Id recommend to avoid transferring them into the fermenter(assuming you’re talking about the boiled hops). Look into dry hopping if you want to add more hop aromas and flavors

Not sure where you live, but if you ever make it to San Diego, CA I’d recommend a trip to white labs. They do side by side comparisons with their yeast. They brew a wort for specific style, then split the batch so you can see and taste the differences. Coolest experience with beer that I’ve had...

Cold crash and patience. I have a rough time with “patience” o_O usually a week sitting in the keg gives some bright clarity to my beer.

For these recipes are you using those additions for only the mash, or is that mash and sparge water combined?

Seems like times are changing pretty rapidly these days in the beer industry. I never thought that it would become normal for craft brewers to start producing seltzer on a regular basis. What are your opinions on seltzer? Is it ruining the craft beer market? Are home brewers even interested in...

I’ve had a hard time using harvested yeast that’s older than a month. I only wash it one time, then make a starter with it every time.

Haha I have one too. Mostly filled with all the mistakes I’ve made so I don’t make them again and thank you for the link.

Yep!

I am ready to start tweaking with water chemistry in my brewing. Just curious if there are any good podcasts/videos out on the web to help me learn? I have been using city water ran through a carbon filter. I figured if I don’t like using city water for my morning coffee, I shouldn’t use it for...

In my opinion your recipes seem a bit unbalanced. The first is a bit low in IBU and the second is way too high in IBU. I would recommend to base your recipes on a balanced profile. For example if your aiming for an American ipa, a 6% ipa would be well balanced with 50-60 IBU. 7% would be...

Sweet I’ll check it out! Thanks

I’d like to brew a variety of styles. I’ve been sticking with hoppy beers but I need to expand my horizons. I will be brewing a Berliner Weiss (when I have the time) English style pale ale, Pilsner, and some Hefeweizen. That’s all I have planned so far, but will plan more. I also need to work...

Just curious how you all force carbonate your beer? For my last 5 gallon batch I did 30 psi for 12 hours, then I dropped the psi to 10. It seemed to be at a good level of carbonation to me. I used to just do 20 for a couple days. Force carbonating at 38 degrees. Haven’t done a whole lot of...

Just curious on the clarity of the final product? I’ve never attempted to cool overnight but I would imagine you wouldn’t get much cold break.

I would personally do pellets. If your able to cold crash to drop them when your ready to keg or bottle that would be ideal. I’ve had some bad luck with whole hops in small batches.

Thank you all for the great advice! I will admit that the brewer who hooked me up with this system had me convinced about shorter mash times. Didn’t really consider that factor, but I’m glad I mentioned it in the first place!

What yeast are you using? Honestly never knew what SMaSH stood for until I googled it just now. Are you making a hazy pale?

The beer was 4.3% ABV. I’m calling it a session stout . I want to have an efficiency that I can rely on when I create my recipes. The money part isn’t a huge concern at the moment for me. But over time it will be! Cheers

Thanks!

I agree. My main goal is to consistently be at 80% or higher. The only reason that I am so focused on efficiency at the moment is because of how poor it was on my last brew day. I have a RIMS system and I know I was doing something wrong to get a 60% efficiency. I do have a feeling the crush of...