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Hi. New to posting on this thread, but read through it a few times. Purchased my AF 10.5 recently. Just finished my second batch. 1st batch was at a measly 45% mash efficiency. A large part of this was due to the fact that I used the recommended water volumes for 120v no-sparge batches, and...

I thought about using some caulk or something on the space there, but wasn't sure. Sandwhich bags is an interesting idea. Hadn't considered that one.

Putting together a mash tun using an old 5 gal cooler. I got the necessary hardware (Dernord 1/2 inch stainless ball valve system) and attached the new spigot. Maybe it's just my cooler, but there's enough insulation that the 1/2" hex nipple doesn't quite have enough space on both sides for the...

This is a bit late to the party, but I've tried 34/70 at 67 (ambient house temp) and it worked great. Currently trying it at the same temp with a rice lager recipe and I'm getting way more sulfur/egg smells than normal. We'll see how it cleans up.

Just an update: gelatin took some time, but worked great. Looks and tastes more like a cider Or spritzer now.

I used US-O4 for this particular batch. Gelatin didn't clarify hardly at all - probably the milkiness of the ginger is to blame for that.

Tried a couple different versions of a ginger beer. My most recent 5 gal recipe: Steep 2 Lb. Ginger in 2.5 gal water at 150 F for 30 min. Bring to boil. Add 3 Lb. Sugar and 1 Lb Honey Boil for 15 Fill with cooling water to 5 gal Ferment 1 Week SG 1.030 (wanted a session beer) FG 1.000 I back...

Checking in after a few weeks: Still can't know for sure what the SG was, but carbonation and waiting helped the mouth feel a lot. Feels much more full bodied now. Had a few others try it out and they seemed to agree.

I hadn't thought about stratification between the wort and extra water. That could definitely be it - we've done extracts like this tons of times and never had an issue. I'll let it age a bit for the mouthfeel. Those I asked to test it I did preface by saying it felt thin. My fault for nudging...

Made a whiskey stout from a Brewer's Best extract kit. Followed the instructions to the letter, and our SG was 1.040 instead of the 1.065 the kit projected. My buddy and I have no idea why. Our fermenter was even under the 5 gallon mark by about 1/4 gallon, so we didn't overfill or anything. FG...

This is great info. Thanks.

I looked through a few old forum posts, but there wasn't much info on this, so I thought I'd ask again: I want to bourbon barrel age a stout, but they're a bit expensive and impractical for me to try right now. I've also wanted to add coffee beans to a stout. Thought I'd kill two birds. I have...

Ok. I knew chilling it would slow it down (as I was worried about over carbing), but didn't think about the simple sugars fermenting out completely - I checked gravity two days in a row and it seemed stable. Must have been off. Thanks for the help. In the future, I'm hoping to get a keg so that...

It was controlled at 70*. That’s what I thought. Not sure why.

Did a ginger beer recently - finished a little dryer than I wanted (1.012). Not a big deal. Bottled it (3 oz. Priming sugar mix to 3 gal batch), and I was worried that it was going to over carbonate and become a bottle bomb, so I burped the bottles a few times (they were reusable bottles), and...

I was literally about to start this thread - glad I found it. My dad did a batch where he made espresso and added that to the brew in primary. He said it was ok, but not amazing. What difference does adding beans to the end of fermentation vs. beginning of fermentation do? If I were to add 6...

Fair about the milk. I meant lower abv drinks with the carb question. Also, if I kill off the yeast, will that negatively affect the clarifying of the mead? I’ve heard yeast affect clarity as you age it.

Thought about that, but wasn't sure if it would affect flavor at all. Would a keg be the best way to carbonate then? Trying to control it a bit without investing a ton in new equipment.

Follow up question, then. What if I want to carbonate, like with a ginger beer? How do I make sure it carbonates a little bit, but not so much to be dangerous?

Gotcha. Didn't realize they worked together. I'll try that.