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I usually carbonate my beer by putting 1 Mangrove Jack’s carbonation drop (approx 3 grams) into a 500ml bottle. This Monday, I will be bottling an oatmeal stout, and I’m wondering if one of these drops will produce too much carbonation for a stout.

My water hasn't changed at all. I have done many brews with Yorkshire Water out of the tap and never had a problem with head retention until I brewed these two dark ales.

The two recipes are both for 11.5L all grain kits. 11.5L stout 11.5L American Porter

Thanks for the chart. That gives me some things to consider as I proceed. Having said that, I have been brewing now for a few years, and during that time I have not had any problems at all with head retention. Only with these, my first two attempts with dark ales, have I encountered this problem.

I have recently brewed a stout and a porter, and both have poor head retention. When I pour the beer, there is a good head, but it quickly dies so that there is no head at all. Can anyone tell me why this might be, or what I should do to avoid it next time I brew a stout or porter?

Thanks for this helpful reply. I will bottle it and see what it turns out to be. This is my first stout. I am encouraged to hear that you are often low in your OG with stouts. I was considering throwing it because of the huge gap between 1.045 expected OG and the actual 1.033 that I got.

I tasted it when testing and couldn't draw any conclusions, maybe because this is my first stout brew. The temperature may have been around 26C when testing for OG.

It was an all grain kit. I wonder if the supplier gave me the fine crush I asked for. I'm not really bothered about the ABV, but rather the taste and texture of the beer. Will it be watery?

Last week I brewed a stout. The expected OG is 1.045, but for some reason, mine turned out at 1.033. This was a great puzzle as I had been extra careful with my water volume etc. I have just done a hydrometer test and the brew has hit the exact expected FG of 1.011. I am now unsure if I should...

Thanks, that's helpful. Please bear with me while I make an alternative suggestion. I put the 5 minute hops in the spider. When the boil is done I chill the wort with the chiller down to 80C and put the hops in the spider for the hopstand for 20 minutes. I remove the Spider and cool...

Forgive me if I am misunderstanding your reply, but the issue is not the IBU of the hopstand. I’m bothered about what I should do with the 5 minute hop additions during the boil. I don’t want to leave these hops in the wort while it is cooling naturally to 80C for the hopstand in case too much...

I have recently switched to no chill brewing. To avoid excess bitterness, I remove the Hop spider containing the boil hops. Then, if there is a hopstand, I allow the wort to cool naturally to 80C and put the hops in a bag for 20 minutes in the wort. After removing the hops I leave it to cool...

Some brewers advise a rolling boil others a vigorous boil. Which advice should I follow?

I understand that in hot and dry countries like Australia no chill is the norm. That is simply because people there have to be careful in their use of water. I might have been misinformed, but, at the moment, that is my understanding.

I am going to cool my next brew overnight to avoid using the chiller. I also plan to cool one or two litres of boiled water in a sealed fermentation bucket to use when diluting the wort to gain the right OG level. The question is, will that water be “safe” to use in the wort or should I boil...

Many thanks for your replies. I think I am now confident to move forward with no chill in my FV

Thanks for your helpful reply. The process I’ve outlined is what I usually do, but I use a chiller to bring down to fermentation temperature. I have never found the beer too bitter, so, my question now is why would no chill increase the IBU making the beer too bitter? Or would it be just the...

I recently posted about no chill brewing and hop additions and found your comments very helpful. However, for absolute clarity, it may be helpful if I outline a proposed process and then ask a question. I add 60-minute hops to the hop spider for bittering according to the recipe. I add later...

What size is your kettle? I do 12L batches in a Peco boiler and I would worry over cooling naturally with so much space above the wort.

Thanks. I use Sodium Percarbonate because my local water is too low in Ph for Starsan. Would VWP ckeaner and steriliser be good for the purpose of using my FV for chilling the beer? ##