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I just received the tapcooler from northern brewer and paid additional for the PRV drain tube. The right angle fitting OD is bigger than the relief valve ID and won’t even go into the relief valve! I’ve reached out to NB on this and getting no response. Glad to hear the drain tube isn’t really...

You could do that but I don’t feel it’s necessary as long as you close the PRV as soon as pressure equalizes. The PRV valve is a small orfice. Unless there is positive air pressure outside the keg a minuscule amount of ambient air will enter that orfice, if any, if you release the valve as soon...

Yes, this again. My empirical evidence having done transfers this way for years with IPAs and NEIPAs where after 6+ months after kegging I’ve had zero changes to the characteristics of the beer that would be attributed to O2 exposure suggest the risk is very low. Additionally, if you approach...

Since there’s a CO2 blanket from fermentation already in the fermenter the exposure to air (which is still 79% N2) is negligible IMO. This is how I have done my transfers for years (bleeding off pressure through PRV). I’ve had NEIPAs that are just as juicy and still a pale straw color six months...

Star San is not a cleaner, it’s a sanitizer. Anything that will be place in the boil doesn’t need sanitizing ahead of time. Anything touching the wort once it drops below 180°F does.

Dry Irish stouts (Guinness clones) are low ABV beers (4%) and don’t need to age like big ABV stouts before they’re at their prime. While they’re still good even after a year, assuming you did a zero O2 transfer, you don’t have to wait months to enjoy them :-).

You don’t list any roasted barley in the grist. The Black (Patent) barley is too much of the grist and most likely where the acrid burnt taste is coming from. The black patent barley is in the grist purely for color. My dry Irish stout (Guinness clone) recipe uses 67% MO, 25% flaked barely, 4%...

Check the owners manual for the kegerator on ambient temps (both cold and hot) the unit is rated for. I’d be more concerned of the compressor freezing up. This is a short duration polar event so wrapping in a blanket or putting a 60W incandescent light near the compressor may be sufficient...

Starsan will kill most bacteria but not necessarily yeast. Another misconception is there is no such thing as truly sterile. Bacteria exist in the vacuum of space.

Good point. High mash temps reduce the short chain carbs that the yeast can consume while still hitting OG.

So mash and boil process are working fine. Issue is the yeast isn’t fully attenuating or maybe it is for the strain you’re using. How old is the yeast? Is it liquid or dry yeast. If liquid are you making a starter? If dry are you rehydrating?

Are you hitting your OG into the fermenter? If so, a high FG isn’t a function of your Anvil but is due to fermentation issues.

I do 2.5G batches and using a refractometer waste far less wort than the hydrometer. I’ve checked my refractometer against my hydrometer at end of boil and it is spot on. You do need to give the couple of drops on the refractometer about 30s to approach room temp. When measuring for FG be sure...

O2 will darken the final product. Try to do a low/no oxygen transfer from fermenter to packaging.

I’ve tried souring beer and adding to the batch with no success. I now put acidulated malt at 1.5% of the grist into the mash to get the Guinness twang. Works perfectly :-).

There are a lot of mentions of Brewhouse Efficiency in this thread but no mention if their BHE is measured “into fermenter” or “into packaging”. BHE can be measured at both end points with entirely different results due to trub loss and/or over production of wort beyond packaging capacity (if...

Are you defining brewhouse efficiency as efficiency into the fermenter or efficiency into packaging? Regardless, that high of a BH efficiency indicates very little liquid loss due to grain absorption and hops absorption and very little trub loss with you process. Good for you! For my NEIPAs I...

Mash hot like in the low to mid 160s. This will leave more long chain carbs that the yeast struggle to metabolize. You’ll get a fuller bodied beer that’s not sweet. You will loose some final gravity points as a result which means a lower ABV beer. I just did a NEIPA fermented with Hornindal at...

I use both Voss and Hornindal in my session IPAs with no loss of body. I seriously under pitch. For 3G fermenter I pitch 5ml of slurry. My latest batch that I just kegged I was aiming for a low ABV pale ale using Hornindal. My target ABV by recipe was 3.9. I purposefully mashed high (160F) to...

I do the same. I also put a couple of drops of defoam in the fermenter which reduces the size of the krausen with very active yeast like Kveiks fermented hot.