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If you enter comps with the intention to score highly and win stuff, you need to brew so your beer is at peak drinking when it is being judged. That became very obvious to me at the first comp I assisted at. I’ve worked out a comp brewing schedule. Hefeweizen is the last thing I’ll brew and I...

I collect all the water runoff from my counterflow chiller into buckets and use it to clean the BrewZilla. So I don’t feel like I’m wasting any water. I’ve not heard anyone run wort through their immersion chiller, usually it’s the cold water that gets run through it. I think it would heat your...

I posted about the same sight glass issue about 300 posts ago. I can tell you, yours has split because the saddle is too small for the larger diameter of the polycarbonate tube. KegLand were adamant they had never seen that cause a split tube before, and whatever I had done had caused the tube...

I don’t use the term secondary fermentation. My fermentation gets completed in primary. Then depending on the beer, it might get transferred to a conditioning keg. I do mostly RIS, Barley Wines and Belgians, so most of my brews are in the 9% to 17% range and I incorporate a 3 to 6 month...

I pump wort through my counter flow chiller in the last 5 minutes of the boil to sterilise it. So there’s no problem running boiling wort through the pump. Though I wouldn’t use the pump leading into the boil. If anything it will increase the time to boil because you’ll get heat loss through the...

It’s easy for a beer to get marked down and score poorly if it doesn’t tick the style guidelines for the category it’s entered. Having said that a 30 point beer can be an outstanding beer to drink. But brewing for comps and brewing for yourself or mates can be very different things.

I’m a new Covid brewer too. Did my first brew on 29 July 2020. So I’ve just ticked over a year. I’ve loved the journey, all the knowledge I have now and the equipment I own. I’ve started winning in beer comps which is a nice feeling. I remember clearly the brew where my beer went from home brew...

I bought the false bottom for my malt tube that doesn’t have the hole in it. So I don’t use the overflow tube and find it easy to mash big beers without it in the way. Biggest beer I’ve done is a 16kg Barley Wine, and I couldn’t get all the malt in. I stopped at 13kg when it started overflowing...

Obviously the best way to figure this out for my own taste is to make side by side beer with both Munich I or II. But I’m always interested in learning from other more experienced brewers.

I buy Weyermann Munich from my LHBS. I’m about to do a Doppelbock which has revealed my lack of knowledge about which Munich style suits which beer types. I think I’ve settled on a mix of one third Munich I, Munich II and Pilsner, with a touch of Caramunich. I think that is a safe recipe for my...

I do see a temperature split between the gauge reading and TILT before fermentation starts. Maybe not 5C, but a couple of C. Depends how close you chill the wort to pitching temperature before transferring to the fermenter. As soon as fermentation commences the temperature becomes homogenous.

For all the shiny, temperature controlled things I have, one of my most valued pieces of gear is the CO2 tank, regulator and pressure transfer kit I use to do low oxygen brewing with. I use it for everything, whether cold crashing, transferring to conditioning keg or bottling keg, and counter...

I’m in the transport industry. Airline pilot usually, until your friendly pandemic comes along, so I’ve swapped over to fuel tanker driver for a while, until flying picks up again. Neither job mixes with alcohol, so I’ve been known to go a week without a drink when I get busy. But if I get a...

Yes, autolysis was one consideration I was thinking about as I typed. Best not to over pitch and tempt fate.

I bottle all my high ABV beer with CBC-1. For the 12%-13% RIS I do, I add 4g of CBC-1 to my 19L bottling keg. That is probably over pitching very slightly, but I call it insurance. I get beautiful carbonation within a week at that rate. 3g per bottle is way too much, but as far as I understand...

There's nothing wrong with being stuck in your ways.

Thanks guys for your input. I’ll get Bru’n water running and go from there.

Thanks. So Bru'n water can do a water report for me. That sounds pretty good. Now just have to find the time to get it up and running.

Has anyone tried open fermenting with their Hefe?

Would someone care to take a look at my water report and offer some opinions. I'm just starting out on the water journey, and would like to know how my water looks. Really interested if possible in what beers this water is most suited to 'as is'. I enjoy and make a lot of Imperial Stouts...