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I brew 3.8% pale SMASH beers. I bottle 6 or 7 days after yeast pitch. I prime bottles with brewing sugar - one heaped teaspoon per litre. Bottles are placed in a room that is 17 to 22 deg C. After 3 to 4 weeks I start to try them, they taste fine but lack adequate carbonation. BIAB 25 litre...

Hello knowledgeable friends, I am a BIAB man, using an extended Burco boiler. I have used the same Maris Otter crushed grain, from the same source, for at least 20 years. The last 4 mashes all behaved as follows. About 30 minutes into the mash, I turn on the heater element at reduced power to...

Hi all, my last few brews had very fine hop debris "suspended" about 1 cm below the surface at end of fermentation. 3.8% pale bitter, SO4 yeast, chopped irish moss flakes added for last 20 minutes of boil. Enough to warrant filtering before bottling. Any ideas on cause and / or prevention ? Thanks.

Hi all, my last few SMASH brews 4% SO4 yeast have floating clumps of yeast at the end of fermentation about the size of a match head, the yeast cake at the bottom is reasonably firm. The fbeer they are floating in is very clear. I use a teaspoon of irish moss 20 minutes before flame out. Any...

After around 60 mashes the bag is very dark brown stained. Will it or does it adversely affect beer quality . I brew 3.8% smash beers (but with pale crystal malt. Thanks.

I always use safale 04 yeast and make mainly 4% SMASH beers. Today's yeat sediment was granular and easily disturbed, last weeks was smooth and firm. Any ideas why this variation, many thanks.

Hello all, yesterday I brewed a 4% SMASH beer. 24 hours after yeast pitch it is fermenting like crazy and is at 27 deg C in a room that is at 23 deg C. I cannot control the temperature so I just hope it tastes ok. Other than not brewing June to September, any suggestions. I wondered about a...

I do full volume mashes (32 litre for 25 litre of wort). After the 60 minute mash (around 68 deg C ) I transfer 4 litres to my boiler at full power, so after 5 mins it is maybe 90 deg C. I then add another 4 litres at 68 deg C, and in the time it takes me to run off another 4 litres the boiler...

Hi All, I bottle mainly in 2 litre PET bottles these days. If I fill them to just 3mm from the top, the space volume above the beer is close to 1 ml. However my normal bottling free space is about 7 cm which is a 10 ml head space. So the amount of CO2 from bottle fermentation to pressurise...

Hi all and happy Thanksgiving to you lot over the pond from me. I bottle in 4 to 7 days, heaped teaspoon of brewing sugar to a 2 litre PET bottle, and carbonation is on the low side after 3 weeks in bottle. So if I were to transfer 4.5 litres to a demijohn instead of bottling, and left it for a...

Hi all, after reducing alkanity with AMS my water is Ca 80 SO4 143 Cl 91 Mg 9 I brew 3.8% pale SMASH beers mainly - is any further water treatment needed ?

I added the yeast BEFORE cooling the wort - it was 40 deg C - I cooled to 21 deg C then added another sachet - fingers crossed..........

How many times is "safe" - I re-use twice then start over. At present I am using yeast grown from St Austell Proper job so my first use is really second use. By the way, I have confirmed that this is the yeast used for fermentation. I do not have kit to check the yeast. I put aside 10 bottles...

Hello all, I have looked at several water treatment spreadsheets and either cannot understand them of get them to recommend water treatment. I intend to brew - next - a 4% hoppy beer using 9.75 lb of low colour pale malt and 1.5 lb of low colour crystal malt. Mash will be 90 minutes and is full...

Full mash 3.8% pale bitter. I have long suspected that this style of beer has an initial sweet spot for drinking, and after that will take a few weeks to become enjoyable again. It tasted very nice, and I will taste one per week to monitor drinking quality, and report findings on here. No doubt...

I used to add in last 20 minutes, but read somewhere on here that 15 minutes was better. I use a heaped teaspoon per 22 litres. Recently I started pre-soaking in hot water and cutting the particles with scissors. I think - but am not certain, that clarity of finished beer has improved. Would...

I make a starter with dried yeast I ferment in stainless steel pans with only loose fitting lids I do not control fermentation temperature During fermentation I skim off the top sludge twice a day I bottle using jug and funnel I bottle in 4 to 6 days I leave the bottles at whatever ambient...

1 you need to add "more" priming sugar 2 no difference in taste to non squeezed bottles

Hi all, I bottled my last brew in mainly 2 litre PET bottles primed with 4 gm brewing sugar. As an experiment I squeezed one to remove all headspace and tightened the top. After 12 days they all look identical, beautifully clear, all nice and firm EXCEPT the squeezed bottle. It has the same...

A typical 3.8% SMASH beer for me starts at 11.2 BRIX and is bottled at 6.5 BRIX - I use Safale 04 yeast - have tried Safale 05 but it takes twice the time to ferment and does not clear very well. Any suggestions ? II mash at 68 - 70 deg C.