Recent content by corncob

Personally, I would actually prefer them narrower and taller. Can't please everybody, I guess... I'm really pleased with the 2 I have. It's an excellent product.

How could you test this hypothesis? To me, acetaldehyde seems to play a role, but I have never been unable to get acetaldehyde to go away with some combination of time, temp, and rousing, (and I have only ever used the fastest, most flocculant ale stains available), EXCEPT in the S-04 beers...

This one, as a full volume mash, in the Bru'n water spreadsheet, has a predicted pH of between 5.0 and 5.1, just like my twangy beers. It is a very different recipe, but it is a datapoint contrary to my recent result nonetheless. And man, is it a big old hog...

There's no making beer here without some kind of temp control. I have gotten good results from S-04 at 65-71, and the twang at those temps as well. It foams like crazy over about 69. I have not gotten it high enough to make fusels.

I'm not being hardheaded here, by the way. I live in a hot, hot place with no local home brew shop. I'm on a desperate search for a dry yeast that will make a decent English ale.

I've been tasting them all flat, and continuously as they carb. Until this past year, 90% of my brewing was English ale served at about 1.2 volumes. I did these last few brews in an attempt to isolate the process variable that separates the "S-04 won't make a good beer" people from the "I...

If you two were to take a stab at an explanation of what I just witnessed, what would your best theory be?

Is the alkalinity removed or is it balanced? I was under the impression the both the positive and negative ions (generally) stay in solution, giving you a wort with more buffering capacity at whatever pH it finds equilibrium. Maybe we need a chemist--I'm just a mechanic.

Just to be clear, I'm not saying mash pH has something to do with the SO-4 twang. Based on what I see, it's the overall water chemistry. This is why I think some people report good results with this yeast only when being dark beers. For those people, I'm postulating that their "dark beer" water...

I have been running a few experiments. Too many people report opposite performance from this yeast to write it off. There must be a process difference responsible for the tang, and we should be able to figure it out. Earlier in the thread I reported 2 sequential brews that were good, but I...

Product of the year at that price. If they can hold the price down below a third of a new stainless corny, I predict they don't be able to keep up with demand. As far as the krausen ring goes, I have never seen one that a 24or 36-hour soak with oxyclean free and a drop of dawn won't completely...

This works perfectly: the nuka tap mini/flow control ball lock assembly clears the cage and keg shoulder when a carbonation cap tee is inserted between the keg and the carbonation cap. I sealed off the other outlet on the tee with a 28 mm cap that came on a fermzilla lid. I hate foam and I hate...

That's a win.

Did it work?

That is a slick product. Do you ship to the US?