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If the malt is self converting why won't a "proper" steep work? What is a proper steep, anyway? Isn't malt soaked at a certain temperature for a certain period of time to activate Alpha and Beta?

Instead of making animal feed why don't you use the starch in the spent mash to produce beer with? Spent mash contains complex starch, amylopectin, which is thrown away in home brewing because the temperatures aren't high enough to burst amylopectin because the starch is heat resistant to a...

Maximum fermentability has nothing to do with dextrinization and gelatinization. The types of sugar contained in amylopectin are nonfermenting. Pectin is responsible for gelatinization and when gelatinization occurs it is quite noticeable in the mash. The mash jells up. Producing maximum...

Multitasking works in making homemade beer. In ale and lager brewing you need to be more attentive. A rest at 130F is used when malt contains a high ppm of Beta Glucan. If the Beta Glucan content is high in malt, it is simple, don't buy the malt. Beta Glucan is listed on a malt spec sheet...

CAMRA was invented by marketers. Dave Line commercialized homebrewing. "Why is most British beer history American invention?" It's a great advertising technique, most of which is made up, similar, to when CAMRA renamed, distillers beer, and Prohibition beer, Real Ale. The Brits invented every...

Marris Otter is high modified, to over modified, distillers malt, same with Halcyon, and Golden Promise. However, there is a malthouse producing Marris malt with less than 10 percent protein, which is the malt to use for producing single temperature, home made style,

A hundred years ago breweries were shut down in America, with the exception of the breweries moonshiners owned, and in grain distillation, especially in moonshining, the method that produces the most glucose, the quickest, is used. To increase profit margin, in 1960, the Hochkurz brewing method...

What is the era/time frame when malts weren't able to convert as they do today? The story about modern, high modified, malt being much higher in quality is only a story, brewmasters use the finest malt. Homebrew malt is usually, high modified, to over modified, high protein, malt. In brewing ale...

Beta Glucan is fibrous. It's usually indicated on a malt spec sheet. A mixture of Alpha/Beta Glucanase is an enzyme that's produced to reduce Beta Glucan. A rest temperature in the 130F range allows Proteinase to reduce the fiber into glucose which reduces mash viscosity. "You can safely...

ZaniPalmerJamiChef seem to come up with interesting recipes. Adding a small piece of brewers licorice in the boiler adds a nice touch, it takes the edge off, off flavors. I'd start making the beer ASAP. Next time brew the beer between November and December while Holiday spirit is full on and...

Use a bigger pitcher or do what the Slovaks do, pour three pitchers and by the time the first pitcher's wiped out, the foam settled in the other two and more beer can be added. It's probably difficult to do when beer is in bottles. Bicycle Day is big in Switzerland, but, the grain was grown in...

Nine ounces of hops is awesome!!!

WOW!!! It's a good thing the fermenter didn't break. I wouldn't worry, slushing up beer is a process used when beer is gooped up. It only went a little farther this time. The caveat: maybe the temperature dropped quickly and there's still glucose in the mixture. Check the gravity before kegging...

"My question is about multi step infusion mashing using boiling water additions. Since this is inherently creating a larger volume of mash in the end, in some cases, it may be enough to fill the kettle completely without sparging." Yup, that happens. Start out with a thick mash, a thick mash...

I use sour malt. I have no idea how to convert sour malt volume into lactic acid volume. It would be difficult to do because the pH of sour malt varies. I think it's good to know what the inherent pH of the base malt is before making pH adjustments. The pH is usually indicated on the spec sheet...

When a sample is cooled and the protein drops to the bottom of the sample and the wort is clear, the beer shouldn't haze when it's chilled down. Alpha should have liquefied amylose during the saccharification rest period and there shouldn't be too much starch carried over. However, there's...

Oh Man!!! Maybe, chemical imbalances in the wort. Maybe, a Gram-P infection. When fermentation is within three days it's best to carbonate the beer and drink it young. If an oil slick develops on top of the beer or if a white ring develops around the bottle, the beer's infected. Best thing...

Remove the dip tube and fasten a blow off on the poppet connector.

Yeast reproduction stage is the important part of fermentation. Primary fermentation should come to and end within seven days. If primary fermentation doesn't come to an end by at least 10 days, something went haywire. When fermentation ends within three days, something went haywire, the beer...

Omitted from home brew info about diacetyl is that krausening is needed to ensure there's enough yeast to finish secondary fermentation and to carbonate the beer during conditioning. It's better to clean up the brewing method than to use a diacetyl rest. The rest is a temporary patch because...