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With hindsight being 20/20, here's what I'd buy if I was getting into the hobby without any equipment and trying to spend minimally: To make wort: This thing ($300) -a plain old immersion chiller of appropriate size to use with that thing ($75) -whatever grains/hops you need. Get your local...

Ok, interesting find. I'll have to do my homework to get an offset value to use. Thanks all.

I use an aquarium pump (so atmospheric air) through a sanitary filter, so over-oxygenation isn't a problem. I use a picobrew zymatic on a stepped mash - mash in at 102, then 152 for 30, then 154 for 60. It's their "built in" high efficiency schedule. All gain mash. I control for water salts...

So here's the deal: for reasons unknown, I've been unable to ferment beer beyond a 1.025-ish final gravity lately. -tried stir starters, they're still crapping out early -tried using fresh liquid yeast, STILL struggling -oxygenating wort via an aquarium pump through a sanitary filter and a 0.5...

I'm...not exactly enthused, knowing now that I need to check the advanced editor for every recipe. I used to be a software test engineer and this kinda stuff is pretty basic to QA for. On the other hand, The Zymatic is still better than doing everything manually.

Anyone got a list of Zymatic tips & tricks?

Also happened to me, once. Now I know to make sure my seals are tight. Even with that batch it was still less work and cleaning than the usual :)

Question: -whirlpool hopping below the evaporation temperature of the volatile oils in hops theoretically just acts like steeping tea at a hot temperature. -dry hopping before fermentation's complete, theoretically, acts exactly the same, albeit at a lower temperature with less agitation but...

Okidokie. I'll have to go and re-tune the gap in my grain mill. I'm not a fan of my mill - even when I set the gap, it doesn't really hold properly on one side. Plus it uses metric #6 bolts so I have to borrow tiny little metric wrenches from my neighbor :/

I don't have a bin of appropriate size to dump into, so I end up using a scoop and doing it real slowly. I think that restaurant bus-boy bin idea has some merit for dumping the grains more quickly. Would be handy to have as a brew-day tray and starsan sanitation area too. Quick question to...

I'm wondering how feasible it would be to put a nylon paint strainer bag / "brew in a bag" bag into the step filter. Cheaper than stainless and I bet it'd work as a quick way to remove the grains at the end of brew day.

Normal, ignore it. Use a level to make sure your picobrew's sitting level - it'll slowly drain a bit more over time but don't expect 100%. Not necessarily a problem. Check your crush size. Again, normal/expected. You can manually skip through steps in a recipe on the zymatic itself...

Hardiness against both physical & chemical stress. The step filter material can't stand up to PBW for example. I've heard that Picobrew drop shipping customers replacement step filter free of charge after they wear out is a thing that happens. To be honest, the only thing my picobrew needs...

I'd say it's definitely your mill quality then. My OG's have been so accurate they're almost spooky. Except that one time I milled way too fine and stuck mashed.

Neat emergent tip for the zymatic: if you're trying to take a bigger sample from the port, for pH testing say, instead of using their syringe multiple times you can just screw the syringe on, then pull out the plunger while holding a cup underneath the tube - wort will just flow into your cup...

Do you run it that way through the whole brewing process, or do you connect/disconnect the chiller when appropriate?

I did something sort of to that effect just now. Took two quarts of mashout liquor out of my 2.75gal batch, boiled it until it became a thick treacle and was just hinting at scorching, rehydrated it back to 2 quarts, tasted, and threw it back into the boil. My wife & I both perceived the...

Soo...yeah...this did NOT work out well with DME. I put 2 ounces of DME into a pot and into the oven at 350...This is 40 minutes later. DME did NOT react like sugar. So, this method seems to work for table sugar, and lactose (but does not liquify) - but is a definite no go for DME.

I've not used water in these tests. The tablespoon of water trick is something to make it easier for stove-top caramel making as the heat isn't even in that situation. Interesting enough, with the lactose powder, 60 min at 300 wasn't enough, another 45 at 325 only succeeded in slightly...

The plain white sugar tasted like...well, plain caramelized sugar. I personally don't find it as interesting as the candi syrups with all their more varied mailard reaction products. I know there's an awesome guide to making belgian candi syrups here somewhere on HBT with pics and exact...