Recent content by TomVA

I add my hops in a hops bag during the boil, and remove & squeeze the bag(s) immediately at the end of the boil (before starting the cooling). If I left the hops bags in during the cooling I'm sure I would get more hops character (bitterness and flavor) due to the longer exposure to the hot...

Likewise here. My cellar is now 56°F but at the top of the cellar stairs it is 64°F, perfect for a British ale.

I make 5 gal. batches with full water BIAB mashing in an 8 gal pot. Allowing for 0.5 gal. of grain absorption (I squeeze the dickens out of the bag) and 1.0 gal. for boil-off, I start with 6.5 gal. of strike water at room temperature. Heating to mash temperature expands this to about 6.65...

It's called free thinking and is what advanced mankind out of the caves. It's not anal, it's admirable. TomVA

When mine stained I just soaked it overnight in a 30% bleach solution, and then rinsed thoroughly. Came out as white as new fallen snow. TomVA

I hear you. Just today I entered a recipe into BrewersFriend Recipe Designer software and it calculated a Tinseth IBU of 42.9. I then entered the exact same recipe into six other online calculators and got six different results ranging from 40.6 to 50.8! Since the average of all of these...

Or put another way, if I have a beer that calculates to say 45 IBU at sea level, is my real IBU 37 (45/1.21 @ 2600 ft)? TomVA

I live in Virginia's beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains at 2,600 feet elevation. As a result, water boils here at 207°F. Will this have any meaningful effect on hops utilization, i.e. should I be applying a factor to my IBU calculations? TomVA

It's not a hobby..... It's an obsession! :D

I average 0.04 gal/lb for grain loss, but I'm a real squeezer. In fact I place by bag of hot grains in a metal colander over a steel pot, then place a metal bowl on top of the grains and literally stand on the bowl! (Don't try this with glass or plastic equipment!) 200 pounds of me on top of...

I agree that is a lot of late hops additions for the style. English Bitters should focus on bittering hops with less hops flavor and aroma. Personally I prefer about 80-90% of my IBU to come from the 60 minute addition and the balance added at about 15 minutes, but of course YMMV. TomVA

Hi Folks, I have two readily available sources of water for brewing. The "Farm" water is untreated well water, clear and delicious. The "House" water (different location) had high iron and a low pH, so it is treated by passing through a bed of Calcite (calcium carbonate ) to raise the pH...

I added the chocolate for some depth and character rather than color. Not sure I achieved it as I didn't do a comparison against an ale without it, but I can say this bitter is rich and to me better than anything I had on tap in England. YMMV Forgot to mention that I carbonate to only 1.5...

Sure. It's at the top end of the Best Bitter style. For a four gallon batch: Maris Otter....... 5.90 lbs (90.9%) Crystal 60........ 0.50 lbs (7.6%) Chocolate........ 0.10 lbs (1.5%) Total grain bill = 6.50 lbs (equivalent to 8.1 lbs in a five gallon batch) East Kent Goldings (4.8%...

Thanks all for the suggestions. My plan was to increase the hops by 25%, i.e. adjust both the grain bill and hops to the amount needed for the final five gallon batch. Would I need more than a 25% increase in the hops due to the thicker mash? I thought of adding an extra gallon of water...