Recent content by ScrewedBrew

I boil my vinyl tubing for a few minutes. Never had an infection. 100+ batches with the same tube, and have never, ever used starsan.

No problem. I usually add 2-4 qts water post boil to bring up volume back up. I use this calculator to make sure it is still in the gravity range I'm targeting. http://www.brewersfriend.com/dilution-and-boiloff-gravity-calculator/

Jump in the Fire - Metallica

Black Waltz - Avatar

Time - Pink Floyd

I did 34 gallons this year. 4 batches porter, 2 pale ales, 1 spruce cream ale, 1 mosaic pale ale. 23694 + 34 = 23,728

I have used yeast that was stored over 2 years. It takes a few days to wake up. The first step barely makes any foam. When I buy yeast, I make 2 qt starter. Divide into 2 jars. One goes into a batch of beer, and the second gets washed and stored in the refrigerator. From there, I start with...

Aces high - Iron Maiden

I confess. I have never used starsan. No sanitizers here, other than a splash of bleach to sanitize my bottling bucket. Everything else gets sanitized with near boiling water. I always siphon by mouth. I have never had an infected beer.

Rolling in the deep - Adele

Lots of good tips here. Dumping sugar to increase the OG that much will definitely give it an off flavor and give you a MASSIVE headache! The strong alcohol whiff is from the sugar, and/or high fermentation temperature. The green/brown gunk at the top of the foam is likely hop residue, and...

I have two small stock pots with strike water to add to the mash after the first vorlauf to get the second collection.

I have been AG brewing small batches for quite a while. I mash in a 5 gallon kettle, then raise the temperature to 168, stir, and let sit for 20 minutes. Next, I vorlauf the first run, add strike water 168 degrees, stir and let settle, then collect second running. I was curious about...

Yes, it is a lot of steps, but I always have the same amount consistent to each batch. This way I know I have a lot of viable yeast. If I use only slurry, it may not be enough viable cells. I only "sometimes" pitch on the last cake. The last batch I did this was a porter on top of an IPA...

I only have one jar of each yeast I use. From that, I propagate a starter for each batch. My method may not be right, but it works for me and I can keep my batches consistent this way. I use this calculator as a starting point...