Recent content by Culbetron

I think, by roasted malts used for porters and stouts, we are usually talking about chocolate malt, black malt, and roasted barley. If you are making something with 10% roasted malt, then you can (almost certainly) skip the acid. I think AJ said in previous posts that you might not need to...

You can cut it in half and call it good. Either that or scale it down in a brewing program like Beersmith 2. The maize can be used to replace the cornmeal and you won't need to do a cereal mash if you use flaked maize. The torrified wheat also doesn't need the cereal mash. Keep good...

If you aren't going to the trouble to decarbonate your water, then you could easily start with RO water and build up from there. That water doesn't seem worth brewing with.

I use Iodophor because it's all I have available here. It certainly gets the job done, but I think the reason others use Star San is more for convenience... and bubbles... and brown stains.

For that size beer you should use a 6.4 liter starter or pitch 4 vials. All the yeast gets added at the beginning. Your one vial will still make beer, but if you start pitching at the recommended rates, your beer should improve vastly!

I would soak a split vanilla bean in a jar of brandy for a week or two and then add the brandy/vanilla at bottling. I would also bottle some of it as a plain porter to compare the brandy portion to. That way, if there is something that doesn't taste right about the brandy porter, you can go...

With the mix of aromas during fermentation, I wouldn't judge the poor amarillo hop too harshly yet.

Be sure to let us know how it affects the beer at room temp and also if it did anything to chill haze. I'm curious!

If you trust the accuracy of your measurements then stable gravity for a week should give you plenty of confidence to bottle.

I think they mean lagering temperatures which would probably be cold crash temperatures. I think the difference between lagering and cold crashing is mostly the duration. You can cold crash for a couple days to help clarity or reduce yeast activity (in an ale), or you can let the yeast keep...

If the gravity has not changed in over a week, you should be ok to bottle. Just remember that the gravity of a fermented beer needs to be measured with a hydrometer, not a refractometer. Refractometers work well for measuring the gravity of wort, but the alcohol throws them off when measuring...

Seems like you might need a mighty big freezer to fit the pre-bent tubing. Also, copper becomes less pliable when cold. Ideally, heating it up helps it to bend easily and smoothly. Filling with salt and using tape to hold it in seems to be the way peope usually go. I imagine sugar might...

I mash in my kettle, so I can jsut directly heat the mash

Like I said...

I would probably use more of the same as dry hops. Another 0.5 to 1oz of each as a dry-hop would probably work. I imagine you are looking for something spicy and citrusy to compliment the rye.