Recent content by Allenk

You can think of your small batch as a starter. Save & rinse the yeast. You can use it on your next brew! The benefit of a starter is to grow the yeast. A small starter won't give you enough energy for the yeast to reproduce. The nice part of small batch brewing is you can brew every week &...

I enjoy come and brew it. Good info for all levels of Brewers. I also like fhumentaboutit out of Brooklyn-lots of stuff that I wouldn't make but enjoy hearing about. I listen to brewing with style before I make any new style. You just skip the commercials.

I know this isn't what you are looking for but I just use lme/dme to increase gravity on my big beers on the grainfather. It's a simple way to go. If doing 4 gallon batch you can program an extended boil into the grainfather app

You might want to look into making a cream ale. The beers you listed have heavy adjuncts like corn/rice lightening the body & taste. With these beers I like to mash low ~145. These are among the hardest beers to brew as their is very little to hide errors in your process! If you are looking...

Thanks!

I picked up some grain/hops for this weekend. This is what I'm working with for 5.5 gallons: 10lbs avangard Pilsner malt .5lb Swaen melany malt .25 acid malt 1oz CZ Premiant 10% AA 2oz CZ Saaz 3% AA Big pitch of wyeast bohemian lager 2124 I also have some magnum hops. Wondering...

You just need more yeast at the lower temps. I wouldn't pitch a high gravity wort with on pack at 58 but I've had success with cream ales at that temp. K-97 is also good at that lower temp range.

I did a no sparge/second runnings beer with a wheatwine & heffe. It turned out great! I did add some LME to the heffe and raw sugar to the wheatwine. One of the only limitations to the grainfather is batch size which can be a pain when brewing with a group. I have also thought about brewing...

I heat my sparge water on the stove when brewing with the grainfather. It's really no problem. It takes awhile for the wort to come to a boil so it's not going to shorten your brew day in my experience.

The problem that I have with kits is that I typically brew 6 gallons. This allows for loss from transfer & dry hopping. I have bought a few kits and added 2lbs of base malt but then you are not really getting what is intended. Kits are a great way to get ideas about grains to use for a style...

I agree with the post above. I saw a talk from a technical adviser from fermentis. He recommended not pitching into a wort more than 5 degrees different than the yeast. With a high gravity wort you can add a little wort to the rehydrated yeast to help it acclimate.

I have used all kinds of grains. One tip is to lay out the grain on newspaper in the sun to dry it out. You want to avoid using grain bills with rice hulls. The rice hulls are hard on the dogs stomach.

I would increase the Pilsen malt & decrease the ginger. You can always make a tincture of ginger and add it at bottling to taste if it's too low. Looks like a great combo!

We have added lactic acid at bottling with fair results. Get a light lager and add a few drops of lactic acid to get the idea.

Looks like someone has tried it before. I would suggest that you get 1/2 dozen brews under your belt before venturing into experimental ingredients. Also, hops are used for preservative properties & to suppress souring bacteria. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=279707&page=4