Recent content by greenandgold

Time was why I started overnight mashes. Work well and I can wrap up by 10:30 in the morning.

What about the WIN100 by Lux? Looks to be an out of the box solution for around $33. Anyone try one fo these?

Just picked up a second one (brand new) off of CL for $35. Will try to cut the slots to bypass the safety control and add the heating element to my 10 gallon stainless steel bk. Hopefully that works and I can supplement the heating with a $35 bucket heater and save $4 a batch over using propane.

45 minutes? Really? I discount the rinsing time, but I sanitize before putting them in storage. Then I sanitize again before bottling. The bottling is easy. The sanitizing actually takes more time, but all told it must take close to an hour and a half. Do you guys not sanitize on...

I picked one up off of CL for $50 and it's been working great as a HLT. Been looking for another one and maybe just moving to 4 - 4.5 gallon batches with foam control.

Just picked up the 28 qt one for use as a HLT. Seems like from my test run that it is going to work well and cut down on the propane use. Can't imagine using it as the brew kettle though. It does take longer to heat things up.

Opened up 3 from my first batch to brew brats with and all 3 were gushers. The rest of the batch went straight into the fridge at that point. This was the only batch I used those carb tabs. I even used the recommend amount for light carbonation. Won't be using those again.

Thanks guys. More time it is. I'll just have to occupy myself by brewing tomorrow. :mug:

Making an Imperial Stout and the kit can with champagne yeast to add when transfering to the secondary. I left in the primary 2+ weeks and fermentation was done. Transferred to the secondary and just dropped in the package of dry yeast. It did little as far as I can tell and only dropped...

I only work about 5 miles from Midwest so I've never had to actually order. And I'll second the hottie brew chick! Huzzah!

Thanks for great explanations and answers. I transferred to the secondary last night and added the Champagne yeast. The SG was 1.032. So far so good since I started around 1.085. Hopefully I get down closer to 1.020

My Imperial Stout kid came with a packet of Champagne yeast and instructions to add it when transferring to the secondary to ensure: a) a drinkable attenuation, and b) carbonation when bottling. Two quesitons. If I take a hydrometer reading when I transfer and the FG is already in...

It turn out incompetence was once again the reason. :) I noticed some sludge on the bottom of the tube interferring with the reading. Transferred the sample to a thinner tube and took a new reading at 1.090. Guessing with the additional water that I am right within range. Hope I didn't...

Brew #4, the Imperial Stout extract kit from Midwest. Just finished up and the OG was reading 1.096 while the kit instructions say it should be 1.082-1.086. I definitely had 5 to 5 1/4 gallons in the fermentor. And while I think I do a great job of getting everything I can out of those...

My 3rd brew is an IPA and I wanted to dry hop so I asked at the LHBS for some suggestions and ended up with some leaves? The packaging says Kent Goldings Pellet Hops, but they definitely are not pellets. Not at all like the pellets I added to the boil anyway. It's a pretty big IPA and I've...