Recent content by pcollins

If it's reading 70 that usually means 1.070 on the specific gravity scale. Double check the scale inserted in the hydrometer, it may say somewhere on there.

I love this place: Ask 10 brewers a question, get 15 different answers. LOL Here's yet another answer: I simply pasteurize any fruit that's going into secondary for my beer. Put the fruit in a large pot with a small amount of water. Puree the fruit with a hand blender/immersion blender. Heat to...

Definitely contact them. In a tablespoon sample size I would expect to see a few whole grains, definitely not that many. :(

Have you poured more than a pint? Pour a couple and see where you're at. If you're just pouring a small sample you're only getting what's in the beer out line in the keg. More than a pint and you'll be getting what's actually IN the keg and what has had a chance to be carbed.

Well, we're in Canada and I understand what you're saying. We've got a ton of crap weather here, too. In winter when I cool in to the fermenter we still set the cooling for 70ºF regardless of the ambient. Temps will climb higher than that for sure otherwise we could just dispense with our...

In my brewery if we wanted to ferment warmer we would just leave the cooling off or set it for a higher than ambient temp. 23hl of fermenting wort can easily climb up to north of 80ºF in the early stages. I don't know what other breweries do who would want to maintain those temps beyond primary.

Oh, and if you ask 10 of us this type of question get ready for 15 different answers. LOL (as evidenced by the above)

In my process, and in an ideal world, I would transfer onto the hops, let sit for a week or less, cold crash, gel, keg/carb, serve. Reasons for the above: I reuse my yeast so I don't want the hop debris in the yeast cake. I transfer off the yeast and then reuse from there. In my experience...

Why not? I do it all the time. Wait for fermentation to finish, transfer onto the dry hops, wait 5-7 days, package. I would add that after the dry hop period is done I will cold crash and gel before kegging. Helps to keep most hop particles out of the keg.

I just did a session ale as a one off for my brewery. It was well received and had the following schedule for hopping: 50g Cascade FWH 50g Cascade 10 min 50g Centennial 10 min 50g Cascade 5min 50g Centennial 5 min 50g Cascade 0 min 50g Centennial 0 min 100g Cascade DH 100g Calypso DH

This is pretty similar to what we do at our brewery. We have 25hL fermenters and we go to 12.5hL in the boil kettle on a brew day. We pitch the appropriate full amount of yeast on day one and cool in with O2. Day two we brew the same amount but cool in with no O2. With losses at cooling and...

I wouldn't worry and you now have active fermentation so I'm pretty sure you're fine. FWIW, I work in a small craft brewery as head of brewing and spoke at great length to our Lallemand rep who walked us through rehydration of fresh dry yeast. Rehydrate in distilled water is fine...

I do exactly the same process except I stopped using whirlfloc altogether to avoid those huge chunks. I have the little solar pumps that are pretty popular these days and have found them to be just fine. Hop material is definitely a problem and I use a bag or ss basket for that. You could put...

I won't necessarily comment on the brewing resume side of things but I will comment generally. Yes, spelling and grammar. "Sweat wort"? No, it's "sweet wort". "i" should be capitalized always. A previous comment about the capitalization in the bullet list is correct. I won't comment on the...

You CAN use your refractometer for FG readings as long as you DO use the conversion tools to get the correct reading. The refractometer is made to measure the refraction of light in a solution of sugar and water. Alcohol has a different refractive index which leads to "off" readings in the...