Recent content by brewdude88

I use refractometers and hydrometers for brewing and professionally for measuring jet fuel specs and additives. I highly doubt that there is any hydrometer in the homebrew world that is close to the accuracy of a calibrated ATC refractometer. Make sure the screen and lense are clean and dry...

I would be surprised if you run into infection. Toasting the pecans was probably plenty good to sanitize them. I personally would have saved the whiskey and DME! (Mixing nuts with a solvent or boiling hot liquid could bring out some pretty nasty bitterness, although I think your small amount of...

Worst brew day in 11 years, had 5 gallons of barley wine boiling in the backyard. After hours of intensive work to get all the goodness from 22 lbs of marris otter, the entire burner and kettle disappeared into a sink hole... I invented some new word combinations that day!

I got into baking sourdough bread a few years ago, and got some interesting beers before realizing I was exponentially multiplying and spreading the microbes that I don't want in my beer all over the kitchen! The first thing I tried was a switch from starsan to iodophor, not one infection since...

There are commercial yeast blends that contain multiple strains of yeast. Generally, these are strains with a generous overlap in temperature range between strains. That brings me to the large fermentation temperature difference between the strains you are planning to use (you'll have to be at...

Depending on your starting water profile, you may have driven your sodium to high with the baking soda. I typically leave post fermentation ph alone, letting the yeast drop it to where it wants. I do make sure my post-boil ph is within the 5.0-5.2 range for most of my beers. Just make sure...

Not sure on this one, but I would tend to avoid chlorine or chloramine for grain conditioning.

Dang it, you made me look. Looks like I might have to stimulate Anvil with my next stimulus check! I like my Anvil SS brew buckets, but boy would a conical be nice...

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that was probably not spoiled grain. What are you using as a fermenter? I only ask because anything cold-side will need a thorough cleaning and sanitizing and plastic gear may need to be replaced... You also seem to keep a close eye on gravity during...

I would give it another 10-15 days conditioning before jumping to any conclusions. If the taste persists, I'd start looking at water chemistry. The Anvil is a nice system, but with the way it works, you're doing a fly sparge of sorts which is not as forgiving when it comes to tannin...

How long has it been in the keg? Give it at least a couple weeks before making any final judgements on the beer. Aside from that, recipe specifics (grain bill, hop bill, OG, water profile) would allow folks to maybe identify something that could potentially cause a problem. Also, you mention...

I'd give this one a no. Bundaberg contains potassium sorbate. This additive is in there for the purpose of preventing fermentation if yeast was to make its way into the packaged product. I couldn't find an ingredient list for the Woolworth's ginger beer, but it may contain sorbate as well.

I can easily clog a regular coarse kitchen strainer with any amount of beer residue. Unfortunately, the only filter that has ever really worked well for me is kettle fining+gravity+time.

IMO, there are much bigger concerns than the purity law from before they even knew yeast existed. I say put your time, energy and money into eliminating oxygen exposure first, then into the fermentation temperature control and plastic gear elimination. The efforts I've made to achieve the...

One thought... it sounds like you've made some good beers in-between. Are these trouble children perhaps a higher OG then the others, requiring more extract/gallon which equals higher concentrations of salts, maybe pushing magnesium or something else over the flavor threshold? Magnesium has a...