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Regarding the minerals (or lack thereof) in distilled water, it is a non issue with extract brewing ... or at least it should be depending on your extract manufacturer. The extract is made at the manufacturer by mashing grain just like any other brewer, in water which has likely has all the...

From your first post, you mentioned that the mash was held at 66°C, and you mention that there is no more than a 10°C difference. Does that mean that you were measuring a worst case of 76°C?

No, the microwaves themselves do nothing to the enzymes. The microwaves in the oven are not really any different from the microwaves in you cell phone (just much higher power). These microwaves are don't have much of an impact on any molecules, other than those that are electric dipole (eg...

The reason for the poor efficiency is exactly due to what was mentioned in previous posts, that is the mash is being heated unevenly. The microwaves will be absorbed in the outer most inch (or so) of the mash, leaving the inside relatively cool. The outer 1 inch of the mash can get suprisingly...

Fish, I just made the press from scraps of lumber and some PVC piping for the mould. It's just a simple Dutch style press. I had made a Colby last fall, using my press for the first time (a prototype run), and I had trouble with it binding in the cheesecloth, so I was never convinced that the...

fish! Completely unrelated to homebrewing beer, I too have started making cheese. I've got a Colby and Cheddar just waiting for me to try. Do you know of any forum like this one, but for cheesemaking - or any other resources that might be helpful? Thanks!

BoxerDog, When you were bottling the beers, I'm assuming you bottled them all at the same time from the same fermentor? If so, the alcohol level will be pretty much the same throughout the entire batch. Especially if the taste is the same, from one bottle to the next. You might find that...

One fantastic book is called "History Of The World In 6 Glasses" by Tom Standage. It's an awesome book that talks about the main drinks that have been around since the dawn of civilization and how those drinks shaped the world we live in today. It starts off discussing beer then moves into...

Just to make sure I understand what your saying, did you take the brew out of the primary, then boil it, then put it into the secondary? If this is the case, then you killed all the yeast and boiled the alcohol away. You only 'need' to boil the brew before you put it in the primary. If I...

The Memo is binding to the person in the payee line. If it says "paid in full", and you cash the cheque, then it technically means that you agree with the fact that it says paid in full. But that's neither here nor there, because it would cost you an arm and a leg in legal fees to resolve...

Hey Rod, Thanks for searching for that. I could have just seen myself buying the bag and getting frustrated trying to get the starter going.

It is dry yeast. The reason I'm asking is I don't have a local HBS, and I have to mail order everything. I tend to have lots of ingredients left over, but I always use up my yeast packages. I'd really like to have the flexibility to pick up some yeast on the way home from work one day when...

I have a bulk food store that sells a large bag of debittered brewers yeast and I was wondering if anybody here has ever had any luck buying yeast from a bulk food store. This bulk food store does not carry a line of home brew ingredients, its just the yeast. I have no reason to think that the...

Brewman, I'm curious about the solid state relay. Do you use any interface circuit (for protection) between it and the microcontroller, that you would need with an SCR ... or on the same token, do you need a driver to run it (does the micro provide enough source current). Interfacing to a PC...