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So as a follow up - I brewed my last lager of the season this weekend and saw a HUGE jump in efficiency to 85% - the most I've ever gotten at home. Thanks for all the tips. Here is what I did differently: 1. My first decoction - i loved watching the liquid thin out and clarify - i felt...

So yeah this will be the next step for me. Right now I use a hydrometer and use the calculator to adjust for temps but have not done gravity measurement at preboil since I have been afraid to test my hydrometer and sample tube with the hot wort. I like the fridge chilling idea but of course this...

I used a brew on premise system a few times with a recirc mash and yes the efficiency on that system was 85-95%. My cooler is great for retaining heat but I do suspect that I have an issue either with channeling / some grain not getting fully rinsed or maybe there is an issue with the mashout /...

As for correct volume vs correct OG... I'm not taking my preboil gravity so I dont get the bad news until we hit the fermenter. Is it possible to do this without a refractometer? Is a regular hydrometer going to work properly at such a hot temp? The mash process has been changing around but...

Love this idea. Big time and energy saver, very creative.

Its a very common bottle conditioning problem. It either means too much (or uneven) bottling sugar or fermentation didnt fully complete until the beer made it into the bottle. My current rule of thumb for bottling sugar is .92 oz per gallon.

For the several years of all grain brewing I have consistently achieved efficiencies between 65-70% -- despite reading on this forum about people getting 75-80% on what seems like similar systems. I dont know if my expectations are just out of whack or if I am doing something wrong. I even did...

It really gets tricky if your batch size is bigger than one fermenter -- then the question becomes how to do you merge the two to get one unified beer? (vs parti gyle / 2 different beers) You could sanitize your mash tun and merge them together there... I did it once or twice before getting my...

As a follow up - the answer appears to be that the toasted malt didnt contribute much gravity at all... I WAY undershot my target OG. I dont have my own mill and so just cracked the grain with a rolling pin - that is also likely a partial cause. But for anyone else out there trying to toast...

All sorts of specialty malts are available to buy online... I will be toasting some 2 row for a toasted IPA this weekend. Planning to do it day-of due to scheduling constraints and a general suspicion of homebrewer conventional wisdom (which in this case says leave in a brown bag for 2 weeks)...

Doubling the recipe is the easy part -- the equipment and process is the tricky bit. You need twice the mash tun space (maybe you already have a 10g cooler) and twice the kettle space (in one or more kettles). You will have one burner working on twice as much wort (unless its in 2 kettles on...

Snow bank is a cool idea. I just pulled a Bohemian Pilsner out of the garage and it lagered perfect and crisp in this insanely cold New York winter we're having. Leaving it in the garage seems much easier than all that shoveling. Its next to the house but not well insulated. I assume it was...

I have done this split kettle trick before to create 7gal batches on what is basically a 5g system. For both I just put the hops in the bigger of the 2 boils. Neither are hop-forward beers but the hops were definitely present and coming through. Still too early to say how this would work to...

Anybody out there have any idea of what the gravity potential of a pound of toasted 2 row malt would be? (Say 30min at 350 degrees). I read a lot of posts saying diastatic power would be low or nothing but I assume there should still be some mashable starch inside the toasted grain that...

Hmm maybe Northern Brewer comes to mind? Something earthy?

Damn, you guys are good! Pulled this off the web this morning: "Autumn Harvest Apple Cider is our Apple Cider recipe with an additional preservative that allows this product to be displayed on a store floor without refrigeration for a small window of time." Nutrition facts include Potassium...

The first time I made cider I just took grocery "cider" (the cloudy kind but pasteurized i think) and threw in some cider yeast (smack pack). We thought it was good but a little vinegary. The forums suggest the solution was Campden tablets to kill the vinegar-making bacteria. So for this...

This one looks really strong, what was the OG?

you know what- waited another 12 hours and it's humming away with a nice head of foam on it! all it needs is time i guess! J

So I tried to make a belgian strong ale yeast starter today for a belgian i'm brewing tomorrow. the yeast had been in my fridge for 5 months and was leftovers from a 4 week old primary fermentation on a good belgian. it looked white and even made some hissing sounds as it warmed up. however, at...