Recent content by Witherby

I currently have Goldings and Bramling Cross from the UK in the freezer. A few years ago I bought hops directly from Stocks Farm in the UK. They focus on homebrewers, not breweries. Shipping was outrageous to the US but I was very happy with the hops. I don't see Endeavour hops on their...

Bottling is very traditional for these beers. I don't think they were kegged in Germany until the 1980s(?) and that is still the exception, I believe. I end up bottling hefeweizen, witbier, saison, etc even though I keg everything else.

AHA members can watch Ron Pattinson’s 2019 Homebrew Con presentation, Macbeth! The Brutal Truth about Scottish Beer which debunks a number of Scottish beer myths based on his analysis of hundreds of brewing records over many decades. Or read his book on Scottish brewing that this is based on...

How about a 95 to 98% Munich malt with some crystal and roast malts to get you to the right color? All I’m saying is that if I had a bunch of Munich malt to use up and I wanted to make an APA-ish style beer, I’d be inclined to use it to make a American brown ale instead of an APA. I actually...

A 100% Munich malt APA actually sounds like it would fit the guidelines for an American Brown Ale.

If you are bottling definitely several days to make sure it is finished. I usually keg condition with a spunding valve so I’m not worried that everything is completely finished. I should be more consistent and scientific than I am!

Definitely. I open ferment pretty much all my beers. More “loose lid” than completely open, but no top pressure. I’ve never needed a blowoff tube.

One of the side benefits of open fermentation (the main being flavor benefits and happy yeast) is that you don’t get out of control kräusen or need a blowoff tube.

Seriously? I've posted this before, but it is worth repeating. In Modern Lager Beer: Techniques, Processes, and Recipes by Jack Hendler and Joe Connolly, they lay out the "four main purposes of lagering" (paraphrasing the book Practical Handbook for the Specialty Brewer: Fermentation...

I switched from a 3 vessel with a picnic cooler mash tun to an Anvil Foundry AIO back in 2020 and I've never looked back. I do no-sparge (so essentially BIAB) and I use a brew bag inside the malt pipe. I do decoction mashes for most of my lagers. I just lift the malt pipe up and let the mash...

I have bought them directly from Stocks Farm in the UK. Shipping was outrageous but very nice hops. https://stocksfarm.net/shop/ I have been able to source whole cone hops from Slovenia and Germany also. I really like to use them for late hop additions. This year I finally have hops on my...

I brew HiDO like many traditional German brewers so it doesn’t bother me but your point is well taken with the HSA. And I should have clarified that I don’t think you need the foundry pump but rather a pump. That looks like a good option.

If you don’t get a pump are you going to brew on a table/stand and then transfer to the fermenter with gravity? And if so will you stand on a ladder to pull the hot and heavy grain basket up and out when you are done mashing? You see where I am going with this? In my opinion the pump is...

I am a big proponent of kräusening. It has many benefits including cleaning up diacetyl. You can read my technique in this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/kraeusening-secondary-lager-fermentation.729150/#post-10301493 I usually save a small part of my starter for the kräusening but...

I’ve already suggested decoction so I might as well suggest a nice long lagering period to go with it. It works for the Czechs! I’m going to have to be on the lookout for this malt just to give it a try.