Matt Chrispen | Accidentalis Brewery. Overly serious home brewer sharing long-form articles on beer, mead, and gear. Passionate about historical and modern techniques and systems. Documenting the ongoing journey to mastering craft from my garage.
Brew-Magic
Remember somewhere I posted that I liked shiny things? I do, very much, but I also like being lazy and letting PBW and Sani-Clean do most of the work for me. I have spent a lot of afternoons at the local brewery drooling as they did a simple CIP of
Brew-Magic
Pumping can be either the most glorious or most heinous activity on a RIMS system. Lot's of things can go wrong, but it is so convenient and wonderful when it all goes right. The Brew Magic™ system is extremely well made, but the pumping system brings all of
Rambling
Forgive the construction. Decided to reorganize some of the site to make it more useful, and will try to add some drop down menus for the bits like recipes, series posts, etc. One of the cooler things is that I can now post recipes in BeerXML format. This will make
Rambling
I think it is good once and a while to be humbled... and today, well, is one that I would rather forget. Ok not good to be humbled... maybe good to tell the tale? I fill my HLT directly from the R/O filter, and somehow, got distracted while measuring
Brewer's Notes
Returning briefly to water, I thought a nod toward a simple approach that yields good results is to take a direct look at AJ deLange's A Brewing Water Chemistry Primer on homebrewtalk.com. This makes fairly straightforward recommendations with a few "exceptions" that I will paraphrase
Rambling
Not sure what I was thinking about dual tasting notes of such widely varying beers. First is the Tripel Triple, a very malty tripel brewed with mexican piloncillo sugar that added a very nice touch. Second is the House APA - my house calibration American Pale Ale, brewed with high
Brewer's Notes
Rather than revisit the past, despite a rather disappointing and very annoyed viewing of The Hobbit 2 (if you have to ask, you will never understand), I thought this space is better spent looking forward to 2014. Seriously, what was Peter Jackson thinking?I do have some goals, but not
Brewer's Notes
I realize most people would consider calibration something you would do with a measurement device. Something that I have been striving for as a brewer is the ability to repeat a recipe, and then make simple/small changes to refine or improve it's characteristics. We should all realize
Brewer's Notes
Palmer and Kaminsky, as well as AJ deLange and Martin Brungard, have lately laid out arguments that largely debunk the sulfate/chloride ratio as only effective within a certain range of amounts of ions. This makes sense, as concentration (ppm) of a given mineral drives to a flavor threshold, and
Brewer's Notes
I thought it might be nice to revisit these tasting notes over time. You may recall the early tasting when this strong saison was still very green. In just a few weeks lagering, this has really turned a corner. Below, I will mark the previous comments as ET (Early Tasting)
Measurement
There has been a flurry of interest in brewing water management for the homebrewer, largely coinciding with the release of the book "Water - A Comprehensive Guide for Brewers" by Palmer and Kaminsky. And as a book, targeted toward professional brewers enters the collective conscious of homebrewers, questions
Brewer's Notes
Sometimes simplicity is best, although I have a knack for mucking up something pretty simple. It is just how my brain works. I brewed this a couple of months ago, and it sat on primary for about 6 weeks, and another 8 weeks or so in a bright tank, all