Recent content by crescent city Mike

This is a water chemistry report from the local water works. The water comes from the Mississippi River and is treated. Of course they add chloramines so we don't die of dysentery. Source Water Calcium (ppm) Magnesium (ppm) Alkalinity as CaCO3 Sodium (ppm) Chloride (ppm) Sulfate (ppm) Water...

Preventing astringency from the sparge is rather simple. https://crescentcitybrewtalk.com/astringency/

Raw corn will gelatinize around 164o (73 C), raw rice at 170o (76 C), while raw barley and raw wheat will gelatinize between 126o and 147o. Raw barley and raw wheat can go into the mash as-crushed while the corn and rice would require cooking. Differences exist among starches because various...

My first PC had an 8088 processor with two 5 1/4" floppy drives and no hard drive. I even had a 2400 baud modem!

I guess your problem with gushing isn't due to aluminum caps. You'll have to look elsewhere. The trick of using mentos tablets in a 2 litre bottle of Coke is an example of excessive nucleation sites. Beerstone is a precipitate formed of calcium and magnesium from the water and proteins and...

Some experiments were conducted back in the 1950's which brought out that gushing is often caused by jagged (microscopic) particles in beer which provide nucleation sites. Calcium oxalate is one of the particles identified which is the same material we call "beer stone.". Research found that...

Those blades look like S/S. The old "Gillette blue blades" would have been rusted into a mass!

The major purpose of mashing is to degrade proteins, gums, and starches in the grain to produce a wort which will suit our purposes as brewers. Different beer styles require a wort of specific properties. Some beers are supposed to be thick, malty, and sustaining while others should be...

I don't think you quite understand how an "air-tight" stove works. They are quite a different animal than an open hearth.

Some years ago, I had surgery in which the Doctor and his team gutted me like a fish. I subsequently went on chemotherapy and was admonished that alcohol and chemo don't mix. I really felt like having a beer so I bought a 6-pack of Beck's N/A. It was much better than the other N/A beers I had...

There are many starch sources which can be used in brewing. Among them are potatoes, yams, tapioca, taro, turnips, beets, millet, milo, oats, buckwheat, beans, etc. A leisurely stroll through the produce section or the rice & beans aisle of your local supermarket will convince you that the...

There is a slow but steady move to do just what you want. Drinking more than one or two without getting loud and falling down seems a better goal. https://crescentcitybrewtalk.com/small-beers/ https://crescentcitybrewtalk.com/session-beers/ There's enough info in these two articles to really...

If you're using a grain which has a high gelatinization temp, you'll have to heat it seperately. The enzymes in the mash might not degrade the components in the odd grain at normal mash temps. For instance, wheat will gelate at normal mash temps while maize and rice won't.

It looks like the beginnings of a beerstone build-up. Beerstone is a precipitate formed of calcium and magnesium from the water and proteins and tannins from the malt. It is usually just called calcium oxalate; that tannish-brown (sometimes grayish-white) coating that all of us eventually see...

I don't always use a protein rest. It depends on the amount of wheat in the grist bill. I once made a Brown Porter with 100% wheat. (I got 46/50 in a local competion with that beer). I recently made a Dutch Koyt with 50% malted oats. The oat malt is skinny and I had to run it through the...