Recent content by Drinking Sensibly

There's a benefit to adding huge amounts of low alpha hops to beer to get the desired IBU. It makes better beer in my opinion. In some way, the decision to steep or mash roasted grains is dependent on the chemistry of your water. Dark grains make the mash more acidic. This can be either good or...

Wow. Just... Wow! I'll have a play, looks interesting. Didn't I get the carbonate figure from the report somewhere? Perhaps I just swapped the values for carbonate/bicarbonate or something. Anyway, I don't use that value in the spreadsheet. I tend to initially use the values suggested by...

I suppose it is possible for someone to be a "beginner" at brewing but still an "expert" in water composition.

Not much calcium and quite a lot of sodium chloride. The pipes do rot. mg/l: Ca = 1.8, Mg = 2.4, Na = 35.2, Bicarbonate = 0, Carbonate 8.4, Sulfate = 16.7, Cl = 41. Total hardness as CaCO3 = 14 Ions don't quite balance because I used the average of the water reports. I use the mabrungard...

It was very much simplified for a beginner. Just about everything I learned about water hardness I learned from you, so perhaps you need to re-read the articles you wrote and re-write them. Since I have your attention, what is the latest version number for your supporter's spreadsheet? It's a...

Have you seen this? It might make you re-think that approach. https://brewingbeerthehardway.wordpress.com/2013/11/15/diastatic-brown-malt/ Also this ... https://edsbeer.blogspot.com/2015/02/making-diastatic-brown-malt.html?m=1

Oats? Stir in some Psyllium Husk before drinking. Might fizz a bit mind.

I know but he asked some questions about quantities of sugars etc, there are some ideas there. The major difference between an American and British BW would be hops choice.

Just to muddy the water a bit. Any historical barley wine grists I've seen are 100% pale malt. Usually two kinds, British and continental two row, that kind of thing. For example... https://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2012/01/lets-brew-wednesday-1879-william.html Saying that, I found one with...

Hops-wise East Kent Goldings, used in the boil, are probably the best bet. Not because they have intrinsic dark fruits flavour but they don't add flavour notes that detract from or clash with the ones you want.

Given the high initial gravity, 1.026 isn't a terribly surprising Final Gravity but I would be leaving the beer at least a month before bottling, the yeast will probably chug away for a while yet and even if it doesn't the beer will be better for it; more yeast will settle out and you get the...

Soft water has very few salts dissolved in it. It soaps up easily so you don't need so much soap in the shower, no residue in the kettle. In brewing, soft water tends not to be used so much, though it's easy to manipulate by salts addition. Rain water would be "soft". Temporary hard water has...

If cost is an issue, make one. Also fits in with the homebrew ethos. Plenty of ideas of how to go about it on the internet.

Agreed. I also use it for many of my British beers.

Did someone say dark mild? https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/english-ales-whats-your-favorite-recipe.472464/post-10395293