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Just about everybody talks about pH at room temperature because the probes are usually not designed to get that hot. The guy talking about pH at mash temps is the weird one.

Ludwig Narziss states in his books that it is preferable to run the mash at a slightly higher pH than the boil, even for pale beers. Alpha amylase is badly inhibited at 5.1. A pH of 5.5 is the best compromise for alpha and beta enzymes and there is no risk of tannin extraction. 5.5 is also a...

It's a great technique for carbonating, but actually isn't intended only for that. Krausening has historically been used when racking beer from a primary vessel to a lagering tank to help attenuate beer more fully, clean up off flavors more quickly, and remove any oxygen that was picked up...

Actually try it with 2-3% carahell before you poo-poo it :) Look at the grists detailed in this presentation: http://www.ahaconference.org/wp-content/uploads/presentations/2008/SteveHolle_GermanBrewing.pdf If you can find them (and read German) look up Ludwig Narziss' textbooks and read his...

Sounds good - don't forget to use German crystal eg caramunich, carahell from a German maltster like Weyermann.

I wouldn't use Munich in jahrhundert. Contrary to what the home brew recipes say the Germans don't use Munich in light colored beers. Try a very small amount of (German) caramel malt, and don't get caught up in matching the color.

One thing to keep in mind is that Ayinger is likely getting near 100% efficiency, and they're probably also endosperm mashing Jahrhundert. These two factors combined are going to decrease the color of the beer by ~0.5 SRM. I believe that there is more than just pils malt in there - probably 2 to...

Maybe your bottle of lactic acid is contaminated or something? Can you drink German beer and not notice the rusty flavor? Just about every single German brewery is using mash and boil acidification with lactic acid in the form of acid malt or soured wort.

Completely out of curiosity, what prevents you from moving elsewhere?

You need to know your limit of attenuation in order to establish whether your problem is in wort production or fermentation. Draw a sample, throw in a teaspoon of dry bread yeast, give it a good shake, and let it ferment out in a pint glass covered with foil on your kitchen counter for a couple...

You need to know your limit of attenuation, i.e. what fraction of the sugars you started with are actually fermentable. Draw a sample, massively overpitch it with lots of yeast (dry bread yeast is fine, try a quarter to half teaspoon for an 8 oz sample), shake it up every time you walk by, and...

The reason you might want to cold crash at high krausen is because that is when the culture is at maximum cell density in the wort, as well as maximum yeast health. After high krausen, it's true that there is continued reproduction, but that reproduction is almost entirely for cell replacement...

Pilsner Urquell in the new 0.5 liter cans tastes almost like it does fresh in the Czech Republic. I love it!

I wish there was a disclaimer before every discussion about "Does X matter?" telling you if the OP was trying to brew "good" beer or "world-class" beer. People who have differing opinions on whether or not X matters often have different goals with respect to the kind of beer they're trying to brew.

Depending on the malt, it can take anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours for an acid rest to lower the pH to below 5.5. A malt data sheet isn't going to tell you how much phytase is in the malt. Use a pH meter if you're insistent on going this route. And just FYI, lactobacillus is abundant...

Have you brewed with this yet? I am super curious about getting a bag.

Use a 3 gallon corny keg! I ferment slightly larger than 3 gallon batches in 3 gallon corny kegs, so my fermenting keg is filled past the weld line almost to the top. I use the gas-in to connect to a blowoff tube - I removed the poppet valve from the gas post as well as the one from the gas...

Why not work with your club or the other clubs in your circuit and invite him to give a talk on his brewing methods at a club meeting (when he's in town of course)? You might learn something.

They typically use a small amount of sauergut, aka wort from a sour mash.

If all the researchers try to do is make lager yeasts which taste belgian, than it's a wasted opportunity. Yes, lager yeasts can produce beer that tastes "clean" compared to a belgian or English beer. That doesn't mean that it has no yeast derived flavors. If you brew some lagers using...