Recent content by Witherby

Kellerbier, German Pils, Best Bitter, and Vienna Lager are in constant rotation after 15 years

I feel that it helps keep the temperature more consistent throughout the mash and that is a good enough reason to recirculate for me.

This is what my yeast microbiologist friend told me last night in our weekly homebrew club zoom meeting. Reading through other threads (there is a LOT written about this yeast) S04 can drop out and not finish the job cleaning up acetaldehyde (or take a long time doing it). This 1.037 beer has...

Here is another HBT thread about S-04 twang: Let's talk S-04 and tartness Some quotes: Weirdly, Lallemand says the correct range for S-04 is 18-26°C (64.4-78.8°F)! I fermented at 64-66 (according to the Tilt, which seems to measure temps very well). I don't have a pH meter and I'm not...

Good to know that there is a chance the twang will go away. Tilt says I am at 57% attenuation after 4 days. The sample I pulled was very clear. I do fear that the yeast has already flocced out, but I know I should let it do its thing. Some threads say to ferment this yeast cool to prevent the...

Just look at what even the National Homebrew Competition does to mix the BJCP styles: https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/national-homebrew-competition/compete/#tab-stylesguidelines

Unfortunately I have to disagree. I just brewed a 1.037 dark mild (Maris Otter & flaked oats with small amounts of crystal 45 & 77 and Carafa Special I only in the vorlauf when mashing out, and invert #3 in the boil). I mashed at 152F/67C. My Tilt was showing that the beer had dropped to 1.016...

Thanks for the heads up. Got some EKG and Bramling Cross, which I never find. Wanted some Endeavour (which I've had before) but it was already sold out. I had been looking at Stocks Farm in the UK, as they have whole hops, but the shipping alone was $25 and the hops much more expensive, so this...

Definitely not true for all of his books. Decoction is mostly all from his blog but Scotland v.2 ("All material in is new, apart from a few recipes, of which there are almost 400.") or Let’s Brew or the wonderful 1909 Beer Style Guide have lots of important info and recipes not on the blog.

I fooled around with cubitainers for a while but these days I cask condition in a corny and use one of the propane regulators as a cask breather. I think a one gallon keg with the PRV open while you are serving through the beer engine would be fun to experiment with (until you start having to...

I love these fermenters and have a number of NorCal add ons. I definitely recommend the upgrade to the stainless spigot: https://www.norcalbrewingsolutions.com/store/Speidel-Fermenter-OEM-Stainless-Steel-Spigot.html The standard spigot is too fat for normal tubing you probably use for bottling...

Here's a nice overview of the history of various Slovenian hops: https://www.beeradvocate.com/articles/16527/europes-puzzling-nobility-hops-from-the-styrian-hinterland/ I like whole hops for late hopping and dry hopping whenever possible, both for English and German styles. Harder to hide poor...

Hence the “inspired” part

I can watch this video of the Timothy Taylor brewing process over and over: I have some lovely Styrian Celeia whole hops that did well in a Landlord inspired beer.

Like the OP, my father was a functional alcoholic who became a not-so functional alcohol (fortunately sober for 30 years now). I remember him drinking an occasional beer when I was a kid, then gin and tonics when I was in high school, but when I came home for a few months in my mid-20s it was...