Recent content by SkaBoneBenny

This freezer sounds like thee poster child for Start Cap death. I had it plugged into a cheap, crappy extension chord, which was then plugged into a lousy circuit breaker. Huh... well I guess it's time to start looking for appliance repair stores. What exactly do the start caps look like? Do...

Where can I get start caps? Can I just bring in the old ones? -Ben

I hate being the guy who posts only when he has a problem, but I've been busy working three jobs etc etc. My apologies. I bought a large chest freezer for my kegs less than a month ago. I went to check on my American Wheat keg this morning and found that the freezer was 75 degrees inside...

Any beer you make and enjoy drinking is nameworthy. -Ben

Wow, that's pretty weird. Low gravity and very low mash temps. I mean anything below 150 should give you quite low FG and low mouthfeel. Do you add boiling water at all during the mash to keep temps up? -Ben

I just bought my first keg, regulator and CO2 tank. My LHBS owner advised me to set my regulator for 20-25 psi, force carb the keg, shake vigorously for a minute or so, and then to disconnect the tubing, regulator and CO2 tank. He suggested I do this once a day for a few days, and then to...

Turns out it was the thermometer... after checking the old thermometer against my new Digi, it's obvious that it's at least 5 degrees over. -Ben

Yeah, I think I'll go with the cake. It's WLP 001 as well.

If you had to choose between pitching a vial of WLP 001 accidently left out on the counter of my apartment during a heat wave in New England and exposed to 85 degrees for ten hours or so, OR about a pint and a half of yeast cake in my fridge from two previous brews, which would choose? I'm...

You are All that is Man.

Not to try and talk you out of it, but maybe you should just give it the old single infusion this time. I'm also newer to AG brewing and found step mashing very very difficult when I brewed my Hefe. After talking about it with a brewer I know, I learned that many breweries basically use only...

Well thanks for all the replies. I'm thinking it's most likely my thermometer, with my mash pH in second place. I always check my mash temps every 15 minutes or so. I saw a great tigital thermometer with an alarm and 3 foot cable in a cooking store near where I work. I think I'm gonna buy it...

Yeah, I actually mashed both brews between 155 and 156 intentionally. I'm not thinking it's mash temperatures... unless the temps are dropping off during my sparge or something. During my hour long mash the temps were constant between 155 and 156. After the hour, I take off the mash jacket...

Both using WLP 001, I assume attenuation would be... over 80%, using my hydrometer to measure gravity, I have not calibrated it with distilled water, but it's always given me reasonable readings up until now, I'm leaving the beer in primary for 6 days. You know, I don't know my mash pH. Ive...

I just can't figure out what's going on. Ever since going AG, my beers have had brutally low FGs and come out quite dry. With my last two brews, an APA and an IPA, I specifically tried to mash at 155-156 in order to increase body and raise my FG. In both cases I got a FG of 1.007. One had an...