Search results

You can dilute your tap water with distilled water to cut calcium down and use lactic acid or acid malt to adjust the pH lower.

I'm right next to you in Oak Forest and you're likely getting the same water I am. Here's what's coming out of my faucet tested by Ward Labs this past spring: pH 7.8 Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 197 Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.33 Cations / Anions, me/L 3.7 / 3.2 ppm...

You may get some additional fermentation if you were to warm it up to low-mid 70's and rouse the yeast by swirling. I started doing this specifically with Belgian brews lately and definitely get a re-awakening of the yeast, though I'll start warming after a week when fermentation started.

Have you calibrated your thermometer lately? Maybe your mash temp was even higher than you thought. I typically get a 1.014 to 1.016 FG with English yeast mashing 154-6 and using lactose.

Looks good, but I wouldn't use any carapils for the style.

Maybe too late, but I'd do the DME only, at start and LME with 5 minutes left to keep the color from getting too dark.

Top 5 today: Three Floyds - Alpha King Left Hand - Milk Stout Dogfish Head - 90 Min. IPA Capital - Blonde Doppelbock Rogue - Double Dead Guy

I did a SMaSH of Maris Otter and Simcoe last year. 1.052 OG and I just divided up 1 oz. to give about an APA level 40 IBU's so the hop and the grain could be tasted. I was pretty happy with it.

Well it's ideal to bring it down to 5.7 or so, but if you don't, you can still make good beer. I've been brewing for 2+ years and have just gotten into water treatment the last couple of months, my beers are improving, but it's hard to pinpoint anything particular such as proper sparge PH.

So I sent in a sample last week in a rinsed disposable water bottle(I didn't use soap, just filled it a third, three times, and shook it for 15 secs or so). I also have a dual charcoal filter on a separate tap used for brewing water, but pulled the sample straight from the tap, without an...

Nope, and from what I've read, I understand hops are fairly resistant to infection.

I followed your other post and am going to brew the recipe you claimed as coming from John Maier. Are you asking if someone's gone with a different recipe and to compare?

I've brewed 4 batches of a Citra IPA recipe that's been only slightly modified with the version of crystal used. First batch was a ton of mango, second was cat piss and third was a bit of both, the fourth a bit more fruity again. I liked them all in their own way. Maybe the hop is sensitive to...

Going a bit OT, but I just run my beer through a strainer sitting on top of the bucket and you keep 90% of the trub out of the fermenter and leave nothing behind in the kettle. :)

I just see it floating there and think it's too easy to skim it off the top to not do it.

No cocoa, just a mix of roasted malts. I've yet to use cocoa, though I recently "secondaried" a porter on cocoa nibs that gave a nice nose to it.

If you want some vanilla flavor, go for it. I'd suggest splitting the batch and try half with vanilla for comparison. I'll add with the 3 milk stouts I've done the past 2 years, I can distinctly taste the lactose, which I don't in any commercial beer like Left Hand's version. I don't...

Very easily it seemed. I had the tiniest bit on the tip of a spoon and stirred it in one of my IPA's. It caused it to fizz up the head a bit and when I took the first sip, I just got way too much sulfur flavor. Very unscientific, but I couldn't imagine or expect the amount measurable on any type...

Well yeah, I said I've read upon the subject, thanks. I try not to be one of those people, but if I am this time, so be it. I was concerned that too much calcium would over accentuate the malt flavor, so I kept the CaSO4 lower. I did try adding a little to a beer I was drinking last week, the...

Hello! So I've got some Gypsum, Calcium Chloride and Lactic Acid to play with. I'd like to adjust my Chicago water profile to best suit an IPA. I've read a bit on the subject, but all the concepts aren't clicking quite yet. I figure I'll get some sulfate in there to accentuate the hops and some...