Brew Dudes Q&A - Comment Section Edition

[@brianswisher2929]

Thanks for talking about your water profiles a bit. Doing adjustments for mash pH (at minimum) has improved my brews a lot. Bru'n water is my trusted friend in this.

[@RCAC03]

Praise the Jar!

[@slowrvr]

Hope you’re feeling better soon Mike, I had the same never ending cough last month.

[@rivrivrivera2916]

I water profile , I make sure to hit proper mash ph , I acidify mash , and sparge water and wort !!!

[@grahamhawes7089]

Mike, we have a pretty identical approach to water chemistry. I have also been adding sodium in the last year. Theoretically it improves hop presentation and boosts malty flavors. Haven’t done a side by side comparison- two kids under 3 means I don’t brew often anymore!

[@carlkessler303]

I do all my fermentations as pressure fermentations. Even if it's like an English ale I'll do two or three PSI just a little bit. Then when I'm going to cold crash I leave the CO2 canister connected. That leaves no suck back. And I used to cold crash immediately get it down to whatever temperature I was targeting as fast as possible. I recently started doing it in 10° increments over a period of about 3 days. And it's really the first time I've had it come out where I actually got the mouth feel I was looking for. It was something Palmer said. I'm looking forward to trying it again with some beers that I didn't think hit the creaminess I was looking for.

[@finspin4984]

Bonus question: whats the ceiling height in the basement?

[@chrisz8532]

Extra bonus question. What is the ceiling space above that T bar ceiling 🤔

[@Y_sol]

Praise the jar! Also, what are your thoughts on using liquids other than water for brewing? I just brewed a coffee based beer with a buddy and the entire mash was just black coffee. The gravity readings were completely off.

[@BrewDudes]

Probably a pH issue. Coffee is relatively acidic so I’d start there. Also, I’d boil some coffee for 60 minutes and taste it. Not sure if it gets real bitter or not. I think it’s great if people want to experiment with brewing liquors but you still need to worry about mash pH for enzymatic conversion.

[@Y_sol]

@@BrewDudes Yeah, I figured it was a pH thing, but I think it was actually a conversion issue, because it fermented well with the addition of sugar. Also the coffee was cold brewed the night before and filtered. Some fines did get through, and it gushed like mentos in coke as a result.

[@ad.ke.7224]

I acidify my sparge water. I come from southwest Germany. We have chalky water. If I brew a hoppy beer, the bitterness would be too harsh because of the that.

[@rivrivrivera2916]

I also use ascorbic acid .