Recent content by keanex

Gotcha, I'll shoot for 154-156! Thanks guys, I'll report back once I brew it!

Thanks for the vote of confidence guys. What's a good temp to mash? I was thinking 150-152.

It seems his is a bit more Crystal, maybe I should put a little more? I read in an article they recommend around 15% crystal with some coming from medium and some from dark with just a hint of chocolate, that's how I based my recipe.

So I have some grains laying around needing some use and thought I'd throw together this mild. I've never brewed this style before so I would like some feedback.

Hey guys, just wanted to share my recipe for Intolerant. What I'm going for is a sweet milk chocolate stout with a moderate roasted malt backing. I plan to age this on cocoa nibs in secondary as well. I'm thinking 2-3 ounces of nibs in secondary. I figured I would soak them in 2-3 ounces of...

So update, we got a more fine grind and brewed today, 81% efficiency. Feels good!

Put a blanket around the cooler, that will help reduce heat loss. Also look into a better cooler, we are using an older one that was in the garage and it keeps the heat steady for an hour even with it being 40 degrees outside. I think it's an Igloo.

Thanks, I'm sober/not tired now so I will read that resource, thanks very much. Our next plan though, for equipment, is buying this. I can't wait for consistency.

Thanks for your posts, it's gotten me less worried about my methods. This time I made sure to stir much more aggressively and thoroughly than ever before so it can't be that. Our mash also stayed at 152 the entire time, I made sure to check the temps throughout the mash and only noticed a 1...

Just to clarify you're saying that it's almost certainly the crush at fault since the run-off was 1.018 after running off our complete volume and being 20 points under? If this happens next time what's the best way to handle it? Add more volume and have a more intense boil to boil off more?

I almost fully agree with that sentiment, but last time I had a 1.077 reading from an expected 1.125 and we sparged fast, then again we didn't mix again after adding the first sparge water and the water wasn't hot enough to bring the grain to 170. I blame the latter on the problems rather than a...

We changed 4 variables between the 78% and this one (48%). The first was the crush of the grain, which wasn't our control. It looked a little coarse to my eyes and I had worries from the start. Secondly we did 2 batch sparges instead of 1, we ran off 100% then added one batch sparge then...

I just wanted to update that sparging fast does not work on my system. I just sparged quickly today and got 50% efficiency, the only other time I've had it that low was with a fast sparge. Slower sparging works on my set-up, 72%-78% efficiency. I'll stick with that.

I'm going to be brewing my Oatmeal Milk Stout next week and have been having problems with efficiency. I've been hitting 70%-75% but I'm looking for more consistency. I've read a lot of this thread and have decided to do a second sparge. One thing that confused me though is that Hopville...

Double post.