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Thanks for the feedback. I think I know what I did now. It was simple PA that shouldn't bee too acidic. I've looked at our water and it should be good for most beers except pilsners. I actually took the sample while in the mash tun. I forgot that it needed to be at room temperature. I used...

So, I have been trying to figure out an efficiency problem and have a question about pH. My local water pH is around 9.5 and when I checked my pH with an electric meter I bought, it was 4.2 in the mash. Would this lead to my efficiency problem? Would longer mash time fix this? Or, should I...

That's a good thought. Will do.

I tested my hydrometer against some distilled water and it looks to be .004 off. This still doesn't account for the drastic changes I've had but it seems to put it in the range of mild problems rather than what it at first seemed.

I did continuous sparge for about 60 min and have for years. The only things that have changed recently are the water(but I had a few batches without efficiency problems after that), my pot, and my hydrometer. I'm starting to really question the hydrometer. I guess the simplest thing is to...

Any thoughts on a refractometer? Are they more accurate? It'd be nice to just take the error of the gravity out of the equation. If they are better, they are only $25 so it would be worth it.

Well, the plot keeps getting thicker here. I checked my gravity of my tripel, which had a low SG off by about 10 pts and it's gravity now is 1.002. This actually calculates an expected alcohol %. Now that I've been searching for a cause for several beers, this has been the case every time...

Update. It's been a week and I checked the gravity, which is way low at 1.002. I have another issue I've been working out so for more on that see my "trouble figuring out low efficiency thread". Long story short I think I may have a hydrometer problem. Either way, this thing brewed down...

I've checked the temp and it is correct. I get my grains crushed at the homebrew store and I have gone to the same place all but once. I generally do a pre boil, which is also low. I haven't checked the first runoff yet, so will do that next time. I kinda feel its gotta be the water too...

OK this is going to be a long one. I've been brewing for 5-6 years now and consider myself a good brewer, but obviously no expert. I went through a phase where I didn't even check my gravities, I just had 4-5 recipes I really liked and things were always really close when I did check so I just...

Thanks for the help. I'll either bottle them or maybe I'll just buy two new kegs so that I can condition a beer here and there while keeping my rotation going.

I'm brewing my first tripel today for a friend who likes them. While I have been brewing for >5 yrs, I mostly do IPAs, wheats, browns, etc and haven't done too many belgian beers. My question is how long to condition it? I know that belgian yeasts take a bit longer for the primary...

I was thinking along those lines. It'd be nice to have a second and I can compare them against each other. I won't throw this one out just yet and I agree, tap water should be fine.

Thanks for the responses. I'm pretty sure it moved as it looks farther down to me than it used to. I'll probably just get a new one and see how that works.

I have a question about my hydrometer. So, I've noticed for a while now that I had a hard time getting my gravities on the head, usually low. I focused on some other parts of the mash because I just upgraded from a cooler to a pot with a false bottom and thought that that was why. I thought i...

I wasn't aware of this with my first pot and never did it. Question: does it matter now that I've been brewing with it for 6 mo? I have never noticed any foul taste and assume it to be oxidized by now?

I like the idea of using the tap water. I read somewhere that the subtleties of the water in your area add a great deal to your flavor. I have kind of a romanticism about just using what you got unless it's contaminated ala the WV thing. Otherwise, I think it adds regionability to beer...

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I used to force carb and it got me drinkable beer in short order, but it wasn't ideal. I did that when I was kegging at a friends house and we had a lot of people drinking the beer and it was hard to keep up with the consumption. Now that I got my own keggerator, I'm a set and forget convert...