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I assume you're talking about not reaching your expected OG. Just some things to check/think about: First, what efficiency are you using to calculate your grain bill? I have my efficiency set to 75% in Beersmith and routinely come in around 4 points higher than expected. So I'm going to raise...

IIRC. Guess it could have been in one of the many videos I watched. At any rate, I think it's pretty important for efficient sparging. Before pushing down on the top plate, I noticed there's a 2-3" gap between the top of the grain and the plate due to the grain having settled during the mash. I...

In the instructions it says before sparging to push down on the top plate until it contacts the top of the grain bed. I go ahead and seat it pretty firmly, slightly compressing the bed. This compaction is usually enough to slow the sparge significantly. It's an intuitive kind of thing--obviously...

I dough in at the exact mash temperature by adding a couple cups of grain at a time, stirring well between additions. After about 10 minutes the whole lot is in, and the temperature never budged.

Well, duh. A genius I am not :[

Now that's pretty interesting. I'm wondering how this would work with the GF. I guess you could put the mash water in the HLT and let it run in through the pump outlet...

No, but please enlighten me. .. what's underletting?

I've been brewing for 16 years. This was by far the best brewing-related purchase I've ever made. The last time something like this rocked my brewing world was when I started kegging 15 years ago. I think you're going to like it!

That doesn't just apply to NYC, but for plenty more places, too. I also order 10 lb sacks from morebeer but don't usually need to buy six at a time because I'm usually ordering other ingredients as well. I usually buy only two or three, enough for my next two or three batches. My numbers work...

Wow, that's disturbing. It almost sounds like your recirculation return blasted through the top plate and excavated a channel in your grain bed. I haven't seen that yet. I'm going to make sure my wort return is coming in as parallel as possible to the top plate in the future. Hope the beer turns...

The honey might be a good addition. This is from the style guidelines for a German pils: " Profile: Aroma: Medium-low to low grainy-sweet-rich malt character (often with a light honey and slightly toasted cracker quality) and distinctive flowery, spicy, or herbal hops." Let us know how it turns out!

Thanks for this! This is a great tutorial even for someone who has been using BS for a few months but has just tolerated the variations, inexactitudes, and inconsistencies as being "close enough." It kind of motivates me to try and fine tune it so I can rely on the numbers more. You have to...

+1. Welcome to the brotherhood!

Oh yeah. There was a question there at the beginning. Why, yes, I believe they do remove chloramines... :)

I did too, but I removed the DI filters because when I went to order new filters, one vendor's website said not to drink DI water because the resins aren't food grade. I figured I'd play it safe since DI isn't really necessary for brewing. YMMV.

After reading this and other sources on the net, it would seem the biggest concern would be if you don't get adequate minerals (especially calcium and magnesium) from other sources. It looks like as long as you're eating a nutritious diet and possibly taking a multivitamin, drinking RO should be...

I keep a 2 gal jug of RO water in my fridge and that's all my family drinks. I had no idea I was consigning us all to an early grave :o

Sounds great! Might have to give that a try. Do you have a recipe or just wing it?

Up to you, but if I were doing 2.5 gal batches, it'd be a no-brainer for me. Anything larger and I'd buy an RO unit (which I did) because I don't want to haul that much water around.

That's what I had to do. My city's water is drawn from several wells and mixed together, and while I could find reports for each wellhead, the analysis for each was quite distinct from the others. Over the course of the year, the water at the tap would vary depending on the proportion of water...