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I’ve got a quad fermenting now with 530 and I’ve had success on a previous batch with just Fermaid K. My OG last time was much lower but this time is 1.085 and 530 is still going strong (presently at 1.016). Personally I’m impatient and I’d probably have done a starter if I’d had my act...

Yeah, as an Alabama brewer I have a glycol unit, but you can get much cheaper with a freezer or small fridge hooked to a temperature controller. At something like $150-$300 it’ll probably cost you less than turning your thermostat down every time you’re trying to ferment a batch.

Is it possible you’re smelling the (to me) unpleasant odor of the star san you left behind in the fermenter? I don’t know Phosphoric acid has a smell as it breaks down but I don’t love the smell of my bottles, growlers, and fermenters when I’ve left a little behind. Still… it doesn’t hurt...

I love/hate this advice. I’m in the “buy once/cry once” camp generally with hobbies, so I hated that all the new brewer kits are limited volume, extract focused. That’s what I’d gotten for Christmas and it frustrates me that nearly 100% of new brewers are oriented on this experience. But now...

That was my first brew. Ended up good enough that I immediately knew I’d found a hobby.

Seconded to this. Lots of folks out there who tried the hobby during COVID and are running for the doors now that they can go back to their local watering hole. Or just folks who tried it, bought the gear, and decided that it wasn’t a long term fascination for them. Or folks who love it, but...

12 x 5 gallon batches this year (not counting a couple hop waters). 2x Coconut Porter PB Stout Amber Honey wheat Premium American Lager Brut IPA Festbier Ordinary Bitter Black IPA British Brown Ale NZ Pils Also just realizing that the coconut porters were my first and last brews of 2022. Funny...

In my brut, my only “bittering” is 28g Nelson Sauvin (10.7% AA) at between 15 and 3 min. I add most of my hops in a hopstand under 168F (75C) and then dry hops. My wife doesn’t like a very bitter IPA and I get mostly the citrusy, fruity notes from my hops (Nelson, hellartau blanc, azacca, Idaho...

Have you thought of a lactose addition to increase body?

That checks out, I don’t know what the thresholds are, but probably alpha acids don’t fully isomerize at mash temps.

That would only be for the vegetal material, not for components that are soluble like iso-alpha acids

I just did a charity event yesterday where we brought growlers and shared them with donors. My quad was very popular and I had fun explaining that, it just being representative of the style, there are lots of delicious commercial versions out there. Though I pointed them in the direction of the...

I brew on a Unibrau 10G and I brew just about at any time I can make it work. Also having a young kiddo and a wife who’s a doctor amidst a pandemic makes me very sympathetic to OP. I’ve been able to brew in the mornings on a few of the days where I have a work holiday but kiddo goes to daycare...

As long as you don’t have to leave in the middle of a brew day you can manage. You need a 2-6 hr chunk (depending on your eventual setup) when you’re guaranteed to be around. The rest can be managed with automation and most beer is happy to sit in a primary or secondary fermentation vessel...

Oooh yeah, and 5.5 gal Brut IPA, so… 8381.25 + 5.5 = 8386.75

5.5 gal Blonde 8375.75 + 5.5 = 8381.25

Just finished fermentation on a Belgian Dark Strong with WLP 530. I set the temp to 68 for a few days and it straight stalled until I let temps rise to the 70s. I use a tilt to monitor activity, so I got to see it all play out. It picked right back up and I hit my attenuation target, but the...

I’m honestly still playing with my hop profile to nail down just what I’m looking for. I like my piney hops, but the beer is my wife’s favorite and she prefers the fruitier ones. Next iteration will be Nelson Sauvin for bittering, Azacca, Mosaic, and Idaho (#7 or Gem, haven’t decided) in the...

6.5 gal Belgian Quad 7083.5+6.5= 7090

I’ll offer that the consideration to eventually go electric (if you’re thinking along those lines) should drive your eventual kettle purchase. Agreed that especially given budget constraints you don’t have to go there now. I’ve seen other people suggest an induction cooktop like the one here...