Brew-Magic
I continue to field a lot of questions about efficiency (especially on the Brew-Magic) and I thought I would try to clear up a few myths, and give some practical advice. While this is generally applicable to any brewing style, I am going to focus on the Brew-Magic V350MS to
Rambling
For those that don't know, a SMaSH beer is a single malt, single hop beer and a perfect vehicle to really get to know a new hop variety. I have gotten very lucky so far with Nelson Sauvin, using it in a previous recipe called Saison Du Sauvin.
Rambling
I have been following Stan Heironymous religiously since "Brew Like a Monk" was released, including his blog, Appelation Beer. A very common theme is understanding Beer From a Place, and how we consistently misunderstand the point when inundated with marketing, beer styles and myths (see marketing). So, in
Brew-Magic
Just washed up, finished. 5.5 hours from heating liquor to knock out to fermenter. Had a neighbor come over part way, made cleaning a lot more efficient. So, very simple 10.5 gallon SMaSH recipe, Otter SMaSH Nelson: 20# Marris Otter, milled twice with a new 0.040"
Rambling
I got a little friendly flack for posting content from other blogs, videocasts, etc. Fair enough. But I thought I would point out and review a few blogs that I religiously follow - and have made it onto my blogroll. Appellation Beer / Stan Hieronymous : If you don't know
Rambling
So a shameless plug for Michael Tonsmiere who just released a very good book exploring American Sour Beers. You can find the book here on Amazon. He also runs the brewing blog - The Mad Fermentationist, which I have been following for a few years. Michael was interviewed for a
Rambling
Well... the performance of this site went off the rails badly. So after some rearranging, cutting free some old plugins and a big upgrade at the host, we are back. My apologies to anyone who came looking and found the blog down, slow or angry. I just got back from
Brew-Magic
I promised to write up and compare brewing before the software upgrade and after. I realize this is for a very small audience, so will keep this fairly succinct. I intentionally brewed as I would have in the past, without using any of the recipe functions. I will use the
Rambling
I finally got back from a business trip and this was waiting for me... On another note: smile.amazon.com - register and it pushes a small portion of your purchases toward a charity of your choice! We will return to our regularly scheduled programming... when I am done. :) Buy
Brew-Magic
I like shiny things. I think that is well established. I also like new things... like software, computers, motorcycles, barrels... When I heard there was a software update coming for the V350, I contacted Brew Magic. This was back in February. It took a bit of time for them to
Brewer's Notes
What an ugly surprise. Yesterday, I was adding some sugar into my split batch saison, and saw this. Unintentionally I managed to contaminate the batch with Brettanomyces. I have played with Brett quite a bit in the brewery, but how it managed to sneak into this batch remains a mystery.
Brewer's Notes
Well, I promised more stuff on water, and haven't gotten around to it. Apologies. I got detoured with the Blacklands Malt, the malt analysis sheets, etc. All around - poorly planned on my part. The Brew-Magic is sitting waiting for the PLC to arrive. I got the software