Recent content by nate_e

Hey all, I'm planning on making my first Bock (Angel Wings from Brewing Classic Styles). I made a 3-step lager starter (1.75L per step) using WLP833. After the 3rd step, the flask went into the fridge on 3/1. Due to finishing my PhD, brewing got put on hold. Now that the dissertation is...

So I have agreed to brew gift beers for out–of–town guests attending our wedding this fall. So far I've brewed 2 of 4, 5gal batches of a pumpkin ale (OG = 1.055). The rate limiting factor in production is that my fermentation chamber only fit two carboys in at a time. In order to have enough...

I like the look of this, a couple of questions: Are those 2x8's? How did you attach the door to the collar? Can you recomend a kind of insulation? Thanks!

Hey All! I just picked up a Frigidaire "Commercial" (model ffc0723dw5) chest freezer from craigslist and am about to order a 2-stage Ranco controller. The freezer was a steal but the inside dimensions are little wonky. It has a 7 ft^3 capacity as far as I can tell, but as is, it will only fit...

Hah, that made my morning. More than anything, I was skeptical about the 0.045" factory setting. It seemed like a large gap to start with on paper and after trying it out it looks pretty coarse. It still looks better than what I've gotten from NB or the LHBS in the past. From what I've read...

After dealing with variable crush quality from various suppliers, I finally bit the bullet and went in on a MM2. I just ran ~4lbs of 2-row through it to get the burrs off and play with the gap setting. I don't have much experience on this front, so I was wondering if y'all would be willing to...

Thanks for the advice. I've just been using Northern Brewer's AG recipes which (I think) are calculated for 75% efficiency and I've been at the low end of that for larger beers like Denny's Rye IPA. I've been using their crush, but I just ordered a Monster Mill 2 so we'll see what the impact of...

I should mention that I'm not trying to hit efficiencies over 80%. I just want to get into the 75-80% range more consistently with bigger beers

It's been about 70-75%. 3 of the 7 batches I've done have missed the target OG (efficiencies <60%). I can say confidently that one was due to sparging too fast and the other was due to dough balls (the sparge stuck and when stirring to unset the mash, bubbles and dry-ish grain surfaced). The...

I've got 7 AG batches under my belt at this point and I'm getting my efficency pretty well dialed in (just bought a grain mill to improve consistency, retailer crush has been all over the place). At this point I'm trying to improve my process and I've got the following question about water...

The bottom of the BK is at least 1ft below the MLT, but not much more than than that. I thought that maybe flow was impeded as the BK filled, but the fact that stirring the mash and starting the sparge again reestablishes flow argues otherwise.

Thanks, I'll try a slower rate. As for the air, I'm not too concerned about it other than that it seems to be a symptom of the gradual decrease in flow I'm seeing. I'm wondering if draining a bit of water from the MLT before adding the grain at mash-in would flush out air in advance and prevent...

At this point I've completed about 6 AG batches using fly-sparging with out too much drama. At this point my most memorable "learning experiences" have been about the effects of flow rate and stirring thicker mashes on efficiency. But as always I'm trying to improve my process and this part has...

I'm in the same boat, just got a manifold to put in a Danby DAR440. Did you end up mounting yours where you had it in the picture?

Activated the smack pack ~3 hours ago and by the time I came back, the thing had fully inflated! Behold, the power of yeast!