Recent content by Sloobie

I seem to have discolored my stainless steel kettle element after brewing today. The element generally builds a load of scaling during the boil, so I threw some excess star-san solution at it (25ml in 10L). This isn't the first time I have done this, but this time it seems to have caused some...

One of the primary roles of oxygenation is to encourage lipid synthesis (aka sterols) which promote membrane permeability and, thus, nutrient uptake and growth. After oxygen is depleted, sterol concentration is pretty much fixed, and they are divided up during regular cell division until there...

Wikipedia says: "When acidic foods are cooked in unlined copper cookware, or in lined cookware where the lining has worn through, toxic amounts of copper can leach into the foods being cooked. This effect is exacerbated if the copper has corroded, creating reactive salts. Actual cooking may not...

Mashing hotter is only going to cause more problems if you try this again. If you are correct in thinking that your exogenous enzyme is mostly beta-amylase then it's going to be denatured within minutes in the 156 range. Granted, oftentimes added enzymes are more heat stable than those found...

It seems that no one has mentioned the one definite difference between the two: beer clarity. Sure, it's a small thing and has little to do with overall beer flavor, but when a beer comes out crystal clear and tastes great, it's a nice little bonus and helps to build confidence in your process...

I saw this the other day while thumbing through a Midwest catalog: http://www.midwestsupplies.com/master-brewers-kit-with-kegging-setup.html I thought, if I were to start from scratch, that this kit looks like a pretty good deal. $200 for a keg setup seems pretty average (though this looks...

From Designing Great Beers (Daniels, 79) IBU= Weight(oz.) x U% x A% x 7,489 / (Volume(gal.) x C(gravity)) where: A% = alpha acid level of hop as a decimal (e.g., 7% = 0.07) U%= percent utilization (@ 60 minutes use 30%, 15 minutes use 15%, and 5 minutes use 6% as a base unless you know...

You will probably want to put your fruit in the secondary fermenter first, then siphon your beer on top of it. It should mix somewhat as it fills. Most likely the fruit will want to float. When finished, if you want, you can give it a gentle stir to get everything mixed together, but if you...

Woh! I overlooked your amounts for your grain bill before (too much homebrew). You probably don't want all that black patent, roasted barley, and chocolate malt. Notice how little the original recipe is using; there's definitely a reason for it. These dark malts can get really overpowering...

Your recipe looks pretty good; Darkness is a great beer. Your IBUs add up to 96.5 from what you posted. 170 would be crazy, though I think that's kind of beyond possible, even for such a high gravity beer. I had Darkness at a beer festival recently, and it didn't strike me as even having 96.5...

It looks like BiaB is pretty well-represented here. I've done BiaB (both partial and full mash) for quite a while, but recently switched to AG with an MLT and HLT setup. The most important point I want to make is that they both produce beer; in fact, they both produce good beer. In my...

I'm sure it will work out. I think homebrewers have a saying for this type of thing, if only I could remember what it was... :cross: I'd be more concerned that you're spending $75 on an all-grain batch. There must be a lot of hops in that beast. Buying in bulk is one of the best parts of...

I second this. The online calculators for strike temp don't assume heat loss to the mash tun or the air around it as far as I know. It's usually a good idea to overshoot by a couple degrees and then just stir it to cool it down. I'm pretty new to AG with an MLT myself. I had done BiaB...

There's a whole section of this forum devoted to growing hops. There's a lot of good knowledge there, and there are plenty of books on the subject if you're serious about growing them. The hop rhizomes that you buy are pretty much just root cuttings, so I imagine if you dug up the plant in...

"That would make a perfect false bottom."