Recent content by snow16

Yes, dark/roasted/caramel malts have an acidifying effect on the mash. But as I understand it, the extent to which they lower your actual mash pH is determined by a lot of other things - particularly your water's bicarbonate level, as bicarbonate acts as an acid buffer. So basically if your...

I am FAR from an expert in water chemistry, but I have become interested in it and done a lot of reading over the past year or so. I had a few consecutive batches with off flavors a while back, so before heading home to the States one time, I filled up a PET bottle with my tap water and sent it...

The wheat probably isn't helping, but if it's so bad that you can't even see through your hydrometer sample - it sounds like you have a whole lot of yeast in suspension. US-05 is a great yeast, but it does take longer than some to flocculate. It could also have a lot to do with your hot...

esb

Citra & Mosaic IPA with 10% rolled oats. Only two weeks in the bottle at this point and still pretty hazy, but I'm always a little impatient with this style. Amazing white grape, mango character - cheers!

I'm certainly no expert either, but I think it's a little too soon to condemn that beer (JeuDeVache's). There could be something developing there, but at this point I don't think it looks ominous.

I'm right there with you on minimal shelf space, but I really don't think there is any way you can do this without (severely) compromising your beer. I like my beer to be clear when it should be clear, too - but I'll take cloudy homebrew that still tastes great over crystal clear homebrew that...

Dark Mild! (Next time I'll make it a bit darker - but I have no complaints. Can't go wrong with WY1968 and a simple malt bill).

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffin' airlocks.

Edit: I just re-read the original post and realized that my comments are irrelevant. OP doesn't want to use crystal malts, etc. My bad. Best of luck on brewday!

For what? 1968 is my all-time favorite yeast, but I have no idea what you're trying to make.

Yes, every time. Been bottling beer for a long time and I've always had it - and I've always thought the whole standard bottling set-up was a little cheap and flimsy. But to be honest, I really don't think it has ever been detrimental to my beer. I think it takes a lot more than that to...

Can't answer your question but I'm a bottler-by-choice too and have always wondered the same thing. I'd be interested to hear if there's something better out there also.

Next time try to pitch lower than you plant to ferment, if possible. In my experience (and very generally speaking...), it's better to have the wort warm up to fermentation temps (even though it may take a little longer for fermentation to start) than it is to pitch warm and have an explosive...

There are different schools of thought on this, but a lot of people (myself included) dump everything into the fermenter and don't give it a second thought. I used to go crazy trying to strain everything, but not doing it has had absolutely no detrimental effect on the flavor of my beer. Mind...