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I stand corrected and am always happy to learn.

Yes it does. If you're adding salts to your HLT you'll want to calculate for the entire volume of water in the HLT, not the volume you plan to use for the sparge. **edit** sorry for the misinformation. I've been doing it wrong all along. add the salts to the boil kettle

I completed my setup last winter and I'm very pleased with it. I heat up my strike water in the HLT which then gravity feeds into the MLT. Once I dough in I leave the pump constantly circulating the wort. I ended up getting a digital Johnson Controls temperature controller. It cycles the deep...

Just out of curiosity, why are you bonding the collar to the lid? That seems silly and more complicated. Why don't you make a collar that sits on the freezer, and hinge the lid on the collar? Then you're not lifting the entire collar, faucets and all, every time you open the lid, adding...

Sorry, I know we're getting off topic here, but I don't go to Bell's HBS anymore either, unless it's for some small incidental thing I need quick. For me it's worth the time and extra gas to drive up to Siciliano's in Grand Rapids. They have easily 20 times the stuff and the staff is much more...

Yes the probe will be in the return immediately before the MLT. It took over an hour to heat 55F water to 170F. However, this was only for a test. I was never planning on this heating my strike water, maybe just dialing it in if I'm off by a couple degrees. Also, somebody asked about the...

I'm in the process of building a HERMS using a small electric deep fryer and putting a copper coil in that for my heat exchanger. I like the idea of using cooking oil because it heats so much more efficiently than water. The pump will run constantly and a Ranco ETC will measure the wort...

I'd stick with the standard 3/4 cup corn sugar. I keg my beer but my friend bottled his and used the standard amount of corn sugar and it's fine.

OK, I bled of the carbonation of a sour batch of graff I have kegged and am now re-carbonating. I tasted it and it's already made a big difference. I'm going to try it again in a few days to see if it will improve even more. It's already gone from barely palatable to enjoyable. On a side...

Wow, that's a great idea! I'm going to try that. Thanks!

I couldn't agree more with letting it age.

The most sour batch of this I made was with fresh juice; I bought it at the mill that pressed it. I doubt yours is sour because of the added vitamin C. It's most likely because of sulphur. Next time you make some, try adding yeast nutrient. It's helped mine a lot.

I've got 15 gallons in my basement almost ready to keg. Such an easy and fast recipe. I'll probably be making much more. 759

It's probably just off-gassing a little and nothing to worry about. Take a hydrometer reading now and again in a few days to see if the SG is still dropping. It can be very difficult to gauge fermentation by watching your airlock.

I don't hydrate Safale US-05 anymore either. It's just one more step that could possibly introduce an infection. It's always worked great so far.

I used fresh pressed juice, no preservatives and unpasteurized. Most of the orchards around where I live have a homebrewer's discount. I used half a tablet of campden per gallon of juice, so 2 tablets total, to kill off the wild yeast and bacteria. A lot of people are using fresh pressed...

Mine was very dark too. No worries though, it'll be much lighter in your glass when you finally get to enjoy it.

If you want the torrified wheat to do anything other than contribute haze, yes. I left the torrified what out and used cara pils.

Thanks for calming me down. I've never made any kind of cider before.

OK I'm a little worried here. My graff has been fermenting for about two and a half weeks. The SG is down to 1.008 but it tastes really sour. I used fresh pressed cider and added campden to kill the natural yeast and bacteria, I did that the day before I added the wort. Do you thing I have...