Search results

It's a good idea to keep some diastatic enzyme powder around for just such situations. Sometimes the mash temp can get away from you, so adding some powder after the temp settles back down can really help. The reason is that alpha and beta amylase will become progressively denatured at higher...

That's nearly a 1/2 pound of hops used, much of it for dry hopping. Any chance that some of that may just reflect hop funkiness?

You need to figure out what your water parameters are, and should be able to get these from your local water utility. Then, use Brewer's Friend or Bru'nWater to determine your needed additions. Did your grain bill have lots of crystal or darker malts? These will reduce the pH, and you can...

Yes, full, 3/4, 1/2, 1/4 and empty from what I can tell. However, it appears to use a standard strain gauge, so if it were possible to hack the software (which seems very likely), then finer measurements should be doable.

I'm not sure what the part is called, but the metal ring on the bottom of the tank that it rests on fits inside the plastic sensor's ring. I don't think it would be very difficult to make it work with either a corny or 1/6 barrel keg. I'm also not sure what the capacity is for the unit, but I...

So, I had a chance to review this further. First off, I must say that this unit is packaged very nicely, and is quite easy to set up. The unit comes in two parts, the "sensor" which is basically a plastic ring with a cord. The cord has a weatherproof 4 conductor 3.5 mm connector that connects...

I just picked up one of these at my local HD. At $30 for a WiFi compatible tank gauge, it's a steal. I plan to use this to actually keep track of my propane tank, but I'm keen to investigate how it works. The base must sport either a strain gauge or a force sensitive resistor of some sort; I...

So much for BIAB being low efficiency! Congrats on the nice work.

A wise man once said "Relax... don't worry, and have a homebrew." In this case, I think this certainly something to keep in mind. As for your hopping schedule relative to your OG, I think you are fine. You should have plenty of bittering hops. The 10 minute additions are not going to impact that...

I know everyone doing BIAB will say this is blasphemy, but get yourself a pump and a counterflow chiller. It will save tremendous time and labor. Also, I'm not sure the sparge is worth it. It requires extra time for little gain. My typical brew sessions last around 4 hours from initial setup to...

In my experience, recirculation during mashing definitely leads to a much clearer wort due to the filtration by the grain bed. However, this is completely negated when the bag is squeezed to recover all of the sweet wort left in that grain bed. No worries, as all of this settles out as trub in...

I've got to agree with Wilserbrewer on this one. The CDN that Bobby sells is fantastic. I've also got the various Taylor and CDN digitals with probe and their advantage is being able to fire an alarm when mash temp exceeds a particular temp. But, they are slow. Bobby sells the DTQ-450X (which is...

I love my 20 gallon Concord stainless tri-ply kettle, which was about $150. It has reasonably thick walls, a thick tri-ply bottom, welded/riveted handles that are very sturdy, and a nice lid. I purchased the bulkhead and 3-piece ball valve from brewhardware.com and these after cutting a hole...

I think this is generally correct, and given this, it is reasonable to think that a typical BIAB would thus be a better approach for yielding high gravity worts than a traditional approach due to the thin mash. However, the downside to thin mashes is the denaturation of the amylases. I'm not...

I'm not sure that the mash pH will impact the final taste in the way you normally think of pH. Mash pH will influence the rate of starch conversion just as mash temp will. If your mash pH is too high, you will get poor conversion, leaving lots of unfermentable sugars and dextrines (giving some...

Based on the pH ranges for alpha and beta amylase, they have different optima, similar to the case for their optimal temperature ranges before denaturation. So, as with mash temp, pH is a compromise. IOW, you just need to get it close, but I don't see any advantage to getting it on the nose when...

Speaking for myself, I'd love to see your implementation. In particular, your flow control (PWM pump control and flow meters) would be fascinating to see. I'm thinking about doing something similar, but have thought to piggyback off something like the HeaterMeter bbq pit controller. If the BBB...

Until I started adjusting for my water, I always ended up at the dreaded 1.020. I typically make 1.060 or above, but even some in the mid 50's ended up at 1.020. After switching to this, I've not had any problems. For example, a 1.076 OG amber ended up at 1.012. Several parameters influence...

I'm digging your induction burner setup. Where did you find that and how well does it work? How long does it take to warm up say 7 gallons of strike water to about 160F or so? How do you think this compares to a good propane burner?

Yeah, I really like the BF water calculator (and tons of other things about it!). A brew buddy of mine has gotten very serious about brewing water. He read the Palmer book on the subject and has been tweaking his water using Bru'n Water. He uses a lab grade pH meter, and has had very good...