Recent content by mezman

The starter is fermenting, I guess we'll see what happens. :)

This may be a foolish question, but will cider yeast groove on DME? I made a starter for a cider I plan to make this weekend and without thinking about it I just kind went into autopilot and did my standard stater procedure with DME and didn't even think about whether or not I should have done...

So when you say I need to push the needle in the direction that's correct, does that mean bending it? Or is that just sliding the zero point of the needle somewhere inside the gauge?

I just ordered a new 3 body secondary regulator so I could move my CO2 tank outside of my kegerator and open up more space for more kegs. :) However, they arrived yesterday and none of the three 0-60psi gauges read the same and two of them don't read 0 with no pressure applied. So I'm...

It's not the first time I've had a starter ferment over (is there a better term?) but this is certainly the most vigorous. Normally I wouldn't care and just clean up the mess, but since this is a starter, and the point of the starter is to increase my pitching rate, I'm wondering if I lost too...

If $67 is too steep, you can watch it, maybe the price on it fluctuates. Or look for other stores selling them. I've been quite pleased with the pot. No complaints or problems yet though I've only made three brews since I got it in May. I'd pay $67 for this pot again if I needed a second...

Why do you say not to shake it? If I've already purged the headspace of the keg of O2, what's the harm in shaking?

Is there any benefit to shaking the keg at chart pressure (e.g. 12 psi in the example in the OP)? Will that decrease the carbonation time without having to overpressure the keg?

Yeah, that's kinda what my research showed as well, northernlad. I think that I might go with the 60 Qt Winco 3003 Al pot. At only $57, it's not a huge investment if it turns out to not be what I need. And if it does, well all the better!

Hmm...I don't think that's true. I just got a reply back from Update about what alloy they use to make their pots (nice and fast too). Susan Lin says it's 1100 series aluminum. So then the next question is, when it comes to our purposes, does it really matter if a pot's 1100 or 3003 or...

Thanks for the advice. I sent off an email asking what kind of Al it is, specifically if it's an 11xx or 30xx series alloy. Yeah, that's what I was thinking too, but the 30xx series Al alloys are supposed to be tougher and more resistant to dents and dings. I looked up the metallurgical...

So if a known alloy like 3004 or 3003 is better than an unknown Al alloy, is 4mm thick 3003 better than 6mm thick unknown alloy? I'm waffling between these two pots: 60 Qt 3003 Al pot for $57 or 60 Qt unknown Al alloy 6mm thick pot for $62. Thoughts?

So I'm about to pull the trigger on a 60 qt Al pot. Some pots advertise 3004 Al alloy. Most don't and the 3004 alloy pots are pricier. I looked up what 3004 is and it seems to be just related to being higher in manganese. Does that make it sturdier? Safer? Prettier? Magic? Thanks!

The picture shows a pot with sticker on it that says "4mm" but that may or may not be the actual pot.

What wall thickness (or duty level) should I be looking for in a 40-60qt pot? I'm imagining that heavy gauge, is going to be better than standard but maybe it makes no difference?