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Search found 13 matches

by fishnerd
Thu Sep 29, 2011 4:09 pm
Forum: Homebrewing Recipes and Tips
Topic: Homebrew supplies Toronto
Replies: 20
Views: 9695

IIRC, Gilbertson and Page was shipping malt to Amsterdam for pickup by GTA homebrewers -- no cost. Call in your order, pay by CC and get the malt at the brewery.
by fishnerd
Wed Sep 28, 2011 12:07 pm
Forum: Good Pubs, Brewpubs & Beer Bars
Topic: Volo's inconsistent service
Replies: 82
Views: 32118

Samples are a touchy aspect in many pubs about town -- some of the locals have ... hmmm ... abused the goodwill of many bartenders by ordering up samples, scribbling notes, and splitting. No tip. No thank yous. No real order. And, at the end of the day, samples are discretionary. Perhaps the bartend...
by fishnerd
Wed Aug 10, 2011 3:14 pm
Forum: Homebrewing Recipes and Tips
Topic: Where the heck to start?
Replies: 20
Views: 5899

Howdy, The quick 'n' cheap way of doing things is something like this: 10l pot (so you can boil 5 or 6 litres of sugar water [wort] with room to contain the foam that'll form) 2 6 gallon fermenting buckets with lids (I've heard enough horror stories of people dropping glass carboys that I won't use ...
by fishnerd
Sun Jul 10, 2011 5:54 pm
Forum: Homebrewing Recipes and Tips
Topic: Five Star 5.2
Replies: 10
Views: 2992

cannondale wrote: Sounds like that 5 Star product may be doing a great job for you after all..
I doubt it. I also let the probe sit in the wort as it was chilling. The pH drift going from 65 down to 22 / 23 wasn't particularly pronounced, certainly less than .3.

Any chance you'd be willing to use 5.2?
by fishnerd
Fri Jul 08, 2011 11:24 pm
Forum: Homebrewing Recipes and Tips
Topic: Five Star 5.2
Replies: 10
Views: 2992

So in summary, mash pH should be measured at mashing temperature (although the affect of temperature is minimal). Then, if you don't have an auto-correcting pH meter, you have to do a temperature correction for your measured pH. Except ... Many brewing sources assume that the optimal 5.2ish pH is w...
by fishnerd
Wed Jul 06, 2011 10:20 pm
Forum: Homebrewing Recipes and Tips
Topic: Five Star 5.2
Replies: 10
Views: 2992

Are you adjusting your PH readings to compensate for temperature? I drained off some wort for each reading and chilled to room temperature (apparently, the temperature of the mash is high enough to shorten the life of a probe). And, because I was anal about it, I kept the probe in the wort for seve...
by fishnerd
Wed Jul 06, 2011 10:39 am
Forum: Homebrewing Recipes and Tips
Topic: Five Star 5.2
Replies: 10
Views: 2992

Five Star 5.2

Hi folks, With a half wheat / half pils mash, Five Star 5.2 set the mash (using good ol' Toronto tap water) at 5.6 -- rigorously tested with a calibrated probe. Shortly after the mash started, the pH was 5.68. A few minutes later, 5.9. After the 5.2 was added (per instructions), 5.6. Added some more...
by fishnerd
Thu Jun 30, 2011 5:08 pm
Forum: Local and Imported Beer Reviews
Topic: Flying Monkeys Alpha Fornication
Replies: 37
Views: 11626

This is the first year Ontario brewers have even had AIPA's on the Elsies general list. You must fatigue very easily. It's been pretty hard for me to get to the point of hop fatigue when these sorts of beers haven't been broadly available in Ontario. Well ... Durham Hop Addict (RateBeer scores goin...
by fishnerd
Wed Jun 29, 2011 6:39 pm
Forum: Local and Imported Beer Reviews
Topic: Flying Monkeys Alpha Fornication
Replies: 37
Views: 11626

"the main thing is that it helps to raise awareness of craft beer outside of the big guys, and that's not a bad thing." This almost proves my point for me. We should be encouraging our brewers, not slagging them for having a bit of fun. Anyway, I've said all I gave to say on the matter. I...
by fishnerd
Mon Jun 27, 2011 5:39 pm
Forum: Homebrewing Recipes and Tips
Topic: another Ontario online supply shop
Replies: 3
Views: 1582

I bought some quick disconnects and gypsum from them a few weeks ago as a trial run. My only beef is that the disconnects were packed loose with the packing material (lots of fiddly bits of foam to clean out -- having them packed in a baggie would've been better). On the other hand ... it's a Canadi...
by fishnerd
Mon Mar 22, 2010 6:38 pm
Forum: Homebrewing Recipes and Tips
Topic: Chloramine in Toronto water
Replies: 12
Views: 6129

Hey fishnerd, just wanted to follow up that SN absolutely does not follow the pratice described in Zymurgy. They may add gypsum and/or calcium chloride, it depends on the recipe. For the Baltic Porter we added a touch of calcium chloride to soften things up, but that is it. And they do not use RO w...
by fishnerd
Mon Mar 22, 2010 3:08 pm
Forum: Homebrewing Recipes and Tips
Topic: Chloramine in Toronto water
Replies: 12
Views: 6129

Re: Chloramine in Toronto water

Sierra Nevada's secret sauce is a mix of ~ 1tsp gypsum (CaSO4) and .25tsp calcium chloride (CaCl2) for a 5 gallon all-grain batch. Gypsum lowers the mash pH (a good thing) and helps with hop extraction in hop-forward beers, so you can play around with the salts to get a particular flavour profile. ...
by fishnerd
Mon Mar 22, 2010 9:57 am
Forum: Homebrewing Recipes and Tips
Topic: Chloramine in Toronto water
Replies: 12
Views: 6129

Re: Chloramine in Toronto water

Hi All, Well I'm about to take the life changing plunge into homebrewing. To those who brew using TO water is the chloramine in TO water bad enough that you must use campden tabs? Thanks RO filters are not all that expensive -- something like this would come in at well less than $300 and last for y...