homebrewandbeer.com

PS: Before SMOI gives his obligatory speech about oxygen being necessary for ester production (though I do believe it impacts higher alcohol production) I will again point out that I do not agree with this theory.

When the technical guys from all the major yeast suppliers, including Wyeast and ...

Have a read of the document in conjunction with Jamil's writings on yeast starters. The introduction discusses the need for this quite succinctly and Jamil speaks with a good balance of theory and practice.

As I read it, it is generally accepted that you need around four yeast replications in order ...

My plan is to build a starter on my stir-plate as per usual, which means cooling it in the fridge and disposing of the beer before pitching the yeast into my wort. I will add the oil immediately before chilling.

To get the amount right, I think I will boil a drop of oil in a saucepan of water and ...

I found the olive oil document at:

http://anthonyrants.com/OliveOil.doc

I'm assuming it is undoctored from the original...

Apologies for extreme topic offness...

But, the signal to noise ratio is also really high, so I find that I have to trawl through a *lot* of dross to find the good stuff.
I think you mean "the signal to noise ratio is really low."


Yep. That *is* what I meant, but for some reason I had a doubt about phrasing and so I googled it and ...

I've got some mates who reckon that moving to kegs makes a bigger difference than moving from kit/extract to grain brewing

If it makes you feel any better SMOI I think your mates are talking crap. :P

I fail to see how that will make him feel any better. :lol:

Given that I'm a bit over ...

Hmmmm, I'm not altogether in agreement that the "Intraweb thingy" is mainly ill-conceived babble. To call it babble suggests you know better...


Not at all. There is a great deal of stuff that has helped me a lot (and I have a very long way to go) in brewing and other endeavours. But, the signal ...

I've found that much of what you hear in the HBS (pub, tram, street or almost any other place) or read on the Intraweb thingy is likely to be ill-conceived babble. I get ideas from both places (less so the HBS these days as I have outgrown their style of doing things). Shops that are staffed by ...

I'm just worried about Kev doing some bag on his wife's overlocker :shock:

I was going to ask if his wife helped him, but that would be tasteless in the extreme and I am not that kind of guy.

OK... I am that kind of guy. But it is so hard to change the habits of a lifetime.

For the record, I ...

Almost everything I own has a tap in it - life is too short to go without...

When I was accepting bottles from anyone and anywhere, I would soak them in nappy wash for a week or so before rinsing well.

There's not much that can fit in a bottle that will survive that sort of treatment.

Periodically, I soak bottles in a solution of caustic or something like it for a couple of days. If you're a bacterium and can survive that, you're welcome to all the beer you can chew through.

...and my reducer is normally slot side up, but I'm gonna do the next one slot down so it doesn't suck in loose leaves and floaties from the tettnanger addition. The yeast is always well clear of the tap.


Theorising... Do you think you might get more yeast getting sucked through that way? If ...

Drifting off-topic a little, I wonder (regardless of whether you currently use or tried and discarded them) in what orientation who uses/used their sediment reducers - slot/opening up or down?

From memory, I tried both before discarding them, but my memory is basically shot...

Of course, you must rack must in order to get lees, but otherwise I think must might be too strong a word.

I looked at ProMash and BeerSmith. I bought and use BeerSmith.

ProMash is fine if you like 16th century computer interfaces...

I installed an electric kettle element in my Pilot Plant kettle using the cheap holesaw I had on hand. It turned out wonderfully, but the fact that it was a cheap stockpot helped - it was nice and thin and if I bolloxed it up, I was only down $20. I'm contemplating doing it for my FBigBoiler, which ...

I recently racked a Scottish Wee Heavy from plastic to a 20-litre glass demijohn because I expected it to take a while to complete. It's still going, so I was strangely correct. I rack my meads into (nowadays) glass to clear and age them in bulk before bottling - the first one is beautifully clear ...

I've seen the recipe section and read the claims, but from what I've experienced HB never tastes quite like Commercial Beer. Is this an inherent HB problem, or am I just too inexperienced?

I expect to be criticised, but herewego...

I reckon that pretty much all beer that comes from what we tend ...

But what are you going to do with all this kit???