Recent content by soggycd

This is mostly what I meant by clearing, but either way is this not equally desirable in ales? I certainly do not like tannins in any beer, but I guess they are less noticeable in ables. This makes much sense. But aside from tannin reduction, how else is mellowing caused?

Something I have wondered for a while and never found a satisfactory answer to, how come ales do not benefit from extensive cold conditioning to the same extent lagers do? In other words, why is it uncommon to cold condition an ale for weeks like we do lagers? My understanding is that lagering...

I have been in the market on and off for sometime for a good pH meter, but never found one I was comfortable with because they are either way too expensive or not reliable enough (do not stay calibrated, no temperature compensation, probes need to be replaced often, etc.) Does anybody own a...

My third lager is fermenting right now, and I am still rather unclear on when to begin lagering. Good old How to Brew says to drop to lager temp when there are still a few gravity points left, presumably so the lager yeast, which reputably still metabolize at low temps, have something to eat...

So is it really necessary then to lager approx 1 week for every 10 gravity points, if all you're looking for is clarity? Seems like beer is usually pretty darn clear after crashing for only 1 week.. lager and ales alike.

Again, all I see here are people saying what time tables they prefer to use, but nothing really to answer my above questions.

My third lager is fermenting right now, and I am still rather unclear on when to begin lagering. Good old How to Brew says to drop to lager temp when there are still a few gravity points left, presumably so the lager yeast, which reputably still metabolize at low temps, have something to eat...

I think it is just a matter of using the repitching from slurry tab and making sure you have the required volume of slurry. If you already have enough slurry volume in cake, just add a little wake up wort, no starter necessary. If you do not have enough slurry volume, make starter, crash...

Thanks cyclman, this is what I was looking for. I could have sworn I tested the same thing on multiple calculators and got contradicting results, which is why I posted here, but I went back to check your reply and I must have misread and or mistyped something before, because it seems you are...

Thanks aj. I think we have a good working hypothesis.

Do water conditions affect diacetyl production? I know my water profile more or less, never measured my wort ph tho.

This is the most convincing idea I have come across. I do a pretty good job dropping bright my beers, maybe too good? Perhaps I am removing the yeast too soon. Seems like two weeks in the primary would be enough, but perhaps that is something to experiment with. Does lagering remove...

To AJ: I ferment and lager according to traditional german methods as far as I know (german beers are my favorite so that's what I try to emulate) and I do diacetyl rests. I have never tried krausening, but my understanding is that this is a problem fix, which is a good tool to have I am sure...

My brews have been tainted with diacetyl recently, ales and lagers, and I cannot fathom why. I control my fermentation temps religiously, I am confident in my sanitation routines, I ferment and store in glass and kegs, and I always pitch plenty of yeast. Does anybody have any ideas where...

Yeah I did a poor job of explicating my question. I might be using "step up" in a different manner than usual. Usually by stepping up people mean feeding yeast a given amount of volume, crashing, decanting, and then adding more wort for more growth. My impression is this is what most step up...