Recent content by Skipstr21

I sometimes use Gelatin in the secondary. Leave it in for 3-4 days and then rack to keg. I know a lot of people do not believe in secondary fermentation but a LOT of stuff falls out in the secondary that would normally end up in the keg. As a matter of fact, I've pretty much stopped using...

Round coolers are great for fly sparging. A bit too deep for batch sparging though as you need to stir after each batch sparge. I use a rectangular el-cheapo with a bazooka screen and it works great. I've brewed about 60 batches with it without any mash problems.

I batch sparge in a square cooler with a bazooka screen. It's hard to stir well in a round cooler (too deep). I get 75-80% eff. consistently. What really helped my efficiency was to use 180-185 deg. water for the 1st round batch sparge and let the mash sit for 10 mins before draining. Fly...

See my stirplate and stir bar here.http://www.footballbrew.com/homebrew/video/Video0005.mp4 The 1" oval stirbar works great. Once I got the magnet centered on the fan, the stirbar stays right on track. Works perfect with a 12vdc wall transformer.

I primary for 3 weeks and then I use a secondary to clear the beer with gelatin and sometimes dry hop. I usually wash my yeast so I don't like to put gelatin or hops in the primary. I also avoid putting gelatin/hops in my kegs. The secondary is the best place for them. Even after 3 weeks in the...

Thanks for the response. One more thing, I assume there will not be a krausen with a stirplate so I don't have to worry about leaving too much headspace, correct?

I'm getting ready to use my Stirplate for the first time to get some lager yeast (WLP820 Oktoberfest) ready to pitch. Mr Malty says I'll need 2 vials so I made a simple starter to get one vial of yeast going and hopefully double it's size. Next I'm going to decant, and add twice the wort and use...

Just a comment...I've washed WLP 001 Cali Ale and WLP 023 Burton Ale using the process illustrated. I have noticed a HUGE difference in my starters. The washed yeast starts much faster and has a 2-3 inch kreusen while the staters from White Labs vials barely have a kreusen at all. They both work...

Where are you located? There is a group buy program in my area (St. Louis MO) and we can get 2-row pale malt for $23 for 55lbs. Top quality fresh Marris Otter for $38 for 55lbs. It's the only way to go if it's available in your area. Might even be worth a drive if you can pool resources with...

I designed the recipe with beersmith and hit the OG right on. I just can figure out why the FG ended up so low. The FG was corrected for temp. Don't get me wrong, we floated the keg while tailgating and everybody loved it. It's more a curiosity as to why the FG was so low and I'd like to be...

My efficiency is always around 65%. I know it's low but it's consistant so I just use slighlty more grain. Odd thing is my OG was just a little high (1.048) but it finished at 1.004 which was a lot lower that I expected. It's not that big of a deal becuase it was one of the best beers I've...

You need to batch sparge. It's almost as good as fly sparging but MUCH easier. You just need a bit more grain to obtain your target OG. Google "batch sparge" and you will get all the info you need. Also get Beersmith or something similiar.

I thought I might at first but have not noticed any difference at all. It does shave about 30-40 minutes off the brew day.

While it's not as cold in St. Louis Mo. I certainly understand the challenge of brewing in cold weather! I have a hose hooked up to my house hot water and fill my 15 gal brew kettle up with all the hot (150º) water I need and add the campden tabs, gypsum, etc. to this and then transfer smaller...

What is the correct way to lower the ABV? I made Kolsch that was excellent except the ABV was a bit high for the style. I was shooting for about 4.6% but ended up with 5.73%. I did a single infusion mash at 150% for 75 mins. The recipe is as follows: 8.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US-Rahr (2.0...