Screw it, I'm brewing!

In the spirit of Brewsmith and Dude, I'd like to continue the tradition. It's Wendesday morning and it should be a workday, but SCREW IT, I'M BREWING! Got to get the IPA going for EdWort's comp . . .

I've never had a morning brew session unless you count the wee hours.

Got a link to this comp of which you speak, er, type?

944play said:

Got a link to this comp of which you speak, er, type?

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I think it's full, but there may be an alternate list you can get on.

Still working out the details, but here's the plan:

12.8 lb Maris Otter / Weyermann (GER) 80%
1.6 lb Toasted Maris Otter / Weyermann (GER) 10%
.8 lb Flaked Rye / Oio (CAN) 5%
.8 lb Rye Malt / Briess (USA) 5%
1.0 oz Chinook Hop Pellets / 11% AA for 35 IBU
2.5 oz Amarillo Hop Pellets / 8.0% AA for 15 IBU
2.5 oz Centennial Hop Pellets / 8% AA for 15 IBU
Slurry Wyeast Pacman Yeast 3nd Generation

Good for you. I just did the clean up from last nights brew. I figure Tuesday evening is just as good as any other day. Gotta keep the pipeline flowing! If you brewcast, we could all blow off work.

I think the work gods are pissed that I’m brewing today. Milling grains as usual with my Barley Crusher with one hand on the drill, the other pouring grain into the hopper (I have the small one.) Something in the grain got caught and jammed the mill. It lifts out of the bucket and spins, catapulting grain across the room. This wasn’t a simple spill. Four pounds of grain bounced off the wall and scattered everywhere. Not a good start to this brewday!

The good new is that my dog loves Maris Otter so clean up was easy.

I had a case of Rectal Blindness a few weeks ago and did the same thing.

Rectal Blindness is when you just don't see your a** going into work ! Like a Mental Health Day.

oh man... you have pacman in your inventory, I am trying to

I hate you .

I have at least two brews queued up and can't see my way clear to a brewday.

I must find time to brew because we have a huge 4th of July party every year and this year we're serving homebrew from a newly minted (still in progress) 4-perlick keezer. The beer has to be ready by then. It just has to.

Did I mention I'm green with envy.

Best of luck and I hope it turns out just like you want it to!

AnOldUR said:

I think the work gods are pissed that I’m brewing today. Milling grains as usual with my Barley Crusher with one hand on the drill, the other pouring grain into the hopper (I have the small one.) Something in the grain got caught and jammed the mill. It lifts out of the bucket and spins, catapulting grain across the room. This wasn’t a simple spill. Four pounds of grain bounced off the wall and scattered everywhere. Not a good start to this brewday!

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I think the brewing gods are just cranky today. I'm supposed to be finishing up a proposal but said, "Screw it, I'm brewing" too. It's not going well. For the first time in a very long time I missed my mash temp and even adding boiling water isn't getting it up where it needs to be. There just isn't enough room in the cooler. My kitchen sink garden hose adapter failed, partly flooding the kitchen. And the wind has picked up wildly, blowing all sorts of stuff into my sparge water any time I lift the lid (and presumably will do the same to the the kettle when I can finally get it going). My normally well-choreographed brew day is going about as well as a kindergarten dance recital. Oy.

Chad

Well, I'm not brewing today. That comes Saturday (American Wheat). But, there's 10 gallons of American Barleywine getting bottled tonight and I can't wait to take a sip or two or ???!!! Life is goooood!

humann_brewing said:

oh man... you have pacman in your inventory, I am trying to

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Took an American Wheat off the Pacman cake last night. Got to keep it going!

Chad said:

I think the brewing gods are just cranky today. I'm supposed to be finishing up a proposal but said, "Screw it, I'm brewing" too. It's not going well.

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So far no additional problems. Just going slow. Pretty windy here too. Think I'll boil inside. Hope the day has gotten better for you.

Final runnings. Be boiling soon.

Chad said:

I think the brewing gods are just cranky today. I'm supposed to be finishing up a proposal but said, "Screw it, I'm brewing" too. It's not going well. For the first time in a very long time I missed my mash temp and even adding boiling water isn't getting it up where it needs to be. There just isn't enough room in the cooler. My kitchen sink garden hose adapter failed, partly flooding the kitchen. And the wind has picked up wildly, blowing all sorts of stuff into my sparge water any time I lift the lid (and presumably will do the same to the the kettle when I can finally get it going). My normally well-choreographed brew day is going about as well as a kindergarten dance recital. Oy.

Chad

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Isn't that the way it always works when you take off work to goof off?

Best of luck with the kitchen floor and the wind. It's blowing like hell up here in Durham as well.

I'm still envious.

Overall, not a bad day.

Boiled inside . . .
(Sooooo pleased with my burner mods)

7-3/4 gallons pre-boil

Chill . . .

Only a few hours and we have krausen.
Think I should have use a blow-off!

Looking very good. I wish I had time to brew today. Maybe another brew day this weekend.

Brewmasters Warehouse said:

Looking very good. I wish I had time to brew today. Maybe another brew day this weekend.

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Ahh, but the spirit here was to brew even if you should be doing something else. Maybe this should be followed by a, "what is the most inappropriate time you've brewed?" thread. Someone out there has to have brewed on Mothers Day.

This'll be my first batch from the sack of Crisp MO you sent out. Great taste raw. Looking forward to the results.

Managed to get my mash temperatures under control (I think) but ended up over on the total volume. The last quart of boiling water I added may have done the trick. One thermometer's reading was 152° at the end of the mash, anyway. The other's was in the high 140s. Who knows where I really was. The sad fact is that I'm an obsessive compulsive cook and baker. I have more thermometers than I know what to do with and better scales than most Colombian drug lords, but sometimes things just get away from you.

Anyway, I ended up with 6.5 gallons of 1.050 rather than 5.5-6.0 gallons of 1.053. It shouldn't be that big a deal. I'm more concerned about low mash temperatures creating an overly fermentable wort and leaving the beer too dry. An ESB/English Pale should have some malt body to it. Two gallons of the wort were pitched with Nottingham. The other 4.5 gallons were pitched onto the yeast cake of the Boddington's clone I just finished -- London Ale III (Wyeast 1318). It is already blowing major bubbles through the blowoff tube.

"SCREW IT, I'M BREWING..."

Just those four words bring joy to my heart.

BierMuncher said:

"SCREW IT, I'M BREWING..."

Just those four words bring joy to my heart.

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I agree. It would be nice to see more posts with this title line. Good inspirational reading for those at work.

Chad said:

Two gallons of the wort were pitched with Nottingham. The other 4.5 gallons were pitched onto the yeast cake of the Boddington's clone I just finished -- London Ale III (Wyeast 1318).

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Nice. I love experiments. Be interested to hear the results.

Chad said:

Managed to get my mash temperatures under control (I think) but ended up over on the total volume.

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I use to struggle with pre-boil volume all the time. Now I drain the first running completely, measure that volume and sparge using the HLT sight glass to hit right on the predicted volume. I’m going with the “hot side aeration is a myth for homebrewers” theory. Haven’t had a problem with it yet.

But this is all useless if you’re fly sparging.

I'm batch sparging, but I just wasn't thinking. Even though I added a couple of quarts to the mash to get my temperature up, I still sparged with the scheduled amount of water rather than subtracting those quarts from the sparge. It was one of those "duh" moments.

Luckily it worked out well. I'm interested to see how the two batches compare.

Chad

AnOldUR said:

This'll be my first batch from the sack of Crisp MO you sent out. Great taste raw. Looking forward to the results.

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I used some of the Crisp in one of my brews a couple of weeks ago. The samples taste amazing. I do think I like it better than the Munton's but it is still too early to say for sure.

Brewmasters Warehouse said:

I used some of the Crisp in one of my brews a couple of weeks ago. The samples taste amazing. I do think I like it better than the Munton's but it is still too early to say for sure.

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[Threadjack] There are 25 lbs in a box near my front door from you waiting for my first 10 gallon batch of house ale v2.0. I expect it will be excellent. [/Threadjack]

Back on topic, I'm at home today waiting for the shop to call me about my car. They needed to make more money off me than they could in one day yesterday so they kept it overnight. I am desperately resisting the urge to brew the house ale while I wait because I too have a proposal due soon .

cytokine said:

I am desperately resisting the urge to brew the house ale while I wait because I too have a proposal due soon .

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Resistance is futile!




Damn, those little Pacmen are working up quite a sweat!

Must....not....brew...

The shuttle driver just called and so I must go.

I shall work today, go to band rehearsal, drink beer at the best taproom in town afterwards, work tomorrow and brew tomorrow night .

Saturday's brewday:
Meet with friends to run in the morning. After run truck won't start. Spend morning dealing with trunk and have plans for the evening, so end up having to pass on brewing.

Sunday's brewday:
Nice long morning run. Get home and realize that there are trees starting to grow in the house gutters. That and other "honey do" projects. No brewing!

Well, now it's Monday and SCREW IT, I'M BREWING. Got my wife to help dough in before she left for work. Hell, I should be done by noon and might even get some work done.

Made a starter on Wednesday, but stuck it in the fridge to clear before decanting. Not ideal, but it'll work (fingers crossed.)

I salute you, sir! Too much for me to do to blow off a work day, but I will be brewing this afternoon.

flyangler18 said:

. . . but I will be brewing this afternoon.

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Nice! What do you have planned?

AnOldUR said:

Nice! What do you have planned?

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The Hefeweizen I had planned for Saturday that never materialized.

4.5 lb White Wheat Malt
4.5 lb Pilsner
1 lb Munich

Protein Rest @ 122° for 15 minutes, Sacch Rest @ 153° with a Mini Decoction towards the end of the rest.

1 oz 3.2% Saaz @ 90
.5 oz 3.2% Saaz @ 5

Ferment with WLP300

I wanted to play hooky today. I really did. I'm just too darn responsible! I hate my moral compass! A nice all Fuggles E.S.B. was the plan...now I'm just sad.

vtbeerman said:

I wanted to play hooky today. I really did. I'm just too darn responsible! I hate my moral compass! A nice all Fuggles E.S.B. was the plan...now I'm just sad.

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Jason and I both work from home, so playing hooky is relative. It's more a matter of shuffling the hours.

flyangler18 said:

The Hefeweizen . . . 1 oz 3.2% Saaz @ 90. . . . 5 oz 3.2% Saaz @ 5

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Never done a Hefeweizen with Saaz. How does this recipe work out, or is this a first for you?