Recent content by swillmaker

High, The problem with your wort sitting around for hours on end to cool down to pitching temp, is that in exact that time, the wort is most vulnerable for any kind of bacterial infection. There is no healthy yeast to take over a high sugar content liquid. And at those warm temps it is an ideal...

High, Been there. To "drink a good cup a coffee" in one of the shops.:rockin: I don`t speak any Dutch though. Also took a guided tour through the Heinecken brewery. Very impressive and I can highly recommend it to anybody ever going to Holland. The "evil" guide forced us to have a sip here...

High, Are ya going to be living on an army base or in private accomodations? As army bases are considered American soil, different rules apply, set by military law. If ya live on German soil, you have to advise customs(Hauptzollamt), that you are a homebrewer and plan to brew. On the first...

High, Honey should definitely not go through a full boil-cycle. It should be added after turning off the heat and when the wort has cooled down considerably. Boiling honey will definitely destroy many of its`fragrant aromas. This myth about boiling honey derives from the middle ages, when...

Howdy, Why don`t ya just mash a high gravity wort, dump that into the fermentor, top up with chilled destilled water and pitch a very healthy, large yeast starter right after it reaches proper temp??? This will ensure almost immediate fermentation, instead of doddling around with other...

I have dry-pitched safale yeast in 2 ciders........ High, I´m sure that this is not meant as a proven-as-safe standard. And anybody who just dumps yeast into a wort/juice, without having made a starter is sure taking a chance. When having made a yeast starter, you can smell right away, whether...

High, I will definitely give ya some tips deriving from personal experience. While fermenting anything with honey, shake the **** out of your carboy while doing the primary fermentation, twice a day. DO NOT RACK OFF INTO SECONDARY CARBOYS, UNTIL THERE IS NO MORE CARBONATION COMING OUT OF YOUR...

High homebrewer99, Yup, I´ve already read much of their stuff on the site that ya mentioned. Although, living in Berlin I have a girlfriend who comes from the eastern corner of Brandenburg and her folks have a small plantation with around 1800 appletrees. So I been makin`more cidre than beer...

High, Yeast nutrient (usually DAP) is only needed in the initial growth phase of the yeast cells. Max. dosage is 40g / 100 litres. It should not be added all at once, to prevent cell stress from too high a dosage. Add 1/2 of it at the beginning of fermentation to the wort, before pitching...

With gravity you won`t be able to filter into a counter pressurised vessel, be it bottle or keg.

High, Coming from wine making, I make my own sulfurous acid for way less, than anything you can buy commercially. This stuff is a no rinse solution and sterilises really well. The recipe is quite simple: 1 qt of water 20g potassiumbisulfate (K2 S2 O5) 4g citric acid The bottles are...

High, I have a plate filter, that I use for my wine filtration. I can stack up to 12 Plates (40cmx40cm) for a total volume of about 600litres/hour. I`ve also used it for beer. The filter does remove a lot of carbonation, if not used with counter pressure. Since most manufacturers of filter sheet...

High guys, Moved from B.C./CDN to Berlin shortly after the wall came down. Been having a real good time over here, brewing being just one of my hobbies. The malt quality over here is fantastic, Weyermann is about as good as you can get. Hope to pick up some interesting pointers here and...

High, For those of you that are worried about burning the insulation of your kettle when using propane burners, here`s a trick that I use. Go to your next welding supply store and get a welding blanket, cut it to size and wrap it around the kettle. These blankets definitely do not burn and their...