I've read about at least 2 causes. The first is that as you increase the amount of grain (while keeping your boil volume the same), your ratio of total water to grain drops. You have less water to wash sugar out of the grains. A...

It does make sense. What you found when you over-sparged (and your end-running gravity was 30), was that you still had a lot of sugar left in the mash tun by the time you achieved your pre-boil volume. That obviously hurt your efficiency. Ideally you want to run all the fluid out of the tun...

Paper strips are generally not very accurate. If the strip is indicating somewhere around 5, I'd leave it alone. You want to be in the 5 to 5.5 area. Have you ever done this recipe before? With the same water? If you have and it turned out, the pH is probably fine. A digital test meter...

To know what to add you should know what you are starting with. Ward labs (www.wardlab.com) will do a water analysis for $16.50. (their W-6 analysis). Then read John Palmer's "How to Brew" section on water. Otherwise you can experiment, but that could be costly and waste otherwise good...

Yeast do strange things sometimes. I've seen the kreusen drop and yet the fermentation continued normally (it just didn't look "normal"). Visual indicators like kreusen, air-lock and yeast movement can be helpful, but a hydrometer is much more meaningful.

It is definitely preferable to start at a lower temp and allow the temp to rise slowly if needed. Chilling could cause the fermentation to slow down or stop. I've fermented with this yeast at 57 degrees for a few days and then let it rise a few degrees - it can handle cool temps, but dropping...

Has the gravity stopped dropping or is it still moving slowly? What temp are you fermenting at? What grains did you use and what was your mash temp(s)? That will impact whether 1.022 is a reasonable FG.

+1 on the Thermopen. It was $95.00, but it's accurate to plus/minus .7 F and it stabilizes within 3-4 seconds. I can get multiple readings around my mash tun in 30 seconds.

Kaiser has some good videos on decoction mashing that are very helpful. I think they are in the sticky at the top of this section. One thing I notice is that Kaiser (and others I've read) recommend pulling 10 to 20% extra for the decoction. This allows you to add back gradually until you...

There is a good sticky at the top of this section about maximizing efficiency when batch sparging. The sparge /lauter process can have a big impact on efficiency. The mash process can also affect it. Whenever I use pilsner grain, I need to step mash or I lose efficiency.

I just did my first oaked bourbon beer ( a wee heavy). I read a number of different approaches. In my case I let it get through primary,then racked to secondary on top of oak chips (that had been soaked in bourbon for about 2 months). I believe the adding of oak and bourbon flavors is...

disney7 - regarding mash temp drops, someone on here pointed out that coolers are built to keep things cool, not hot. Consequently the lids are not insulated (doesn't matter if you want to keep things cool - but it matters a lot if you want to keep things hot). There are a number of ways to...

Pilsner should work fine for pale ales and IPA's. If you are familiar with Troegs Brewery (Harrisburg/Hershey, PA), they use Pils as the base malt for many of their beers, including IPA's.

If I recall Kaiser's information, the sparge efficiency is pretty good (similar) over a range that might be from 40 to 60% (guessing) of preboil volume. At some point it starts to see significant impact. I wouldn't get real specific about hitting 50% but you want to be somewhere around there...