Recent content by RPG27

I would be interested in hearing people's feedback too.

I really like how the new (draft) BJCP guidelines break everything down, especially among the marzen/vienna/ofest/fest biers. Really makes everything easy to brew on your own with the ingredient breakdowns they do.

Great stuff guys. I LOVE the various interpretations of marzen/festbier/Vienna. You might think you're making the same basic beer, but not so. One question though: with regard to fermentation temp, are you using the temp INSIDE the fermenter? 34/70 says 53F is optimal, but is that ambient...

Hmm, I'm just not sure. I don't want to give you the wrong idea. I absolutely have a nice solid quarter inch of foam in the brew kettle, it just never grows and pulses like an "it's alive!" type of moment. It always looks like it could pop at any second, but then the wort will just break through...

Thank you, I guess I'll have to look into getting some tablets to level out the pH. I live in pennsylvania, I figured my water would be more acidic than anything.

No I haven't been checking pH. My roommate (uses the same water) routinely gets good breaks but he brews mostly porters and stouts. What are the affects of not having a strong break?

I've done about 7 or 8 all grain brews so far. They've all been vienna lagers/marzens and 3 gallon or less batches. Most of the malt I use is some combo of german vienna and german light munich. I follow brewers friend recipe calculators to a T and use a converted Rubbermaid container for my...

The malt book FINALLY arrived at my house today after ordering back in the summer. Haven't cracked it open just yet.

It was a 2 gallon AG marzen. 4 lbs light Munich, .50 lb Vienna and .20 carapills. Had an OG of 1.056. I ended up with probably 2 1/2 gallons in the fermenter. I'm assuming it's going to end up more bitter than I wanted. I went with .50 oz tettnanger for 60 and .20 oz hallertau for 25 minutes.

So, I think I may have not had the greatest boil of all time. It wasn't vigorously bubbling, just sort of heaving around the hop particles and hot break. I did turn the heat up a good bit with about 20 minutes left so it wasn't a total loss. But I'm wondering what the affects of not having a...

I should also add that I took the wort sample from the top of the fermenter, so that could be a reason it's reading lower. Not the best brew day ever for me..

Haha thanks for the chuckle. I'm just kicking myself because this is probably like the 5th or 6th batch I've done and I ALWAYS seem to mess something up. I followed the brewers friend water requirements to a T, but it seems like a gallon and a half is a lot to boil off in 60 minutes. I...

I brewed a marzen today, shooting for a 2 gallon all grain batch. I had some trouble hitting my target mash tun temperature of 155. I was a little high at first so I added some cold water. Later on I went a bit too low (150) and I added a touch of hot water (total clusterf I know). Brewers...

Yeah I may have started the fermentation a little too cold. However, I have tasted some and it doesn't seem to be off.

No problem. It's so challenging to ferment lagers without a dedicated refrigerator. I live in pennsylvania and it does get cold enough to use the weather as an advantage (in a garage or cellar), but it's not reliant. I put this marzen in my fridge (low 40s) and fermentation was sluggish. I...