Recent content by StewJo

Water has an effect on final taste, but for most cases not nearly so much as other things. Without a full analysis from the spring you're using, I'd say just try it and see what you get. If the water tastes good, it will probably make good beer. I would boil all the water before use-- I...

I plugged your values into the spreadsheet provided by MoreBeer and got very similar figures. 11.2% ABV? wow.

No. It'll just taste bad. Unless, of course, you have an entire freeway covered with slick beer mold and you hit it at 90mph...then it might kill you.

I agree with FlyGuy. I haven't had any problems with the defrost cycle on my thermo-controlled fridge.

I dry hop in the secondary, because I don't want the brew to sit on the yeast for two weeks. Then I rack to a tertiary and let it mellow for another week. It comes out nice and clear.

SenorWanderer is right on. I've had my refractometer for about a month now and love it. Bought on ebay for around $40. Never want to use a hydrometer again. Make sure you get one that has automatic temperature correction (ATC) Morebeer has an excel spreadsheet that converts brix to density...

Hi HBDrinker008-- First off, many brewers don't like to repitch due to risk of infection, wild yeast, etc., and some homebrewers choose to spend the extra $6 for a double pitch. Homebrewers tend to be rugged individualists with lots of reasons for doing lots of different things, so I think...

I'd be concerned about accuracy-- those digitals aren't the best. Don't know what happens when you overheat them.

More. Like half a cup. Rinse, rinse, rinse, and rinse.

I agree with what you say, and yes, the thermal mass of the beer is much greater than the air and interior walls and fixtures of the fridge. So if the only thing you care about is the fastest route to cooling beer, then yea, go ahead and put the probe in the thermowell. This is an inefficient...

You get a more accurate temp reading if the thermometer is in the beer. That doesn't mean its the optimal control. I think roofman is right. If you have 5gal of beer at 70df, and the temp probe is in a thermowell, and the tyhermostat is set to cool until 68df, then the controller will run...

Nothing is exact. Different parts of the fridge will be at different temperatures. The built-in thermostat on refridges is pretty poor, so most homebrewers will overide it with a temperature controller purchased from a HB supply (Ranco, Johnson, etc). Every temperature controller works on a...

About the grades for Maple Syrup-- Grade A is more pure sugar and is lighter in color. Grade B is less sugary, darker, and has more robust Maple flavor. Many New Englanders prefer grade B, and gently laugh at the tourists paying a premium for grade A. In fact, if you can get stuff thats below...

This sounds weird. I'm suspicious about your 1.011 reading -- is there anything that could have lead to a low reading? I've had some very vigorous yeast is yeast starters, but when I pitch its like they're shocked by the new environment and take awhile to get going again. So I wouldn't be...

My understanding is that you can't cool it too fast. Part of the trick to getting clear beer is rapid cooling. Dimethyl Sulfide? I've never heard that this could be a problem from rapid cooling. Anyone else heard of this?