Recent content by rhorwitz

Yes, the original skunk beer!

Jon, I grew up in the SF bay area too (Santa Clara Valley) and the mentioned beers provoke found memories. Heineken dark was my favorite, but alas they stopped making it. PBR- used to offer a dark Bock beer that they would release every fall. As kids we were told that this beer was bottled...

I really love that glass.

I started with glass carboys, but after having one drop and cutting my foot I moved to plastic buckets. Eventually I started brewing in 10–11-gallon batches which required 2 buckets. 35lb buckets are manageable, but 2nd fermentation is a pain in the neck. My wife purchased me a Fast Ferment...

It is! Those 5 gallon self-contained electric Grain Fathers look very compelling.

Last October I finally got around to brewing again after a 4-year hiatus. Like yourself, mice dropping cockroaches had contaminated much of my equipment and required a lot of cleaning. However, what really messed me up is that I purchased a lot of new equipment like an upgraded pump, wort...

Thank you everyone for your help and honest opinion. As I mentioned, this was an experiment that got out of hand. I had fun with it and learned a lot about toasted grains and PH at the same time.

What? I still have a good wood stain! ;-)

That is what I was thinking. For giggles I could mix some baking soda?

Oh, I forgot to also mentioned that the PH was down to ~3.9. It's really hard to read, as the litmus paper turns black. If I have to throw it out, I'm going to use it for a wood stain!!!!

I purchased a cheap Central Machining 1/2" drill from Harbor Freight just for milling. It worked okay and at $29, I couldn't complain too much. However, as I graduated to 12 gallon batches, I noticed that the drill was overheating, emitting that magic smoke, earning it the nickname of 'Old...

I was playing with beersmith 2.x and thought it might be neat to create a super stout beer using the thickest recipe I could conjure up. My recipe was for 12 gallons. I included 1 lb of black patent and 1 lb carafa III. Although the basic recipe was for an Oatmeal stout, I wanted it to be...

Slayer- Sorry bro, didn't see the label where it indicated a capacitor start. So for future reference, a bad cap or centrifugal switch will also make the motor hum. The cap start provides an extra field coil winding on the motor stator that is slightly out of step with the other windings...

Does the pump motor make a humming sound or get warm after you turn it on? If not, than one of two things; Heat Protection Grade means its got a thermal switch that could be defective, or a defective power cord The thermal switch is inside the motor electric assembly and should be mounted on the...

Yes I would. This is a tried and true recipe, I had made it several times before. My equipment has changed. Instead of using an emersion chiller coil I am using a 60 plate wort chiller and a pump. As such it doesn't like getting hops caught up in the chiller plates. Oh yeah, I also have a...