BeerTools Discussion Forum

Your 'simple' system is very effective and is the same way that I started all grain brewing. A few system specific ideas - 1) heat the liquor to 180F to account for heat loss during the sparge and do not take it off the heat until after you recirculate and set up your grain bed. This will save heat ...

I typically mash at 148-154F for 60 minutes. I bring my hot liquor up to 170-175F then start recirculation for clarity. This also allows time to bring up the mash temp to somewhere between 165-170F because I initially runoff 1-1.5 gallons of wort, add 1-1.5 gallons from the HLT, then continue recirc...

You can get a long way on water chemistry with tools provided on the internet. do a search for 'brew water'. can't remember the exact name but it is a free download share ware program developed for application to brewing waters and provides profiles of water types and their corresponding chemical co...

I just added isinglass to my beer, which was already at 40F. How long do I need to wait for it to settle out? If residual isinglass remains will it have adverse effects on the flavor profile? Hypothetically speaking, if I had a friend that racked from secondary to a keg, then brought the beer down t...

I used to use a Phil Mill single roller. This is an ideal roller for adding specialty grains to extract and partial mash recipes. I used it for two years with much happiness. Then I moved to all grain brewing and built a 10 gallon HERM system. Do you know how long it takes to mill 20-25 lbs of grain...

That was my initial plan. I designed the recipe around my usual system efficiency, which would have resulted in a wort o.g. of 1.052. However, this time around I used a new mill and saw a 12% increase in mash efficiency resulting in an o.g. of 1.064. Oh, and did I forget to mention that I forgot to ...

The minimum that I ever pitch is a 1 quart starter. This time around I had two 1 qt starters, one for each fermenter. I brought the wort temp down to 65F then pitched. At this point (day 12) one has been racked to a secondary fermenter and the other is still in the primary. I brought both temps up t...

often the exact timing of a hop addition may be absent from a recipe. There are several reasons. To answer your specific question, yes, on the recipe ingredient form the hop selections without time choices are for dry hopping. You may also see from time to time references to bittering hop additions,...

compared to ales this lager yeast krausen is weak. Real fine bubbles and only about an inch max in thickness. Hasn't really died down yet. Only racked one of two fermenters to have a comparison. Definately have not seen the krausen fall. Will let it sit for another week, and maybe raise the temp to ...

Being my first lagering or as you say quasilagale I'm making it up as I go. The target F.G. is 1.016. Temp has been 58-62F and the range for WYEAST 2112 is 58-68F. Recommendations for lagering temp? My plan was to hold at 42F for three weeks, but you do bring up a good point about refrigeration and ...

I've got 10 gallons of an Anchor Steam clone that has attenuated to 1.030 from 1.064 after 9 days at 60-62

I think I need to get back to a more disciplined regiment. Two weeks ago I threw pellet hops into my kegs, which clogged the valves. Now, I've forgotten to add irish moss to the boil and I racked to secondary last night. Lots of suspended solids. Being a novice at lager fermentation I don't know if ...

I have just acquired a chest freezer that will be dedicated to lagering, ingredient and beer storage. I have been looking at what is available from suppliers in the temperature control category and have noticed quite a range in prices and options (digital vs analog, pre-wired vs not wired, etc.). Do...

I tested the keg last night and sure enough the valve clogged. Fortunately it was not fully carbonated and I racked it off into a hops free keg.

I just racked to the keg and without thinking I threw in some hop pellets to dry hop it up a bit. Afterwards I started wondering if I should have placed them inside a mesh bag or something. Has anyone done this before? Is this going to clog my beer line? I'm having some friends over this weekend and...