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  1. V

    Sparge temp error - way high

    You will probably be fine. In continuous sparging (also called fly sparging), you don't want your the grain bed temperature to exceed 170 °F at the end of wort collection. At that point, the pH might have climbed to above 5.8 and the combination of relatively high pH and heat will extract excess...
  2. V

    Diacetyl and Dry Hopping

    Diacetyl can come from a variety of sources. One of these is oxygen being introduced into the beer late in fermentation (any time after high kräusen, really). The oxygen stimulates the yeast and they give off diacetyl (as they do in early fermentation), but then they don't take it all back up...
  3. V

    On a Hunt For Diacetyl!

    Wyeast 1187 (Ringwood) or White Labs WLP005 (British Ale) will give you all the diacetyl you want and more. If you slightly underpitch, ferment on the cool side of the yeast's range, and separate the yeast from the beer as soon as fermentation finishes, you'll be swimming in diacetyl...
  4. V

    24#'s of Grain and 10 Gallon Rubbermaid Mashtun

    24 lbs. of grain should fit in 10 gallons. You might need to lower your mash thickness a bit, but it should work. I've fit 36 lbs. of grain into my 15-gallon mash tun, and that's the same ratio. (I've also got around 2 gallons of dead space below my false bottom.) Chris Colby Editor...
  5. V

    Tips on brewing imperial beers

    The exact number depends on a few things, especially the pH of the final runnings of your wort. Around 0.5 gallons of wort per pound of grain is what I'd consider the minimum amount of wort to collect and get a reasonable extract efficiency. My average is around 0.65 gallons per pound when I...
  6. V

    Tips on brewing imperial beers

    There's your problem. You had 17 pounds of grain and you only collected 7 gallons of wort. With 17 pounds of grain, you could collect at least 8.5 gallons of wort — with 10 gallons being a more reasonable volume. You left a ton of sugars behind in the grain bed. Of course, collecting more wort...
  7. V

    Anyone know of any traditional scandinavian recipes

    The Jester King Brewery in Austin makes a Gotlandsdricka. Here's a clone recipe for that: http://beerandwinejournal.com/gotlandsdricka-clone/ I have a .pdf of the book "Brewing and Beer Traditions in Norway," by Odd Nordland (1969), but it doesn't list any recipes. I may try to come up...
  8. V

    2.5 gallon All-Grain Brewing??? Anyone?

    You can easily do 2.5-gallon to 3-gallon all-grain batches with a 5-gallon cooler as a mash tun. In fact, for moderate-gravity beers, you can use a 3-gallon cooler. In general, for every gallon of space you have in your mash tun, you can easily mash 2 lbs. of grain. (This depends on your mash...
  9. V

    People talk about "caramelizing" during a boil, is this even possible?

    Wort boils at around 215 °F or 103 °C (due to the boiling point elevation from the dissolved solids). The exact temperature depends on the gravity of your wort and barometric pressure. Caramelization does not happen in the "open" wort, because the temperatures required for it aren't reached. It...
  10. V

    Tips on brewing imperial beers

    How much wort are you collecting per pound of grain? Are you collecting the same amount as you would for a moderate-gravity beer? If so (and you're far from alone in doing this), you're leaving wort sugars behind in your mash tun. If that's the case, collecting more wort and boiling it longer...
  11. V

    When to check mash pH?

    It takes a little while (at least a few minutes) for the starch from the grains to dissolve, and it takes time for the enzymes to convert this starch to sugar. Also, some minerals have a quicker effect on mash pH than others. As such, your mash changes with time and the pH may change from the...
  12. V

    Imperial stout isn't very roasty

    Did you adjust your brewing liquor for a dark beer and take the pH of your mash and post-boil wort? Dark grains are acidic and if your beer ends up too acidic, it masks the flavors of roast grains somewhat. Chris Colby Editor beerandwinejournal.com
  13. V

    Beer turned purple after adding blueberries

    The color of blueberries is conferred by molecules called anthocyanins. These molecules change color with pH. If your beer turned purple, it means the pH is somewhere in the neighborhood of 4.5-5.0 (maybe slightly high, but not so much as to be worrisome). Pretty cool, if you ask me...
  14. V

    can malt extract vs dry powder malt extract

    You can make beer using malt extract as your only source of fermentables, but I recommend making a small partial mash when you brew extract beers. This will add some malt aroma to your beer, especially the aroma of base malt. Most extract recipes call for some specialty grains to be steeped to...
  15. V

    Water Amount

    When making extract brews, you want to boil as much volume as you can, up to boiling the full wort. (In other words, starting with a pre-boil volume larger than your batch size and boiling the wort down to your batch size.) If you have a small brewpot, one thing you can do is keep a second pot...
  16. V

    can malt extract vs dry powder malt extract

    Both liquid malt extract and dried malt extract are made from wort (unfermented beer), which is made from mashing grains. Liquid malt extract is made by evaporating the water at low pressure and fairly low temperature until it is a thick syrup. (Brewery grade) dried malt extract is made by...
  17. V

    All grain beer coming out too dark?

    Do you see any scorching on the bottom of your kettle? Sometimes the heat from a burner can gets focused on one spot and scorch the wort. Chris Colby Editor beerandwinejournal.com
  18. V

    Help with All Grain

    A grainy taste is how some people describe a small amount of astringency in their beer. It is possible that you sparged too much (collecting too much wort from your grain bed) or that your grain bed temperature rose above 170 °F (77 °C) near the end of sparging. (Check your thermometer and...
  19. V

    Fastest beer grain to glass?

    Running a good fermentation helps scrub the green flavors from beer quickly. If you're looking to get a batch fermented and conditioned quickly, pitch either the optimal amount of yeast or slightly over this. In addition, don't separate the beer from the yeast the instant that fermentation is...
  20. V

    Ipa recipe advice

    Overall, the recipe looks good. I would get rid of the CaraPils, though. American IPAs should be dry enough to let the hops shine through and CaraPils is going to work in the opposite direction (add body). Vienna malt is similar to Munich malt (a malt with a rich, malty flavor), only less...
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