Recent content by michaelzero

Haha, brother rivalry. He did actually say "oh this is just some left over bits and pieces I threw in".

Reviving an old thread! My brother just let me try some of his efforts and they're amazing! Different city, so different water... but... he thinks his secret is using a glass carboy, not plastic! Does anyone have thoughts on this? Does plastic let infection get in if you aren't careful through...

Can this warm as well for cold weather brewing? Can thermoelectrics do both? Also, shipping costs to NZ please? Cheers.

Expected OG: 1.052 Actual OG: 1.045 FG 1.008 But this taste issue has been across lots of batches - from my days making kits, through extract, and now BIAB.

I'm with you. If I change everything I mentioned and the beer tastes good then I'll just keep repeating those steps. I'll have the same grain bill and yeast strain, so at least those are constant. RO water wasn't an option for me - no suppliers of the water or equipment was too expensive. So...

It does make sense, although I sort of assumed you just kept adjusting until you hit your desired pH. Also, if acidic sparge water is desired, then surely changing the pH of all your brewing water is an easier solution? In my reading of sparge acidity it seems that maybe I'm also sparging too...

You mean to eliminate it from the equation? Will I have to add anything back in? Yeast nutrient? And should I adjust the mash pH?

Good point. On the last brew the room was 65F, this time of year it's 68.

What I wanted to do when I started out brewing was to make a SNPA clone (more or less) that I was proud of. I still haven't done that! Once I've nailed that I'll expand into the weird and wonderful.

Bottling - results vary, but I think my current beer would just taste weak, boring and fizzier if I upped the CO2.

Yeah I would have thought the water was pretty good. Most people here drink it straight from the tap. But yes, pH looks like a fundamental issue to take into account, especially with the lighter grains. I'll do some reading on adjusting it. Would the pH also affect hop utilisation? None of...

OK, great - next time I make it I'll refer to that recipe as well. I've been thinking about more fundamental issues since this has been a problem across most of my brews. Temperature wise, I suppose if I over pitch it'll heat up a bit, so maybe I'll aim for the 65F mark and see how the yeast...

This sounds like a good control - but I guess long term it's not really sustainable for me - bottled water is expensive in New Zealand - more of a lifestyle thing that a necessity for people I guess.

Thanks for the all the replies people! If anyone is interested here is the water report page 38 "Waitakere". pH is listed as 7.8 average, no Chlorite, Chlorine 0.76 mg/L - so safe to say that boiling or potassium metabisulfite might be the way to go? I've been adding Gypsum, but only recently...

OK. So more yeast! I'll try two packets of dried next time. How about aeration? Should shaking the fermenter be enough?