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Add the gypsum to both mash and sparge water, because it is all water that is going into your beer. The reason for adding gypsum or other salts to water is mainly to change the flavor profile of the beer, and to a much, much lesser extent change the pH of the water (you should rely primarily on...

It's actually a very interesting question. Let's think about it: Many things contribute to the evaporation of water: humidity and atmospheric pressure for starters. Did you know you can make a glass of water boil at room temperature if you were to place it in a vacuum chamber? So water may...

I concur with BierGut. I have two batches to do this weekend and I prepped my yeast starters last night. Sometimes I pour the entire thing in, other times I refrigerate. It depends on timing, really. Since I am not brewing until tomorrow, my yest will be finished this evening, and then I will...

Skip the protein rest, except under special circumstances. A protein rest activates two enzymes. One breaks large proteins down into medium proteins, and the other works on the medium and small proteins (breaking medium to small, and small proteins into their components.) The medium proteins...

IPAs benefit from high sulfate levels. Sulfate accentuates bitterness (Palmer states that it will also give the perception of being drier and more crisp.) I used to make my DIPAs with a sulfate level of 150 or so, but then tried one as high as 300 and it came out really well. You should be...

Hi DirtWagon. I'm a fellow Boston area brewer and I use MWRA water as well, so I can help you out. The alkalinity is reported as CaCO3. So if you're using "Bru'n Water" you can enter that number straight into the "Reported Total Alkalinity" cell on the water report input tab. As for the...

Given the seemingly tight temperature controls on your fermentation, my first guess with green apple would be Acetaldehyde. It's a natural product of fermentation, and if you let the beer continue to condition and allow the yeast to clean-up a bit, that flavor could subside. I would even let the...

I'm next door to you in Reading, MA. I'm on MWRA water which is very good for brewing. I had no idea North Reading wasn't!

Yes, that can happen sometimes. What I (and many other people) do is fill the airlock with vodka instead of water. If any accidentally gets sucked back in it won't harm anything.

Employee at a local liquor store when buying a 10% ABV DIPA: CLERK: "You should buy two. Drink one now, and drink the other in a month." ME: "Why?" CLERK: "High alcohol beers age well, just like wine. Except beers will increase their alcohol content the longer they sit. That one will be 15%...

Alkalinity is the water's ability to buffer against efforts to lower its pH. Residual Alkalinity is the amount of alkalinity (buffering ability) left over AFTER the malt reacts with the water. So as long as your predicted mash pH is right where it should be, it doesn't matter if the RA is...

You're only boiling small portions of the mash in the decoction process, not the entire thing. So you still should boil for 90 minutes.

This was my thinking as well, but then I thought I'd post the question here just for the heck of it. I still plan to do what I just mentioned above, doing a split batch with fresh yeast and this old yeast just for kicks and see what comes of it.

Okay, so why not make this a learning experience. Here's what I will do: I won't dump the batch. I have plenty of fermentation buckets to use. I'll age this one out and report back what happens to the flavors over time. I'll keep copious notes about ambient temps, etc. I need to make sure the...

The off-flavors are mostly estery and some sourness. It's not hot; I don't detect fusels, really. Aside from these flavors it attenuated way too low. It was supposed to have a FG of 1.014 and it ended under 1.010. It's pretty thin and dry. My wife isn't much of a beer drinker, so she makes a...

My fermentation fridge went dead on me, and subsequently I had a batch of beer using WLP011 get up to 80F for a few days. It has some pretty bad off-flavors as a result. I need to re-brew this same recipe since it is for a party coming up. I have used existing yeast cakes in the past, but never...

A friend asked me to make a batch of beer for a fall party he is having. He wants something more malty than hoppy, with an amber / copper color. Pretty sure he was looking for something like a Marzen / Oktoberfest, though he said anything along the lines of what he described would be great. I...

I use the EcoTester 2, and it has been good to me. Easy to calibrate, durable, and so on-- not bad for $50. However, if I were to buy one again I would get a meter that has 0.00 resolution instead of just 0.0, obviously for the greater accuracy. But honestly, for my purposes, just being in the...

Well, it's been aging for a couple weeks now and I think I will bottle it this weekend. I tried a sample and I am amazed at how well it turned out! The late Citra addition gives it such a great tropical / floral nose. Slight bitterness from the hops, and the malt flavor is perfectly fine. No...

Doesn't look bad to me. As for the smell and bitter taste, I'm assuming by "bitter" you don't mean from hops. What is the ambient temperature of the area you are fermenting in?