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The core question is … Why? Different ions lead to different perceived properties in the finished beer; for one example: higher concentrations of chloride emphasize malt character, whereas higher concentrations of sulfate emphasize hop character and dryness.
When? Both in the mash and in the sparge water, mostly based on the ratio in volume, with some ...
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Dissolving CO2 takes time. Area of contact between gas and liquid in bottle is really small. Thus, I doubt that few minutes would really help carbonate much. Of course, this is not totally pointless. By chilling fast, you can maximize time at optimal temperature. But use this as a step before putting bottle to fridge for a night, not instead.
Last but not ...
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Whether or not they're really necessary depends on the water you have and the beer you want to brew. You need to start by getting an analysis of your water. Some water districts provide all the info you need, but many of them don't. If not, an excellent resource is wardlab.com. Get test W-6. As the what the info means and how you need to adjust your ...
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You need to determine if you have a wort problem or a yeast problem. The way to do that is with a fast ferment test (sometimes called forced ferment test). Put some of the wort in a small sanitized container. You need enough to be able to take a gravity reading. Add a LOT of yeast to the sample...even bread yeast is fine for this since we want to know if ...
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You probably want to get the water tested to ensure it is fit for human consumption. The rain itself should be fine, but the roof surface and storage vessels may not made of food grade/food safe materials.
Here is a list of water testing labs from the NZ MoH: http://www.drinkingwater.esr.cri.nz/mohlabs/labsfornzregionalpha.asp?NZRegion=NZNZ01
For Auckland ...
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It will function fine as is. You just have a thick oxide layer there.
If you want to restore, you can polish it using 0000 steel wool. Once to the polish you want passify the stainless steel by spraying with normal starsan mixture (or dip it) and let air dry.
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After some research I think I discovered a potential source of the problem. Potassium metabisulfite decomposes into, amongst other compounds, sulphur dioxide - a gas which is irritating and toxic at higher concentrations. SO2 reacts with water to form sulphuric acid (nasty!), and that includes water in mucus membranes, which explains why I experienced a a ...
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It's probably simpler to prepare a solution with CaCl2. For every gram of CaCl2, take 2 gram of distilled, demineralised or reverse osmosis water. Mix well, so you obtain a solution of 33% (W/W) CaCl2. Then, if you know the amount you used for adding to your bottles, take 3 times the amount of solution.
I am pretty sure it will only be drops that you will ...
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If the air is really clean, you have this part covered. But is it? It is not only about how clean it is where you live - that is, in your area, near ground level. Is it clean up to 2000 feet? Was it clean where water evaporated? What was in the air on the way? Start from reading about acid rains. And there is much more about this topic. Too much to put here. ...
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If you're talking about "brew day" time, that's influenced much more by your brewing equipment and process (i.e. do you do all-grain or extract? fly sparge / batch sparge / brew-in-a-bag?). This typically doesn't change much from one type of beer to another (with a few exceptional cases where a particular style may require an extra step or two that will ...
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My understanding is that there are three primary factors involved in how quickly a beer ferments:
Gravity: beer with more fermentable sugars will take longer for the yeast to consume.
Amount & Type of Yeast: the lag time before fermentation starts relates to these factors. The yeast starts fermentation by multiplying until it runs out of resources to do ...
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Your fastest beers will be session strength (5% ABV) ales that do not depend much on yeast esters or brilliant clarity. Allowing you to full pitch yeast, and no need for a lot of fining.
So if you have style you like, and enough yeast they can be done very quickly.
My fastest turn around was 4 days from brew to serving. A juicy sessions IPA 5 gallons, ...
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I have the same problem. The only water I have available is tank rain water. The modern view is that it is not fit for human drinking but I've been drinking it for years and so do all the city people that visit. No one has had ill effects. I bring water from a near by town for beer brewing only because of all the negatives I've seen on chats. I am ...
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Rain water can be very close to RO or distilled.
Rain is usually triggered by a solid particle (dust) and or atmospheric compression. Then as it falls it's collecting other particles from the air. Then again picking up particles from the collector.
I would have it tested not only for safety to identify potential contamniates but also to establish your ...
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Brewing: depends on your process and tools. If you do a decoction or multiple step infusion, you'll always take longer than in a single infusion. If your burner is weak, you spend more time heating and boiling. If your wort chiller is good, you spend less time chilling.
Some ingredients may require more time, for example, if you use wheat you may want to ...
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It's related to both....given cold and warm temps and the same amount of time, the cold liquid will absorb more. Same temp, more time for CO2 to dissolve into solution, the one with more time will have better carbonation.
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Yes and no. Anything that absorbs a liquid that is not clear will also absorb the liquid's color, so yes. If you were to use a pH strip to absorb a wort solution that is high in the SRM scale, it will also absorb that wort's color as well.
With that said, the amount of solution it is absorbing pales in comparison (hardy-har-har) to what you would pour in ...
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There are a lot chemical compounds that contribute to the overall taste/aroma/etc of a beer let alone the proportions of each said compounds. Unless those 32 tests are incredibly comprehensive, I am guessing it could probably at only guess at beer category. The yeast make up around 600 chemical compounds alone. Most of those compounds are barely perceivable ...
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In short, you can't.
If you dig into Palmer's spreadsheet version, you see that effective hardness is equal to:
[ppm Ca / 1.4] + [ppm Mg / 1.7]*
* See cell K15 on the Mash sheet
Not getting too far into detail, this is a simplification of the Kolbach formula that Palmer refers to on the page you linked:
Residual Alkalinity = mEq/L Alkalinity - [(mEq/L ...
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Good question. No I don't believe mechanical forces can break down enzymes to the extent that it would be a concern. Viewed through a magnifying lens or microscope, blender blades will have a relatively enormous surface area compared to your enzymatic molecules. The blade will push the enzymes around but the only damage done potentially could be if the ...
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Your question is a little vague, but I think I know what you are getting at. The smoothness you refer to is about biological, chemical, and physical control of oxidation which is impacted from the very beginning, through fermentation, as much as it is by ageing.
For beer, Kunze describes ageing as resulting from oxidation of products from various reactions. ...
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Everything you're asking for in answers are covered in a variety of brewing books. But no single source covers everything your asking.
Grain enzymes. This is basic and covered in all beginer brewing books. How to brew by Palmer has a great table on temps, enzymes and protein interactions. Short answer, alpha and beta amylase are the enzymes that convert ...
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Does Ginger beer count? Than can be as ready as it ever will be after 2 days.
detail update:
Inoculate made up solution of a small amount of ginger powder and sugar and bottle. Ready in two days. This is "real ginger beer" that uses a SCOBY based on Lactobacillus and Saccharomyces - not the yeast based variety. There is little alcohol produced and the gas ...
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Like others have said, most beers will take approximately the same amount of time if they have the same ABV. If you brew at a higher temperature, it will go even faster. The next step is conditioning. You can skip this step, but pretty much every one agrees you really shouldn't. A lot happens in this stage that positively affects the taste of the beer.
In ...
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I came up with a few things that might explain it. I don't think the changes wrought will necessarily result in a "thin" beer, but it's hard to say exactly what thin means anyway, so here goes.
Low wort pH, though not the most important factor in final beer pH, does have an effect. So a more acidic wort should produce a slightly more acidic beer, all other ...
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Suggestion: Instead of repriming with sugar or carbonation drops, try using corn syrup instead. (Make your own, don't buy commercial corn syrup.) Adding the syrup eliminates much of the nucleation and loss of carbonation. Its even better if you chill the syrup before adding to your under carbonated brew.
I have found that when you dissolve 4 oz corn ...
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