Recent content by TheMethod

Yes, it is good to aerate your wort. There is only one time that you want to do this in the entire process and that is after you have cooled the wort but before you have added the yeast. The yeast need the oxygen in order to do their stuff. Although you may be able to get by without aerating...

Is 90F accurate or a typo? That is pretty high.

Four of us did 2 batches each in a day for a whiskey barrel we got from Stranahan's Distillery. That was a crazy day. We had four burners going strong for a long time. Good luck!

I would sand it down so it's smooth as well. If there are any jagged bits or gashes in the plastic it can harbor bacteria.

I had a similar issue with the funnel and filter screen. I would lift up the boil kettle and start pouring and then have to set down the kettle and use a sanitized spoon to scrape the junk off the filter screen. Now I usually siphon in to the funnel with the filter screen. That way it still...

Your beer is possessed by the devil. He is making the airlock bubble so your faith in the glory of beer will falter. Use thy holy hydrometer to cast out the devil. Use it multiple times on multiple days to ensure the demon is gone.

It seems like the concern isn't the size of your apartment but just the temperature. The swamp cooler idea is a good one. My first batches were stored in my bathroom as it was always cooler in there. Even when my main room (685 sq ft condo) was 80 degrees the beer would be 68 in the...

You could do a couple small batches changing each possibility and see what happens. So do two 1 gallon batches, one with the well water and the other with RO water. Everything else in your method stays the same. Do another two batches, one with grain crushed twice and one crushed once...

16,806 + 5 = 16,811 I bottled my first batch in 24 swing top bottles. Bottle conditioning them for a couple of months while the next batch ferments and clears in the fermenter. Had a couple glasses of the first batch. At 4 weeks it's still a little green but I couldn't resist. Really good!

16725 + 5 = 16,730.

Wow, based on your 1.135ish OG before that's an impressive 12.4% or so. Based on the massive Apfelwein thread, EdWort's regular recipe ends around 1.000 or below. I've seen a lot of people stop around 0.999 and at least one person say they got to 0.996. If you were able to get it down that...

What did you get yourself in to? Something awesome, that's what. I'm a big fan of cider so I would say that yes, a cidery taste can be a good thing. But it all depends on what you're making. I wouldn't want a cider taste in any stout I'm drinking, for example. Definitely let it age...

From what I remember when doing a partial grain with a steeping bag you should not press on the bag. It does make the wort drain out faster but you can also have tannins extracted and get in to your beer causing off flavors. I don't think it is too far off to think that something similar...