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+1 for what TNGabe said....that being said, if you want to understand how to nail your expected target gravity nearly every time, (with a bit of practice/knowledge of your system) read "Designing Great Beers". Once you have basic brewing mechanics down, this is THE book to understand how to...

My understanding is that it is not good to over-mill your grain. I've always just run it through the mill one time, and get 80% efficiency if I'm doing a 6-gallon batch, and over 85% if I'm doing 15 gallons or more. The efficiency goes up on my system with larger batches, for some reason...I...

Swapped from ProMash to BeerSmith this year - like going from a...a thing that's barely mediocre to another thing that's really, really good. :-) The Cloud thing with ingredients and recipes is great, scaling tools. Highly recommend BeerSmith

BierMuncher posted a great thread titled "we no need no stinking beer gun". I used his method - worked great, and is much easier/quicker than it might sound at first. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/we-no-need-no-stinking-beer-gun-24678/

What I've been doing is ensuring I have a "vigorous boil" and then try to accurately measure volume levels in the boil kettle. What you get is what you get - the point is to know what your system does, then just formulate your recipe's so you end up close to the quantity you want.

Just wanted to weigh in w/two things. The "dry yeast don't need starters" is something I've seen stated by many experts/authors who site yeast-geeks with impressive letters after their name, etc. ;-) Check the Mr. Malty site about yeast starters, or read Gordon Strong's "Brewing better beer"...

Hi mmarty1, no need to worry about boiling liquid, unless you just like to see that 212F. :-) However, I've read a few good books and some seemingly knowledgeable people on this forum state that a "roiling boil" is better than "barely boiling". disclaimer: On my electric brew system, I do have a...

That depth looks iffy. All the panels I've seen (mine, three friends, several on line) have stuff mounted on the back and the lid. Perhaps select the specific switches, contactors, etc you intend to use, then you'll have a better idea. My panel is the most simplified control panel I've seen, and...

BS? What can I say, I'm a consultant! :) But yea, what you're saying makes sense - I just heard that from a couple of sources here that seemed knowledgeable. The one time I did BIAB I got good efficiency without having to squeeze...then went crazy, built a 25-gallon electric system and never...

I continuously circulate the wort in my mash tun during the mash, even tho I use an electric-heated HLT/HERMS system, still like to ensure consistent mash temps throughout the grain bed. The new march pumps from MoreBeer rock. Buddy had the older style, and it is amazing how much better the new...

Congrats on the nice efficiency! I just did some research for a friend on this very topic. Here's what I came up with for top things to do to maximize your efficiency. - Ensure the crush is good (always the #1 item listed to improve mash efficiency) Slow down the sparge (fly) or do longer...

Not squeezing the grain bag, true? I hear that squeezing the bag can release tannins that cause an unpleasant bitterness

Looks like a good start. If you want to net five gallons, might add .5 to 1lb DME, looks like gravity might be a bit low with 4lbs. Also, IBU's of 69 is off the chart for the style, but if you want more of an IPA than a Pale Ale your OK. You don't mention when you intend to add your hop...

Another technique is to not use a stopper. My LHBS sells these orange rubber "caps" that slip over the outer lip, instead of relying on friction to hold them to the inner surface. They work well for me.

Some city water supplies use Chloramine instead of chlorine. Chlorine evaporates by simply leaving it sit in open air. With chloramines, like my buddy in St. Pete has, we draw the water the night before, add Campden tablets. This converts the chloramine to chlorine, so it then evaporates.

+1 for what Theis said. My calculator gives me this: 5.5 lbs of DME, gives me 1.040 with 6 gallons of water According to BeerSmith software, to get 1.080, you'd need ~11lbs DME!! I like to take a gravity reading before the boil, and BEFORE you add additional water to the boil. I suggest not...

Aye, it is a rehash, but worth repeating/getting the word out, eh? I happen to be (re)reading the book now, as there is so much good info in it. Probably "Designing Great Beers" and Gordan's "Brewing Better Beer" have done as much to improve my brewing as all the great input I've gotten here on...

+1 on that. lately, I've been mashing at ~150 to get a crisper, dryer beer, but still have plenty of body, but I've been doing RyePA's, Saison's, etc that either need to be dryer, or have so much other stuff going on. I have a recipe I call "Dirty Blonde w/Perles" that has less crystal/caramel...

looks like you and your yeast have done a good job. The yeast have converted the sugars to alcohol. You've gone all the way from 1.052 to 1.014, nice. Most beers will get down to between 1.010 and 1.016. Big beers might be significantly higher FG, a Saison might need to get a little lower, but...

sounds like a good, typical fermentation. Two methods I've used successfully: - lazy method. let it sit in primary for 2 weeks, crank it down to ~36F for 1 week, keg it. - curious method. Take one sample per day. If you get the same reading 3 days in a row, your fermentation on an ale is done...