Recent content by CadillacAndy

Awesome! Happy to help. Good luck and let me know how it turns out.

I usually try to use as little as needed to wet it and extract the color. Think of it like trying to make a very strong cup of coffee.

I usually use a French press (like for coffee). I also usually grind it in a coffee grinder so it's a powder. Make sure it's dehusked or "special". Powder it, mix with room temp water for an hour or two add to kettle toward the end of boil. That's what I do at least.

I judged at this competition. 3rd year I've made the trip from Pittsburgh. Always a good time. What entries did you have?

Congrats! Every competition is different and every judge is different glad you got it in a category that worked.

Check out our website - http://trashhomebrewers.org. Our next meeting is a very informal picnic and is always a great time. Lots of food and lots of beer. If you're interested, feel free to come out. Look forward to meeting you!

Check out Three Rivers Alliance of Serious Homebrews. We have monthly meetings at various locations.

I agree with dropping the pH with acid malt or lactic acid. Very good technique that I've done as well. For fruit - if I get it fresh I freeze and thaw it and add it to secondary. I usually rinse it first and then cut them in to 4-6 chunks and toss in to a freezer bag and freeze til I'm ready...

I've always added campden to my water with all of my beers, including this one. If your water has chloramine it could really cause some off flavors. Either way, the campden volatilizes quickly. If you don't have chloramines, just filter it to get rid of chlorine.

Looking forward to hear how it turns out. Keep me posted.

The volume shouldn't make a huge difference. The gravity is lower since there is more water. I generally use a pH meter or pH strips to figure out how long to leave it. There are a lot of factors involved so you can't always go strictly based on time. I have a dead fridge that I put a space...

It shouldn't matter if the grain is milled or unmilled. Your volume should be fine. Just use less sparge water so your gravity and volume is correct. Try to keep it as warm as you can but not going over 120F once you add the grain/lactobacillus. Does that all make sense? Fire away with any...

Thanks for the heads up. See you tomorrow.

2 row + Munich is commonly used to mimic the flavors of Maris Otter. For a recipe that used 10lbs of Maris Otter I'd probably use 9lbs 2 row and 1lb 6-7L Munich malt.

I brewed a Pilsner using IPA levels of Saaz. Something like 12-14oz, with most of that being flameout and dry hops. I personally thought it was excellent and would brew it again in a heartbeat if I had a bunch of leftover Saaz leaf that was taking up space.