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Any thoughts?

Sorry I didn't update this. I've been bunging the fermentor for a while now and it has been working well. Although the fermentor isn't pressure rated it doesn't seem to suffer from the vacuum created inside. The only issue is that to drain the fermentor into the keg I need to crack the seal...

I currently keg my beer but always brew extra which I bottle for my father in law to keep in his good books (and because he lets us live in his house rent free). I've just bought a couple of 5L mini-keg growler type things with a plan to set him up with the kind of set up in this link. I've...

@eric19312 How did things work out when you bunged your fermentor? I'm about to start cold crashing and I'm trying to decide between bunging and seeing if I can attach some kind of co2 filled container.

Did you use chlorinated tap water?

You need to add potassium sorbate, then wait a day and back sweeten. PS stops yeast reproducing and fermenting. You can them force carbonate without fear that it will restart in the bottles

London tap water will be too alkaline to get into the correct mash pH. Diluting tap water with Tesco Ashbeck or Asda mineral water (both from same source) is one option. I use my water undiluted but add phosphoric acid to reduce the alkalinity. For 38L of total water I add about 14ml of 70%...

I'd be very interested to know how this turns out. Are you using a stainless steel Spiedel fermentor or one of the PET options? I only ever control the air temperature in the fridge and usually chill in a couple of steps, so it probably takes 24 hours or more for the beer to reach cold crash...

I did think about using a bladder or balloon but I'm not sure there would be space in my fermentation chamber. I use an under counter fridge and the fermentor takes a significant amount of space. I might be able to squeeze something in the space above the fermentor. It's not pressure rated...

Wasn't sure whether to add this to the equipment forum or fermentation/yeast but I guess it's primarily about my equipment so hopefully that's OK. After reading this article I've become concerned about the potential for oxygen pick up during cold crashing and wanted to get people's opinion's on...

What's your mashing and sparging method? Stuck mashes seem to be more of a problem in fly sparge systems than batch sparge and more of a problem in batch sparge systems than brew in a bag/mash in a bag. If you're using a bag the You should be fine without. If you are fly or batch sparging I'm...

I am for 5.2-5.3 for pale ales and slightly higher for dark beers. I always take the reading at room temperature

Thanks Martin. I find the Bru'n'Water spreadsheet an invaluable tool and I'd like to nail this down. Can acids lose strength over time? The bottle of phosphoric acid is about 3 years old now. I thought they were probably quite stable but that was just an assumption. I'll check out the...

Different markets I guess. It's available in 75% strength in the UK http://www.thehomebrewcompany.co.uk/phosphoric-acid-75-250-ml-406-g-p-2852.html

I use London tap water for brewing and have always had good success with this. I had a full water report done a while ago and regularly check the alkalinity and calcium hardness values before brewing. I use Bru'n'Water to adjust my water using 75% phosphoric acid and usually calcium sulphate...

I've found a number of references to brewing with unmalted barely in the scientific literature. There are a number of reasons that commercial breweries might want to do it. Cost, water and energy saving being the principal ones. This one compares various proportions of raw barley, rice and...

Any thoughts?

My understanding is that the reason the wort used in slants should be boiled in a pressure cooker under 15PSI of pressure is to raise the temperature high enough to kill botulinum spores. I've only made a couple of batches of slats so far and as I don't have a pressure cooker I've just boiled...

I have a small collection of yeast cultures that I keep on slants. Some of them are getting on for 6 months old and I'd like to restreak them onto fresh slants to keep the strain going. Is it fine to just transfer and streak directly from the old slant onto a new one? Will the viability of...

This is the pizza tray I got https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0001IX3NC/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20. There are lots of holes and I don't think it will impede the flow.