Starting over

Well I just moved from Chicago to West Virginia and I thought I would take the chance to sort of start over in my brewing. I didn't brew for a 6 months before I left in order to empty out my 6 kegs, I did not want to move 6 kegs full of beer. I just got brewing classic styles and I'm excited to create a whole new line up of beers for my kegerator. I'm also taking the time to spend a little extra money and do some DIY projects that have been on my list for a while.

Here's the list of my first 6 brews to be on tap.

1-Peanut Butter Stout
2-Cascade SMaSH
3-Centennial SMaSH
4-BierMuncher's Litehaus Wheat
5-Maibock
6-Oktoberfest

Here's the list of projects I'm going to try and get done in the next few weeks.

1-Turn my crappy keezer in to a Jester clone



2-Wire an old fridge with a dual temp controller so I never have to worry about fermentation temperature again, and finally be able to brew lagers.

3-Build 2 stir plates.

4-Get my Cascade and Centennial hops out of pots and into the ground.

Lots of pics and questions to follow I'm sure.

But first thing is first, I brewed my peanut butter stout yesterday and it really smells like peanut butter! I hope it comes through in the final beer.

Congratulations on your escape!

I have never thought about making a peanut butter stout before. I've seen a few threads lately. It just doesn't sound good to me. I have heard that too much oil can affect head retention.

Awesome, and good luck. Why the move to WV?

Homercidal said:

Congratulations on your escape!

I have never thought about making a peanut butter stout before. I've seen a few threads lately. It just doesn't sound good to me. I have heard that too much oil can affect head retention.

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I went to Odd Side Ales Grand Haven and had their Peanut Butter Cup Stout that was great. I was reading about the problems with head retention because of the oil. Going through the process of extracting all the oil was just too much the day after moving so I said screw it and just threw the whole jar in.

Steelers77 said:

Awesome, and good luck. Why the move to WV?

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I just graduated from medical school and I'm starting my residency in a few months.

KUbrew said:

I just graduated from medical school and I'm starting my residency in a few months.

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Good luck to you! I'm finishing up my PGY1 year now, I'm sorry to say I left my brewing stuff behind when I moved I've been pondering getting back into it soon, my 4 months in the ICU next year seem like a perfectly reasonable time to fit it into the schedule What's your specialty?

Subbed to see how these projects unfold, especially the peanut butter brew (also curious about the head retention).

MattD said:

Good luck to you! I'm finishing up my PGY1 year now, I'm sorry to say I left my brewing stuff behind when I moved I've been pondering getting back into it soon, my 4 months in the ICU next year seem like a perfectly reasonable time to fit it into the schedule What's your specialty?

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I'm doing general surgery. I'm trying to fill up the keezer while I have time, after July my brew time will be drastically decreased.




Well, I tried to brew both my SMaSH recipes today but my regulator on my burner broke. I ordered one, supposed to be in on Thursday so I guess it's stripping wall paper and painting until then.

Not much progress yet, too busy cleaning out the garage of all the misc. boxes from moving. Finally got the freezer moved inside and went to Home Depot and got some wood and hardware for the build. Tonight I'm going to try and get the rust taken care of and take out the liner and insulation in the lid. I had some beer spill inside a tower and it does not smell good.

Hey Brian, looks like I found you on HBT. Good luck on the move and the new brews. If you get to Wichita anytime soon we'll have some good beer ready for you.

Ed

If you don't mind What recipe did you use for the peanut butter beer? It sounds like an amazing idea!

topend said:

Hey Brian, looks like I found you on HBT. Good luck on the move and the new brews. If you get to Wichita anytime soon we'll have some good beer ready for you.

Ed

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That's awesome, and also a little creepy stalkerish. Hopefully now that I'll have a set schedule we can actually make it to some family events. Are you going on this Grand Canyon trip?

MSOE_HomeBrew said:

If you don't mind What recipe did you use for the peanut butter beer? It sounds like an amazing idea!

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No Problem. It's Jamil's sweet stout recipe with a little over a pound of organic peanut butter added right at the end of the boil.


Peanut Butter Stout
Sweet Stout


Type: All Grain
Date: 4/2/2011
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Brewer: Brian
Asst Brewer:
Boil Size: 7.03 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
Equipment: My Equipment
Taste Rating(out of 50): 35.0
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00
Taste Notes:

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
8 lbs 2.2 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 69.66 %
1 lbs 2.0 oz Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 9.63 %
13.6 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 7.27 %
9.1 oz Pale Chocolate (200.0 SRM) Grain 4.88 %
1.72 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.40 %] (60 min) Hops 29.5 IBU
1.20 lb Peanut Butter (Boil 1.0 min) Misc
1 lbs Milk Sugar (Lactose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 8.56 %
1 Pkgs British Ale (White Labs #WLP005) Yeast-Ale



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.059 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.059 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.017 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.000 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.49 %
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 7.70 %
Bitterness: 29.5 IBU
Calories: 255 cal/pint
Est Color: 44.2 SRM Color: Color


Mash Profile

Mash Name: Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge Total Grain Weight: 10.69 lb
Sparge Water: 4.56 gal
Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F
TunTemperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE Mash PH: 5.4 PH

Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 16.03 qt of water at 160.6 F 151.0 F



Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).
Carbonation and Storage

Carbonation Type: Kegged (Forced CO2) Volumes of CO2: 2.0
Pressure/Weight: 6.8 PSI Carbonation Used: -
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 40.0 F Age for: 0.0 days
Storage Temperature: 0.0 F

So the peanut butter just dissolved as you dumped it in? I would have thought the clump would sink and scorch or something.... Any issues with clean up afterward?

stubbornman said:

So the peanut butter just dissolved as you dumped it in? I would have thought the clump would sink and scorch or something.... Any issues with clean up afterward?

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I put it in in small amounts. It never dissolved completely, but the boil kept it off the bottom. I dumped everything into the fermenter because I wanted all the peanut butter to come through that possible could. Clean up was the same as always, not a problem at all.




Not too much progress again today. I took out the liner and insulation in the lid and cleaned all the mold out, that was fun. Also put together the base and got the casters on. I spent a lot of time trying to take the rubber off around the rim of the freezer so I could look down inside the side walls. I really want to attach some gas shocks to help with the weight of the lid but I'm too scared to go blindly drilling into the side of the freezer.

Got a few things done today. My propane regulator didn't come so I had to move my brewing inside and do my SMaSH beers on the stove, big mistake.



I mashed for a 5 gallon batch and then split it in half for the boil so I could do a cascade and centennial side by side comparison. Well my stove sucks and will barely bring 3 gallons to a boil. I'm in the middle of my first boil so I'll be up at least another 2 hours to boil and cool the next one.

I did get my 2 Centennial rhizomes today.



I have a couple of poles for an old school clothes line in the back yard. So instead of taking them out I repainted them and am going to let the hops cover them up.



My I have a second year Cascade in a pot that is already going great. I planted the Cascade beneath the far post and the Centennials beneath the other. They can each grow 6' up and about 25' across before they reach the other pole.



I got a little work done on the keezer. Got the base put together and the casters put on it. Tomorrow will be cutting and assembling the sides and hopefully I'll get to the top also.

I finally feel like I got some actual work done on this thing. I got the inside of the coffin built and got the tile cut and placed on the back splash, I had no idea cutting tile was such an ordeal.



I also also carved a place for the handle of the freezer and got the top plywood attached to the lid.

Subscribed!

I got my temp controller wired today, it was surprisingly simple for someone who doesn't have any electrical experience.

At temp



Cooling-the blue light, fridge and fan all come on.



Heating-The red light, fan and the light bulb I'm using for a heat source come on.



It's been raining like crazy the last few days and my 2nd year Cascade plant is going crazy. I counted 20 shoots yesterday popping out of the ground, I trimmed it down to 4. Still waiting on the Centennial to pop up.

Cool thread...keep it coming.

Frustrating day today. I spent the morning cleaning out our shed and back room because the creek behind our house got very close to flooding our place because of all the rain. Then I spent the afternoon trying to rework my dimensions so that I could avoid cutting more tile. After several hours of calculations I finally gave in and went to Home Depot and got a tile cutter and accepted the fact that I can't avoid it. I also stopped at the liquor store hoping to pick up another 6-pack of Mounaineer Brewing Pale Ale, which is great by the way. They of course didn't have it, so I picked up Sam Adams Pale Ale and was very disappointed. I've got 4 left and I'm not sure what to do with them, I really don't want to drink them.

I did get my fridge all cleaned up and was able to fit my two buckets and better bottle in there perfectly. After the keezer is done I want to build a floor and put the wires for the fan, heat and temp probe through the side of the fridge.



Tomorrow is keezer, keezer, keezer baby!

I was able to get all my wood cut and sanded. All that's left is to assemble it and stain it.

looking good on the keezer so far..

Great thread! Keep it coming.

Nice start, subbed!
Bull

Made some pretty good progress today, but this is taking more man hours than I anticipated. I got the front pieces glued on the coffin so I can mount the taps. I also got the skirt on the lid.



I ran out of washers so I decided to make second trip to walmart because nothing was stopping my progress today. And of course, they were out of the size washers I needed. It was the only item they were out of on the entire hardware wall. So I made the trek to home depot and made a quick stop by the liquor store and found a nice selection of local beer, it made the rest of the night much better.



The nut brown is great, the vandalia is also great. I wasn't a huge fan of the lager, tasted a lot like BMC to me. The pale ale is fantastic though, my second favorite ever.

I got my washers and was able to get back to work. I marked where the taps would go and drilled the end ones so I could make sure my tap handles would have enough room. I got all of the border for the top cut and it's ready to be glued and screwed, but that's for tomorrow, I'm exhausted.

KUbrew said:

I also stopped at the liquor store hoping to pick up another 6-pack of Mounaineer Brewing Pale Ale, which is great by the way. They of course didn't have it, so I picked up Sam Adams Pale Ale and was very disappointed.

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Mountaineer based out of martinsburg WVA? Yeah you aren't going to find any fresh beer of theirs for a while I am sorry to say.

Wow ! Very impressive. . . . . . I want one !

NRS

why am I thinking of peanut butter in a chocolate stout??? mmmmm peanut butter cup beer!!!!!

How is the peanut butter stout coming along?

In response to the Mountaineer beers, try their stout if you can find it. Excellent! Also, for "better" beer that you can't get in WV, across the river in both Ohio and Kentucky:

Leo's Carry-out (Ohio) - cash only, ATM inside, Ohio ABV cap 14%, where I first found Jolly Pumpkin beers. Sketchy, but you're almost a doctor, so you should have your shots anyway, and the beer selection is (or at least was 2 years ago) well worth it;

Ashland Beverage Center (Kentucky) - very nice, good selection of wine and spirits, excellent (somewhat small but varied) beer selection, no ABV cap, and basic homebrew supplies if you're in a pinch.

Should take about 20 min from Huntington, depending on where you live, to get to either of them.

DrunkleJon said:

Mountaineer based out of martinsburg WVA? Yeah you aren't going to find any fresh beer of theirs for a while I am sorry to say.

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So what's the deal with them? They keep posting vague messages on facebook that don't sound good but they won't actually say what's going on. If they're going out of business I'm going to be very disappointed, that pale ale is awesome. And then WV would be down to 1 craft brewery.

MSOE_HomeBrew said:

How is the peanut butter stout coming along?

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It has had the slowest fermentation I've ever had. The white labs english ale yeast slowly bubbled for two weeks and finally crapped out at 1.024, it was supposed to make it to 1.017. I'm not going to worry about it, I'm currently crashing that beer and my two SMaSH beers and kegging them tomorrow. (Man that fermentation chamber is awesome, all I had to do was punch a few buttons and off it went on it's own, right down to 35 degrees!!!)

The samples I've had have had an awesome peanut butter aroma and a slight aftertaste but no real peanut butter taste in the beer. I ordered some peanut butter extract so I'm going to add as necessary to get the peanut butter taste I'm looking for.

There's also a huge oil slick on the top of all my hydrometer samples. I'm going to try and leave all the oil behind, but I'm pretty sure there will be no head on this beer.

We have company coming Thursday, so this one should be carbed and ready to go, I'll let you know how it turns out.

eulipion2 said:

In response to the Mountaineer beers, try their stout if you can find it. Excellent! Also, for "better" beer that you can't get in WV, across the river in both Ohio and Kentucky:

Leo's Carry-out (Ohio) - cash only, ATM inside, Ohio ABV cap 14%, where I first found Jolly Pumpkin beers. Sketchy, but you're almost a doctor, so you should have your shots anyway, and the beer selection is (or at least was 2 years ago) well worth it;

Ashland Beverage Center (Kentucky) - very nice, good selection of wine and spirits, excellent (somewhat small but varied) beer selection, no ABV cap, and basic homebrew supplies if you're in a pinch.

Should take about 20 min from Huntington, depending on where you live, to get to either of them.

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I'll look for their stout, haven't seen it yet but I'll try and find it. I'm going to have to get to Leo's Carry out, I used to live in Michigan and have been to Jolly Pumpkin, great beers!

KUbrew said:

It has had the slowest fermentation I've ever had. The white labs english ale yeast slowly bubbled for two weeks and finally crapped out at 1.024, it was supposed to make it to 1.017. I'm not going to worry about it, I'm currently crashing that beer and my two SMaSH beers and kegging them tomorrow. (Man that fermentation chamber is awesome, all I had to do was punch a few buttons and off it went on it's own, right down to 35 degrees!!!)

The samples I've had have had an awesome peanut butter aroma and a slight aftertaste but no real peanut butter taste in the beer. I ordered some peanut butter extract so I'm going to add as necessary to get the peanut butter taste I'm looking for.

There's also a huge oil slick on the top of all my hydrometer samples. I'm going to try and leave all the oil behind, but I'm pretty sure there will be no head on this beer.

We have company coming Thursday, so this one should be carbed and ready to go, I'll let you know how it turns out.

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Sweet, please do! I really want to try to make this one, but with a chocolate stout base to make a peanut butter cup inspired beer. Even if it only had the peanut butter aroma I'd be pretty happy having a chocolate stout finish.

I got back into town today from a trip to Harper's Ferry and worked a little bit on it after dinner tonight. It's amazing how fast things come together once the leg work is done. I was able to get the supports for the coffin in place so it can be secured in it's rightful place.



I got the spacers glued on the sides and got the sides screwed to the base.



And I was able to get the border on the top and get the freezer up on the base. I can't believe my measurements actually ended up being right. This thing fit like a glove. I actually had to take the thermostat knob off the side because it stuck out 1/4" and I didn't account for that when I was putting on the spacers.

I'm a bit late to the thread, but welcome to Huntington! Good thing you have a residency and a homebrew hobby or you'd be bored to death here from the lack of anything to do; especially coming from Chicago. Are you doing your residency at St. Mary's or Cabell? I'm applying to Marshall medical school in 2012 once I finish up a couple of classes. But I've lived in Huntington my whole life (unfortunately) so if you have any questions regarding the area just send me a PM and I could give you my email address.

Also you might like this resent article from the local paper. http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news...r-and-cheese-store-coming-to-Heritage-Station it mentions homebrew supplies so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Hopefully the beer selection is better than Krogers.

Oh, and I see you've already been enjoying the awesome weather (flooding) in the Ohio valley.

adfirmus said:

I'm a bit late to the thread, but welcome to Huntington! Good thing you have a residency and a homebrew hobby or you'd be bored to death here from the lack of anything to do; especially coming from Chicago. Are you doing your residency at St. Mary's or Cabell? I'm applying to Marshall medical school in 2012 once I finish up a couple of classes. But I've lived in Huntington my whole life (unfortunately) so if you have any questions regarding the area just send me a PM and I could give you my email address.

Also you might like this resent article from the local paper. http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news...r-and-cheese-store-coming-to-Heritage-Station it mentions homebrew supplies so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Hopefully the beer selection is better than Krogers.

Oh, and I see you've already been enjoying the awesome weather (flooding) in the Ohio valley.

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Thanks for the welcome, I'm at Cabell but we end up going to St. Mary's and the VA also. I liked the article, hope it opens soon because I've only found one liquor store that has a descent selection. Hopefully soon I'll have a good selection on tap so it won't matter.

KUbrew said:

Thanks for the welcome, I'm at Cabell but we end up going to St. Mary's and the VA also. I liked the article, hope it opens soon because I've only found one liquor store that has a descent selection. Hopefully soon I'll have a good selection on tap so it won't matter.

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King Spirits on Rt. 60 has the best selection around town. I usually hop over Ashland, KY to Ashland Beverage center if I want something really good. They have a good selection and it rotates a bit. They will usually have Founders, Bell's, Flying Dog, Southern Tier, and Dog Fish Head atleast. Other than that I just stock up when I go to Columbus or Cincinnatti. Best of luck with your residency and your brews!

Nice build so far.

Good luck in your residency. I am a Trauma Surgery ARNP and the surgeons I work with love my homebrew. They are always hitting me up for it. As a bonus, most of them are beer aficionados, so they frequently buy me commercial beers they like. The latest was Celebrator which is a doppelbock and the inspiration for my first lager, which I hope to brew next week on my new Top Tier stand.

Also, I saw you are going to build a stir plate. Do you have any plans?

Thanks

amrmedic said:

Nice build so far.

Good luck in your residency. I am a Trauma Surgery ARNP and the surgeons I work with love my homebrew. They are always hitting me up for it. As a bonus, most of them are beer aficionados, so they frequently buy me commercial beers they like. The latest was Celebrator which is a doppelbock and the inspiration for my first lager, which I hope to brew next week on my new Top Tier stand.

Also, I saw you are going to build a stir plate. Do you have any plans?

Thanks

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No exact plans yet. I've got a couple of old muffin fans sitting around but I have even thought about the details yet. Once the keezer is done and I get the fermentation chamber finishing touches done I'll get to the stir plate. I need to start cruising HBT and get some ideas. Let me know if you've got any good ideas for it.