I updated the look of the Braukaiser blog and never posted again. Until now.
After last year’s NHC and the work I did on yeast growth I just felt that I needed to take a break and take it easy with the brewing hobby for a while. And I did. And I ran out of home brew and had to buy beer at the store again, ouch. But a week ago I finally brewed again to get the pipeline started. Except for the temperature, I did not take a single measurement on that beer. No OG, no pH, no Fast Ferment Test. I used dry yeast and I may not even test the FG. But I brewed again!
So hopefully I may even come up with some interesting posts in the near future.
Good to hear you’re back into it. I was starting to wonder if your RSS feed stopped working. Its good to get back to nature and simplify from time to time…
Welcome back. You are the Yoda of us German brewers. Looking forward to seeing the results of your endless curiosities. Machs Gut!
That’s great, Kai. I couldn’t wait to see some movement here. Last year I did something like that. I didn’t brew for like 8 months, but that was because I decided to sell all my equipment and buy a TIG Welder to build an brand new equipment all stainless, and.. that was hard to learn, but now it’s working.
Good to hear you again.
I like to brew w/out measurements once in a while.. just brew for fun.
The brewer’s friend website, esp that advanced water calculator is not functional. A banner drops down and blocks entry of crucial water info… and email contact/feedback to the site.
Can you e-mail me a screen shot of what you are seeing? I went to the calculator an the banner on top of it doesn’t get into the way. But maybe you are seeing something different.
Sent some to you
It’s good to sometimes brew just to brew, and let what happens, happen. I was wondering if there was some potential burnout with all the experiments you’ve been doing. Glad to see you’ve stepped back into brewing!
I read the suggestions on controlling end of runoff ph, 2.5qt per lb would be a 5.2 lbs liquor to pound of grist, Is this appropriate for a single infusion mash?
yes, I think a ratio of 5.2 lb/lb or l/kg works just fine for single infusion mashes.
My Dortmunder is currently hopped at 34 IBUs with
1st Nugg 59.00%
2nd Sterling 31.00%
3rd Sterling 5.00%
somehow I don’t feel like it has enough bite, but I have never had a real Dortmunder so I really don’t know, what are your thoughts? (thanks for the input on the L/G in the Pilsner,)
Glad to see! Once brewed weissbier hell without termometer, heated mashing water to bloodworm temperature and then started with several small decoction additions until mash became sweet, then let it rest. It was the best german wheat i have ever made! It did`t make process much simpler but it proved to me that brewing can be very lo-tec and i don´t have to depend on modern measuring tools.
That’s a good way to do it. Must have taken really long though.
Welcome Back Kai! I took a similar hiatus after finishing my book.
I’m really looking forward to seeing what you are working on. Your experiments are always top notch!
I read this blog post and thought, “maybe I need to try that.” The brewing was getting a little like work. So last few beers, I’ve not bothered with the SG, the FG, and all the fuss. The beer turns out just fine.
Even now I’m more interested in the mash gravity, to check conversion, than the OG of the beer.
Kai