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Been using Bru'n Water for 5 brews on a HERMS system now. I'm currently in week 1 at Siebel's on site concise course. I understand and am on board with salt additions as necessary in the mash, of course. But having a difficult time understanding why we'd add salts to sparge water....by this...

This past weekend I dropped the bottom edge of my 6 gal full carboy (from about 6 inches off the ground) on the concrete while cleaning. I totally expected to be sweeping up shards of glass. But it didn't break. Instead there is a flat spot where it hit, about the size of a quarter. The...

Just brewed a pale ale that's fermenting nicely with Wyeast 1272: 10 lb 2 row .75 lb C60 1oz Chinook @ 60min .5oz Amarillo @ 10min .5oz Amarillo @ 3min OG 1.053 I plan on throwing this on I-don't-know-how-many lbs of fresh pureed mango next weekend. How much mango puree should I use...

Hopefully this is an entertaing story for some of y'all. :mug: Saturday I made a last minute decision to brew a orange zest pale ale. LHBS only had Cascade in pellets, so I bought them even though I typically use whole leaf. My kettle tube screen gets all gunked up with pellets. I thought...

Last night I was cooling my starter wort in the 2L flask and discovered it had cracked...so, no starter last night. By this time I had already smacked my smack pack and it had just started to swell. After discovering my flask was broken I put the pack back in the fridge. I'm assuming it'll...

I'm doing 5 gallon batches with the capacity to do 10 gal in the future. Batch sparging. Did a Denny's Wry Smile rye IPA from northern brewer and an original recipe midnight wheat CDA. I am SO STOKED! :rockin: The beers have turned out better than expected...they're both something I...

5 gal batch of Denny's Wry Smile IPA, hit my mash temps pretty much dead-on. Hit my starting gravity literally dead-on at 1.077. Super stoked, used a yeast starter, full boil, pure O2 aeration, and wort chiller for the first time!! Don't know why, but the only worry I have is yeast...

I'm assuming putting a starter (my first :rockin:) on the stir plate tonight is better than no starter at all for Friday morning? I've read it's best to give them a full 48 hrs then chill to settle, but I'm running outta time!

http://www.norcalbrewingsolutions.com/store/Hop_Stoppers.html I get that it's a disc, but I'm not exactly sure how it works. Will someone explain or post pics?

I recently decided to take the plunge into AG. Everything is sitting neatly arranged on the garage shelves, just waiting for the Penrose kettle to arrive. I've been thinking though...if I made a proper starter and injected pure O2 in my (extract) wort, what kind of difference would this...

I'm curious how y'all pitch your starters... Straight off the plate swirled up with spent wort? Cold settle, decant some of the spent wort, swirl, then pitch? Cold settle, decant, revive with fresh wort? Other methods?

Is this because the dry packets contain that much more yeast relative to a vial or smack pack? Does anyone hydrate their dry packets then create a liquid starter? Just curious, as I ordered a stir starter this morning...

I'm so happy I just had to post this. Just ordered a Penrose kettle, burner, mash paddle, cooler ball valve, bazooka screens, silicone tubing, etc, etc... The first recipe is Denny's Wry Smile IPA ordered thru Northern Brewer. Wanted to go with a established and well-liked brew to guage my...

I just kegged an Amarillo IPA dry hopped with Warrior (I know what you're thinking, but wanted to try it...). Dropped an ounce of the Warrior whole hops in for the last 10 days of primary. Everything was all good, the hops soaked but stayed floating which was kind of a PITA when racking to...

I have enough dough in my projected AG gear budget to buy the Williams brewing aeration kit, or a flask and stir plate. I might have the clams to get the aeration kit and just the flask... Anyhoo, which is better to buy NOW? The flask/stir plate or aeration kit? Originally I was planning...

I've been searchig and researching my AG boil kettle options for the past few weeks, for something big and under $200. Yesterday I finally resigned myself to a Bayou Classic 15 gal with weldless ball valve kit. Happened across the Penrose kettle ($189 shipped with SS valve) and called the...

I've got my AG kit list finalized, just have to wait til Aug 1st when the Ministry of Finance will allow my big purchase! All I can do til then is ponder AG brewing, which led me to this question... What should I expect taste-wise? I've made some darn tasty extract brews, but really, I...

A few weeks ago I was reading a thread here about the B/C with welded coupler and spigot, but I can't find it now! Wanted to double-check that the coupler is in fact 1/2" and that I'd be able to install a bazooka tube and ball valve. Any help or link to that thread is appreciated! :mug:

So I'm definitely getting a 15 gal kettle for my AG setup. Initially I'll be doing 5 gal batches only, but the possibility exists for doing bigger batches in the future. Should I go ahead and spring for the 20 gal boil kettle? Is there any disadvantage to using a big ass kettle for 5 gal...

I've been reading a LOT on AG brewing, and one thing I'm still confused about is how to know what your pre-boil volume should be. Space for the pre-boil won't be an issue for me, as I'll be doing (batch sparge) 5 gal batches with a 15 gal boil kettle. So, do you stop your sparge at a certain...