Who's brewing 08-08-08 RIS? Post your notes here!

Nice work BierMuncher! Mine is coming along. My new MLT works great. The aroma of this brew is awesome!

Here's the boil (Outside in the sunshine)



And today is the inaugural use of my new custom made hop bag contraption. The same guy who makes my Egg Accessories made this for me.



It's amazing how the 3 ounces of Cluster expanded. What a wonderful day with aromas from the brew kettle and the big green eggs.

EdWort said:

...Here's the boil (Outside in the sunshine)
...

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Sunshine is over-rated...

Nice looking brew ya got there.

I may have to come up with an "ugly" version of a hop thingy...

Got the wort down to 68 in about 20 minutes.


Hit the 88 right on the money...but I'm ab out a half gallon short...hmmmm decisions...to top off or keep the batch a bit short.

I'm gonna bottle this batch so maybe I'll leave it short. I'm not a RIS gulper anyway.

EdWort said:

I just doughed in a recipe from last months Zymergy.
Here's my take on Rasty Old Tom American Imperial Stout

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Are you brewing the 8-8-8 too?

Just wrapped up my 08-08-08 as well. Lots of pics taken, but I promised my daughter a trip to the pet store, so a more detailed write-up is coming later.

landhoney said:

Are you brewing the 8-8-8 too?

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Yep. Just pitched the yeast. 2 hydrated packs of Safale-05 into 78 degree wort as per the directions. OG turned out to be 1.085, so my efficiency is off with my new MLT.

This sucker ferments 1 day at 68, then 2 weeks at 60.

I'm into the boil. My next beer equipment purchase has to be a keggle. Now that I have a 10 gallon mash tun, a full 5 gallons of just about any gravity beer is possible. But, now I've got 9 gallons of wort boiling in two pots to bring the volume down to about 7 before I can start the hop schedule. Keggle here I come...

Same for me. Need keggle. Don't like paying $3/oz for Magnum bittering hops, just to have them all fall on the floor as soon as they're added (causing an instant, volcanic boilover).

My hop utilization = pwned.

This was my most expensive beer ever. $55 for 5 gallons. Just over a buck a bottle. Then again, a beer like this in the store will go for $4+ a bottle.

Pretty good day of brewing.

Goes against my nature though to think this beer will need to be completely ignored for the next few months:







Now I have my whole brew bench filled. But....I have two more empty buckets...hmmmm...what to do next?


My brew buddy hashad enough. Time for a nap and a nice hoppy ale out of the fridge.
What a great way to spend 01-01-08...

EdWort said:

Yep. Just pitched the yeast. 2 hydrated packs of Safale-05 into 78 degree wort as per the directions. OG turned out to be 1.085, so my efficiency is off with my new MLT.
This sucker ferments 1 day at 68, then 2 weeks at 60.

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Two RIS's today. Bravo!

I just got all cleaned up with mine. 5.5 gallons in the fermenter at 1.084.

Here's that more detailed write-up. I brewed the PM version of the recipe. With 3+ lb of grain in the steeping bag, this was a big partial mash:



I cranked the oven down to 170F, then shut it off a few minutes before striking the PM at 162 F. It stabilized at 154, and held steady in the warm oven at 154-150 for the next 45 minutes or so while I ran around and got my gear together...



Since the LHBS was out of "good" (e.g. Dry) extract, I had to use LME. I remember now why I don't like to work with it. I made a sticky mess of everything, even after soaking the extract containers in really hot water before mixing them in my kettle.

Here's the goodness, just after adding the bittering hops:



and here's the result:



I topped it off to make up to 5 gallons. I think I'm getting HUGE boil-off amounts, due to the dry weather, cold temperature, and large pot diameter. according to BeerSmith, I'm getting 20+% or so per hour losses.

This batch has taught me that I definitely need to go AG. Between fighting with the extract, and spending 45 minutes "mashing" the 2-row and specialty grains, I don't think I'm saving much time with extract. Time to buy a cooler.

I brewed my extract batch up today. I did some adjusting and adding to try to reach an OG of .088. The ingredients as they came from NB were short on the anticipated OG so I added some DME and ended up with .086, not too shabby.



Edit: I just checked the airlock and it's already bubbling away. Sweet.

EdWort said:

This was my most expensive beer ever. $55 for 5 gallons.

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Mine was only $35. I had bulk Goldings in stock though.

Still around 75c a bottle though.

Mine is bubbling now too. Amazing what 2 packets of hydrated Safale-05 will do to a 1.085 OG wort.

EdWort said:

Mine is bubbling now too. Amazing what 2 packets of hydrated Safale-05 will do to a 1.085 OG wort.

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Yup! I pitched the equivalent of a packet and a half, and mine was bubbling within 6 hours (could've been sooner, I just didn't check on it until then). Gotta love that rehydrated dry yeast.

Brewed my 08/08/08 Extract today as well.

Day started off great. Got the "chores" done with 20 minutes to spare before I needed to start my brewing. Battery was dead in the thermometer, so I used the backup. No big deal. Shake it off. Grab a beer and decided to level my burner with an actual level so I didn't have to be as worried about boil overs.

Beautiful brew day. Warm day (60 degrees) and clear.

Tied my normal loose knot in the steeping bag and started steeping. Pulled the bags out to find one empty. The whole bag spilled out in the pot. So I had to strain to the bottling bucket, then back to the kettle. Shake it off too.

Start the boil. I guess I didn't tighten the nuts well enough because the burner slipped out, making me not level. Fixed with a little wood...No big deal.

Relaxin, having a Sequoia Red from the Brewpub in town. I didn't take many pictures today.



Hooked up my chiller as the sun went down, temperature starting to drop. Perfect for the water temperature for the chiller.

Bammo, Chiller starts leaking at the compression fitting. Relax...shake it off. Just run with less water pressure, prop the thing up with a chair. Problem solved.

Top off with a gallon of water (big boil off), 2 gallons for a 80 minute boil. Take a hyrdo reading 1.067! So, I've got the weakest 888 around.

Expect a good blow off on this batch.

This is after only 6 hours.

Krausen hasn't hit the blowoff tube yet, but she sure is bubblin'!

BierMuncher said:

Expect a good blow off on this batch.

This is after only 6 hours.

View attachment 3905

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Hmmmmmmm......................Maybe I should reconsider pitching onto a whole "05" cake.

BierMuncher said:

Expect a good blow off on this batch.

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Indeed. I didn't pitch onto a huge cake, just a 3 pint starter (shaken, not stirred...yet), and 12 hours later, the krausen is about 4 inches deep. Hasn't hit the blowoff tube yet, but I think it will.

I had activity in under 6 hrs with a 1 qt starter made from 1056.

BierMuncher said:

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Do you guys think that BM's immersion chiller trembles in fear every time he starts to put it into the keggle?

TerapinChef said:

Do you guys think that BM's immersion chiller trembles in fear every time he starts to put it into the keggle?

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Yes...Yes it does. I bet his primaries tremble as well.

Well, took the day off from werk cuz i'm sick (which is true) but decided to brew to help me relax. i'm taking it easy on this one, not getting to critical of everything, especially since i'm brewing in my kitchen. here goes...

ingredients picked up fresh from morebeer...i already had some of the hops and the safale-05



my only complaint from them is the mill. it's set too crush the grains far too much. shreds the poor little guys...

here's my pots hard at work



i heated 2.5 gal to 166, 3 gal to 167 and brought 1 gallon to a boil, just in case

i preheated the mash tun by rinsing it out good with hot water, then i added the pots one at a time, checking the temperature each time



i ended up needing the boiled gallon, but it worked perfectly! i mashed in at 154F!!!!!! like i said, not being too perfect, but it's always nice when things work out anyway!

I like being next to the window...makes me think i'm brewing outside or something.



more to come! have to start heating the sparge water...it takes a LLOOONNNGG time!

Nice pics, Ben! Thanks!

Just finished this up. My longest brew day EVER, and I still need to finish the clean up. Deathweed came over for the brew and we came out with 11.75 gals of black goodness at 1.082 and 78 IBUs. We were shooting for 11 gals, but we had to boil part of the wort for a while in a 2nd keggle and combine them together. I'm happy we were close on the OG target and ended up with a little extra wort. My keg MLT was barely big enough for the 35.4 lbs of grain, and I was worried my giant hop bag wasn't going to hold all 11 ounces of hops (3 oz Warrior pellets and 8 oz Fuggles leaf). All in all, a great brew day. I hope the RIS lives up to all the work we put into it. I couldn't find our camera or I would post up some brew porn.

i did my runnings with the help of several pots





and i ended up with 8 gallons!!!

so i decided to use 3 pots with 4 gallons in 1 and 2 gallons in each of the others.



i'm splitting the hops accordingly.

next time i try to brew between multiple pots, remind me to do it with a smaller beer!

if i end up boiling off ~1 gallon from each, it will be perfect! i'll keep you posted!

Wow, that looks insane! But this is kind of an insane beer to brew, so it probably fits.

So here's the brewing update...

I'm done.

Seriously though, it was a very very smooth brew day. Got started too late to do the two brews I had planned (I was going to follow up the RIS with EdWort's Bee Cave Kolsch) but I wasn't upset about it. Mash went very well, hit my temps perfect. Although I have to say I was rather confused by BeerSmith. I'm just not used to it throwing me curveballs like this. I mashed in 22.19Q water, held for 60 minutes. Drained the mash tun to get 4 gallons of first runnings. Then, following BeerSmith's instructions, I sparged (batch) with 3.15 gallons of water. Seeing as how they told me I was looking for a boil volume of 6.32 gallons, I was kind of confused. So I just chucked it all in the keggle and boiled the piss out of it. 90 minutes later, I had about 5 1/2-6 gallons of beautiful black tasty tasty wort.

Chucked in my 1/2 gallon of starter and I was a happy man! I'll keep you informed on the fermentation process.

Wow, it's been a long day! Here's the HOT BREAK!



Here are the last 10 minute hop additions (i'm adding the aroma to the secondary)



Cooling the wort...lol (no hoses or hookups here for my wort chiller)





now i just gotta wait around while that cools and wait for my friend to come over here with my carboy!

time for a well-deserved break!

here's the last of my evening!

after pouring all the wort...see that little "5 gal" mark there??? right below it is my line for 5 gals even! when the foam goes down its JUST over...i can't believe how perfect it came out.



taking the hydrometer reading...it was EXACTLY at 1.088!!! granted, it's at about 74 F, but that's what...1.089? 1.090? close enough for me! about 70% efficiency



according to promash, it's 85 IBU...again close enough for me!

what an awesome turnout. it only took me 8 hours (with cleanup...hey! another 8!) but all in all it was a relaxing evening. i shook the hell out of it over about an hour and pitched two packs of safale us-05 (no rehydrate.) i figure it'll be about a month in the primary at 65 or so, then as cold as i can get it in my fermentation chiller for another month or so.

it tastes like it's going to be fantastic!!!

:rockin:

good night everyone. i look forward to opening these in 8 months!

So, today is the second full day of Rasty Old Tom's in the bucket. The recipe in last month's Zymurgy said it had to ferment at 68 degrees for 24 hours, then 60 degrees for 14 days. I took it out to the garage and put it in the freezer, taped the Love Controller sensor to the bucket and set the temp to 60. I just checked this evening and it's still bubbling like crazy, even at 60 degrees. No blow off though, the bucket is big enough. Whew!



I started using Captain Morgan in my airlocks. It's much easier to see. Thanks to whoever recommended it!

much easier to use than what? i use really cheap vodka

to see, not to use.

chriso said:

to see, not to use.

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Yep, at a quick glance you can see if you have enough in it and if there is any action. The contrast of the light amber liquid against a white bucket or white interior of a freezer is far better than a clear liquid. I don't have any cheap rum, though the Captain goes for $18.99 for a 1/2 gallon.

EdWort said:

So, today is the second full day of Rasty Old Tom's in the bucket. The recipe in last month's Zymurgy said it had to ferment at 68 degrees for 24 hours, then 60 degrees for 14 days.

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In all seriousness; I freely admit, when it comes to many things I am slow and stupid. With that in mind, please be kind in answering my next question:

Did you brew this beer in addition to the 8-8-8 recipe?

I feel my previous question where I used the word 'too' could be taken two ways. I just don't understand why you're posting pics/detail of another RIS in the 8-8-8 RIS brewing thread. Not that I don't enjoy seeing them, I just 'need' to understand what's going on or I'll explode. Thanks Edwort, you rock!

EdWort said:

...I started using Captain Morgan in my airlocks. It's much easier to see. Thanks to whoever recommended it!

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You're welcome...

I like the smell too.

Down from 1.088 to 1.024 in 3 days! Already this beer is hiding its nearly 9% ABV quite well. It has a roasty bite, but after a lengthy conditioning period, I think it'll become a wonderful stout.

Reading all of these posts I can't wait for my AHBS RIS kit to arrive