BeerTools Discussion Forum

Looked at used Glycol coolers and its all a bit expensive and too advanced for amateurs like myself. I wanted to upgrade to 40 gals as im supplying friends who have keg systems a refill. cant seem to make enough. It's all very backyerd stuff and ive overcome many obstacles with some lateral thinking...

I'm a little confused as to what a glycol cooling system is. At the moment i run my hot wort through iced water via a coil of copper tubing using gravity. this works fine for 10 gal system but obviously no good for the upgrade. I was thinking of coiling copper tubing round the inside of the boiler a...

you got 3gals @ 1062. I f you then water this down to 5 gals you get 62x3=186, 186/5=1037. Some loss of extract can be explained by hop retention, careful hop sparging can overcome this or modify your recipe to allow for a certain amount of loss, say 10% or, get yourself a bigger boil capacity and c...

I need a cheap and effective method to rapidly chill up to40 - 45 gals. I reckon i can increase my existing 10 gal system to 4x that amount if i can chill fast enough. Anybody made a rapid cooling system?? As always dollars are the deciding factor.

I had 2 days left to get a reply and hoped you would be the one that answered, (depassivation of brass?). The pot was bought when i first started mashing from a pro catering supplier. it wasnt cheap but cheaper than s. steel. Thanks for the reply, after the weekend i'll own a 7 gal electrically heat...

Any reason why i couldn't use aluminium for a mash tun? I used to use it as a kettle but noticed a metallic taste so went to s.steel./ i need to build a new mash tun and it has to be metal due to the design. If i could use this it would save me$$$$$'s and give me a large capacity, so i want to use i...

Short and stout or long and thin ( mines approx 12 inches diameter and 30 high) but my burner is 12 inches so its perfect as the whole base is covered with the flame giving really good boil and fast! Boil off is controled by only allowing a certain amount off the top open. I used to use a large roun...

Take a gander at the following for a home made chiller and one mans quest for the perfect brew temp.
http://www.asciimation.co.nz/beer/

As a glass blower I must stress the importance to heat and cool glass very slowly.You will be able to take the temp to 400f quite safely as annealing temp for lead content glass is around 420f. For soda glass a temp of 450f is quite safe. If you are using brown bottles your glass will almost definat...

Thanks for the reply, i have considered this and it is a possibility as when raising the temp using steam, careful stiring is required as the process is prone to producing very hot spots, i have also found that the bitterness is not so bad if served at very low temps. Put it this way, i'm drinking i...

I notice on the recipe calculator that it lists black patent,black roast and roasted. I know roasted is an unmalted grain but whats the difference with the other two? Also, is it possible to do a protein rest in an oven? This sure would help as i have limited space in my picnic cooler and cant add l...

I've been through my process and when I think about it there are so many points at which it could have gone wrong that I'm surprised it hasn't happened before. from start to finsh this was not going to be an easy brew. Here goes: It is only 1 keg that contains this beer, the others are previous brew...

The final product was kegged, matured for 2weeks @ 50c, rekegged to cornelius, carbonated as normal and left for a further week, the result is that it is foul!!My wife reckons it tastes of harsh chemicals, I reckon it tastes of saccharine pills, anyway it is sharp to say the least. Smells great at f...

MMMM, it would seem that several of your points may be valid,I have milled the flake before and I cant guarantee the freshness so i'll seek a new source. I dont use flake in anything like the same amounts in any other beer. I thought maybe I was missing some necessary detail in using flake but obvio...

I use corn sugar to prime and never use dish washing liquids. As i said this is a problem i experience only with stouts. It doesn't make sense i know which is why i posted the question. I mash at 66c (approx 152f) for 2hrs to ph 5.0 - 5.2 with 2:1 liquor to grain ratio, then boil for further 2hrs. I...