Recent content by wischwm

When did HomeBrewTalk get taken over by virtual brewers?

Has anyone had the Krausen plug up an airlock, then build pressure until the bung blew out (and hit the ceiling)? I have. My guess, is that it built up more pressure than he plans to use for his transfer. The cap he's using is sufficient to protect the carboy from exploding - it will pop off.

Does anyone know how much pressure 2 feet of water creates? Almost 1 psi. WOW, based on the calculations I keep reading, all these carboys should be blowing up when they're full!!! Amazingly.......they don't. There are a lot of brewers who already use this method. I'm one of them. Been...

I've used this set up for a few years now. I keep my pressure down around 2-3 pounds. Keep the carboy on the table and the keg on the floor. Push the racking cane into the head clearance area of the carboy to start. With your keg relief valve open or a gas connect post on, turn the gas on...

The best advice I can give is simply to submit your beers per the instruction. The best part of a competition for new brewers is NOT the winning, but the feedback you get from an experienced judge. The more you enter, the more you learn. If you want to take your best shot at winning, start by...

Rice hulls help prevent a stuck sparge, not channeling in my experience.

I would never consider fly-sparging a high wheat content grist - too much channeling!

I don't really buy beer anymore. Just beer ingredients. My biggest concern is when they scarf up the Homebrew supply stores and start controlling prices and availability.

Hopfather, if MrMalty says 7ml's is correct and there's little to no difference in taste between 2ml and 7ml, then I'm with Sadu - it isn't an underpitch. As you've already stated, he should have experienced an increase in the isoamyl acetate response if it were. I'm curious why you responded...

I'm also subbing in! Interesting experiment. I typically do a 1L starter using WLP300 but often find the banana a little lacking.

At least we should get great prices while they're running everyone else out of business.

75% of the beers I brew are IPAs. I really haven't had the problem you're describing. Yes, I do sometimes have some "floaties" but I usually let them settle before transferring. Although filtering would be one way to deal with them, I would be very worried about the "stripping" of hop flavor...

Looks like you could make a hefeweissen.

I used a stainless float in much the same way. Got tired of the clean up. Now I put a hose clamp around the relief valve protrusion and tie the hop bag using unflavored dental floss. I just estimate where to tie the dental floss so the bag hangs a few inches from the bottom of the keg.

I'm trying to work with high flocculant yeast, so I'm picking up my carboy and giving it a daily swirling. I'm wondering if anyone has ever used a magnetic stirrer to keep their yeast in suspension? What were the results?