Recent content by jloxton

My Robobrew blew out the first time I brewed on it: the temperature got stuck on 120 C. Replaced the circuit board, and that fixed things. However, on our local brewing forum (Nova Scotia, Canada), there are a distressing number of people reporting similar issues. One other guy had the same...

Thanks for the help! Just double checking. Do the two thin white wires join up with black and white thick wires (on the on/off switch) in the same way in your version?Just making sure that the on/off switch isn't flipped upside down in your version versus mine.

Two wires came loose inside my BrewBoss. Darin from BrewBoss says he does not have any older units as references and cannot help. Is there someone either with a photo of an older unit or one handy that they wouldn't mind opening to take a photo for me? The two 240v white wires leading to the...

beerman1957: I use all different kinds of yeast, depending on the beer. The last two were 05 and Wyeast 1968. I normally do a starter, and most of my beers are high enough gravity that rehydration is nec. It isn't the yeast's fault, although it could well be mine in part, i.e., a combination of...

Beerman1957: Yes, could well be (and that would make me happier, honestly). After an evening of reflection, I have realized another possible commonality: long lag time. The first two open batches last year had a lag time on the order of 36-48 hours (no idea why, I didn't know what I was doing...

Weirdboy: Yes, sorry, I replaced the auto-siphon too. The last batch, I boiled my bung. The only other equipment it touched were the bucket (sanitized as noted above), and a freshly washed glass carboy that I transferred it to, the interior of which was literally opaque with Star San foam.

ReverseApacheMaster: What are you fermenting in? Mainly glass carboys, but also two different buckets. What are your fermentation temperatures? Depends on what I am brewing, but mostly ca. 66 F, ramping up during final fermentation. What is your water source? Tap water from three different...

OK, I have a plan: I am going to boil up a batch of starter wort and add it to 12 sterilized mason jars. Two I will leave capped as a control, and two I will open in each of five locations in my house: my kitchen sink/chilling area (the source of the contamination, I think), my bottling area...

Thanks for the fast advice. Appreciate the help! A few clarifications: 1) I have had contamination in both kegs and glass bottles (despite completely dismantling, scrubbing, and sanitizing my kegs and sanitizing and rinsing bottles) 2) I had contamination in the Moose Drool although it was...

So, a review of my saga (the first part of which is completely my fault): A year ago, we upgraded from kit to extract/steeped grain brewing. Our first two batches, done back to back on stove top, with sink chilling, both ended up contaminated by wild yeast. At the time, we had no idea what had...

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! (Sorry to be spamming on this one, but it is driving me crazy.) Denny corrects himself in that post and notes that 65% was wrong, he really gets 75%, which brings back the 1.085 OG on US gallons. Here's a version that uses 6 gallons and the same grain bill...

Answered my own question: Here Denny specifically notes that the recipe is calculated for 65% efficiency, so US gallons it is. (Weird that he uses a lower efficiency than he claims to get off his system...) http://hbd.org/discus/messages/15516/14501.html?1046703590

Correction: You can 1.073 with 5 US gallons, if you assume 65% efficiency, but elsewhere online Denny notes that he "typically get[s] 75-80% efficiency" from his batch sparge set up.

Well, unless I am seriously screwing up the math somewhere, the recipe *needs* to be 6 gallons to come in at 1.073 with 16.25 pounds of grain and a ~73% efficiency. But, I can't find any discussion anywhere online where someone notes that the recipe is calibrated to UK gallons, i.e., that it...

Wondering about the units in this recipe. When I enter it in Beersmith (assuming 5 US gallons) I get about 1.085 OG, as the original poster did. When I convert it to 5 UK gallons, e.g., 6 US gallons, I get about 1.073, as Denny states. Most of the iterations I have seen, including those posted...