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Thanks for the detailed review 👍 I'm probably gonna try to a set after we get past the holiday budget stress 💸💸💸

So, a question — is there a trend with the grain bill or hops that might correspond with the bad behavior? Edit: or even water profile? I generally use RO adjusted to Bf's Balanced or Strong Balanced. I have mostly used it in darker beers with English hops — dark mild though brown ale to...

I've been thinking about giving up on S-04 — I may try it once more on the very cool end of its temperature range (I think I still have one sachet). I get flavor elements from it that I don't care for. I used to think it was me but I've had enough success with other yeasts that I'm less...

I've never used WB-06 in anything that high gravity, but I can second the report of tartness ... almost made more of a pseudo-gose when I used it. It's also STA+ ... so be sure it's really done before you try to bottle condition with it.

This is my chief argument for sticking to smaller batches. I can iterate through my 6.5-liter batches (fits a 2-gallon bucket with reasonable ullage for kräusen) quickly and try new recipes way faster and cheaper than working through sequential 5-gallon batches.

I've been reading around the various internet fora, and recipes seem to vary a fair bit — is there any consensus on dosing rate for coffee in a "session" mead (i.e., 7 - 8% range)?

My 2¢: Move to 2.5 or 3-gallon no-sparge BIAB. You can order your own bulk ingredients or buy 5-gallon kits and get 2 batches out of them (or kit-bash and make 'em your own). Even cheap bags will hold the grain for a 2.5 gallon recipe, and you probably already have the other equipment you need.

There's a whole bunch of lambic brewers in Belgium who leave their wort overnight uncovered to cool. I've done no-chill a few times with no discernable ill effects. But I do small batches (about 6.5 liters) that cool reasonably quickly.

This is a 100% personal preference question. There's no one right answer. Bottling has a lower start-up cost and is (arguably) more artisanal/rustic/historic. But it's a lot harder to nail a specific final carbonation level. Kegging has a significant upfront cost, but offers easier control of...

I don't think it's common practice, but I think you could refill after racking. You'd just have to plan for the additional dilution when you figured your starting gravity. But I would try to aim for an even multiple of 750 or 375ml for bottling ... rather than trying to keep an even gallon.

My standard batch is 6.5L (about 1¾ gallon) and I use 2 gallon food grade buckets all the time. The ones I find (at Lowe's or Home Depot) don't seal well enough to worry about exploding — the worst I've experienced is kräusen pushing the lid up and spilling a bit — but it's easy enough to drill...

Historic Porter adapted from Ron Pattinson.

Just looks like kräusen to me. 🤷‍♂️

Such different results from the same yeast ... makes one wonder if there's some interaction between lutra and certain hops or certain water chemistry or some other variable we're missing.

My layman's understand is that wine (and cider) yeasts aren't going to be as good at eating longer-chain sugars as beer yeasts. They're more adapted to juices which have predominantly simple sugars. So adding a wine yeast to wort runs the risk of a stalled fermentation before you hit your...

Thx! 😁 🍻

Trying to channel that old-school British beer label vibe for a couple of historic-recreation-inspired recipes: a porter and a stout each derived from sort of an average, amalgam of Ron Pattinson's late-1800s recipes.

You can boil for as long or as short as you want . . . as long as you account for it in your recipe. But you can't change just the boil length and expect to get the same beer.

In my experience, if you apply a light coat of matte sealant before adhering it to the bottle, it helps keep the ink from running. Most of my bottles just get a batch number on the cap, but I do labels for the ones I bring to club meetings or otherwise share.

"Can yeast make that much difference?" Whenever you find yourself asking this question, the answer is almost always Yes.