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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'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...

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...

I have two brews in the fermentors using WLP570, and after a vigorous start, they suddenly began to ferment rather slowly long before the SG had dropped to a near-attenuation threshold level. Does anyone else have similar experiences with the WLP570? A little background: The first brew began...

A little background: I'm currently on my third attempt with a lager that failed. In my first brew, fermentation stopped at FG 1.026. Then I waited a while, and it got infected. So out with it. In my second brew, fermentation stopped at FG 1.026, too. This time it's on keg, and although it...

I've brewed beer since 2011 but I somehow consider this a beginner's question anyway. It's just that I didn't really think about it until today when I brewed a beer and realized that I had purchased a liquid yeast instead of dry yeast and so should have made a yeast starter. When I first began...

Some years ago I tasted a Kelpie Seaweed Ale and I'm thinking about brewing something inspired by it. The brewery web site lists the ingredients but not the amounts, and since I don't intend to brew an exact clone, this is almost good enough for me; I can readily brew decent beer with the...

I've noticed that the use of a stir plate in the yeast starter is often described as effective because it aerates the starter wort. But, is this really true? The way I see it, once the yeast has started to digest the sugars, the released CO2 will push any oxygen in the yeast starter jar out...

I intend to bring some homebrew for a get-together with old school mates but I'm going to be slightly pressed for time with my current Schwarzbier. It will be lagering at a little below 32 °F for about a month but then I may have to start force-carbonating it in order to meet our schedule...

My previous lagers have been limited to the ambient temperature in my garage in the winter. Now I've constructed a better temperature control and I'm just about to ramp down the temperature of my most recent lager to lagering temperature. Since beer contains alcohol, I assume it's safe to...

I'm thinking about a recipe leading to beer with a very low alcohol content using the following strategy: 1. Low amounts of malts compared with "normal" beer. 2. High mashing temperature. 3. Yeast with low attenuation. How high can I go as far as mashing temperature is concerned? 71...

Note to moderator: I realized only too late that the DIY forum is be a better choice for this entry. By all means, feel free to move it. Sure, there are plenty of temperature controllers for freezers out there already, but that's no excuse for piecing yet another one together yourself. :) So...

I've just begun to keg my beer instead of bottling it. The short version: I'm speculating that my problems with gushing is neither caused by over-carbonation nor by infection, but by low yeast flocculation (or possibly bottles that are so clean that the sediment won't stick to the bottom of...

My bottle of iodophor says not to use it on copper. That's fine; I don't need to. However, I recently built a counter-pressure bottle filler using a brass tube for the beer, and this will need disinfection. Now, since brass is an alloy of zinc and copper, I'm a little worried that iodophor...

I've just begun to keg my beer, but I'll want to bottle some of it from the keg, so I've constructed a counter-pressure bottle filler. From what I gather, I should make sure to lower the temperature of the beer before filling the bottles, and preferably the temperature of the bottles and the...

I brewed my first lambic in October this year and I'm expecting it to be ready for bottling in October next year. However, I'm guessing there will be little live yeast left in the brew by then so bottle-carbonating it may be difficult. Should I add fresh yeast to the brew before bottling...

I'm looking for an equation for the solubility of CO2 in beer. To me, the curve looks like some y = ax + be^(cx) + d, but I'm not sure. I've seen a few tables indicating the solubility of CO2 in beer at different temperatures; for example, in John Palmer's "How to Brew," which may be found...

I recently built a digital thermometer for one of my friends for his brewing. He prefers to keep things as manual as possible, but one thing bugs him: the thermometer is a delicate piece of equipment, and the mashing process requires careful monitoring of the temperature. Of course, digital...