I have a vacuum sealer but do probably two or three five gallon batches per month. I'm already sealing my specialty grains with oxygen absorbers and un-crushed to keep them fresh. Standard two row pale I order in 10 lb bags already crushed and usually just a couple months worth at a time... Chip

Interesting. I had not thought about doing that. My cooler is large enough to to with 8 gallons plus grains in one swoop. But I have always though that it was important to drain the 152 degree wort and then "kick it up a notch" adding hotter water to the drained grain bed to wash the goodies...

I did a 70 minute mash yesterday. Pre boil SG came out 1051 which I thought was pretty good. I may routinely go with at 75 minute mash in the future. Thanks for the input... Chip

$24 for an eight pack of Safale 05 on Amazon. $3 per packet. I'm a prime member so it's free shipping too... Chip

S-05 is half the price of Voss at least on Amazon. And I don't have any way to keep the fermentation numbers that consistently high for Voss. Fermenting at 72 F with S-05 seems to be working fine for me. I believe my problem was mash temps too high... Chip

Interesting. I've been following instructions that I used to get when buying kits from My Brew Supply (I make my own recipe's now). It called for heating sparge water to 170. Although I've been heating to 185-190 so that my "batch" sparge temp will be 170 when the drained mash and sparge...

Thanks for the reply. Yesterday I did hit 152 at start of mash and 149 at end. Pretty tight range I think. Preboil SG 1051 and post SG 1060. About right in line with my recipe. I think my primary problem was caused by mashing too high. If the lower mash temp solves my problem then I...

Spring water is going to be pricey I think but it is something I will definitely look into! Chip

Also, if I do test my water for PH, how do I adjust said PH? Is there a lesson for that? Thank you! Chip

Thanks! I've never tested my water. I get water from a grocery store reverse osmosis machine. Our water at the house has like 650 ppm dissolved solids. We have an RO filter but it can only put out enough for us to do coffee and cooking. I do have the ability to test for both PH and...

Thanks! I'm mashing right now. Used the calculator and hit 152 on the button! And all through the mash not just one spot... Chip

It's pricey. I'll stick with Safale for now and work on my mash temps first. Although I'm fermenting at 72 I think it's pretty consistently that temp. I have a chest freezer with controller but it is my kegerator and only fits one corny keg and a 5lb CO2 tank... Chip

Ouch! They sure are proud of that Voss yeast. Double the price of Safale. And it looks like its best performance is at a much higher temperature range than the environment I'm fermenting in. I think I will work on mash temps first and continue with Safale and see what happens... Chip

I would have a hard time doing that in a cooler... Chip

If/when switching to the Voss yeast can you still pitch it dry? Or need to rehydrate? Chip