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Good work on the first brew day! Seems something always goes wrong I’m the brew day, it’s just a matter of when. Sounds like you understand the brewing principles well enough that you were able to correct the problems. Now it’s up to the yeast to do their job! As far as the bazooka screen, I...

Good luck! It’s a big step in the brewing evolution. Hope it goes well

Agreed. I always run wort on the same side, but you could change it up every brew day if you wanted

Even wit: 1) nylon bag + false bottom in mash, 2) false bottom during boil, 3) hop spider, and 4) bazooka screen in kettle, I still get junk in the plate chiller. Mostly hot break. Pretty sure this is unavoidable with plate chillers. But, I get clear, tasty beer in the end and have NEVER had an...

I thought the discoloration came from prolonged contact of the cleaner with the copper. I'd run liquid through to make sure none of that is coming out of the unit, especially on the wort side.

I have a 20 plate chiller. For me, this doesn't get a 20L batch down to pitching temp unless using a kviek or belgian strain. The advantage for me is that it's easy to store and works with the flow of my brewhouse (i.e. garage). Hot break and hop material will make it through the kettle filter...

For a 10L batch, you can chill in an ice water bath in the sink while stirring the wort. (I use a candy thermometer with a long probe so I know the temp during cooling). It will speed up the process and wont use too much water. The big risk of contamination would be around 35-42C. I've never...

I use Plaato airlock because it was on a STEEP discount. It estimates gravity and temperature from the bubbles passing through the airlock. No device in the beer, so that's nice. But, it's not a direct measure of gravity. It has a learning feature where you can input gravity manually so it...

At 1.008, I wouldn't suspect an infection. The yeast would have eaten most of the sugars, leaving a relatively small amount for other microbes to consume. Combined with hops and alcohol, other microbes will have a difficult time getting a foothold at this point. What FG were you shooting for?

I keep te starter in a vacuum insulated growler and covered to prevent oxygen exposure to reduce the orders. It works for me, in this case, even when a small IBU was present. Once the Lacto is established, I pitch into the kettle (after mash/sparge), cover, and leave the temp set at 37C. Once...

For what it’s worth, smell and taste of the starter indicate LAB is growing. Inoculated the whole batch about 7h ago and the kettle is giving off notable LAB aroma. A small sample tastes of relatively clean lacto souring with not notable off flavors and aromas. Pushing ahead with a brief boil...

Brewing my second Berliner Weisse. Had good success last time using uncrushed base malt to create a lacto starter. My protocol was to add 100F wort on top of 1 cup uncrushed base malt in a vacuum insulated growler for 24h before inoculating the 5 gallon batch (it maintains temp of 90F). Filled...

All in one electric brew systems (Brewzilla, Grainfather, etc) are basically BIAB. I tried to go all grain with a cooler mash tun and separate brew kettle, but quickly realized that didn't translate well to my circumstances. IMO, all in one electric/BIAB is the best option for a home brewery...

https://www.northernbrewer.com/products/brix-specific-gravity-refractometer-with-atc You'd want one that reads brix and sg. The sg can be used for your original gravity. The brix would be needed at start and end of fermentation to calculate fg. It uses a lot less volume than a hydrometer and...

You're right that refractometers won't give a perfect FG like hydrometer will. There are a lot of free online calculators to approximate FG from a brix reading.

Had a similar problem on a friend’s gen 3 brewzilla. I use a digiboil which is essentially the same device (even same manufacturer) but without a recirc pump. I never have trouble boiling even in the garage with no insulation. I’m guessing there’s an issue with one of the heating elements. If...

Old running shoes. I always wear running shoes. I assume people only look above the ankles, so I don’t pay too much attention to footwear appearance. Bonus: the shoes would get soaked on a decent trail run anyway, so who cares if they get wet from spilled beer?

Get rid of bottles and start kegging? No more over carbonation, then! Just kidding, you'll likely still bottle from time to time. Make sure gravity is stable (and at predicted attenuation) and use a good carbonation calculator.

I’ve been using the plaato airlock lately. Takes a while to train the algorithm, but about 5 brews in and it does okay estimating from the number of bubbles in the airlock. There are some floating hydrometer (tilt comes to mind) that wirelessly send data to your device