Recent content by meatcleaver

They don't list Crabapple but Texas A&M has a page listing fruits that do well here. http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/publications/fruitlist.html

Google says 48 lbs / bushel with stems.. 60 lbs per w/o

We are still a manufacturing town... J.B. Weld Jeld-Wen doors Clayton Manufactured Homes Flowserve valves We also have Ocean Spray, Morningstar Foods & Bob Evans but I think they all just bottle or package products & don't actually make anything. Many years ago Mossman Guitars were made here &...

I think the grist & hops look nice. Probly be more of a hoppy session helles? What was your target IBU?

Anything German and noble or not too far from it. If you just want bitterness w/o hop character a single 60 minute addition is all you need. My favorite is tettnang, its quite floral when used late but is clean at 60. Spalt is nice too, but more spicy like saaz when used late in the boil...

I make a German blonde that's very floral & perfumey. it's bittered with Perle & finished with Tettnang @ 20, 10 & KO. Willamette to me is more​ spicy like saaz, & EKG comes across as more fruity to me. of course that can vary from year to year, region grown, etc so ymmv.

low 60's is plenty good for Notty. & if you want malty but not bitter I wouldn't brew an altbier, or use Notty. stick with the blonde, hit all the​ target numbers in the style guidelines (except maybe color, Munich gives a nice orange hue) & I think you'll be happy.

sounds more like a malty blonde with such low ibu. I use Brewersfriend to calculate my recipes...it will help you fill in your blanks (OG, FG, IBU etc) https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/calculator/

many of us, myself included, have moved to no chill. I'm not convinced rapid cooling is really necessary at all, although I do agree the sooner it's fermenting, the better.

water in the airlock is not recommended...it can get moldy, & yes it can get sucked back into the beer. most of us opt for starsan, it's cheap & using vodka seems like such a waste. for cleaning bottles I recommend pbw or oxyclean free & starsan for sanitation many folks use blowoff tubes for...

byo had an article about using nuts. https://byo.com/hops/item/2530-brewing-gone-nuts they mashed or steeped them but I've heard of folks throwing them in post fermentation too like dry hops. the important step with pecans is to remove as much of the oils as possible.

Franconia Amber. No wonder they discontinued it & now make no mention of it on their website...

I agree. k.i.s.s. 5 kg Maris otter 250-500g any crystal any clean bittering hop (I like nugget in Anglo ales) @ 60 minutes for 30-40 ibu + 1 oz of your showcase hop @ 10 minutes& knockout. & + 1 for brewersfriend...it's easy & free. I'd target 60% efficiency the first time since a standard crush...

definitely use the swamp cooler, the extra thermal mass keeps fermentation temperature in check. I've used one for the past 3 years...still don't have a "proper" temperature controlled fermentation chamber, & I can easily maintain temps down to 66°f +/- 1°.

does that not seem like a lot of brown malt anybody else? I've only used it at 10% in a brown and 20% in a porter of which I thought was about right.. here's an article in byo about it. http://byo.com/hops/item/1751-brown-malt just saying...