Recent content by mb-squared

Hi gavin8019, I think it will be easier to understand once you get your BCS. With the BCS, each stage of your brew day is broken down into a "process" (e.g. "get mash-in temp", "protein rest", "saccharification" etc.). A process terminates after a specified time or temp has been reached. On...

I'm pretty sure you're right manticle. I might just try a starter to satisfy my curiosity though. It was an outstanding, highly commendable effort by my friend to get me the yeast -- too bad it's a dietary supplement that has probably been baked in an oven at a very high temp :(

OK cool. I do not know how to use google translate on a picture. A friend sent me this from the Orval gift shop. She thinks it is the actual yeast used in the brewery there. I kinda doubt that, but I wonder if it would make a decent Belgian? Whattya reckon?

Can anyone translate this for me?

Already lots of conflicting info in this thread, and I'm not going to help matters, but this is what I do. After every brew, I add 1/2 cup of caustic soda (aka lye or drano) to ~20L of boiling water in my BK and then pump it through my whole system for 15mins as a pseudo cip. I've got a copper...

too bad you are not in the Sydney area. I'd take those in a heartbeat

I use pure O2 and a diffusion stone to oxygenate the wort in-line on its way from the BK to the fermentor. This works beautifully for the yeast and my beers finish right where they are supposed to finish. But everything I read says that oxygen is horrible for the hop oils/aroma that we're...

well, the first recipe has 200g of post-boil additions and the second recipe has 250g of post-boil additions. but I think there probably were more IBUs in the first recipe because all of the post-boil hops were added at 85+ degrees. In the second recipe, I made sure that the BK was down to 65C...

wow, those are similar. I didn't know about this recipe but I have brewed his 'electric pale ale' before and I really like the Centennial/Amarillo combo followed by a Citra bomb at the end. I've started adding my Citra into the whirlpool once the BK gets down to around 65C and have been...

I'm sure it was all of the above. This wasn't about making small incremental changes to a recipe; this was about finding a recipe to start with. I think I have that now and so any future brews with this recipe will be small and more controlled. But to be honest, as of right now, I don't think...

yep, the Vienna made a big difference, but I think the change in hops and using a lower temp for the second whirlpool addition were important changes too.

Well this didn't generate much feedback, but I think I've sorted it out. The first recipe, posted above, was OK, but not great. A little too thin in the body and a little too harsh in the bitterness for my liking, though others thought it was fine. I decided to opt for some "smoother" hops...

my guess is that the cara-munich isn't doing you any favours -- maybe drop that down to ~3% next time? but I suspect the real reason is that the hops had been exposed to oxygen at some point before you got them. oxygen (and high temps) kills hop aroma/flavour. maybe try a different source for...

Hi Mick, when you say you can fit 2 50L kegs, is that side-by-side? Cheers,

my experience has been great; highly recommended. As for the gap, I use .85mm, but I've got a 3V system. So may not be appropriate for your application.