Recent content by norbyd

Update: I brewed yesterday and adjusted my mash tun so the leaking, though only minimal before, was completely gone, I adjusted my levels for deadspace, and I went back to an old brew shop that I knew had their mill dialed in. I hit all my levels spot and and still met the OG I was shooting...

Yeah it looks like I just need to be ready to troubleshoot as many potential problems as possible next brew day. I treated for leaks in my MT the other day and found a minor one, but not enough to account for the loss I'm finding on brew day. I'm planning on working on my MT a little to try and...

Yeah I know the weight won't match up exactly, but I'm trying to see if they are close. Right now I'm leaning towards the possibility that somehow the wort is leaking in between the lining of the mash tun. It is possible that I am screwing up the initial volumes, but I feel pretty confident that...

Haha yeah that should be pretty noticeable. I think the next time I brew I'm just gonna weigh everything out before and after I mash and see if everything matches up.

Next time I brew I will take a picture of the grains, I'm pretty sure the mill at the new place I've been going to is too fine. My Mash and Lauter tuns have marks on the inside that measure up to 10 gallons, in my kettle I use a measuring stick. The stick may not be spot-on accurate but there...

Here are the numbers from my most recent 5.5 gallon brew: 10 lbs of grain Mashed with 3.125 gal of water Sparged with an additional 5.07 gal of water Expected absorption was 1.2 gal Expected wort in kettle was 7 gal I ended up with 6.25 gal in my kettle

This most recent batch was just a 3 gallon batch. I normally do 5.5 gal batches. But I have noticed the loss of water/wort in my 5.5 gallon batches as well. I use the mesh from around a hot water pipe for my MT filter, so my deadspace is almost zero. Ruger: my efficency is usually around...

I run a converted 10 gallon igloo cooler for my mash tun with another one for my lauter tun. Lately I have been noticing that I am somehow losing water during my mash. The only potential problems I can think of are that either my mash tun is leaking, the grain is somehow absorbing way more water...

Oh ok that makes sense. I assumed it fermented out close to 100% of the sugar in the bottles which is why I was confused. The volumes of co2 that would produce in the bottle would be insane. I was wanting to do them in glass bottles but I better go get some plastic 2L bottles instead. Thanks...

I am wanting to try to make root beer for the first time. I have been brewing beer for about 3 years now so I wasn't thinking brewing root beer would be very difficult. I have been reading other posts and it sounds like the main problem people have is bottle bombs. I keep seeing that recipes...

I just moved to Salem and would love to get to know some other local homebrewers. I have seen a few different homebrew clubs listed but only one of them had a website with any sort of information on it... and it all seemed outdated. If anyone from the area had any suggestions for clubs they like...

Hey sorry I never got back to you. I appreciate the response. Still not totally sure what exactly caused the yeast to go crazy but everything eventually calmed down. The wit is now at home in bottles and tasting great!

Wondering if this has happened to any if you guys: I'm brewing a Belgian style Wit (WLP400 yeast). I got the normal Krausen of about 3 inches a couple days in and a week in it had only dropped about half an inch. I thought maybe it was a little too warm (my house thermostat is all I have to...