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Post #51 made 13 years ago
by dicko
My quest continues... I will not be beaten as its for a good cause! :salute:

I have taken a sample of wort from my NC cube into a small conical flask and shook it up.
The result is a huge stack of foam on top that stays forever.

After post fermentation I took another sample of the fermented wort in the same flask and shook it up again.
The result was very little foam that died off very quickly.

Does anyone think this is relevant, or is it normal?

Sigh... :headhit:
On Tap: ESB,Oatmeal Stout, APA
Primary: APA x 2
Cubed: Nowt

26/07/12

Post #52 made 13 years ago
by thughes
irrelevant......let us know how the final product actually turns out. FWIW, I always add a few ounces or wheat or carapils to help with head retention, never had a problem. For example here's a recent APA that has 8oz of carapils in a 5 gallon batch (carbed for less than a week):
Image
Last edited by thughes on 10 Jul 2012, 10:06, edited 4 times in total.
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Post #53 made 13 years ago
by dicko
Awesome! You could park a car on that foam stand!
Very lengthy process narrowing this issue down...
On Tap: ESB,Oatmeal Stout, APA
Primary: APA x 2
Cubed: Nowt

26/07/12

Post #55 made 13 years ago
by dicko
Hi PP,

Gonna do a brew Tuesday night with some water adjustments. :think:

Whilst I have been knocking out a few brews tweaking various things it appears that I have no CO2 left.
Noticed carbonation levels dropping and gave the cylinder pressure gauge a flick...it shot down to order gas level!
Anyway I have hooked up another cylinder and back on track!

I dont think this CO2 is the cause however as its been 6 months since the issue started...sigh..

But certainly another variable! :roll:

Think I may start a new thread for advice on the recipe I am targeting.
Could it be my recipe's aren't helping?
Gonna add 5% wheat as suggested by thughes.

Cheers,

D!CKO
On Tap: ESB,Oatmeal Stout, APA
Primary: APA x 2
Cubed: Nowt

26/07/12

Post #56 made 13 years ago
by PistolPatch
Good on you dicko ;),

I have vague recollections as a kid in Mt Victoria having soap not lather so I'm hoping that the hard/soft water thing BobBrews suggested will be the answer. Hope you have some good local knowledge there as to how to correct things.

Wheat/carapils/carafoam will only help. Along with the water adjustment, maybe throw in the highest percent of carafoam you can and see what happens? Hopefully one of the two will work and you can find out which one later :).

I know how frustrating problems like these are dicko so for tomorrow night, I'm....

:pray: for you :P.

(Dunno about the recipe thing. You can't have been using a string of bad recipes :dunno:)
Last edited by PistolPatch on 16 Jul 2012, 18:58, edited 4 times in total.
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Post #57 made 13 years ago
by dicko
I knew I should have paid more attention in Chemistry class... :roll:
Because I though I knew what I was doing I have added 1.5 tsp of Calcium Sulphate to the mash.
I'm brewing an Amarillo APA and my mash pH was around 5.8 (according to pH strips)

Attached is a pic of 3 pH strips.
Before addition, after 1.5 tsp (32 Litres), 30 minutes into mash time

Have I added too much?
Why didn't the pH change even a little? :idiot:

Back to the boil... :shock:
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
On Tap: ESB,Oatmeal Stout, APA
Primary: APA x 2
Cubed: Nowt

26/07/12

Post #58 made 13 years ago
by PistolPatch
I think some answers to your question got lost in the 2012 server crash dicko :P.

My water chemistry knowledge is negligible so I might be wrong on this...

I think what happens when you adjust pH is that you can put in so much of the adjuster, say, in your case, 1.5 tsp of Calcium Sulphate and nothing really happens. However say add another 1/2 tsp and then suddenly everything jumps. I think this is what they mean by the word buffer. You have to overcome the buffer.

:think:
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Post #59 made 13 years ago
by dicko
Hi PP,

I work in IT and did notice the server issue.. Ouch!

Buffer makes sense! I suppose I shouldn't even be making water additions without an understanding of the impact! :headhit:
However the 2 pale ales I have brewed are pretty much done.
Both identical recipes except for:
APA #1 dry hopped with 20g Amarillo
APA #2 3% acid malt in mash

APA#2 had a smaller krausen and not as strong a fermententation.
APA#2 was VERY carbonated in the test jar and tasted better than APA#1 in my opinion
Both started at 1045 and finished 1010

Probably nothing to read into this until I keg them at the weekend!

I hope the 5% wheat malt and warmer mash fixes my issue. :)
On Tap: ESB,Oatmeal Stout, APA
Primary: APA x 2
Cubed: Nowt

26/07/12

Post #60 made 13 years ago
by PistolPatch
Site went down for a bit over 24 hours :o.

dicko, with the 5.8 pH in your post above was that for Brew no 1? Did you get a pH reading on the brew with acid malt? Brew #2 sounds promising. Fingers crossed ;).
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Post #61 made 13 years ago
by dicko
The pH above was for APA#1.
I did take a pH for APA#2 and I reckon it was around 5.6.
Difficult to tell with any degree of accuracy on the strip.
However the reading was more pink than orange!

APA#2 did have 1tsp Calcium Sulphate vs 1.5tsp in APA#1.

I would have thought that the krausen would have been higher in APA#2 as the pH was a little lower.

The next time I brew it I will probably increase the acid malt by 1% and keep everything else the same.
Hop aroma in APA#1 is better although tastes a little less balanced.

Cant wait to filter, keg and consume!
On Tap: ESB,Oatmeal Stout, APA
Primary: APA x 2
Cubed: Nowt

26/07/12

Post #62 made 13 years ago
by thughes
dicko wrote:Cant wait to filter, keg and consume!
The above statement set off an alarm bell with me. How fine are you filtering? Is it possible your filter is removing essential proteins and other components that would normally aid in head retention? I guess I'm just wondering why you filter your beer, a couple weeks in the keg will clear any beer up.

I've never filtered my beer and I've never had a problem with head retention....coincidence?

---Todd
Last edited by thughes on 26 Jul 2012, 22:43, edited 4 times in total.
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Post #63 made 13 years ago
by BobBrews
I've never filtered my beer and I've never had a problem with head retention....coincidence?
Same here. There is no reason to filter homebrew! The ladies don't like to hear *this part but "*Time and Gravity" clear's the beer naturally. What are you doing? Please explain!
Last edited by BobBrews on 27 Jul 2012, 00:28, edited 4 times in total.
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Post #64 made 13 years ago
by dicko
The above statement set off an alarm bell with me. How fine are you filtering?
Hi thughes, My filter is 1 micron. Brings the beer up shiny!
There is no reason to filter homebrew! The ladies don't like to hear *this part but "*Time and Gravity" clear's the beer naturally. What are you doing? Please explain!
Hi BobBrews, The waiting game is fun if you have plenty of beer on tap! Fortunately I do... phew..

With respect to my head retention issue I have tried filtering vs gravity.
Unfortunately it didnt fix the issue. :sad:
Last edited by dicko on 27 Jul 2012, 04:22, edited 4 times in total.
On Tap: ESB,Oatmeal Stout, APA
Primary: APA x 2
Cubed: Nowt

26/07/12
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