All Grain Brewing Secrets

[Parva]

Trust me, you are really wasting your time sanitising the boiler and mash tun, it will make absolutely no difference on the end result.

[softlad]

But that feels bad - like sneaking a crafty sweet in during a maths lesson

ok. Sod it !! I'll take that leap of faith and just rinse them out

could this be the end of my OCD ?

[J_P]

Cool your wort to 80C and then throw in hops, lots of hops put in as many as you dare and then throw in another handful, leave it for half an hour and then cool and ferment. That's the best thing I've learned, and I learned it here

[Gurgeh]

But that feels bad - like sneaking a crafty sweet in during a maths lesson

I find most of the kids don't notice, and those that do aren't fussed. I have a 10% taxation rule on chocolate consumed in my classroom

[Gurgeh]

Cool your wort to 80C and then throw in hops, lots of hops put in as many as you dare and then throw in another handful, leave it for half an hour and then cool and ferment. That's the best thing I've learned, and I learned it here

I suspect I'd like your beer J_P

[Damfoose]

best bit of advice i have ever had related to brewing is use the KISS principle.

Absolutely. I might be able to Talk the Talk, (my mind works that way . . . and I am interested in the really esoteric aspects to brewing chemistry), but that doesn't mean that I Walk the Walk on a brewday . . . As Damfoose will be able to say

Dont go bringing me into this I know nothing as I have only done one single AG my self .

My tupenth worth, Meet with another brewer for a brewday take notes unless you have a really good memory for things it is amazing how much you actually pick up.

[J_P]

Cool your wort to 80C and then throw in hops, lots of hops put in as many as you dare and then throw in another handful, leave it for half an hour and then cool and ferment. That's the best thing I've learned, and I learned it here

I suspect I'd like your beer J_P

This is a bit of a hop bomb, I've just sent the last two bottles of it out otherwise we could have done swapsies

[Neal]

I too am intrigued by the Campden tablet comment, drsmurto

[drsmurto]

I tend to be relatively vocal with my opinion of people playing around with water chemistry.

I dont and yet i have a PhD in chemistry.

Far too often peoples additions are simply robbing peter to pay paul. Campden tablets are the classic example.

Whats the classic example with campden tablets?

Campden tablets are sodium (or potassium) metabisulphite.

They remove the chorine by converting it to chloride (the sulphite converts to SO2)

What most brewing texts ignore (even the Wizard from BYO) is that the sodium or potassium ions are still there. So you are effectively increasing the Na (or K) levels in your beer.

The other major issue is that you arent adding a molar equivalent of metabisulphite, you are adding a massive excess.

The easiest way to get rid of chlorine is by boiling.

Good quality carbon filtration units do the job too.

[delboy]

I tend to be relatively vocal with my opinion of people playing around with water chemistry.

I dont and yet i have a PhD in chemistry.

Far too often peoples additions are simply robbing peter to pay paul. Campden tablets are the classic example.

Whats the classic example with campden tablets?

Campden tablets are sodium (or potassium) metabisulphite.

They remove the chorine by converting it to chloride (the sulphite converts to SO2)

What most brewing texts ignore (even the Wizard from BYO) is that the sodium or potassium ions are still there. So you are effectively increasing the Na (or K) levels in your beer.

The other major issue is that you arent adding a molar equivalent of metabisulphite, you are adding a massive excess.

The easiest way to get rid of chlorine is by boiling.

Good quality carbon filtration units do the job too.

Whats the impact of higher Na or K in the beer, is it detrimental in the concentrations we are talking about?

[mysterio]

Sodium levels can go up to 100ppm in beer without much of a flavour impact, unless combined with a high level of sulphates.

[Jim]

Also, boiling can't get rid of chloramine which is added to many water supplies these days.

[Subsonic]

My friend in Texas confirmed precisely that to me today, I am tempted to try a camden tablet next time on the 11 gallon 51 IBU American IPA that he just gave me the recipe for

[drsmurto]

Have you taken a pH reading before and after treating your water with campden tabs?

What are the by products?

This is what i mean by robbing peter to pay paul.

Yes, it removes chlorine and chloramine but its a chemical reaction so different chemicals are left behind.

What are those chemicals and in what concentrations?

[steve_flack]

Have you taken a pH reading before and after treating your water with campden tabs?

The pH reading of the water is largely irrelevant as it's the mash pH that matters.

What are the by products?

Chloride and ultimately sulphate (probably... I haven't checked this), Neither is a big worry given the concentrations we're talking about. As previously mentioned the sodium or potassium counter ion isn't a problem either. Any excess bisulfite is more likely to be beneficial as it can reduce oxidation in the mash. Besides, if you're using half a tablet in five gallons then the amount of bisulfite added is less than 10ppm (as is the sodium or potassium)