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Sure, but that doesn't answer the question if the pH value should be adjusted to a pH value of 5.2 afterwards.

I'm sparging, too, so the additional water I use to top up the boil to achieve the expected bottling volume accounts for about one-thirds of the liquid. But since the pH value of the sparge water is also above 5.2 the acidity of the wort should be expected to rise (depending on how stable the...

I currently adjust the pH value of the mash so that the mash has a pH value of about 5.2. But, it occurred to me that once I've lautered the mash, I'll be adding water before boiling and this will increase the pH value. Should I readjust the pH value after diluting the wort so that the...

I disinfected a pot and its lid a few hours earlier in the stove. So I simply dropped the still very hot rocks in the pot and put the lid back on, then sealed it with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge once it had cooled down. I think this should minimize the risk of infection significantly...

I got the idea of adding the rocks to secondary from a book on brewing so it seems others have done it before. It turned out that our "plan B" of using smaller rocks that we dipped in the wort multiple times, allowing the wort to caramelize on the rocks between each immersion worked. The rocks...

If they are hydrometer samples from the fermenting wort, then certainly they'll ferment, too. If you're referring to the OG samples before yeast is added, I'd expect my samples to start fermenting (or rather, get infected) within a week, too, if they're exposed to open air for an extended...

I think the risk is very low. I intend to place them in a sanitized pot while they're still very hot. Also, by the time the rocks are put into the fermenter the yeast should have won the battle for the wort.

Awesome. I'm having two brewer friends coming over in a week to make Steinbier the hard way, at least some of the way. We'll be using the rocks for the boil only, and although it's supposedly more authentic to include the mash in the boil, we'll collect the wort and boil it without the mash.

If you reduce it and allow it to caramelize, I think it would. But merely reducing it to a concentrate probably won't.

I thought so until recently, and had begun to start the fermentation almost instantly (as in less than half an hour) using still-active yeast staters. However, White's yeast book actually cautions against this, stating that important things happen to the yeast during the lag phase.

I actually brewed a very similar IPA a month ago, and it is wonderfully dry and crisp in spite of a somewhat high calcium carbonate water content and no added gypsum. I loved it so much that I brewed another, larger batch on Friday. It was my first experiment with rye malt (about 15% rye malt...

The yeast doesn't just lie there during the first five to ten hours. It prepares itself, so to speak. According to White's yeast book, this is not only normal; it is in fact desired.

I've seen a few threads (notably, the sticky one on all grain) mentioning that the pH 5.2 stabilizer doesn't work. Several people seem to agree. How did you/they reach that conclusion? (The easy answer might be that they added the proper amount of stabilizer to the mash water and then...

It is true that the temperature may scald people. Many homes in my country have very hot water in their water heaters, but we're kind of used to being a little careful around hot tap water so very few accidents happen. However, there are good reasons for keeping a high temperature in the water...

Because I'm interested in that special caramel taste that characterizes Steinbier rather than the authenticity of the process.

That's interesting. When I read about it from a group who had done it several times, I got the impression that about ten pounds of rock should suffice for a 5 gallon brew. How much did you brew, and how long did it take to get it to boil? I was actually planning to place the pot on my burner...

In about two weeks, two of my brewing friends and I are going to brew Steinbier: We'll heat rocks in our garden fire and use them to boil the brew. Also, we're going to heat some smaller rocks that we place in a mesh, which we'll raise and lower into the wort a few times so the sugars...

Not really; my basement temperature is generally in the lower end of preferred temperature interval for most ale yeasts so it makes sense that fermentation is a little slower than most brewers expect. To be fair, my beer does tend to stop fermenting earlier than three weeks but I prefer to...

For those watching this thread, I think https://www.homebrewtalk.com/member.php?u=83749 may be right.I moved the carboys to another room at about 23C/73F a little over half a day ago, and the fermentation seems to have picked up speed already (discounting the brief activity increase because the...

Three weeks is nothing; I've had no more than two or three brews finish in three weeks; all of my other brews have taken longer than that to complete. What bothers me is that my brew fermented vigorously for three or four days, then slowed down as would be expected--except it all but stalled...