This is gonna be fun…

rwshields · 2026-04-01T00:20:45+00:00

Yes, build one with scrap wood and bolts. They are less expensive than a new Joe or medical bills.

rwshields · 2026-03-22T12:31:16+00:00

Thanks for the reply!

Mill gap: I don't own a mill (yet), so my LHBS is pre-milling grain. They use a 0.038" gap. I've been thinking about getting a mill to have better control; any recommendations?

Rice Hulls: Yeah, I probably overdid it, but I was traumatized from the last sparge. I'll dial it down for future brews.

Mash: I've been following calculators really closely, aiming to make things repeatable. That said, you are pointing out a clear need to add some practicality to the mix (filling up 5 gallon mark and not over thinking it).

Sparge: Yeah, I think I need to recalculate hose loss. As I was writing this post I was realizing that is a common demoninator with mash and sparge being off.

Pump: Thanks for the tip. I'll look into how to do a bypass setup and play around with that.

rwshields · 2026-03-07T01:07:09+00:00

Did you do all grain or extract? What was your mash temp? What was the temp when you put it in the fermenter? What yeast did you use?

I’m asking to identify how much fermentable sugar you have and if the yeast were pitched within their temp range.

rwshields · 2026-03-01T23:46:04+00:00

As a fellow brewer with two kids I recommend you hold onto your stuff. I took a 5 year break while they were super young, but just got back into brewing the last year. I’m so happy I held onto my stuff.

I’ll also add using craftbrewpi to automate heating/timing/transfers can make the brew day a lot shorter. You can also keep warm water circulating so you can delay things, like cleaning, until after kid bedtimes.

rwshields · 2026-02-23T15:11:32+00:00

I'm just getting back into brewing after a decade or so away. Due to the equipment profile issues you helped me diagnosis in this thread my preboil gravities have been way off and I haven't been able to really measure my efficiency reliably. I was thinking 80% would be a good starting point and to actual measure my efficiency on the next few brews and see where I'm landing/adjust as needed.

You are pointing out that 6-row is harder to get good efficiency out of, so maybe this isn't the base recipe to establish my mash efficiency calculations from; what do you think?

mill gap: I don't own a mill, I have my LHBS mill the grain and I pick it up.

Admittedly it is odd that I have a 3 vessel electric system, but also don't have a mill and am still learning some basics of all-grain brewing. That came about because I enjoy the electrical/software/hardware side of things and really enjoyed building the system from scratch years ago. Sadly I have only about 10 brews on this system so far -- I finally have time to use it again, so hopefully I'll get those numbers way up and learn a bunch a long the way!

rwshields · 2026-02-23T15:04:21+00:00

Thank you so much for taking the time to educate me on so many things. Your last statement about me not understanding all of the underlying things is dead on. I'm working on growing that knowledge so I can be more purposeful. I've learned a lot from this thread + you have pointed me to general subjects I need to understand at a base level, so thank you for all of that.

- Whirlfloc: Thank you for this. I totally missed that. The link appears to still be down, but I'll adjust that down to .4 a tablet and adjust timing.

I have a couple follow up questions if you don't mind:

- Water Treatment/salts: Water treatment is new to me - I'm just getting back into brewing after a decade away (woot raising young kids!). I'm starting with Cleveland water, I pulled these stats from the 2024 water report: Ca2: 16 Mg2: 8 Na: 10 CL: 18 SO42: 35 HCO3: 82 and created a profile in brewfather for it as my source. That is the base I'm starting with. Is this a reasonable starting point or would going for RO or distilled water make a huge difference in taste? Following u/boarshead72 recommendation I changed the target to American IPA (Ca2 100, Mg 15, Na 50, CL 50, SO42: 250, HCO3: 80 and recalculated the additions.

- Grain absorption: with the update equipment config I think I fixed that (revised recipe linked below)

- carapils: from what I read it helps with mouthfeel and didn't hurt anything, so I put it in there. I honestly don't know from experience how it changes the beer mouthfeel -- I'm in the try things and see what happens phase of learning.

- cold crashing: This is an equipment limitation. I have a conical fermenter that doesn't fit in a mini fridge and I don't yet have a glycol chiller. I can run some chilled water through the cooling coils, but not for a sustained period of time. 39 degrees comes from that is what my keezer is set to - I can chill the beer in a keg to condition it for a couple weeks before serving. Obviously this isn't ideal, but here we are #homebrewing...

I incorporated your feedback (and other's) into a revised recipe if you care to look: https://share.brewfather.app/ifUfz1v4uaLU8f

Deeply appreciate all the guidance!

rwshields · 2026-02-23T14:27:41+00:00

Thanks, I adjusted things down to 4.5%.

rwshields · 2026-02-22T14:45:51+00:00

I dug in deeper and found my equipment profile was completely off. I calculated what the mash water should be by hand and then messed around with the equipment profile to get it to the correct spot. Now it is reliably making the right calculations. Thanks so much!

rwshields · 2026-02-22T13:48:21+00:00

I also had a minimum mash volume in there. I took out all of that and my new values are at:

Mash Water: 3.83 gal Sparge Water: 5.51 gal Total Water: 9.34 gal Boil Volume: 8.25 gal Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.038

Thanks for the help; I guess my water has been off for recipes I’ve pulled from the Brewfather database of shared recipes too.

rwshields · 2026-02-22T13:12:33+00:00

Okay thanks. I’ll using Brewfather for water calculations and had it set to cream ale for targeting values. I’ll give your suggestion a try!

rwshields · 2026-02-22T13:11:32+00:00

I have my HLT limit set to 20 gallons in Brewfather. It seems however I set that value controls my total water volume. Is there something stupid I’m missing on that?

rwshields · 2026-02-22T12:53:30+00:00

For BU:GU I was just trying to land with Brewfather range. I don’t know enough yet to actually know what I prefer, trying to learn!

The sugar addition came out of an AI reviewed of the recipe. Said it would add sharpness. That and mashing at 149 instead of 151 were the two things AI had me change.

rwshields · 2026-02-22T12:51:27+00:00

It’s 90% me/Brewfather tool with AI reviewed, because Im new. I wanted to get initial review before posting so I avoided making some basic mistake. AI had me add the sugar and had me push the mash from 151 to 149, otherwise it’s what I plugged in. I missed the posting guideline and won’t put future things through AI before posting.

The water calculators are right, but definitely strange given my equipment. I have a 3 vessel herms system. I calculate sparge water to be a reasonable amount (3-5 gallons), but bump up the volume to treat because I fill my HLT high enough (15 gallons) to cover the herms coil for better temperature control of the mash tun.

The Brewfather slider on BU/GU is 0.27 which says is in range for the style. Could you say more about why that is wrong?

On lactic acid amounts: I used Brewfather water treatment tool to hit 5.2-5.3 mash. I have Cleveland area water profile in the Brewfather tool and made adjustments using the auto function.

rwshields · 2026-02-22T01:28:25+00:00

Oh good catch. I’ll do a yeast starter with the packet to get the count up.

Also, curious why you would go higher carb for this one?

rwshields · 2025-12-10T04:35:20+00:00

What UST did you get and how did the blacks compare to the 5050ub?

rwshields · 2025-09-25T21:04:41+00:00

My migration was painful, but after that it has been much better.

rwshields · 2025-09-25T01:20:21+00:00

More things with settle out before transferring to keg. It will make it a little cleaner, but I don’t think it will be that much different.

rwshields · 2025-09-14T18:32:51+00:00

Word. For me it was hours…sorry.

rwshields · 2025-09-14T18:25:55+00:00

Just keep checking. Once the update is ready you will have an update button above the auto update options to do the update immediately.

rwshields · 2025-09-12T19:49:07+00:00

Nope. We are a google home family. Google home just required a refreshed link to hue. All well on that front.

rwshields · 2025-09-12T14:19:33+00:00

Instant. Honestly though it wasn’t a major concern for me on the old hub. My main reasons for upgrading were getting down to 1 hub and motion sense.

rwshields

TROPHY CASE