Recent content by madjazz

Hello beer people! I am going to brew what I am calling a "Mexican Mocha Tarr Stout" in about 14 hours or so... It has a lovely grains bill (pale, cystal 120, victory, carapils, roasted barley, black pat) and only bittering hops (n. brew and east kent goldings) At the end of the boil I...

I have had it with the peice of crap #7 stoppers popping out of my carboys! I am going to the brewstore tomorrow to get either universal stoppers or carboy hoods. Anyone have insight into the advantages of these options?

I had a glass carboy explode (thousands of pieces!) a few weeks ago because my blow off tube was too small (1/2). I now swear by 1.25" outside diameter (1" inside) tubes for blowing off. They fit perfectly into the top of a carboy, no need for a stopper and no worries about clogging!

I have had similar problems with efficiency due to my sparge. I spent $3 to get some insulated tubing for my sparge water to move through from the hot liquor tank to my sparge arm. This kept my water hotter (I was losing about 10-15 degrees from tank to tun). My efficiency went up 12%...

What are people's thoughts on using Star San to sanitize bottles? I have done this a few times already without anything unhappy. But the no rinse when putting beer in the bottle is hard to deal with mentally sometimes...