Recent content by aidan

If you want go the minimum equipment route go BIAB. My first all grain was small batch stovetop BIAB with my boil pot and grain bag that I already used for partial mash batches so I did it without any extra equipment. Then to move up to full size batch BIAB I got a 50L kettle and a gas burner...

I don't think you would have shocked the yeast by chilling from 20C down to 12C as it probably would have taken a few hours for the temp to drop. But the dropping temp would have slowed the yeast multiplication down. I'd expect that the yeast will get back up to speed eventually so it's a bit of...

Do you use any kettle fining agent - e.g. Whirlfloc, Koppafloc, Irish Moss? I use Koppafloc and find that it really helps with clarity.

Since it's small and you have a small mash volume it won't hold the heat as well as a larger mass would. Mashing in a warm oven is one possible solution for small mashes.

I've used pilsner malt as a base grain for ales, they came out totally fine. Speciality malts will add the malt qualities needed for those styles.

Transferring to secondary is old-school and not necessary for the vast majority of beers but home brew shops seem to still promote that approach, probably so thay can sell you more stuff. Btw the photos are totally normal.

If you have come up short in the amount of water in your batch there is absolutely nothing wrong with topping up with sanitised water in the fermenter to get the beer that you originally intended to brew. If you don't top up you will end up with a different beer than what you had planned which...

The MJ West Coast worked out fine, I would have no hesitation in using it again. I too usually use US-05 for American style pale ales and IPAs. The M44 is another clean brewing yeast suitable for these beers. The M44 seems to attenuate a bit more. This beer went down to 1.008 whereas I'd expect...

Sorry can't help you with Montieth's Summer Ale clone. I used to think Montieth's beer was pretty decent but since I've been home brewing my tastes have changed and they taste a bit bland for my liking. Riwaka seems to be hard to get sometimes even here in NZ, demand exceeds supply. It's...

Plastic bottles (Polyethylene terephthalate)

Just wondering would fining with gelatine do anything to compact the trub?

That's true, you could do that but you could risk over-carbing if you don't time it right. If pasteurizing by heat I'd be a bit concerned about heating the PET bottles as they can distort when hot.

When I mentioned the pear juice the intention is to ferment some pear juice along with the apple juice as it will leave more residual sweetness than apple juice, but yeah you could use it back-sweeten. Just to clarify, actual back-sweetening requires killing off the yeast so that they don't...

I'll try to remember to. I'm planning to follow the Brulosophy fast lagering method so I should be able to taste it in a few weeks.

You cannot back-sweeten it and then bottle carb it as it will just ferment out. To backsweeten you need to kill the yeast so then you can't bottle carb it. I made a cider that was overly dry and sharp so I just back-sweeten it as I drink it with a dash of apple juice. Next time I will use lower...