Recent content by luckybeagle

I forgot all about that guy! Thanks for the tip. Love the concept, too: taking the averages of the best, most medaled beers. Great idea. I had an Ayinger Doppelbock just now and am sort of rethinking the Bock application of this yeast. It was good, but just not one I'd reach for on most...

Oh nice. What were your two first brews with the Augustiner strain? It's my first true lager (after 200+ batches I finally took the leap), and I'm way less intimidated by the process. Probably helps to have a full pipeline now and no sense of urgency for once, haha. That's good to hear you're...

I've got a pint of fresh L17 Harvest slurry (WLP830/Wy2352 equivalent) that I'm looking to put to good use. I've already brewed a helles from it and repitched a little less than half of the slurry from this batch into a Munich Dunkel. With this remaining half+, I'd love to put together a nice...

This is awesome. And I'm realizing my shortcomings with understanding water chemistry now--at least with how I've been brewing. Short reply for now but I thought I'd toss out a question before the workday starts. I decided for ease I'd just adjust the mash water in mash#1 and simply acidify...

Good points. I'm still working through this task and am hoping for a little more insight. Mash #1 will have 6.1 gallons of strike water. for its 16.1 pounds of grain. This is the first half of the grain bill. Sparge for mash #1 will have 5.1 gallons of water. This will result in 9.2 gallons...

Thanks again! One last question... I've got the water dialed in (it DOES involve chalk, but I'm going to do my darnedest to get it to dissolve--maybe even a drop of lactic acid can help since chalk requires an acid to dissolve and carbonic acid via Co2 might not be enough on its own). My...

thanks! That is super helpful. I'm just going to build out the water profile on my first infusion, sparge with dechlorinated tap water (it's super neutral here), and just add a little bit of baking soda to the second mash. Maybe 8 grams on the first mash and 3 on the second. That'll put my pH on...

^^ Browser at work logged me in under a different, inactive username. oops!^^ Thanks everyone! I was confused initially about the iterative mashing idea, but it makes sense now: Split the grain bill in half Mash this batch at 1.25 or 1.5 qt/lb--whatever fairly evenly divides the strike and...

Didn’t know that! How is that different though from recirculating? I recirculate my wort throughout the mash via a herms coil in my HLT and back onto the top of the grain bed. I usually mash for hours since I can keep the temp stable and I usually have other things going on during brew day, and...

gah, i don't think there's any way around it--I'm in for a long boil if I expect to sparge. Oh well, I'll do it lid off with the garage door open, and will just hang out and drink beer while it commences. Not the worst thing in the world to do! THIRTY TWO POUNDS OF GRAIN in this 5.5 gallon...

5.5 gallons is the target for the fermenter

I have a 3 vessel HERMS setup. Each Kettle is 16 gallons. I normally brew in the 1.040 - 1.070 range. This pastry stout is a whopping 1.145 and calls on 32# of grain! I also boil with a steam condenser and average 0.75g boiloff per hour. The brew is indoors and venting without the steam...

Thank you! I'm using a DIY steam condenser, so there are no issues with steam thankfully. Before that I had a similar dilemma--either turn the garage into a massive cloud, or brew with the garage doors open. It was the absolute best upgrade to my brewery. If you have a sink or water source...

Yeah, it is pretty cloudy. I did use whirlfloc but I had an issue with my brewing salts (forgot to add them to the mash--ended up boiling and cooling a little water with them in it and adding it a few hours after yeast pitch. Not ideal at all. I think I am going to just hit it with gelatin and...

Update: I kegged this beer on 3/1, so it's been in the keg for a little over 3 weeks. It was brewed 37 days ago. This yeast is so stubbornly cloudy and non-flocculant! I'm probably going to just stay out of it for another week or two and assess again. I really don't want to add gelatin at...