Recent content by apalke

I know it's probably too late to start hops this year, but I moved into a new place and I think I might have a place to grow hops next year. There is a chain-link fence about 5.5 feet tall. Will that be enough to grow hops? Or do they need to be able to grow higher than that? Also, in...

No, I didn't add any carapils since I didn't know that was included in the dry malt extract Briess makes. But I thought carapils was more or less flavor neutral and so I wouldn't have thought that would make a difference in how much contribution I'm getting from the crystal malts.

Well, it was from MoreBeer and they have their own packaging. But their website says their light extract is Briess CBW Golden Light which Briess' website, in turn, says is made with "base malt" and carapils (and water). Is "base malt" not supposed to be read here simply as simply 2-row?

A few months ago I brewed up an extract English Pale Ale. Basic recipe was 5.5lb dry malt extract and 6oz of British Crystal 50-60L and 6oz of British Crystal 70-80L both of which were steeped in my water while heating slowly until 170C. I normally do all grain but I was short on time so I went...

Honestly, this is basically how my system works. I have two kegs in two different mini fridges in separate rooms... but I only have one CO2 tank and regulator. When I rack a new beer to a keg I'll purge with CO2, hit it with 30psi, and go back basically every day for four or five days and hit it...

Usually it doesn't matter if you oxidize the "beer" made by the starter since most people will cold crash their starter and decant the "beer" leaving the yeast which has settled to the bottom. However, you definitely don't want to introduce oxygen to your real Beer after the initial stages of...

Read my previous post again. A tablespoon would be too much. A teaspoon is more on target. You don't want to end up with bottle bombs.

I think you could just add sugar... One concern I'd have is the whether the sugar would dissolve quickly enough. Also, the nice thing about the drops is that you can get the proper dose in each bottle. I don't know exactly how much sugar should go in each bottle, but the morebeer site above says...

You can buy little carbonation drops like this: http://morebeer.com/products/carbonation-drops.html You drop one in each bottle and it should provide enough sugar to carbonate the beer.

Not to run this thread off on another tangent (especially since the OP has stated he has changed his mind about his plans), but botulism would potentially be an issue. This is especially true as even if you pasteurize the wort for lacto and other bacteria/yeast, you're not going to kill the...

You should read previous posts about botulism and mash/wort that is left around for extended periods of time: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/sour-mashing-botulism-danger-155113/ From what I gather even if the botulinum toxin is produced in your wort which you left in your fridge, it would be...

Just an idea here, but if you know your usual mash efficiency and if you measure the gravity of your first runnings, I think you could do some simple calculation to figure out how many gravity points you got in your first runnings and how many gravity points you could expect in the second...

Looking back at your post it seems you are anticipating that the second runnings will be more fermentable and so you could add the LME which is less fermentable and end up somewhere in the middle? Seems to make some sense to me. I'd say go for it.

With 8lbs of LME in the second runnings it's not going to be a traditional parti-gyle. Nonetheless, I think what you are intending to do makes some sense. But I am wondering what exactly you are attempting to get out of the second beer? With 8lbs LME and an OG of 1.062 you're going to have a...

So this is a brew in a bag setup? It sounds like your process is fine. I do more of a traditional mash/sparge so I don't have good advice on ways to improve your efficiency. There should be plenty of other advice on the forum. Have you tested your hyrdometer on plain old water? If it doesn't...