Search found 784 matches

by MTW
Sat Aug 31, 2019 8:36 pm
Forum: Grain Brewing
Topic: Can anyone recommend a decent digital thermometer?
Replies: 11
Views: 3966

Re: Can anyone recommend a decent digital thermometer?

The Thermapen is awesome. Fast, accurate. But I will say that I don't think that basic version is well designed for brewing. If you dip any part of the pivoting hinge in liquid, the contacts inside will corrode and you'll find it won't turn on when opened. The pro version is much better in this reg...
by MTW
Fri Aug 16, 2019 9:55 am
Forum: Kit Brewing
Topic: Increase ABV Without Sacrificing Flavour
Replies: 8
Views: 3347

Re: Increase ABV Without Sacrificing Flavour

If I were adding sugar to a kit nowadays, I'd be doing it after about 48 hours of fermentation, in a small dilution, boiled and cooled. I think this would avoid some of the more fruity and unwanted alcohol flavours I had in kits many years ago. Make sure to pitch plenty of carefully rehydrated yeast...
by MTW
Wed Aug 14, 2019 5:25 pm
Forum: Fermentation
Topic: Hydrometer for people with bad eyesight
Replies: 55
Views: 16216

Re: Hydrometer for people with bad eyesight

I like the dilution idea, of course that is another thing to measure accurately (or cock up!) but I would have thought easy enough to do with a little care. Absolutely. My thinking is that any method short of a large jar and long Stevenson hydrometer is going to have a reasonable margin of error, b...
by MTW
Wed Aug 14, 2019 1:21 pm
Forum: Fermentation
Topic: Hydrometer for people with bad eyesight
Replies: 55
Views: 16216

Re: Hydrometer for people with bad eyesight

I just read this thread with interest, and hope I haven't missed someone saying this before: If you can get hold of a decent finishing hydrometer that goes up to 1.020 over a more readable scale, then you can dilute your samples above 1.020, and factor that into the reading. I have tried this with m...
by MTW
Tue Aug 13, 2019 5:27 pm
Forum: Braumeister, Grainfather and other One-Pot Brewing Systems
Topic: Pros and Cons?
Replies: 31
Views: 14951

Re: Pros and Cons?

But it's just natural progression - who remembers "floating mashtuns"? I reckon I'll live long enough to join in laughing at ageing "one-pot" systems. Yes, I do! I had one attempt at a floating bucket in a Burco boiler I got from a scrap yard in about 1994, as per the Dave Line book. My first all g...
by MTW
Tue Aug 13, 2019 3:31 pm
Forum: Braumeister, Grainfather and other One-Pot Brewing Systems
Topic: Pros and Cons?
Replies: 31
Views: 14951

Re: Pros and Cons?

Good luck with the GF. I spent £300 on a Klarstein (see also Hopcat/Brewdevil/guten etc) 30L after years of brewing in coolbox/pots. I would say the following to your original post: 1. Definitely not, as others have confirmed. If I'd never brewed before, I'd have probably sat back, trusted what it w...
by MTW
Tue Aug 13, 2019 12:40 pm
Forum: Brewing Liquor
Topic: Contradictory pH results in Brewer's Friend Calculator
Replies: 8
Views: 4085

Re: Contradictory pH results in Brewer's Friend Calculator

I think it's only a matter of time before I get a good pH meter, to be honest. It's just never been the next £50 or so I've wanted to spend, when a lot of (mainly American) brewers seem to report accurate predictions with their favoured calculator. I think the reason I've posted again now about this...
by MTW
Mon Aug 12, 2019 9:19 pm
Forum: Brewing Liquor
Topic: Contradictory pH results in Brewer's Friend Calculator
Replies: 8
Views: 4085

Re: Contradictory pH results in Brewer's Friend Calculator

Thanks Jocky - great help in the last sentence there. Graham Wheeler's calculator (in the Extras section on here) wants carbonate down to about 25ppm CACO3 (15ppm CO3) for a bitter, if I've understood his target profile correctly. Even for a porter and stout, his target profile only goes up to 83ppp...
by MTW
Sun Aug 11, 2019 3:37 pm
Forum: Brewing Liquor
Topic: Contradictory pH results in Brewer's Friend Calculator
Replies: 8
Views: 4085

Re: Contradictory pH results in Brewer's Friend Calculator

August 2019 - Bit of a follow up and a new question. Brewer's Friend is suggesting a target strike alkalinity that is much higher than I would expect for an ordinary bitter. We resolved (above) that the 'beer colour' only feature of the BF calculator produces a lower mash pH estimate than when you t...
by MTW
Fri Aug 09, 2019 11:21 pm
Forum: Malts and Grits
Topic: Amber Malt.
Replies: 17
Views: 7689

Re: Amber Malt.

This is such a timely topic for me! I have just (deliberately) taken delivery of my first ever amber malt, because it's one I've never used. Mind you, 5Kg would take a bit of using-up! What maltster? I read that Crisp's is lighter and less roasty than Fawcett's; I have Crisp, and I'm planning to put...
by MTW
Sat Apr 20, 2019 10:44 pm
Forum: Brewing Equipment
Topic: 0.01g accuracy scales up to around 200g or 500g
Replies: 14
Views: 3792

Re: 0.01g accuracy scales up to around 200g or 500g

I bought some cheap ubiquitous 0.01g/200g scales and never looked back. I test them with pound coins at 9.5g now and then, and they're great! It's true though, you do start measuring everything with them. No longer am I happy to accept hop additions that may be 1g one way or the other! Haven't yet u...
by MTW
Mon Mar 25, 2019 5:19 pm
Forum: Fermentation
Topic: Beer priming for bottling ; temp & residual CO2?
Replies: 14
Views: 4598

Re: Beer priming for bottling ; temp & residual CO2?

I agree with the comments above; developing your judgement based on your own, repeatable process, is the best idea. I would add that I have never made a regular British style ale that I considered to be undercarbonated, and I've gone as low as 12g sugar in 20L of beer in priming a (theoretically) fu...
by MTW
Tue Mar 12, 2019 11:02 pm
Forum: Events
Topic: Jim's Northeast Brewer's Night.
Replies: 553
Views: 144622

Re: Jim's Northeast Brewer's Night.

I keep seeing this thread and thinking that I used to consider my native Scarbados as fairly 'northeast'; clearly not. It would be a long stagger home! I should have called out when I stayed in the Washington Premier Inn a year ago. :roll:
by MTW
Sat Mar 09, 2019 1:18 pm
Forum: Braumeister, Grainfather and other One-Pot Brewing Systems
Topic: Minibrew, Braumeister or grainfather
Replies: 10
Views: 5732

Re: Minibrew, Braumeister or grainfather

To add to my previous post, with Kev's in mind, I'm very glad I had 80ish brews under my belt on a 3 tier system before using the machine (Klarstein, in my case). A few brews in on that, and I am far from setting-and-forgetting! The tolerances of mash/sparge temperatures are much wider than I used t...
by MTW
Fri Mar 08, 2019 4:50 pm
Forum: Braumeister, Grainfather and other One-Pot Brewing Systems
Topic: Minibrew, Braumeister or grainfather
Replies: 10
Views: 5732

Re: Minibrew, Braumeister or grainfather

...or halve the outlay again with a 20L Guten (brew devil, Klarstein, Hopcat... all tweaks to the same underlying product). Some economies will be evident, but your beer may taste the same.

Just making sure you know more options.