Recent content by robertvrabel

Sounds good, I actually purchased a PH meter from northern brewer recently so I will be trying that with my next beers and see how it goes. So it sounds like i should probably just brew it and see where my mash PH is. Then follow up next time with something with a simliar grain bill and make...

Thank you for your help! I was just reading up about that and found a thread discussing that you really should never go above 200 alkalinity, as its unnecessary. So if I don't need to add anything -- Is there still something I need to do to get my mash to the right PH? I guess i'm also...

So here is the spreadsheet filled out if you'd like to take a look My water: Calcium - 29 Magnesium - 8 Alkalinity as CaC03 - 61 Sodium - 7 Chloride - 10 Sulfate - 8 Water PH - 7.5 Beer SRM - 47.7 (morey) Basically from what i'm getting i need to increase my alkalinity by 434...

Why risk it? Buy a new lid, they are only a couple of bucks.

I live in farmington hills. There really aren't many close breweries. Copper canyon is ok, but I find their beers not too interesting, but i hear the brewer there is awesome so if he is in he would be a great person to chat with! My favorite place in farmington hills (not a brewery though) that...

I was in this same debate about a month ago. My problem with the pico was the HUGE dead space (I think about 3g). THe dead space isn't as huge of a deal if you are doing huge batches, recirculating, and/or you are fly sparging. But i'm not doing any of those. So with that said, i went with the...

1) I could try to figure out how to bend the SS more, but i'm pretty sure i would have to cut off the top of the SS because it would hit the bottom? Plus i'm not sure how easy it is to bend something that is already bent. Any information on how to do this would be great! 2) I can't put it in...

Siphon: http://www.brew-magic.com/ketl_acc_unisiphon.html Faslse Bottom (with hole): http://www.brew-magic.com/ketl_acc_falsebtm.html My Keggle: http://www.homebrewing.org/155-Homebrew-Kettle-With-One-Weld-Half-Barrel_p_1004.html So for some reason the siphon will not line up with the false...

You must have some leakage. If I had to guess I get about 20 kegs for my 10# tank, force carbing and serving/bottling from it too.

Thanks guys! They are bit far from where i'm staying though, i won't have a car. Anything close to the freemont hotel & casino?

Any suggestions on good bottle shops in Vegas? I'd like to take back a few beers i can't get back on the east coast.

I entered a few beers, my American IPA took 2nd and my German Hefeweizen took 3rd. I entered a english barley wine I made as one of my first AG batches 1.5 years ago. The comments were quite humours.. that it was too bitter, and need aging. I didn't expect it to do well as i'd brew it a lot...

Yea, so bringing it up to room temp for a bit was for your diacetyl rest. Typically you don't need to bring it to room temperature though, 5-10F above your fermentation temperature for a few days is enough (go by taste to see if you taste any before lowering it). Then slowly lowering the...

If you are going to force carbonate your kegs, then there is no need to bring it warm again once its done fermenting. For doing a lager though, you should do a diacetyl rest at the end of fermentation prior to cooling it down to serving temp. So say you ferment your beer at 50F for 1.5 weeks...

This is probably a dumb question, but where guys buying ethanol or isopropanol to use since you can't use StarSan to sanitize them? Is there a specific product I should get? Just got mine in but want to make sure i use the right stuff to sanitize them.