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Thanks. Yeah, that's probably it. I don't think people "mash out" anymore, but it's always been in the back of my mind that the grain bed should not exceed 170. But I will improve my process to make sure my sparge water is under 175. I think as I started shaving time by being more...

I'm looking for the source of slight astringency in my beers. Mash ph is always within range; grain crush seems fine; no grains in the boil... I batch sparge and it takes less than 10 minutes, so I've never checked the ph. (I thought checking the ph was more of a concern for fly sparging?) I...

Thanks for the great advice on 3711. I use it a lot, but have never pitched it that hot. I tend to get a 10 degree free-rise with my system, so next time I will try pitching at 79. I am planning to co-pitch 3711 with the Dupont strain next time. It can handle those temps, right?

Thanks, sounds like I'm on the right track. I do favor ester production, so I want to get to the top of the range and a bit beyond (according to Brew Like a Monk) in the first few days. So pitching in the high 60's and letting it free rise to the mid to upper 70's seems like a winner. What...

Reporting back on the Golden Strong that I pitched at 75 and let free rise to 85. It's not a very good experiment, because I co-pitched 3522 Ardennes with 3711 French Saison (which I know can handle the heat). But my initial tastings do not detect any fusels. With that said, I will be...

Interesting ROI calc. If there is a homebrew book I haven't read I would sure like to know it. I must have read them all by now.... Though I haven't read textbooks... Also, what are the paid sites?! Maybe I shouldn't be wasting my time on this free one! JK, LOL. But you are right that the...

I too wish I knew the concrete science... So often what we accept as brewing gospel turns out to not be true. They would be the first to admit it's not science, but the Short & Shoddy brews at Brulosophy have convinced me that you can probably get away with really short boils, under 30...

Agree that it's a dumper. Since you said it smells like soy sauce and tastes bad, my bet is autolysis, based on my reading. Or some kind of infection, since you said it's sour (assuming that was not the goal). I've never seen a beer oxidize like that, so I think that's a distant third place...

I'd be curious if anyone has heard Palmer's thoughts about secondary transfers recently? It's true that the old brewing books pretty much all say to transfer to secondary. However, brewing changes and evolves. There weren't highly hopped New England IPA's back when those books were...

Excellent. Let us know. Dry Belgians are the way to go! It's not a true experiment, because the beers are different, but I pitched my golden strong at 75 and let it free rise to 85. Will bottle this weekend and can report back a week or so after that. Yesterday I pitched a tripel at 70 and...

Nice! I meant to write "mash low." But thanks for sharing the full fermentation schedule. Love to hear how it turns out. I have a tripel up next week. I'm using my other fermenter for the golden strong, otherwise I might be tempted to split the tripel into two batches. Pitch one in the...

I tend to co-pitch most of my Belgians with Saison yeast, so those low FG's are norm in my "brewery." Interestingly, I find that many folks can't discern dryness very well. I often get comments about the nice level of sweetness in my 1.000 FG beers! I recently got dinged by a judge who said...

Agree that Unibroue is a bit heavy handed with the spice, especially coriander. My favorite of their beers is Don de Dieu. I tried their yeast once and it didn't make an impression, but I think I fermented it too cool.

I've read that too, but the puzzler is they say they will let it free rise to 84. You correctly realized it would not do that on its own, so you must have had to raise the temp yourself for those last 10 degrees or so I would guess. Be sure to report back!

True, but in the text several Belgian brewers said they start in the low 60s to control the yeast. Maybe they want more clean and malty, which explains why a lot of the acclaimed Belgians are a bit bland to my palate. One thing I wonder is whether it's better to pitch low (65) and ramp up, or...

Thanks. What your current thinking on pitching low and ramping up? As opposed to pitching at 75 and allowing to free rise to 85? Does a slower start help create or avoid something?

I have a feeling I am going to end up wanting to pitch between 68 and 70 most times, and letting it free rise up toward 80. So, a little hotter than seems to be recommended by many brewers. I have read that maybe some fusels are the trade-off to get more fruit, so your friends liking the one...

So how high does it usually go during free rise? 75 or so?

Thanks, totally agree. I have golden strong in the fermenter now... I pitched at 75 and it went up to 85; I held it there until close to FG, then raised to 89 to finish. WAY hotter than I have ever done before. I can report back... Have ever had off flavors at those higher temps?

I've had some success with Belgian beers, but still don't feel like I have the fermentation temps and schedule dialed in. Does anyone have experience to share with fermentation temps and schedules? I am most interested in the regular Trappist/Abbey Belgian yeasts. My go-to is 3522. (I know...