Search results

I know very little, but 2 looks much better than 1, in fact I might even try 2 without the coconut as it looks like a nice porter - fairly close to one I regularly brew - I've been wondering why I put Munich in, but there is some validation there

The underpitch is only going to slow it down isn't it? It sounds like it's had a good ferment going already I have no idea what I'm talking about - but I'd give it a shake and get it a bit warmer before adding anything else I had one in the fridge I thought had finished, moved it to room temp...

My main fryer died last week, so I'm doing them in a pan and I can't wait forever for it to get to those temps - I do double cook them though

5 Gallon is approx 23L As a rough example - if I start with around 37L of hot water, after mashing that is down to 29L (the grain soaked some up), after boil that is down to 26L (evaporation), after syphon to primary it is 23L (the hops soaked some up), after bottling that is down to 20L (trub...

I think you need to be careful about spending money too early - until you understand how everything interacts - I was going to buy an expensive set up initially but I went cheap with a view of upgrading later - except that it all kind of works fine and have no reason to now

Interestingly the last stout I made before playing with the water was probably (marginally) the best I've done so far - the brew after next is a stout so I'll try it on that one thanks

the yeast being rated for low 70s is what caught me out - the temp of the ferment was much higher than the room temp so I was at the top end or higher for the yeast - so I thought I was fermenting at low 70s but it was actually higher when I got the fridge - the whole problem went away but even...

That looks like a powerful beer right there - maybe make a sample and then tweak

I have been doing 3-4 week primaries - but I'm just about to get another carboy so I can extend that by a week or so Every time I leave longer in primary the beer is getting better

Thanks guys - I started doing it to eliminate some early problems - which turned out to be something else anyway and (apart from brews with S04) most brews are now really good - so I just keep doing it I'll trying stopping on one of my known recipes and see what happens

if you're getting so may contaminations - maybe try re-using yeastcakes or at least taking a good slug of previous yeast to pitch with - and going heavy on the aeration

Purki - that part is critical - and first lesson I learned too (I had one of tomoncanterbury's banana brews) - people talk about sanitation, water profile etc. but they are side shows to the ferment temp I hear the first 72H are most critical Too hot - you get tropical flavours and often blow...

I don't want to be too contrarian - but nothing I've seen tells me it is worth the effort when you're new to brewing If anything - I spent a lot of time playing with the water when my real problem was ferment temps - once I got that sorted things got massively better, increased primary time -...

You can also use Maris instead of Pale - it gives a lot more of a malty flavour

Upping the Maris and lowing the Pale with give more mouth and sweet maltiness too You can go larger on the oats also That hop bill looks complicated

Agree with everything except S04 - maybe use a 1187 Ringwood (my main stout yeast) I'm about to try WLP007, and I've had good results with US-05 Make sure you ramp the grain up, go high on IBUs and get some oats in there - I do one Stout every 3rd beer - overdoing the darks sometimes but love...

Chlorine in water seems to make quite a bit of difference and needs treating, I'm less convinced about other issues We have 8.0 Ph - I use some lactic to get it down to 5 ish on strike not sparge, it's not made a huge diff (the problems I thought were water were not water) but I still do it...

I use cardboard boxes - most brews are fine to drink in 1 week - and much better in 3 weeks - but go downhill at 5 weeks (apart from porters which last much longer)

At 1 gal you can probably use bottled water, it starts to get pricey at 5 gal I've heard boiling for 45 mins the day before can remove Chlorine - we don't have a problem here - my problem is 8.0 Ph ...

plastic (if food grade) is fine - but you need to use a soft cleaning product - any scratches and you massively increase surface area for infection later for me, I use glass with all the different problems that brings, there are few things as good to watch as a clear glass carboy wrapped in a...