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Ready to pitch my fresh pressed apple juice with WLP775. Juice had sulfites added at the orchard and has off gassed 48 hours. I will be adding a bit of yeast nutrient, pectin enzyme and setting the temp controller to 70F. My biggest question involves racking. I'll be using a conical with a...

Bought a MA871 Milwaukee Digital refractometer maybe 9 months ago. I started by checking against my floating hydrometer by doing a distilled water check and the floater read 1.000. I also put a drop on the digital unit and calibrated to read zero which is just the touch of a button. I then...

I have two 7G FTSs Brew buckets going trying to keep wort cool (mid-60's ferm temp) as the summer heat approaches. I have a heavy duty Grizzly cooler/reservoir with ice water and frozen ice bottles struggling to keep cool. My ambient temps avg in the upper 80's by day, or upper 60's by night...

I just tapped a Cream Ale (Cream of Three Crops by BierMuncher) using US-05. The beer was designed to be around 1.040 but I got good efficiency and hit 1.050. Then the 05 surprised me and finished lower than I expected at 1.003. Results were a light refreshing summer beer that will kick butt...

Hi. I am learning to use my new refractometer that has a Brix scale only. I think in terms of SG, so I printed out a chart for handy reference to convert my wort brix readings pre-fermentation. I realize this scale wont work once fermentation begins and alcohol is being created....or when...

I was at a business conference with a colleague discovering he had an interest in home brewing. He said he had done a few extracts but quickly tired of the labor involved in brewing. Then he mentioned he may buy a Grainfather so it would take all the work and hassle of brew day. For example...

Just bought some Yakima Valley CO2 hop extract designed to be used for the bittering addition. 61.1 AA % from a CTZ based source. How much influence will this bittering product have on my final beer's taste? I plan to brew a California Commons which uses Northern Brewer hops for all 4...

I had an Allagash Little Brett this weekend. Pretty awesome beer so I looked it up on Allagash. Seems kinda simple in fact....from the website: a blend of two row grains, single hop Mosaic and our house blend of 100% Brett yeast. The color was straw and I'd say 3.5 to 4.5 SRM. The brett...

I got a used corny keg in a deal but is missing a dip tube. I could get a standard rigid tube, but considering one of the Clear Beer floating dip tubes with the screen over the pick up inlet. I thought this may be a good time to try one considering the situation, but is it worth double the...

Family wedding coming soon and SWMBO just informed me I was providing the beer for a pre-wedding family dinner. Wedding is Memorial Day weekend so I have around 7 weeks and counting down. The party will be the week of the wedding and they tell me 35 will attend. Menu is a low country...

Hi. I just picked up a used Cereal Killer mill from a buddy but had no instructions. I do a BIAB process and think my grain needs to be finer than it is grinding now since some of the grains are not cracked at all. I have a set of feeler gauges, can someone help me with some basic steps to...

I made an AG BIAB recipe and took my OG reading thinking I missed my numbers by a bit not that much. My recipe had me looking for 1.065 OG at 72% efficiency. When I took my reading prior to pitching yeast, I was at 1.062. Not too bad I thought, not great, but passable. HOWEVER, I think I...

I made an ale and used roasted butternut squash in the secondary. I figured the squash chunks would settle on the bottom and I could rack off the beer like a yeast cake. I was racking into a keg and kept seeing lots of pulp going thru the tube. I finished racking having to pump the siphon...

My wife and I like beers with different hop levels, for example, I like German Pils with 25 IBU and she like a Helles with 15 IBU. So we compromise..... I made a 10G batch of Helles with a 15 IBU. Beer came out just lovely, bright and clear, but on the low IBU side for me. So we split the...

I have been using Omega OYL-605 to kettle sour beers with stellar results. The downside of this lacto is the cost. I am preparing an order with Swanson where I'll get free shipping. They sell L Plantarum caps that I understand can work as a cheaper alternative souring lacto. Has anyone used...

I am ready to do an Oktoberfest with a grain bill of German Pils 42%, Munich, Vienna and CaraMunich comprising balance of the bill in descending percentage. OG calculated to be 1.055. BIAB I cant seem to get a handle on the boil times I need. Due to the use of Pils maltz, some say 90 and some...

I use 6.5G or 7.8G fermentation pails for the majority of my beers. When I am preparing to rack after my final gravity check, I want to leave the yeast cake as undisturbed as possible. Pulling off the lid has a tendency to stir the cake up a bit, plus O2 exposure is inevitable as readings are...

I made a Munich Helles just to try one out. I like The Pils family of beers, and the Helles is just a bit more lightly hopped than the German Pilsner I typically like. My grain bill was almost all Pils malts with .5# Carapils. My OG started at 1.052 right on target, IBU was 14 with Saaz...

Greetings. I use a Thermostar temp controller with good success. I have two freezers and one older fridge I use for fermentation chambers and lagering chambers. Specifically on the fridge, I can't get the temps down below 40F. The controller has the fridge turned on, but the internal...

I have been following a thread and ordered a submersible pump and ball lock carbonator to mount on the pump (ball lock liquid QD fits right on the carbonator) to run BLC thru my 3 tap system, one tap at a time. This method will force beer the same direction as it normally flows thru the tap...