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It may make it more sour, but not likely to make it much more sour. Could end up very nice with a slightly lower PH. Brett is short for brettanomyces, a wild yeast that is often used in long aged sour beers. It can produce funky flavors and attenuates very slowly

Sounds like you’ve got pediococcus my good sir! Pedio is a lactic acid producing bacteria that often produces long chain diglycerides or something like that that makes your drink slimy and goopy. I know that in sour beers it’s somewhat common, and then it goes away and you’re left with a fine...

You may be aware of this but smaller barrels (5 gallons) have a much much larger surface to volume ratio than say a 30 gallon or 60 gallon full size barrel. This leads to much faster/stronger oak flavor extraction and oxidation. If it’s working well and you’re getting good beer out of it keep it...

Interesting. Do you control the flowrate of your wort or the flowrate of the chilling water at all? That amount of water sounds like slightly more than what i generally use to chill a 5 to 7 gallon batch. I imagined i would end up controlling the flowrate of the chilling water to the minimum...

I would like to remain in these simpler times, that’s why I’m trying to avoid owning a pump. But shiny new gear is too tempting haha

You’re one of the cases that makes me think I’d be very happy with a gravity fed CFC, off the top of your head roughly how long is it taking you to transfer to fermenter in one pass? I generally cool to 80F as I brew mostly in the summer in aus (southern Victoria, a cooler region of aus, but...

I meant more the efficiency and time involved. Some people seem to have success without a pump and others not so much. In my head it should work well and be very possible, but that’s only in my head hah. But few have more success with as much ease and simplicity than a high end immersion chiller...

I've looked at the hydra chiller a lot! If i dont end up getting the CFC (looking like i may not because it sounds like a pain trying to use one with just gravity) I think I'll end up getting one of those. They sure do look slick.

7 gallon batches chilled in 5 mins huh! interesting. Maybe I'll have to spring for the CFC. I'm pretty against a plate chiller and also a pump, I'll stick with an immersion chiller before I purchase either of those. I think I'd be happy if I could get close to those results with a CFC. I do BIAB...

Hello all, How many of you are able to use a CFC to chill wort to pitching temps in one pass without a pump? I’ve long considered upgrading my chiller as I live in aus and always try to make chilling as water efficient as possible. I have a pretty simple copper immersion chiller that has...

Did you pressurize your keg right after you pitched your yeast? If I ever do a true pressure ferment I transfer wort to keg, pitch yeast, pressurize from my CO2 tank to the desired pressure, set spunding valve and let it go. If you transferred to the keg and pitched the yeast without...

A brew bag will definitely help there and I've thought about it, but I brew outside and can't set up a pully on a ceiling. I am able to hoist a brew basket up about 12 inches and (with the right hardware) latch it to the edge of the pot to let it drain. Plus, I like shiny new equipment and I've...

Interesting! you use a brew bag not a basket? You brew full 10 gallon batches with this method? I've been meaning to try a larger grain bill and then sparging. Next time I brew big I will

I'm in the middle of deciding between a 15 gallon or a 20 gallon custom Spike kettle and a custom Utah BioD basket, and it got me thinking about the parameters of my brewing. The question: What are your kettle sizes and what's been your biggest batch you've made in regards to either gravity or...

Taken on board, thanks for the reply. But that cleaning regimen sounds somewhat intensive compared to mine. I just save a bit of hot water from chilling, wipe down the pot with a rag and rinse with hosewater. The 3 piece ball valve takes a bit longer but I don't do that every brewday. Everything...

Hmm, once I go electric, I will have a spare burner more than capable of boiling on the side.. Hadn't thought of this. I was even thinking of simply heating and stirring during mash to get to the next step. I too am very into the simple and streamlined system. Less ports means less cleaning and...

That's what I'm sort of thinking, but I don't know if I'll ever want to move to a pump. Step mashing is intriguing, but using a pump, and cleaning it and dealing with grain crush to promote recirculation, all sounds real lame. I'm pretty on the fence about it. I'm leaning towards not getting the...

I’m going to buy a new Spike+ 15 kettle, a basket from UtahBiodiesel, and a 5500 watt element. I’ll control the element with a simple rheostat power dial, and an on off switch. I'm trying to decide if I'll ever want to incorporate a PID controller and a recirc pump for step mash temp control...