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There isn’t a simple formula. For one thing, the thickness of the decoction you pull (in qt/lb or L/kg) is a key parameter and it’s not easy to know what you pulled. if you want to work out the details it really helps to know a bit of thermodynamics. The calculation, though, is basically the...

Calibration is done in software, not on the Tilt. If the calibration isn’t applied correctly that’s a software issue, not a hardware one.

The best setup is the one that works well for you. That’s just as true for extract brewing as it is for all-grain.

Just to be a contrarian, I do it at the start of the boil. I don’t make super-light colored beers so I can’t tell if it darkens by 1 SRM or not, but otherwise it makes no real difference.

Congratulations, sounds like you're well on your way to beer! Yes, if you want to dry hop, just open the lid and toss it in.

Maybe your planning on this and it just isn’t in the drawing, but what I see is making the engineer in me is nervous. I would add two more 70-degree wires on each side, one [per side] into the page and one out of it. On your top view (top of the photo), in addition to all the horizontal stuff...

After it's done fermenting you can bottle at any point without changing the taste. You'll get more yeast sediment in the bottles if you bottle early, but that's about the only difference. I would, however, keep it in a cold cellar if you have that option (I don't, so I'm stuck with room...

Not exactly what you asked, but I like 2-gal food-grade plastic buckets. Cheap, available, easy to clean, and does exactly what you need. I’m mostly doing high-gravity beers on the small fermenters, so the extra headspace is a useful feature too.

While that's the internet wisdom, it's not historically correct. Invert syrups manufacturers actively avoided any kind of browning, and then took steps to reduce the color still further. The Baker article I linked to above is very clear: the taste of invert syrup is molasses. It's not caramel...

White sugar is white sugar, doesn't matter if it came from sugar cane or beets. Without a mass spectrometer there's no good way to tell them apart. I have yet to see a reliable description of candi sugar or how its made, but it's a flavorful syrup of some kind from Belgium. Beyond that, I...

Oops, wrong link. Baker has a good discussion of invert sugar too (and he notes that the taste of inverse is molasses, not caramel), but the link I meant to share was Heron (Journal of the Institute of Brewing, 1896).

The oven and the stove-top method give the same result. The oven just proves a more stable temperature (so you don't have to watch it constantly for three hours to make sure it doesn't boil over).

"d.) microbial resistance" -- that one won't work. You'll bet better resistance with a pH below 4.5. The main use of invert is for baking and its commercial producers (e.g. Ragus) use low temperatures and an extremely acidic environment (pH < 2) to avoid coloring the syrup. With that low a...

I agree with CascadeBrewer -- if that's for a 5-gallon recipe then you have way too much malt extract (12 pounds DME in five gallons is an OG of around 1.110). For a stout, i would do 6 pounds total of light/Golden DME, steep the pound of roasted malts (I like 50:50 chocolate and black) and add...

I just gotta ask, how does a Corona mill fail? I use one too and that thing is built! I can't even think of a way it could fail under normal use.

I did wait five weeks and it was still bubbling, that's why I posted. I've been drinking it for about a month now, so five weeks in the fermenter seems to have been sufficient.

I ferment 70-75 F with Nottingham fairly regularly (measured from inside the fermenter). I've gotten fusel alcohols with a high OG and pitch temperatures close to 80 F, but the low 70's should be fine. Maybe a bit of esters (??) but nothing too obvious.

3.3 pounds LME is just a hair shy of 1.5 kilograms. No doubt that's the reason Briess uses it: it's an ordinary size everywhere but the US.

Don't know the gravity. Tilt reads 0.999, but I can see the yeast caked on it, so I know it's reading a bit low.

I brewed my first saison on July 30th (1.052 OG, partial mash plus extract). For yeast, I used a packet of Belle Saison. The initial ferment went fine and after about a week it settled down to a slow but steady stream of fine bubbles (it's in a glass carboy, so easy to watch). Since then, the...