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So tonight my wife and I sat down and sampled more of this brew and she mentioned to me that the bitter flavor is just like raw hop flavor, like eating hops right out of the bag but not as strong. It is definitely a raw hop flavor. Something is definitely accentuating the flavor hops, or I'm...

I am using phosphoric acid (food grade @ 85%) in both the mash and sparge. 2.5ml in the mash, added at room temperature before heating along with all other mash additions, and 2.6ml in the sparge water. I am using your spreadsheet (donation version) to calculate my additions. I admit that I...

The IBU is 48 as reported by Beersmith. The commercial Harp lager is rated 47 IBU.

Hey, thanks for the replies! The water I'm using is mountain well water (Colorado) and is rather soft to begin with. I do have to use acid to bring down the pH and bicarbonates, and the water is a bit alkaline (~ pH 8). No chlorine or chloramine and very little else according to the water...

Hi folks - I've been brewing the same beer for quite awhile now and have been slowly dialing it in with help from HBT. It is a pale lager, Harp clone. My most recent batch was excellent but I did notice a hoppy, bitter aftertaste on the last batch. Strong hop flavor to start, but a slight...

Thank you for the responses, they are exactly what I was looking for. I was not sure if my sulfate/chloride levels should be that high. Those higher levels have been adjusted by me. The source water is 16ppm sulfate and 5.3 chloride. Incidentally the higher levels produced the best tasting...

Hello all - Looking for a bit of guidance on water adjustments. I brew all grain, usually kits ordered from Austin Home Brew, in 5 gallon batches. I use well water (Colorado) that I have had tested, and adjust it using Bru'n Water spreadsheet. I do not adjust or test pH, but depend on...

My results and preference (sulfate to chloride ratio) are based entirely on my use of well water. It took me a long time of adjusting my water a little bit at a time in order to solve my off-flavor problem, which was prevalent in all beers that I made (extract, partial mash, all-grain, didn't...

Personally I think your sulfate to chloride ratio is too high. I struggled for a while with my 'pure rocky mountain well water' until I had it tested and began modifying it via Bru'n Water. Before I began modifying my water I *always* had a strange astringent, metallic taste to my beers...

Since you are using the Bru'n Water spreadsheet, what are the following values under finished water profile? Sulfate ppm Chloride ppm Bicarbonate ppm SO4/CI Ratio

As stvo suggested, late extract additions! I'll also add that doing full boils helps quite a bit. CJ

Definitely test your water. I am on a well here in Colorado and get very tasty, clear water from my well but it does not make a good beer if left untreated. It took me a while to figure it out. Once I had my water tested I found that it was high in alkalinity and bicarbonates. The water made...

Posting a follow up - cold crashed last week and filtered, kegged yesterday. Uncarbed out of the filter it was excellent! So I guess I panicked :). Thanks for the feedback! CJ

Please don't boil your wort with the lid on the pot... I'm at 8500 feet and have noticed no difference whatsoever in OG/FG. Hop utilization, like Beernik said, might be affected but I don't worry about it.

Appreciate the feedback, everyone. I did read on this site that honey is anti-bacterial, hence the addition at 110F instead of boiling. I've been brewing about two years and never seen a late blow up like this so I suppose that I panicked :)

I normally use a blow off tube during primary fermentation and then switch to a standard airlock. What concerned me about this brew was the 1 pound of honey that was not sanitized during boil (it was added when cooling the wort, at 110F). On the third day primary fermentation started to...

It's definitely not Star San, there was no foam in the secondary when I racked. As far as the taste... well... the first strawberry blonde that I made was definitely infected as I used fresh, un-sanitized strawberries. That one was horribly sour and bitter! I'll leave it on the strawberries...

Hi all - Got a bit of a problem, I think... a week ago I brewed the base beer for a strawberry blonde ale. I started with a honey blonde recipe from Austin Homebrew, all grain. The recipe included 1 pound of honey which I opted to add after the boil once the wort cooled to 110F. I did this...

Force carbing in a keg is a closed system, elevation and air pressure are irrelevant. At 43F you need 14psi to achieve 2.5 volumes of Co2. I usually 'charge' the keg by pressurizing to 30psi, disconnecting, then rolling around on the floor for 10 minutes. I then bleed the pressure, reset my...

Hey all, been home brewing for about a year now, mainly partial mash lagers - 5 gallon batches. It's been a great experience so far and I am having a great time! I brewed my first all-grain 5 gallon batch two weeks ago that was a lot easier than I had thought. Made one mistake - misread my...