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I’ve always been a little bit skeptical about those home water testing kits, but it sounds like it’s worth a shot. I’d love to demo it sometime. The problem is that my usage rate would not come close to justifying the cost. I could see how this might be beneficial for a homebrew club or...

Weyermann Munich I is only 5-7 SRM and it makes perfectly acceptable Munich Dunkel as a SMASH beer. A double decoction will go a long way to darken the beer and produce melanoidins. If you’re not interested in performing a decoction (who is?), you can always runoff first runnings into a separate...

White wheat is fine. CaraVienne isn’t the same thing as Vienna malt (24L versus 3.5L). You can substitute with Crystal 20 or Victory malt and I doubt anyone would be able to tell the difference. If push comes to shove you could toast a bit of Vienna at 400F for 5-10 minutes.

I’ve done it both ways. As much as I’d like to say that brewing canon is worth observing, I’ve noticed measurable improvements in my lagers by spending extra time at diacetyl rest vice lagering temperatures. The last one I brewed, a German Pils, was barely 4 weeks old (1 week lagering) before I...

Seven days, grain-to-glass.

I was so SURE of the “correct” answer until I read that article. I already knew of the 0.25-0.35 pH offset, but I had always been targeting a room temperature corrected pH vice at mash temperature. If that’s the case, I’ve been consistently mashing about 0.3 pH lower than my target, which is a...

I’ve heard good things about Danstar ESB and how similar it is to WY1968 / WLP002. But I’m gonna have to disagree about Windsor — it’s a poor attenuator and totally muddles the hop character. NEIPAs from the founding fathers (Alchemist, Hill Farmstead, Tree House & Trilium) finish quite dry...

I was just going off of the chart John Palmer had in How to Brew. Apologies if I misconstrued its intent.

If you’re using a large percentage (>30%) of flaked or raw wheat, it is safe to assume that a protein rest will be beneficial for lautering. If you’re using malted wheat, a protein rest is unnecessary. Either way, add 5% of the wheat grist in rice hulls for lautering.

I’m not gonna be able to answer everything, as I don’t want to inject any misinformation into the conversation. A better resource such as Martin Brungard might be able to provide a more comprehensive answer. Alpha and beta amylase are optimized around a mash pH of 5.40. The mash pH will...

Yeah, tbh you probably don’t need 10% Midnight Wheat — it contributes color but not much in way of roast flavor. It’s essentially the same thing as debittered black malt (or Carafa Special). It might drop your color a few points but I don’t see much difference between 35 - 50 SRM.

Thanks for the information. I also found this one from NorCal Brewing Solutions, which looks like a cleaner version of what you’re using: https://www.norcalbrewingsolutions.com/store/Ultimate-Sanke-Keg-Cross-Fermenter-Kit.html The only concern that I have is being able to fit any and all of...

Looks awesome. Good on you for avoiding the classic “it’s a Belgian so here’s some simple sugar” pitfall. Midnight Wheat and Carafa Special are both mellow roasted malts that won’t result in astringency no matter how you mash them. Honestly I’m wondering if the recipe might benefit from a...

That’s perfect. I found new 1/4 bbl kegs for ~$100. I’m just a little unsure of how to convert the Sanke tap system to a TC fitting. I saw a few conversion kits from NorCal Brewing Solutions but I wouldn’t know how to convert them. That kegmenter looks AWESOME as well — if they had 1/4 barrel...

Piggybacking on this thread. I’m looking to make an upgrade to my existing fermenters. I currently ferment in kegs to prevent oxygen ingress. I’m a little bit dissatisfied with my fermentation capacity, but I would like to retain the ability to perform closed transfers (and prevent oxygen...

Thinking you might have under pitched a bit. Assuming 100% yeast viability you’re looking at ~170B cells, where a typical lager pitch rate would be ~430B cells for a similar beer. A 2L starter would have gotten you much closer. To minimize lag time, it’s much easier on the yeast to pitch cool...

Fermentis now advocates pitching dry yeast directly to wort in lieu of rehydration. I’ve done it both ways and noticed no appreciable difference either. It would be nice to see some concrete measurable data that reinforces one method or another. As far as making starters from dry yeast, I’ve...

This is awesome. I am immeasurably grateful to you pioneering souls making it easier for suckers like me to piggyback on your success. I definitely don’t have need for a system that robust (400 GPD is ridiculous), but it’s great food for thought when I actually have the capability to build my...

This. I got an assortment of Sterilite containers on sale with a vapor barrier and gasket for $5-10 apiece. I keep my mashable grains in those and leave adjunct in mason jars. The capacity is roughly 1 qt/lb so one of the 60 qt containers will easily accommodate a standard 50-55 lb sack.

I wasn’t being snide then, but I certainly can be. It’s more than a bit elitist to deride a form of all-grain brewing as “an intermediate step”. Brew-in-a-bag is definitively all-grain brewing, and it doesn’t matter that it has its own dedicated forum. BIAB produces comparable results to other...