Recent content by HopBlooded

Thanks for the info guys. I think my questions are answered. Someday I may try to brew a beer with the Burton water profile, but it sounds like it's a bit extreme. I'll go ahead with RO water and treating the mash and sparge water the same. Thanks again. This forum is always extremely helpful...

I decided to purchase an RO system that will allow me to do 10 gallon batches with RO water if I so choose (modifying the water first of course). I'll be installing the system next week. I'm going to brew an IPA next, but I was playing with the EZ Water Calculator and Palmer's calculator, and...

Thanks again for the suggestions. You've all been a lot of help.

Thanks for all of the great information. I think I need to do a bit of research on RO systems (any recommendations?). I definitely like the idea of starting with a blank slate every time. One follow-up question: what would a commercial brewery do with a native water profile like mine...

Thanks aj. From everything I'm reading, it sounds like RO dilution (either store-bought or with a home system) is going to be the direction I go. But before I go there I've got a couple of questions. Using the EZ Water Calculator, my water, 8 gal mash, 7 gal sparge, 27 lb grain, 3 lb crystal...

Thanks for the suggestion. I read the extract brewing relevant parts of How to Brew when I started extract brewing, but haven't gone back and thoroughly read the mashing chapter. I recall thumbing through it last year, but didn't give it a good read. I will have to do that. Thanks again!

Thanks for the quick replies! My mash pH is too high, I don't get good conversion, my beers are often thin and I have run into that "harsh, soapy taste". I've also noticed that I'm not getting the hop bitterness/flavor that I would have expected, but I never associated that last problem with...

Hi all, Thanks for all of the interesting info in this forum. I've been brewing AG for about 6 months and have recently come to the conclusion that some of my mash troubles (high mash pH, low mash efficiency, occasional off-flavors) may be due to the well water I'm using. I send a sample to...

Funny you should say that, Bobby_M (and others) actually alluded to the phenomenon of solving nonexistent problems in that thread.

Thanks for the response. I realized last night that I would have to break the seal to dump the yeast anyway and that I probably overthought the whole thing. I'll look around for the thread you mentioned. One thought I had was to hook up CO2 at a very low pressure, say 1-2 psi, during the cold...

I've been pretty disappointed with the clarity of my last few batches and have decided to cold crash the IPA I brewed to see if that helps. It's a 10 gallon batch in a 14 gallon Blichmann Fermenator. I didn't want to suck any sanitizer (or bad guys) through the airlock, so I capped everything...

Thanks a ton for the tips. I ordered 3 Surescreens this morning. Looking forward to testing it out next week. Cheers!

That's awesome. Thanks for the tip. How do you secure the Surescreen to the racking arm / dip tube? Hose clamp?

I'm assuming that the hops that aren't in contact with the beer aren't contributing anything to the aroma, but I've never tested it. I like the idea of putting a screen on the racking arm. Even if they aren't settled out completely by the end of one week, the screen should keep the hop matter...

I've been looking everywhere for tips on dry hopping with leaf hops in conicals and haven't yet found an answer that really answers my question. In the manual it says "Do not use loose whole leaf hops for dry-hopping!" and recommends using pellets or a hop bag. Obviously the easy answer is...