Recent content by Mad Alchemist

Thanks, hazard. So, you either have to not include chocolate malt in your steep and only include roasted barley or black patent, or you can increase your chocolate malt by 50-60%. I'll try to get my original post updated with that information and the link to How to Brew. I'll also crosscheck the...

In my experience, yes. Or, nearly exactly the same. A "perfect" roasted grain will give you all of the flavor, aroma, and color if steeped as if they are mashed. There are subtle differences, but it's not appreciable to my senses. The same can be said for true caramel malts. However, there are...

Note: Also available over at Mad Alchemist. Thanks for the feedback on a couple of previous posts/questions here that helped lead me to the conclusions presented here. Creating the perfect water profile and mash for a sweet stout is an exercise in contradiction. You want the beer to be very...

Dang, if that's the case, I'll have to go with... Mash: 1.95g Magnesium Sulfate 3.15g Calcium Chloride 7.60g Sodium Bicarbonate Boil: 0.50g Magnesium Sulfate 0.80g Calcium Chloride That ought to keep my mash pH at 5.2 and allow me to get around 100ppm Chloride and 50ppm Sulfate in the final...

Something I've always wondered that would help me with mashes for very dark beers: Is it okay for me to add nothing but Baking Soda (Sodium Bicarbonate) to the mash to raise the mash pH in a very dark beer? Does the mash actually need Calcium, or can I add my Calcium Sulfate, Calcium Chloride...

Thanks all. What I ended up doing this time was dumping the grain, letting the bag dry, then brushing all the grain out that I could (which was a significant majority of it). Then I boiled some water and dipped the bag all around in it to extract anything remaining (there was a decent amount...

Don't have any pics in a glass right now, but when my wife gets home with a camera, I'll see if I can take it. Yes, wait until primary fermentation has slowed considerably before adding anything to secondary. I tend to wait almost two weeks before adding them in secondary, then I rack it out...

I found some nice voile fabric for my second BIAB brew, but I've run into a small issue: I can't figure out the best way to clean my bag. The best I could figure was to let it dry completely so the grain would come out, but it's not all out of there. Should I try to boil it so it doesn't matter...

The wattage is 1650. Cost was about $130 (US). It was pretty tough to find this because it is no longer made and has been replaced by a more efficient fryer (which means it's smaller and can't hold nearly as much liquid). I thought about putting the lid on half way, but I'll have to find a good...

I'm posting the entirety of a blog post I just wrote here, but if you want to see it at its original location, you can find it here: http://www.madalchemist.com/archives/brew-...electric-fryer/ I got all of my equipment for my indoor brew-in-a-bag experiment this week. My plan was to wait...

I have two versions of this recipe. One is almost a Dry Stout turned toward Sweet Stout, and the other is pure Sweet Stout. This is the recipe for my Hazelmocha Cream Stout (Dry). It's a dark, sweet, full-bodied, and deceptively dry sweet stout with chocolate, coffee, and hazelnut flavors due in...

Thanks. Sounds like a good solution that I'll put on my list of things to try if my first solution doesn't work out.

Anyone have experience insulating a mash tun or brew kettle? I picked up some Reflectix and plan on wrapping up my (indoor electric) brew kettle with it, along with a few spacers so it's not actually touching the bulk of the heat. Hoping it'll work, but wanted to see if anyone has experience...

I've never used Belgian Caramel Pils. According to a handy grain chart at BYO: That sounds a lot like Dextrin Malt to me, and I'm interested in using it if it's similar. The two malts I'm wondering about in the comparison are: Belgian Caramel Pils Briess Carapils Anyone have experience with...

You guys really are full of great ideas! I've done some searching here and I can't find anything remotely near the 40L capacity (can't find much more than 20L) you're talking about, but it's something to look for now. Thanks much!