Recent content by verysupple

:off: Sorry for the OT, but I need to clear something up. Zig6's post reminded me. What do you guys in north America mean by "biscuity". Do you mean biscuit like the thing you guys eat with gravy? (Kind of like a dense English scone).

I'm with leftcoastbrewer. You will never really know until you taste them. I respect Yooper a great deal (much more experienced than me) but every maltster's biscuit malt is different. So it's hard to say that Victory is "toastier" than biscuit malt. That said, it may be toastier than the...

If it was me I wouldn't do a secondary at all for that. But that's just my opinion. It sounds like you're pretty new to brewing so maybe it'd be better to just follow the instructions you were given. If you are going to transfer it I would suggest doing so just before fermentation is finished...

I'm going to answer your question with a question. Why do you want to do a secondary? I'm going to refrain from saying that you don't need to do a secondary because there are some good reasons to do one, but if you don't have a reason then there's no need. Once you know why you want to do a...

I'm guessing from your avatar that you use electric elements? If so, there's a huge difference in the performance of a gas burner and an electric element of the same power rating. The electric element is usually submerged in the liquid and you only really get losses through the kettle walls...

Not really. The problem is some of the alpha acids have already been extracted from the plant matter and are in solution. So after you pull out the bag the acids keep isomerising. Depending on the recipe this can have a very small or a quite noticeable affect on bittering.

Ha, I find it really funny that people are all worked up about mashing too hot for a dry stout but not at all fussed that the OG was approx. double what it should have been for a dry stout. If you're going to worry about sticking to style, surely getting the OG in the ball park is a far more...

OP said in the previous post that O2 was used. It's hard to know how much O2 is "right". 45 sec at a high enough flow rate might be fine. Everything sounds fine in terms of process except for the pitching rate. As previous posts, pitch some more active yeast and see if the gravity starts...

I thought it would be obvious that there would be differences between chilling and no-chilling a split batch (i.e. ceteris peribus). That's why people who no-chill adjust their recipes and other processes. I like the brulosophy exbeeriments, but as the author keeps writing, it's just one...

There seems to be different ideas in the replies here about how to no chill effectively. I'd start by giving this link a read. I have been no-chilling for a while now and chill haze hasn't been a problem at all. I've also read many, many posts by long term no-chillers saying that while...

Hmmm, something doesn't add up. If you had an OG of 1.070 and you want a beer of ~5% ABV then you're expecting it to finish at ~1.032. Hmmmm, that's not a very tasty Irish stout. An Irish stout should start and finish a lot lower. OG something like 1.035 - 1.050 and FG something like 1.006 -...

It depends a lot on the style for me. In winter I'll gladly drink a bitter straight from the box on the shelf in the kitchen, probably about 55 F. But I like pale ales, IPAs and the like at around 45 F. I don't buy in to the idea that dark beers should be served warmer. I like my dry stouts...

If you're supremely confident in your sanitation of your testing cylinder, hydrometer, etc. I'd never be that confident, so I throw my samples away (after tasting of course). I think most will agree that it's not worth the risk for a few hundred mL of booze.

Bubbling tells you one thing, and only one thing. Gas is moving through the airlock. It could be that as the temperature drops at night the liquid and gas contract, sucking air in through the airlock, but it's at night so you don't notice. Then during the day it warms and expands again and you...

@cernst151 As with any experiment, the results only tell you what they tell you. Nothing more, nothing less. If you're right about converison taking longer due to lower levels of enzymes, then mashing longer would just bring the 50/50 results closer to the 100 % base malt sample. In the end I...