25. No bad on them though. I know there is a lack of judges right now and this will push me to improve. Also, I haven’t done much re my bitterness ratios. I’m researching that now (instead of working. Hah!).

Ironically, two of the three were bottled using a beer gun and one was from the keg. I am going to check all my measurement tools again. I'm probably going to add hops differently since I don't think I get great utilization anyway (I've used hop bags because I don't want to clog the...

I did wonder about crosstalk from the judges. Those were the measured gravities. The Blonde ale is a 5 gallon batch with 8lbs 2 row, 4oz munich (I wanted a touch of malt and sweet), and a pound of wheat. Started 1.048 down to 1.006. San Diego Super Yeast. It is quite sweet. The finish is crisp...

Sadly, this was the result of the competition I just entered. I got that from both judges. I measure gravity with a hydrometer before going into the fermenter and then confirm that with my Tilt (which was calibrated). Sigh.

I have brewed three beers recently that were described as sweet. In each case, they had fermented well and had used a 148 saccharification rest or combo 148 and 156. The three beers were very different: an imperial stout, belgian golden strong and a blonde ale. Thoughts about what direction I...

I am thinking about taking a break from brewing beer and instead making some cheese in my beer refrigerator. Do you think it is safe to go back to beer if I clean the refrigerator well after aging cheese in there for several months?

What yeast have you been using, Mark?

I would like to tame the esters and phenols I am getting from my Belgian Golden Strong beers. I am successfully attenuating but I think it is at the cost of really driving the esters, plus I am getting acetaldehyde. What are people’s thoughts about how I can improve? By way of background, I am...

Just to clarify, you take one gallon of the first runnings, not the results of the sparge.

I have a porter recipe I like but want to up the toffee notes in it. I have read that reducing some of the wort by half (maybe a couple pints) will do that. For an experiment, I reduce some of the final beer. Bleah! I forgot that method would also double the bitterness. But that failed...

I have been testing at 15 minutes and that is why I wanted to get this right, and I also have the obligatory shot glass for ph measurements! I'll cool the shot glass in advance so it will cool the sample faster to room temperature. Thank you, all!

So, I did the test to see the impact of cooling on the measured ph. I heated some tap water and then measured as a cooled the water in stages Temp 153 ph 7.64 Temp 137 ph 7.78 Temp 122 ph 7.87 Temp 110 ph 7.89 Temp 85 ph 7.91 I repeated the test with a different starting ph...

Well, that might explain that. Like I said, I must have been doing something stupid.

Let me do some tests based on temperature and then will report back. I thought the temperature calibration that comes with the MW102 took care of that. Thx.

My last brew was predicted at 5.49 and the meter showed 5.28 after the mash. Temp of the sample was probably 120ish. I am certain this is me doing something foolish but looking for some ideas. I started with RO water and added 3 grams of gypsum on 1 gram of calcium chloride to this recipe...

I've been doing salt additions for a couple years now and the calculated ph is always .2ish higher than the actual. I got a good Milwaukee tester with the calibration solutions. I have used RO water, tap water and Crystal Geyser bottled water. Any thoughts?

And the answer to this was an Inkbird thermometer WAAAY out of calibration. That needs to be added to my pre-brew checklist.

I do know what you mean and that makes me suspicious about one of the thermometers. I'm not at high krausen yet, but close enough that the activity would have evened out the temp. Great point.

I just got a tilt and am learning new things about my setup: there is a significant difference between the temp at the top of the fermenter vs the bottom. In a 3 gallon carboy in the frig, I use an inkbird with a thermowell controlling a heat wrap giving me 70 degrees towards the bottom of the...

That looks pretty good, Yooper. Thank you, everyone, for the suggestions. I am taking a 3 week hiatus from brewing (while on vacation!), and will enjoy finishing the stout recipe while sitting with a beer in one hand and the ocean in the distance. I'll report back after brewing.