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I use both Brewer's Friend and BeerSmith, and I can tell you that water calculations have become a dark art for me, one that I have not mastered. I brewed my 3rd BIAB yesterday, another attempt at a Double IPA, started with 9.25 gallons, grain bill of 16.75 lbs. I mashed for 75 minutes at...

indeed, I used two packages of US-05....and for my next batch, I have two vials of WLP007 and I also have some calcium...game on!

only now planning my 3rd BIAB batch, but I agree with all the comments. I've been at 70% or better mash efficiency my first two batches. and yes, also learned that most of the volume calculators need tweaking based on your actual experience. My second batch ended up at 63%...

interesting...this is helpful, as I am about to move my second batch (major IPA) to secondary and dry hop. I'll see what I get in the secondary and then careful handling to the keg next weekend. I laughed when I saw the Zombie Dust reference...I picked up a bottle last week at a store where...

so I have heard of this, and honestly, didn't even realize it was gelatin like you could buy at a grocery store.... Where are you on the "impacts hops flavor" scale with gelatin?

thanks for the advice, I'll leave it cold and see how it goes!

I vote for #3...go for all the BTU you can afford. I got my blichmann for Christmas and I can tell you, I had no idea the amount of time I was wasting with my turkey burner. Now that I'm at full boils for BIAB, with a 16 gallon kettle, I can get to strike temps in 15 minutes on a 9 gallon...

Just kegged my first AG (BIAB single vessel) batch of pale ale. It was a SMaSH and I thought it was doing awesome after 3 weeks in the fermenter. Clear, nice simple hops flavor. I left it on for another week (got busy) and then finally kegged at a little over 4 weeks. OG was around...

The question is: why? Was the OG low? It will be different, but I'm learning that understanding the "why" as well as the "what" is very important.

Get the bigger kettle. I have a 16 gallon bayou classic (Amazon) and don't regret it for a second. I have nearly boiled over with a 17lb grain bill. Just remember, you don't start with 5 or 6 gal of water, you start with somewhere between 8.5 and 9.5 gallons of water depending on absorption...

And finally, If you really think you under pitched, pitch again ASAP. You really can't over-pitch.

Check your seal, I've had problems with a slightly loose seal that caused the same problem. Otherwise, boost the temps and wait a little longer.

+1 on the mash out and sparge comment. I agree completely. It has helped me hit 70% on my first two BIAB batches.

I've always interpreted "points" like this: the difference between 1.055 and 1.056 as "one point of difference" yes? no?

quick question: did you use pale ale malt or pale malt, they have different SRM values. I just typed your recipe into beersmith for a quick look. It looks to me that if you expected 60%, you probably needed another pound or two of grain to hit your numbers. I go back and forth between...

Correct, you need heat only if you are using it for a fermenter as well. Some people have dual purpose keezers. Mine will be dual purpose, a fermentation chamber most of the time (what it is now). When I add a few taps to "keezer-ize" it, I can roll it out for a party on the patio when needed.

That is a beautiful job on the Keezer., and congrats on the newborn, have you thought about just going commercial with slim kegs, ie 1\6 and 1\4 kegs? Either way, good luck with everything!

update: after 5 weeks in the keg it turned out OK, not great, but better than I thought It would be......still pretty "estery" to my taste, but carbonation and getting it chilled helped take the bite out of the esters. I'm pretty sure it was my early high-ish fermentation temps. I've moved...

Not a dumb question, a good question. These STC 1000 controllers come pretty cheap from China, but original firmware displays temps in Celcius. So industrious people figured out how to access the firmware, modify it to at a minimum show farenheit (and now much more) and then reprogram ("flash")...

love the hood ornaments...a beer shrine in the making! That full-on U is going to be awesome. I couldn't access the link to your cooling solution, but anything with a fan and a hose to direct the air up the tower and get it circulating should work. I'd probably build something like this but...