Advanced extract brewing

[PCABrewing]

If there's no way to disable that fan, try wrapping some of this around your kettle, and forget about the oven. Not only will it keep your mash temp stable (my 4 gallon mash only loses about 3 degrees over 60 minutes), but it'll help you heat up your water significantly faster.

Thanks for the ideas.
But I wasn't looking for a solution, I have that, it's called a mash tun.
I was simply stating that I hadn't considered mashing in an oven. I think it is a great solution where equipment constrained or the desire for a smaller mash exists.

Thank you all for the well-intentioned responses.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Let's see what develops in 2022 ...

In retrospect, I feel that 2022 was a good year for this topic.

But, as they (occasionally) say, "all good things must come to an end need a break". And I'm working on some ideas that appear to need about a year to prove/dis-prove to my satisfaction. Maybe some of the ideas will leak into "I brewed an experimental recipe a few weeks ago...".

As a follow-up, 2023 could be summarized as ...

... and a couple of other things that didn't fit on the 1st line.

For those looking to advance extract brewing in 2024 (and beyond), consider listening to

• Brew Files #160
• BeerSmith Podcast #293
• BeerSmith Podcast #269

and create your own "Microbrewed Adventures".

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

LME containers: MoreBeer and Williams moved to oxygen barrier bags a while back. Other places continued with the plastic jugs. I've been a little curious about the potential head space in those jugs. Not curious enough to order some to investigate, just a little curious.

While I can't (and won't try to) answer that question for all suppliers, at least one supplier appears to have removed most/all of the head space:

(the photo is about head space, not color - which is 'impossible' to visually measure from a photo in a container when the LME is still concentrated).

/1/ link to post that has the link to the video where I did the 'screen grab'.

 

[kartracer2]

LME containers: MoreBeer and Williams moved to oxygen barrier bags a while back. Other places continued with the plastic jugs. I've been a little curious about the potential head space in those jugs. Not curious enough to order some to investigate, just a little curious.

While I can't (and won't try to) answer that question for all suppliers, at least one supplier appears to have removed most/all of the head space:

View attachment 852881​

(the photo is about head space, not color - which is 'impossible' to visually measure from a photo in a container when the LME is still concentrated).

/1/ link to post that has the link to the video where I did the 'screen grab'.

A person could, before opening, turn the container upside down and let it stand on it's lid for some time. The true volume of "air" would be more accurate to assess rather from an opened, now "relaxed" container.
(just a thought, if it makes any sense,,,)

Cheers,
Joel B.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

A person could, before opening, turn the container upside down and let it stand on it's lid for some time. The true volume of "air" would be more accurate to assess rather from an opened, now "relaxed" container.

Makes sense.

For now, I'm not going to buy some containers to do the testing. And the photo suggested that the amount of head space was very small (if any). That's good enough for me (for free) for now.

Also, over the last couple of years I have seed only one "Why did my LME-based IPA kit turn out brown?" topic (it was outside of HBT). After about two days of discussion (maybe 20 replies) that OP mentioned that the LME had been left in a warm garage for a number of months before being used.