Jim's Beer Kit

Bit confused, Cobnut! You support PeeBee in his thought that home brewers shouldn't have to worry about water treatment. Then you say you brewed beers which went down the drain until you treated your water with CRS. Now you win medals in national competitions. Firstly, congrats on the medals. But, s...

Very interesting. Looks like pH 5.6 at about 66°C is good. Also looks like my 5.1pH mash might produce a weird beer!

Guy

Thanks for the input gents. Appreciated. Looks like I need to revise my target alkalinity figures upwards. To date I've been working on 15-20 for very pale beers (Maris Otter, Vienna and perhaps caragold); 20-25 for middling colour beers (MO, Vienna and pale crystal) and 45-50 for darker beers (MO, ...

All things being the same with the next beer I would suggest backing off the acid amount you used to leave an extra 20-30ppm residual alkalinity (so aiming for 65-75ish). Also important to taste the beer and make notes on how you find it, both this and the revised version. Wow, 65-70 ish. Seems hig...

Today's brew is 5kg Maris Otter, 400g crystal malt and 100g chocolate malt, mashed in 14l liquor. After adding CRS the mash liquor alkalinity was 44 ppm. The mash pH at about 20 minutes was 5.1. The lowest I've ever had. Hopefully not too low to make good beer though! Bearing in mind the amount of c...

Thanks for that, Jim. Graham's notes are really helpful. I just suspect he made some sort of error when setting up the Burton formula. I always use the 'automatic' setting, so looking at what Graham has set up is for interest rather than anything else. Tomorrow's brew will have a 5:2 sulphate:chlori...

In Graham's calculator he has a 8:1 sulphate:chloride ratio for Burton pale ale.

Is this correct, please?

Thanks.

Guy

Binkie Huckaback wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 17, 2019 10:56 am

I'll double-check the settings this afternoon. Yes, Guy, definitely plugged into heating, not cooling.

Shame, would have been such an easy cure!!

Guy

It should jut about handle a 2kW element. Worth checking you've been through the temperature setting process as described by Top Cat. The last step is important, or the Inkbird won't remember the temperature you've set. Secondly--forgive me for asking--you have got the element plugged into the heate...

Where have you put the temperature sensor on the Inkbird and where's the thermometer you're using to check the temperature?

Guy

Thanks for the info peeb Cracked it now, bearing in mind your helpful info. the ions have clearly all fallen out in my cheap ebay probe. Should never have left it in the upright position. In fact, I've just looked at the little bottle the probe is stored in, and it's absolutely stuffed full of ions....

PeeBee wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 14, 2019 5:09 pm

The probes deteriorate about as quick unused as used. Bummer that isn't it! Stockpiling "spares" is a real no-no!

What is it that deteriorates? Isn't the solution they are kept in supposed to keep them working OK?

Guy

Thanks Orlando. Ordered. The other one is going in the bin.

Guy

The battery's still good. Shame, would have been an easy fix!

Guy

It's been in the proper fluid since it arrived. Battery? Hadn't even crossed my mind. I'll go and check the one in the Voltcraft now. Thanks for the idea.

Guy