Recent content by bigredbarn

Thank you for your thoughts, Martin. As is, the water has a bit of a drying sensation when consumed, with a slight bitter note that can't be explained by the report. Would you expect that to go away with acid treatment?

Hello all, I am recently hooked into a new municipal water source with peculiar attributes. The Ward sample looks pretty good, but the pH is high. I asked the water plant operator about it and he said they treat with Sodium Hydroxide. My understanding here is the downfall for brewing is...

You got down to 1.021 with 1 package of london ale yeast and 10 gallons of a 9% beer... ?

I was trying to be nice and save some for my friends but apparently nice guys not only finish last - they finish last with ****ty beer!

This sounds like a great theory. I force carbed at about 16 PSI and backed it off to 11 at 41 degrees. I might still have higher volumes in the solution... ? It does not seem overcarbed though. It pours with a nice two finger head. :(

Hey, thanks for your thoughts. I sincerely doubt it was an infection. It was a new keg, which I rinsed profusely and then clean with Star San. It was almost dry when filled. Medicinal is a good descriptor so something must have gone wrong. I will attempt to be more careful.

Good morning, I kegged my first beer last weekend - a variation of the popular Centennial Blonde recipe posted in the recipes forum. Our first pours tasted fantastic for two days. I mean, completely awesome. We could have crushed the keg if I didn't want to save some for more people to...

Seems to be a pretty good base, no? Should I worry about that level of Bicarbonate? Any input would be great. Thanks! :D

Woops, wrong forum. My apologies!

Thank you for your response. I have a scale, so that is good news. I will look into the lime as an additional adjustment. What I don't understand is why the use the generic primer if it's not sufficient. This is not a criticism at all - I appreciate what ajdelange has done in the sticky...

I am about to brew an expensive and time consuming stout and I just want to be 100% clear on my water additions based upon Ajdelange's original sticky: I use Poland Springs, which is documented to be soft. I will use about 10 gallons of water between mashing in and the sparge for a five gallon...

Alright, so I have all the ingredients for this delicious looking recipe in Beersmith, and it's telling me OG is to be 1.106. Where am I screwing up?