Recent content by seriousbeef

I just put a 1 gal batch of light German style beer into cold-crash on friday. I had it hooked up in a growler, with a bung, blow off tube to a beer bottle with about 250ml of water + a teaspoon of a powdered, oxygen based sanitiser we use here in the UK. As you do. I usually cold crash with 3...

cheers mate, I was on the right path all along!

So 4 brews down the line using elements and they are now rendered unusable. The elements are screwed into the wall of my kettle with plastic...collars? Shroud? See pic. I am unsure of their proper name, and this has really hindered me from finding replacements online. It seems they have...

Reaching the end of assembling a ball valve outfeed for my fermentor. The tank coupler fitting I believe to be made from brass. How confident can I be that modern brass fittings are lead-free?

GIMP is good, given a bit of time to get antiquated with it. This was for my latest porter

Some of you may well know England has hit (finally) its summer season, so temps are getting reasonably hot in the day time. In my garage, my ferm is sitting at a nice cold crash temp at night, but in the day time...well, that's another story. So I figured, would it be appropriate method to...

First time with this yeast. Pitched a nice starter of 1.5L. Fermentation took off in 3 1/2 hours, and by the following day ferm. temps were up to 75-78. I was not pleased. I chilled it to 73 on brewday - plus it was the hottest day in England with terribly muggy humidity. Couldn't get it...

I literally have no time to go out and find lactose!!! Gah

It's the night before brewday. All my browsing in the HBT archives came out with a unanimous YES to adding cocoa powder to the last 10 mins of the boil for a choco-porter. THEN I stumbled across a thread, stating those with good choc flavour from this method after some aging were simply...

Why didn't I think of washing?! Cheers. 1st Step looks like its eaten all the sugars it can (pic), we have some krausen. I was gonna fridge it and decant of ready for 2nd step..does it look ready to you guys?? :confused:

Threw in some figures in Mr Malty's yeast starter app. I'm going to be brewing up a 1.067/ 6gal porter on Wednesday. As I type this, I have 1.4L of yeast starter in front of me, with the plan to propagate a second step/batch of starter tomorrow. My plan was to over propagate tomorrow so...

Interesting. That will make a good read. I was considering gypsum or carbonate reducing solution. However I am unsure of the ratios!

It's well regarded here that tap water, with or without boiling has high alkalinity. I would like to take a pH test, but I haven't any strips, and it's common knowledge. Simply put, I would like to cast aside a batch of water for sanitizing, but as you well know, Star San doesn't like...

This is called the query germ. As you can see, the bacteria have huddled together and formed the letter 'Y', implying the bacteria want to ask you a further question. Pop open the top and listen to their concerns. :fro:

Well, all these replies have been duly noted! At present, shifting water in small quantities to the kettle isn't THAT bad. My queries are also for the future - I'm going to erect a brew shed, and running back and forth will be a pain. Nice to know now what piping I need to be going for...