Recent content by tootal

Our mash pH is 5.1 - 5.3. The malt lowers it a little and we compensate for that since we start at 6.8 - 7.0. It's well water so it varies a little.

Do you need to do an acid rest? What's the PH of your water when you start? We set our PH at 5.8 for light colored beers and 6.0 for dark beers due to roasted malts lowering PH more. We also set our sparge water at 5.3. Crush, mash length, PH and how modified the malt is. (Kolbach Index)...

Another story about him. I brought him a Kolsch that I had brewed but it had a cloying taste to it. Although it was clean it just wasn't Kolsch. He tasted it and asked me if I used any Vienna or Carapils. I told him Carapils. That's the problem. You should use German Pilsner malt and maybe...

So what benefit would I have to make up such a story. People who know this guy know his abilities. He is an amazing talent! BTW, I wasn't the only witness and even the Brewmaster tells this story on himself!

A Finnish brewmaster once asked me what I thought of a Kolsch brewed by a local brewery. Having had Kolsch from Cologne I gave it a try. It was too heavy of a mouthfeel and too hoppy. He agreed. At that point the brewmaster was walking by and he asked him if he mashed it at 153 degrees...

I don't know of any but there are those that probably do.

Ha! I have a friend from Finland. I told him I was thinking about brewing Sahti. He told me to let him know when it was ready to drink because he didn't want to be anywhere near it!!

A local micro made an APA and used pellets for everything but the dry hop where they used whole leaf. The aroma and flavor of that beer was wonderful. A month later I stopped in and had another and the aroma was not a strong. It tasted the same but didn't have as much aroma. I talked to the...

It was my understanding that Carapils was more for head retention and is the reason I use it. Also, using higher mash temps as in 160F does give you more mouthfeel since it isn't as fermentable as a beer mashed in the beta range. As mentioned, when we brew Imp. Stout we mash at 158F to 160F...

I was glad to find this thread as I just received my chiller from Penguin. I bought their kit which included a small pump, temp controller, hose, fittings and a gallon of glycol. We have a morebeer 14 gallon conical so we also got the Blichman tall coil that we'll mount in the lid. Looking...

At 160 your in alpha territory and beta is dead so you probably will have a beer with more mouthfeel. I'm sure it's fine but your OG might be less than normal. I mash at 159 for Imperial Stouts. Yours was probably converted before it ever cooled below 150.

Major brewer's add some fresh wort to the secondary to get the beer going again and also so they can close off the valve and carbonate naturally. It's called Krausening. Your done now but if it happens again I would do what you did with boiling it in water then add in the secondary. Either...

In the town of Windischeschenbach Germany they have a communal brewery where folks take the family recipe and brew it, take it home and ferment it, then serve it in the living room or beer garden. Awesome place. I was able to get a Zoigl recipe which is brewed without a boil. They put the...

About 4 beers ago we started losing efficiency. At first we thought we had done something wrong but then 2 beers ago I took a better look at the crush and I was seeing a lot of husk still holding the endosperm. I tightened the mill up about .005" and it looked really nice. Hulls were still...

60* is a little high but doable. I wouldn't raise it to 68 though. If you can get it to 32* for a couple of weeks it might clarify. Our lagers are lagered at 32-35 degrees for a couple of weeks in kegs. The first draw is usually a milk shake but it clears by the third pint. If I move the...