Recent content by RedBarnBrewery

Ahhhhh, no Sir. I of course did not read the instructions. I also refuse to ask for directions... Jokes aside, point taken. The only times I've bothered to open Bru'n Water is when I needed something, i.e. water chem. I've not yet taken the time to sit down and study it to figure it out...

Looks like I've got a lot of reading to do. Thanks for all the support. Only wish I'd found this forum 9 months ago.

I guess I should have mentioned earlier, I live on a small farm in a rural area. We have well water that contains high levels of iron and sulfur. High enough that we have an oxygen infusion filter before our softener to remove the iron and sulfur. That being said, it's not great to drink, so...

Thank you so much for the help. Fingers now crossed that all this grain and water fits in my grain bag...

Can do. Last question, what should I use for the NaCl? I know that is "salt", but what kind? Kosher salt, regular table salt?

Wow. Awesome. Thanks. I’ll be doing a 5-1/2 gallon batch. Starting water is 8.97 gallons as I use .32 qt/lb grain absorption. 90 minute boil using 1.5 gallon/hour boil off rate.

As of now the plan is yes

Fair enough. Any advice on my stout recipe?

By "a couple of grams" do you mean 2? Do you mess around with pH?

Hello all. Been brewing all grain BIAB for about 9 months now. Started by using spring water with no salt additions or lactic acid. More recently, I’ve been playing around with “EZ Water Calculator Spreadsheet 3.0”. The results have been mixed. Nothing terrible, but I’ve brewed an IPA once with...

Thanks for all the help tonight. One last question. I'm also inclined to let it ride. Any guess how long I should leave it fermenting at 50°F before I raise the temp for an attempt at a diacetyl rest? It was brewed on August 29th. I'd guess it started fermenting within a day as I saw...

Understood on all points. The calculator and step up process make sense to me now. On a different note, would it be possible to "save" the poor Helles Bock that I've got going right now? It's been fermenting for about a week and a half. As described above, there was not nearly enough yeast...

Oooooh, I get it now. Increasing the gravity of the starter recipe simply uses more DME. It helps to get the yeast count higher. I see...

Thanks. Can you help me understand the "step up" process in the calculator? I'm imagining it involves making a 2L starter with the recommended amount of DME, let it spin for a day or so, then decant the liquid, leaving the yeast and do it all over again? Is this right?

Hey gang, thanks again for the responses. I'm beginning to realize that building a starter of any real size while using those fun little cans of pre-made wort is going to get expensive quickly. Back to DME it is. I've started playing around with the yeast calculator linked above. I believe...