Recent content by Mahanoy

All great points! I don't recall how the rye looked, unfortunately, because I wasn't really paying attention to that as a possible issue. I wish I had taken a closer look when I mashed in! But given that taking the rye out of the calculations puts me pretty much exactly where I ended up with the...

I just ran this through BeerSmith and if I take out the 4# of rye it ends up with an estimated OG of 1056. My OG was 1052. So I'm pretty sure the rye didn't get crushed in the milling and that's the problem. Looks like it's time to have a chat with my LHBS, or just buy my own mill! :D

Thanks for the insights, y'all! I'm going to look into the milling of the rye because it sounds like that might be the issue here.

That's the strike water temp - mash temp is 152 for this recipe.

I always hit my mash temp in this system (10 gallon igloo cooler with a false bottom), and I've never had a stuck sparge with rice hulls (knock on wood). Since I started stirring my mash every 15 minutes I've noticed a higher mash efficiency on every beer except this one. However, I've noticed...

I've brewed three or four batches of a Rye IPA that borders on being a double IPA and each time I've brewed it I've missed my OG by 20 points or more. This is the only beer I've ever had trouble with in terms of hitting my OG (my system's efficiency is generally in the range of 65-70%). It's...

It's actually a really cool project we've got going. There are four of us in the group and we're each brewing our own recipe. Also, two of the guys are brewing the same exact recipe but using different waters: they're brewing a pretty basic cream ale, one with tap water and one with reverse...

I teach religious studies at a regional Midwestern university, and a group of homebrewing faculty are brewing beers to celebrate the diversity of beer in the United States and to call attention to issues of water quality and conservation. Our public tasting session for the University community...

I just cracked one yesterday to see how it's developing. The chocolate is starting to come through a bit more, as is the hazelnut. I wanted more chocolate and hazelnut and it's not quite there yet, but it's still a really nice brew. When I do it again I think I'll do more hazelnut and add more...

Tasted great. Nothing overpowering, really nice balance, and pretty damned delicious, if I do say so myself! I'll post an update once I taste the finished, carbed product. But I don't think it will really be ready until mid-October or so. Even so, it's already terrific!

I'll be sure to keep you posted! :mug:

copper, I ended up making two small changes. I added 3# of DME at the beginning of the boil and added the remaining 3# at the end of the boil, mostly because this one kept threatening to boil over. I also racked onto 6 oz of cacao nibs instead of the 4 listed in the recipe. Other than that I did...

So it's been almost a month in the bottle now, and the smell's practically gone. What's left is a subtle citrus and lavender note and a really beautiful beer!

You can definitely taste the hazelnut, but it's really beautifully balanced. There's nothing overpowering about any of the elements at all. In fact, I might want to up both the chocolate and the hazelnut next time to get a more aggressive Nutella flavor, but right now it's pretty damned...

Just bottled this yesterday. I tasted a sample before I added the priming sugar and it's awesome. The chocolate is definitely there but not overpowering, it has a nice subtle fruitiness from the Irish Ale yeast, and the harsh bitterness from the black patent and roasted barley that was there at...