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Well, I must have missed that in the thread. My eyes glazed over a few times and resorted to skimming. My bad. I just deleted another post I made about water quality, so ignore that too if you saw it. Just for giggles, and since I don't want to do any work today, can you post the grain bill...

LovesIPA, this is my conclusion, for what it is worth: It is not a sanitation of infection issue. Your are convinced it is, so you have banged your head against the wall and ruined countless batches of beer trying to troubleshoot a problem that doesn't exist because you convinced yourself of...

I just discovered this thread today. I'm going to go back and read it from the start to get an idea of what's going on. The water chemistry stuff alone seems completely odd. I mean, when skimming it, it seems like he never bottled a batch, doesn't use a pH meter, doesn't understand why / how to...

Thanks, AJ. The gap in knowledge for me here was where that just-noticeable-difference was for mash pH; at what point will someone cease to notice the difference in the finished product? I'm not a super-taster by any stretch and I don't participate in competition of any type so "5.4" was always...

Not to get off topic, but does a couple hundredths of a point make that much of a difference? I don't ask in a dismissive manner, but out of genuine curiosity. What noticeable difference would there be in a mash that says 5.4 on my reader, but when measured on yours it reads 5.36? Or, is it...

PlinyTheMiddleAged posted the link to the sheet just above. When you get the sheet, I recommend taking the time to read the section called "Water Knowledge" first. As for pH meter, this has been my favorite: EcoTstr pH2 It's waterproof, holds its calibration really well, and is very easy...

Error in your reading or a temperature change of the wort. Gravity readings will vary according to temperature.

My quick two cents: I have very similar water and my IPAs used to suffer from the same fate as yours. MABrungard's post above reflects the solution that worked very well for me. I hadn't been paying attention to my water profiles at all when brewing. But once I started tweaking them to better...

I know a lot of people use munich malt in these styles, but I prefer not to. Most of the character and color in these beers should come from the specialty sugars. For example, I brewed one recently with 16 pounds of pilsner malt, 8oz of Special B, and a pound each of 180L Candi Syrup and 90L...

Not that I want to get involved in this, but I hardly see any trace of "tough guy" in his posts, which were quite helpful and informative, actually (the very goal of these forums.) RDWAHAHB. :)

Sure! I've had Heady Topper quite a few times, and I have a friend who is a big fan of Shed. I'm very curious about Hill Farmstead Brewery. I hear they're doing some amazing things.

Incorrect. I would agree with you if my wife's complaint was that the chef used parsnips and she doesn't like parsnips. But the menu clearly said "Choose Chicken, Fish, or Beef." She chose chicken. He substituted with fish. That's like hiring a contractor to build a house and saying, "I'd like a...

Hi there, Well the first thing is taste. Does it taste okay to you when you drink it? If so, that's good and you can start looking into the chemistry of it. From what I can see you water is pretty soft, meaning you don't have a lot of minerals in it. It's quite similar to the tap water I have...

I agree to a point. I mean, if the customer starts recreating the dish with all their requests, I'd be fairly irked as well. "I'll have the steak, but instead of the balsamic mushroom reduction, please use tomato sauce. And instead of the rice I'll have squash..." But, from the opposite...

I'm on the fence about this one. I don't mix beers typically, but I know some people like to. So if I operated my own brew pub and a customer asked to mix two together, I probably wouldn't care all that much. But my personal preference is to enjoy each beer, individually, as created by the...

It depends on what you want to brew, really. But as a basic starting point for most beers, you should be perfectly fine. Though I would suggest using some method for neutralizing your chlorine with every batch, such as potassium metabisulfite. Water chemistry plays a few roles in making your...

What is the temp of the wort right now?

Your grain absorption calculation is wrong, I think. :) 0.125 gallons per pound of grain is a good rule of thumb. So instead of 0.7 gallons, you'll lose closer to 1.4 gallons with 11.25 pounds in the mash tun. In the VOLS tab on BeerSmith in your recipe, you'll see "grain absorption" in the...

My guess is you should be fine; I would just let it go. I will note that the pitch temperature might have been a bit on the high side but I wouldn't worry about it too much as long as the beer's temperature this morning is closer to 70. Anything over 77F with that yeast strain may start to...

Raise the temp. Is there someplace you can move the carboy to get that temp up to about 68F? By your username I'm assuming you're in Vermont. I'm in the Boston area, so I know the pains of trying to keep fermentations warm this time of year! I wrapped my carboy in a Red Sox snuggie and brought...