Recent content by DeGarre

I get my water for the sparge from the hot tap and hot water boiler, no extra hassle. And by sparging I get many litres more beer and still hit my gravity. I mash with 26L and would end up with a lot less than 20L of finished beer if I didn't sparge. Now I sparge with 6-8L and get to bottle...

I open the pump and wipe it clean and dry it after every brew, then let it dry out a day or two, and I still get colourisation in the brass part, no corrosion though.

You haven't opened the pump and taken the impeller out for cleaning at all? I open it and wipe and dry it after every brew, the small holes in the impeller get clogged quite easily. Once I left the cleaning for the next day and the moisture had made a rust spot in the dent where the impeller...

What I do is when the brew day is over I take a shower and take all the stuff except the BM itself with me into the wet room and start rinsing and scrubbing.:ban: Two birds with one stone...

Jette, well done, my first brew was also an ESB. About the mash schedules. Lately I've used infusion Hochkurz mash which is very popular in Germany commercially. I've noticed that the wort gets very bright very early and that my 4.3% beers taste like 5+% easily mouthfeel-wise. Mash in...

The risk is the grain escapes and your wort will be all grainy.

Everything is big there, steaks, Texas, cars, food portions, distances, you name it, but your electricity is lousy 110v and your power cables look like dinky toys.

My impeller is black and it's almost as new.

Leo, that BM looks so tiny! are you sure it's the 50L version?:D

Yes, when I added treacle or sugar traight into the boil. Now I take out some wort and mix the sugar into it until totally dissolved, then add back to the boil.

In my speidel chiller the right sized hose just fits into the connector, loosen the quick disconnect and you're able to push the hose inside it, then tighten it.

Here's your fix, a nice bitter:

This is as bright and clear as I get my beer and that's with a Protofloc tablet. Perhaps not super clear but enough for me.

I wouldn't use much more than 5 kg on the first brew. Scale it down and up the sugar. Start with 25L and rinse with further 5 and if you have time make notes on volumes at various stages. Then on 2nd brew adjust if you think you can have better efficiencies etc. Most of all, don't stress. Have...

I always mash with 26L and sparge with at least 6L, sometimes add a litre to make it 7L. This works for me and my circumstances ie boil, way of sparging, grist used etc, and may of course vary between different brewers - sweet spots probably vary.