Recent content by HopZombie99

Hi lads, bought a cider kit and threw it together. Took me like 15 minutes! Anyways, in my haste, I forgot to measure the OG. Not that it matters, but I'm just curious as I have never done this magnum apple cider kit before. Google searches have let me down. I didn't add any extra...

My mash is invariably 90 minutes. The base malts I am mostly using are MO, Golden Promise and NZ Pilsner. In my experience and with those base malts, I most definitely get better wort. Faster to begin fermentation, faster to complete and finish lower. I think what I take from this thread is...

To me, it sounds like you identified a problem with your brew and fixed it on the fly. Well done. You could bang those numbers into some brewing software and it'll calculate the efficiency for you. There are free options on the interwebs.

Longer mash times will give you a more fermentable wort. This may or may not be to your liking, depending on the style you are brewing.

Good thread. I just did my first all grain BIAB. I think I really suffered with wort extraction from the bag. I wasn't used to having so much grist in there and could hold the bag up and squeeze it at the same time. I believe I will have to sort out some sort of a pulley mechanism so I can...

I just finished bottling my last brew. 1.081 which finished up at 1.015. One dry packet of rehydrated US-05. No problems whatsoever. I'm not sure how many cells are in there, but its a fair few and enough to complete my 1080 beer.

Its a good substitute and you wont have to worry about less performance out of the grain.

I have never, ever done a secondary and I only brew IPAs. All my dry hopping is done in primary and I have not been displeased with the results so far. I use koppafloc in the boil and isinglass in the fermenter.

Yeast need oxygen, so maybe that is the issue here. Take the cap off and cover with tin foil instead? I dont think I would cap fermenting bottles of cider. Even if its plastic, I wouldn't want that plastic having to expand to accommodate the pressure caused by fermentation. It could cause...

^^ This isn't a no chill method tho. This is a delayed boil. I think you would prolly be alright. Not recommended of course, but likely ok. As you will be boiling everything the next day, there wont be any residual bacteria and anything that takes hold in the wort would be killed off in...

I think you starting going wrong when you decided on making a lavender Pilsner. It went downhill from there! ;) :D

I think I would heat it up before bottling. I wouldn't bottle anything that was actively fermenting.

Good work! Tackling such a big beer for your first attempt is certainly ambitious. I'm happy to hear that you are pleased with the results so far. cheers!

Good work on taking the first step! If you have been reading the forums for 6+ months, then your first beer will prolly turn out just fine. Enjoy! Cheers, HZ99

Readings are almost always off when you are using extract. Even if the reading is accurate, you would have a hard time telling the difference b/w two beers with OG of 1.048 and 1.042. Have a home brew! :)