Recent content by steveahol

OK... the consensus seems to be that I'll be pretty OK without doing anything to my water (except add Campden). Thats the answer i was hoping to get! This way i can concentrate on not messing up the rest of the brewing process. Then if something does seem seriously off on the final beer, i can...

Alkalinity is listed as 90.8ppm. The spreadsheet calculator has a place to input this, but dosnt seem to mention a recommended range. What do you consider "high" alkalinity?

Thanks everyone for your quick feedback! The beer i'm brewing is an APA SRM 7 IBU 44 OG 1.051 without additions Cl is 29, and CL/SO4 ratio is 1.13 with the salt additions its Cl = 29 and ratio 0.37 so i guess it "may enhance bitterness"? (according to the spreadsheet)... i can live with...

I’m preparing for my first All grain batch, but I’m not sure how concerned I need to be about the water. First a bit of background This is technically my second all train attempt. Let me explain: I’ve been brewing full boil (5 gal), extract + specialty grain for many years. A few years back I...

On the topic of safe use, OBK has this warning on their website... WARNING: Never attach the ball or pin lock valve to the charger first. It can cause the valve to be OVER-PRESSURIZED and fail. Always attach the ball or pin lock valve to the keg first, then attach the Cornelius CO2 Keg...

Thanks for that great insight ColoHox! Sounds like you’re brewing commercially. Is that right? Thats interesting. I havn’t read anywere about freezing slants. How does that work? With frozen slurries I understand you mix in some glycerol as a cryoprotectant. How do you do that for a slant...

I’ve just stated to delve into the world of yeast management. So far I’ve washed yeast out of a primary and am storing it in the fridge for a brew in a few weeks. Also, mostly as an experiment, I’ve mixed some with 10%glycerin to freeze. I haven’t used any of my saved yeast in a brew yet, so...

Thanks all for the advice. So it sounds like cold is really the best way to go. So last night I put the keg in a tub of ice water to try and get it as cold as possible. I’m going to try and switch out frozen water bottles in the evening and in the morning. I’ve wrapped everything up in a...

based on my basic understanding (and zero practical experience:)) of carbonating: at higher temps CO2 is less soluble in the beer. So theoretical, if my beer is carbing at a high temperature can't i just increase the CO2 pressure to get the correct amount of CO2 to dissolved in the beer. Then...

OK… so just got my first beer kegged ! Yay… no more bottles!... but in my rush to get kegging I don’t have any fridge space for it. I’m planning on building out the front of an old bar fridge but until then I’ve got nothing. I’m hoping to bring this beer to a cottage this weekend, where there...

I was planning on dry hopping this batch. Should i leave it in the primary 2-3 weeks then rack to a secondary for dry hopping? should i rack earlier into a secondary and let it 'clean up' there? I've never dry hopped so this is an experiment of sorts.

OK, So i checked and the gravity went from 1.042 to 1.010. (1.042 OG is lower than what i was shooting for, but i know i ended up with less LME than i wanted so that makes sense) Fast little buggers! The last batch took over a week! So sounds like this is not ideal. Whats the affect of this...

I’ve got a possible stuck fermentation. I’m hoping someone can help confirm my diagnosis and suggest some remedial action. On Monday I brewed an extract porter based off of John Palmers Porter recipe for extract and specialty grains. Everything went well during the boil and cooling...