Recent content by joshwoodward

Yeah, I only brew once a month max, so tying up the BK isn't a big deal for me. And I do 5-gallon BIAB brews with a 15 gallon BK, so definitely no headspace issues. Going back to racking is a minor drag, but I can just stick that in the keg while that's sanitizing, I suppose. The advantage...

I posted a few months back about an idea I had for filtering and aerating wort post-boil using a pump and strainer. I've made a few batches this way and they've come out great. I had another idea that I wanted to float out there. Flame out. I fire up the pump and the chiller. When it gets...

Greetings from down near Bowling Green! There seem to be a lot of NWO folks here.

Hello! I'm using a March pump to recirculate the mash in my brew kettle. The input comes from the kettle's weld, and the output goes through the tubing which I put through the top of the kettle, dropping down into the wort. It stays pretty well in place with the lid on, but last night, I managed...

While brewing a batch this week, I had an idea. After boiling, I have a March pump that I was running while using my immersion chiller to circulate the wort around and speed up the process. While it was hot, I was being careful not to splash to avoid hot-side aeration. That got me to thinking...

For anyone stumbling across this thread, I wanted to give an update. I found the problem - though I was using water from a number of different places, after some research, I found that it was all reverse osmosis water, which is missing the minerals needed for a good extract. *headdesk* I swapped...

Ultrasonic sensing can apparently have problems with hot liquids - the steam coming off of it can throw off the sensor.

I've been dealing with horrible mash efficiency, and I tracked the problem down to the fact that I was using untreated RO water, mistakenly figuring it'd be better. I decided to try tap water, so I called up my local water department (Findlay, Ohio) and got the following numbers: Hardness...

I had a late-night brainstorm that resulted in a mostly automated brewing process. Unfortunately, I'd underestimated how difficult the fluid routing would be. Essentially, I have 7 junction points to control. Three of those have two inputs, three more have four inputs, and one has five inputs...

I'm really interested in having a go at this. Do you have any other details as to the design and/or parts used here?

[citation needed] There may be some differences in caramelization of the sugars from a smaller volume, but I can't imagine water would have trouble "blending" with wort, seeing as how the wort is almost entirely made of water anyway.

So I'd need to use a bit more hops, then? That makes sense. Batch size isn't the primary concern. Even with a larger pot, it seems to me like a thicker mash and partial boil would have advantages (specifically, the quicker cool-down and the insurance against undershooting the OG).

I'm about to do my first BIAB brew after many no-sparge cooler mash tun brews. I've often seen people say that you should use the full volume of water in the mash, but (a) that seems counter-intuitive, and (b) I only have an 8 gallon pot. First, my goals are (in order of importance): making...

Yeah, the ratio was an accident - I undershot the target mash temperature at first and had to dump more water in to get there. I have two hydrometers, so that's not a factor, but I'm 90% convinced that it's a crush problem now. Thanks, everyone!

Greetings from the sticks down around Findlay/Bowling Green!