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   1. Big gap in brews

      by Muggy Dawson, 4 years ago in General Chit-Chat, Nonsense & Rambles

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      My biggest time in between brews since I started, but I’m back into it....sort of.
      So much has happened in my life during the down time.
      Today I set up to get back in the game with my favourite brew. I was so stoked to go through the planning, the set up, the milling, the checks, the mash. Just this process was a big part of my happiness for so long.
      Anyone reading this might think, “Bloke, you don’t have much in life if that’s all that makes you happy”. But there’s plenty of other things that...

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      Great to hear form you Muggy Dawson and thank you for the posts above. Good on :salute:
      
      Those bloody urns have no sympathy do they? :roll: Maybe get two? :)
      
      Best of luck on the next go. We'll be thinking of you :peace:
      3 Replies
      7102 Views
      PistolPatch
      4 years ago
   2. I feel like I'm getting there....slowly, but surely.

      by Muggy Dawson, 6 years ago in Brew Day Stories and/or Pics

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      I've been steadily brewing since my last visits to here. Still not as refined and as scientifically accurate as I should be, but 9/10 of my brews (over 30 total now) have been lovely drinking.
      Couple of classic mistakes;
      -Milling my main malt of the bill, then measuring out my specialities without milling and chucking them straight in,
      -Forgetting the entire hops schedule until the last 5mins of the boil,
      -Hydrating a lager yeast and an Ale yeast at the same time on the same bench and using...

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      Hey Muggy
      
      I actually cringed aloud (if that's a thing) when I read you missed a whole hop schedule and only realised with 5 x mins to go! ouch!
      
      Doing side by side batches and throwing the wrong things in is a bummer. My outmeal stout become an FWHopped American Stout one day because of that
      
      Anyway hope you're enjoying your creations
      
      cheers
      Nick
      3 Replies
      9008 Views
      Inconceivable
      6 years ago
   3. Sichuan pepper in an Ale.

      by Muggy Dawson, 6 years ago in Grains (Malts), Extracts, Sugars and Adjuncts

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      Tasted Honey Ma Gold Ale the other week at Great Leap Brewing in Beijing. Loved this and wanted to have a go at making something similar. I've got some basic parameters for a recipe, but the only info I've got so far on the Sichuan pepper addition is to use them like a hop addition.
      Does anyone have experience with using this ingredient, or have suggestions for other preparation of it.
      A pamphlet I got at their tap house said the brewer perfected his recipe after talking with a local cook,...

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      Muggy Dawson - sounds like some good experiments you have in mind. I find painters' tape and a marker useful to label contents and dates when I split off portions (aliquots) of the main batch. Keep us posted on the results, please.
      6 Replies
      14199 Views
      ShorePoints
      6 years ago
   4. Urn electrical terminals upgrade.

      by Muggy Dawson, 6 years ago in Electric BIAB

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      I love my 40L Crown Urn.
      I recently had to take my baby to the doctor. There I was with about 10 minutes of boil time left and I could distinctly smell the dreaded electrical burning smell. Managed to finish the batch, and even later after plugging in and testing, it was still operational. Further inspection on taking the base plate off showed a few half melted and blacked connection terminals which might not take much more punishment. Took it to a local appliance repairer and for $60 they...

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      Thanks Mally.
      Good to know it's not a one off.
      No moisture in the compartment area, but corrosion build up is a possibility.
      I told the repairer I didn't just want it fixed, but I also wanted it to never happen again, as in be in the same situation in a couple of years.
      A regular check like you say is probably best.
      2 Replies
      8548 Views
      Muggy Dawson
      6 years ago
   5. The zen of bottling.

      by Muggy Dawson, 7 years ago in General Chit-Chat, Nonsense & Rambles

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      I've now got my bottling procedure down to a shade under one hour. 24 bottles clean and marked. I realised this morning how much I enjoy it, and find it is a bit like meditation. A little bit of deep breathing, relaxed movements, patience for each bottle to fill.
      Even washing bottles doesn't feel like a chore. Just enjoying the ride, and looking forward to the bounty from each batch....

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      I'm doing about 16 cases tomorrow (with a friend), hopefully I find some zone like this.
      4 Replies
      10227 Views
      Rick
      6 years ago
   6. Basic Stout

      by Muggy Dawson, 6 years ago in BIAB Recipes

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      My first attempt at using the recipe template, it's for one I've brewed a few times now without much thought to accuracy of water quantities. I've plugged it into the BIABacus (also first time to use that with intent) to see what the water quantities really should be and my next brew day will follow the BIABacus, not the seat of my pants as all previous batches I've done of it. This kind of marks my transition from pissing about into taking things more seriously.
      
      This brew managed a first...

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      Thanks Scott. While I've repeated this a few times now I haven't put enough focus on water amounts, something BIABcus helped to pin down. Now I'll start playing with different hops and timings.
      2 Replies
      8541 Views
      Muggy Dawson
      6 years ago
   7. Mash temp and time of mash.

      by Muggy Dawson, 7 years ago in From Mash to Lauter (Water to Sweet Liquor)

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      I've been getting my water temp to 67C, usually up to 69C then adding grain in to get 67C, and maintaining this for 60mins prior to boiling. So far this has been my standard MO for all brews. Reading further though, I realise that higher or lower temps will possibly give dryer or sweeter wort. Wanting to try a mash temp at 62C to achieve a dryer finish on my next Stout should I extend the time beyond the 60min mark to say 90min?

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      To ensure the best mash we recommend 90min mashes and stirring on occasion. The stirring helps wash the sugars from the grains.
      4 Replies
      19733 Views
      Lumpy5oh
      7 years ago
   8. Hydrometer readings in clear or cloudy.

      by Muggy Dawson, 7 years ago in Measurement, Mathematics and Records

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      I've recently purchased a second hydrometer and was thinking today as a tested my latest batches, does it make a difference if the sample is of clear wort or if there is some trub/cloudiness in it?
      I imagine I could test this with a 'very cloudy' Vs 'reasonably clear' set of samples, but my samples would be hard to fix values to.

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      Hey Muggy,
      
      Short answer is I think you're okay. If you have trub at the bottom you would want to have enough / excess wort in the container so the hydrometer isn't sitting at the top of the trub layer, as that would mess up your numbers.
      
      If anyone else has different or additional info please feel free to chime in.
      1 Replies
      7043 Views
      Scott
      7 years ago
   9. Bottle storage options.

      by Muggy Dawson, 7 years ago in Bottling

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      As a bottler I'm limited for places which are reasonably temperature stable to store my bottles. My best option is the spare room in my shed. I'm done with ill-fitting cardboard boxes and only use them now for empties.
      Not sure which site I saw this, but someone (not me) as usual has done the hard thinking (definitely not me) in this field and come up with this absolute pearler of an idea. My local 2nd hand place has heaps of them at $20-$80 each depending on their condition
      My filing skills...

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      Not yet. The majority of my bottles are in the bottom drawers though. These are also anti-tilt, allowing just one drawer to be opened at a time. Still going to fix to the wall.
      2 Replies
      7897 Views
      Muggy Dawson
      7 years ago
   10. Stainless hop basket

       by Muggy Dawson, 7 years ago in Bags, Mashers, Thermometers, Kettles etc.

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       I recently bought a S/S hop basket which hangs nicely on the inside of my 40L Crown Urn. It's an Ebay/H.K buy at about $26. I wanted to see the difference from a hopsock, and now prefer the basket.
       I saw the KegKing equiv this weekend at my LHBS in Perth and was shocked at the quality differences. Much better to pay an extra $10 for the K.K or store eqiv in the long run. Might only get another 10 brews out of mine before it falls apart.
       Anyone got other tips for basic equipment. I guess...

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       You're spot on with both pieces of equipment. The bag is easier to clean as I usually did it at the same time as the grain bag. Noticed today, what I thought was a clean hop basket still had small debris in the folds and joins.
       I've also tried the various sized tea balls for dry hopping, but while the main parts are stainless steel, the small joining pins or rivets certainly weren't and corroded.
       The K.I.S.S method might be best here, and I'll be going back to the hop sock for the boil, and dry...
       2 Replies
       8071 Views
       Muggy Dawson
       7 years ago

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