Recent content by tuirc

Turned out that I had misplaced the right signal cable and I was try’s no to use the signal cable that goes to another Grainfather kit that you use if you are pumping chilled water from your chilly bin through the fermenter. That cable requires power and will not work in this application. At...

I just moved down to Richmond from northern Virginia. One of the local breweries is making Imperial Gingerbread Stout that's part of their Christmas line up. Made with baby ginger from Casselmonte Farm and wildflower honey from Bearer Farms, Hardywood Gingerbread Stout captures the terroir of...

The GC4 has been through priming but this is the first time I'm trying to use it in anger. I've connected everything up to port 1 on the GC4. The power cable is connected to the GC4 and the fermenter. I upgraded the controller on the fermenter already thinking that was the problem. So, now I'm...

Second brew in the Grainfather. An Irish Red Ale. Slightly above style in ABV with 11 lbs of Golden Promise being the bulk of the grain. My first brew in the Grainfather just went in the keg last night. A Belgian Witbier. Tasted amazing, can’t wait to get it carbed up.

Not that this is anything special to anyone except me, but I turned out great so I'm gonna share :) I picked up a hefeweizen kit at my LHBS, but I'm not a huge fan of hefe, I like a dunkel hefe instead. Three years in Germany gave me a lot of opinions about these things. So, I picked up a...

Given the way the cold plate was situated in the back of the refrigerator, it would have very difficult to try to use a box cutter in the back corner where I needed to. I agree though, that would have been the safest way since I didn't know it was safe to drill there. In the end, my desire to...

Well, I guess mostly because I have all the parts to run the second line if it drill it and I'd have to buy stuff and figure out stuff if I decided to use a manifold. I looked at a thread where someone was considering going that route to avoid drilling a hole and it looked like they were going...

I've searched for several hours and haven't found a post to directly address this point, so I'll ask the question. I have a Danby DKC645BLS-2. Until recently I've been just using one of the taps. Now I have a Dunkel Hefeweizen that about to come out of the fermenter and I want to set up the...

I got a new 10 g brew pot with a value on the front. While it passed its initial seal test, it failed hot with a Scotch Ale boiling. The valve started leaking like a sieve. I put a wrench in a plastic bag and tightened the inside nut enough to slow the leak and finish the boil. But when I pulled...

I brewed a Dunkel Hefeweizen. The Hefeweizen was a kit the Dunkel was my hack with specialty grains. Looks like it will be good, if a bit low alcohol. I did the brewing with my 17 yo son for the first time and he didn't quite understand the need to know exactly how much water he was putting in...

As a word of caution, this is the beer that got me to cease brewing for nearly 8 years before coming back to it. I did, what I thought was a very meticulous job brewing. I was certainly more careful and controlled than with previous brews. This was probably my 10th brewing session maybe a little...

Well, I tried using a small muslin hop bag for the first time today with a Dunkel HefeWeizen. When I looked at the way it was performing though, I got concerned. I just didn't see how it was going to provide enough hoppiness as a tea bag. It would seem like you would have to either extend the...