Recent content by FiddleBrew

I’m confused about your term “cleaving off”.

What is the essential difference between doing a single infusion in the upper 140s as opposed to a two-step beginning in upper 140s and finishing in upper 150s? Are you ensured a more complete conversion with the latter?

If I remember right, I talked to a chemist at our water authority and he said something like 95% carbonates. I don't know how I should relate to that. Water chemistry is very confusing to me.

OK, first, I am not good at using spread sheets for water. I referenced from Al Korzonas's Home Brewing. Old book, but has some useful charts. I know my water has 12ppm sodium. London water has 80-100ppm. 1 tsp/5 gals gives 110ppm. Therefore, 1/2 tsp yields 55ppm, added to 12 = 67ppm, still...

I found a brown ale recipe, said to have won a prize somewhere. I decided to brew it, but adjusted the base malt downward since the original recipe ended up way above the guidelines for gravity. Well, had my first taste last night. Looks great, perfect clarity, good mouth feel. But there's a...

I was looking into doing a wheat beer, and consulted Jamil's Classic Styles book. He suggests, counter to conventional wisdom, fermenting at 62F, which is below the optimum range of the two yeasts he suggests. Altho the dry yeast Safbrew WB-06 does list the range as 59-75. Does anyone have...

Just checked at 3:50PM, about 48 hours after pitch. Success! I see some foam on top and can smell the fermentation. Now I know what to expect from this yeast.

My fermenter is white plastic. Can't see well into the wort to tell about accumulation. But I've had the same phenomenon with starters, where I see a gradual accumulation in the flask, but no head until there's quite a lot of yeast built up. Every thread I've read about this yeast indicates it's...

The OG was 1.051. That wouldn't be considered very high, would it?

Well, I brewed two days ago, rehydrated the 34/70, and still no sign of fermentation. Wort is in the upper 50s F. So perhaps a long lag will happen even with rehydrating.

Thanks! That's exactly what I'll do.

I'm confused by the instructions for this yeast. It says to rehydrate at about 75F, or alternatively to sprinkle directly into wort, as long as it's no lower than 68F. But it's a lager yeast, and I planned to ferment a pilsner at around 50F. If I go with the rehydrate, then it's going from 75F...