Recent content by zeno27

+1 on Ambitious Brew. Its a great book. I found Ogle's description of the German "beer-garden" culture to be particularly informative. The German lagers were seen as a healthy alternative to the whiskey often drunk by men in the early 19th century America, thus gaining grudging support from...

I'd think if you were getting down to 1.000-1.002 there is something besides safale-04 in your fermenter.

There are multiple ways to get the same amount of yeast. You can pitch several packets into a small starter, or you can use a large starter with only one pack. The growth rate slider allows you to choose which approach you want to use.

I was there for a tour a couple of weeks ago, and I asked about the yeast for Hennepin. The tour guide said that all of the year-round beers (e.g. Abbey Ale, Hennepin, etc) were brewed with the same yeast. And the same strain is used for bottle conditioning, so you could culture it up...

You're definitely on the right track. I make one with similar amounts, although only 1/2 tsp cinnamon and maybe 1/4 tsp allspice. You can always add more at bottling/kegging if you think it needs it.

If you put just a drop on your refractometer, it should have cooled down to ambient temperature by the time you made the measurement. A drop of wort has a small thermal mass.

Two pounds of crystal malt seems like a lot. What did you wind up with for FG? Also, was the color right? With the crystal and the roasted barley I would have thought you'd be getting into "brown" territory.

You can use a hemocytometer and a microscope, or you can follow this technique: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/estimating-cell-count-334105/

I personally prefer my pumpkin beers without the vanilla. I'd also reduce the dark brown sugar to a half pound and ditch the wheat altogether.

Without knowing your starting concentration of sulfate, it's impossible to know exactly. But Palmer tells you how much each gram of gypsum will add to the sulfate levels. http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter15-4.html Two teaspoons gypsum in a 10 gallon batch would add about 120 ppm, which...

If you just want the sulfate for flavor, add the gypsum to the boil.

Since you have a refractometer, measure the gravity of the first runnings. Then at least you will have an idea if something funny happened during conversion. Read this: http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Understanding_Efficiency#Measuring_conversion_efficiency It seems with a 16+...

Did the starter show signs of activity? Plenty of people (including me) use Wyeast nutrient in their starters without any problem. But 1/2 tsp is a lot: normally it's what you'd use in 5 gal. I usually use just a pinch, or about 1/8 tsp.

Brewing specific pH strips are available from a variety of online vendors and probably your LHBS. They are a cheap and easy way to know if you are in the right ballpark. Honestly, getting an analysis from Ward Labs costs only around $20 including shipping the sample and is well worth it. Once...

Are your gravity numbers correct? I ask because I would guess that the original gravity (OG) was 1.040, rather than 1.140. If the final gravity is indeed 1.010, fermentation is likely very close to completion. My advice would be to leave it at 66°F for at least two weeks and then directly...