I looked back at your water report Bucknut and Alkalinity shouldnt be a problem for youm As long as you are getting a good mash ph you should be good for most beers except really light ones. A little lactic acid in the mash and if you usually dont sparge nothing to worry about there. Something to n...

Thanks folks it's feels good to be back too. I'll be moving again sometime this summer and staying put for the foreseeable future, that's when the fun really starts. Planning out the brewroom, hooking up all the mechanicals like plumbing and electrical then learning how to use the new brewing system...

Well boys and girls it looks like the Screwy Brewer is back in town, with a full month's brewing schedule planned out already. Tomorrow I plan to mash 1 pound of Crystal 80L with 10 pounds of US 2 Row at 156F for an hour. I'll modify my brewing water properties by adding 2 grams of gypsum, 2 grams o...

I can see myself moving in this direction, actually. I was at the LHBS yesterday, and they had pH strips there. I had them with the rest of my purchases at the check-out while I was waiting for my grains, but then I decided that I just wasn't ready to go down that road. Not yet, anyway. But yes, I ...

Makes sense, going to just sub .2 from my readings til I can mix up some of the cal solution that came with my meter. So I had a 5.64ph mash, close but no cigar, a little high but ok I think. Into the fermentor It tasted good, and I hit my 70% eff, my ph reading was 5.62 or 5.42 with my meter. Is t...

I've found an electrician who will be installing the 220 volt 30 amp line in my garage to power up my RIMS system. There's no turning back for me now and it's time to start looking for some sturdy low cost stainless steel tables to use in the brewroom. High Gravity supplies either a 3 prong or 4 pro...

I can see some brewers asking new hires to brew a recipe on paper, in fact the head brewer at Triumph said this himself recently during a brewery tour. To me it's like using a calculator on when taking a test, it makes crunching the numbers so much faster. Of course crunching the numbers on paper or...

Even malty beers need hops. I remember some years ago homebrewing ground to a halt because hops weren't available anywhere. Maybe it's time for someone to try an corner the hop market, but I think the large commercial guys are buying hop futures for crops years off in the future. A worldwide hop sho...

Glad to hear things went well for you Screwy, I too have been bitten and can't wait to brew tomorrow. Been using ez-water and I've got the ph meter calibrated and ready to go. I'm unable to see your pics, not sure if it's on my end or not but would love to see them but there just not showing up. :(...

Last night I took a sample of the Clock Strukker IPA we brewed last Saturday, to check how the fermentation was coming along. The hydrometer reading was down from 1.059 to 1.025 already, the rehydrated Nottingham I pitched seems to be doing a good job at this point. The pH reading was down from 5.05...

Tomorrow will be one full week in the fermentor, can't wait to taste a hydrometer sample of this beer to see how the water chemistry changed the original recipe. Another ounce of Cascades will soak in there for a week and I hope to package it up next Saturday. Updates to follow.

Yeah that is wierd. Well that is quite low for mash ph. I punched in your info you posted and I came up with the exact water profile and ph estimate in my EZ Water Calculator, so no mistake there. This Saturday I'll be taking a hydrometer sample and adding my aroma hops so I'll get to take a taste ...

Sounds good Screwy. You just proved how accurate EZ water is at helping to estimate mash ph. It said you would have a room sample of 5.41 and your cooled sample at room temp must have read right around that estimate. So minus the .3 for a cooled sample, getting 5.1 in the mash isn't bad, but that's...

My newly assembled mobile chemistry lab. The biggest decision was whether or not to make the investment in a digital pH meter. After actually brewing a batch of beer using water I modified myself all I can say is it's a piece of cake. In no time flat this step has now been permanently incorporated i...

Thanks MadBrewer, I forgot to include this screenshot of the estimated pH, which I've found to be a huge help when doing the water properties calculation. https://sites.google.com/site/screwybrewer/home/images/ezCalc-6.jpg The following are the different pH values taken over the course of the brewda...