What I did for beer today

Sniffed my airlock

Talked SWMBO into letting me buy all I need for AG brewing. Including turkey fryer with 7.5 gallon alum. pot.

Planted more hops, Columbus, Chinook, and another planter of Cascade since my first rhizome is already doing so well. And really who doesn't need more cascade hops? Target has cheap pots and soil for those doing it in containers. I also bottled my Ahtanum and Citra Pale Ale. And then I popped open my first bottle of my saison, not bad, wish it had more pepper to it but still very good.

Unpacked my order from keg connection that arrived today. I had ordered another keg and co2 tank, as well as some misc parts and supplies. It'll be nice to have a spare co2 tank on hand now and the extra keg will give me more flexibility with my 2 tap kegerator.

Racked my Scotch Ale to a keg and moved a Canadian Lager from primary to secondary for Lagering...The keezer is full!!!

Bought a keggle.

Bought ingredients for my next batch.
Made me a yeast starter for Thursday.
Had a homebrew.

Bottled a Russian Imperial Stout for when my brother-in-law gets back from Afghanistan.

Ran a 3-day homebrew competition.

Ground grains for an IPA and an APA....hopefully I'll be posting in the "How many gallons of home brew in 2012?" thread tomorrow....

Today I tried to forget about the Imperial Stout that I bottled a week ago by drinking tequila. Lots and lots of tequila. Happy birthday me.

I added pickup tubs in my HLT and my BK. I am planing on putting in a sight glass and thermometer in my HLT and a sight glass in the BK.

Grrr. Out with my lady friends, got a semi-frantic text from hubby stating 'there is water all around your beer.' Now keep in mind that this is my first ferment (primary) in a carboy using a blow-off tube with the end in a one gallon plastic measuring cup filled with sanitizer. This is in our downstairs 1/2 bath, the only room with semi-controllable temps. I texted back with 'Is there brown goop in the tube?' 'No.' 'I'll look at it when I get home.' (Relax....have a homebrew....crossed my mind).

Got home, sure enough there was water on the bathroom floor, and it had seeped under the
baseboard into the surrounding hallway carpet, as well as peeling some of the paint off said baseboard. 'WTF???' I said ....

Long story short, after some investigating and appropriately placed paper towels, I found the culprit. A one-gallon plastic measuring cup, bought from a local restaurant supply house, being used to hold about a little less than a gallon of sanitized solution, had two huge cracks in it not seen until today. Funny that it didn't leak until today, seeing as I made the set-up on Sunday....hm. So, I changed the tubing out for an airlock and am hoping I didn't contaminate in the process.

I guess what I'm trying to say is I tried to save my beer from air, and keep my hubby happy by ridding us of the moisture problem.

Finally got around to repainting the ceiling in my fermentation area

I checked the FG of my American wheat/rye ale and gave it a quick taste. It's right where I want it to be. This is supposed to be my first kegged brew, but I'm waiting for my buddy to bring over his old fridge. I may go ahead and keg it this weekend and hold off on carbing until I have the fridge.

Yesterday: brewed 5gal of an IPA, made a yest starter for a hefe.

Today: brewing 5gal of a saison with a friend, and brewing 5gal of a hefe. I reek of grains and hops. Loving it!

Uncovered hops. Frost averted (I hope).

Tonight, try and rack banana wine into secondary, if I can find one suitable.

Drank a new version of the once defunct Falls City Beer. It was scrumptious...like I remember chocolate milk when I was a kid scrumptious. oh and I got my 5lb co2 canister filled so i can start kegging this weekend!

Just mashed in scottland's DFH 90 min clone.

Went up to Malty Dog Brewery and Supply and watched some people in the brew club (some of which are on here) brewing in the parking lot. Met some really cool guys. Learned a couple new tricks. I think I'll join their club! Now I'm brewing 2 consecutive batches. A breakfast stout and a California Common.

downtown3641 said:

I checked the FG of my American wheat/rye ale and gave it a quick taste. It's right where I want it to be. This is supposed to be my first kegged brew, but I'm waiting for my buddy to bring over his old fridge. I may go ahead and keg it this weekend and hold off on carbing until I have the fridge.

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If you are kegging, keep it cold and pressurize the keg to a few# anyway, vent it, then put a few# back on it. Your cold aging will progress, and you will have removed most of the O2 from the headspace above the beer.

Unofficially quality control testing of PBR pounder six packs. First five were "America's Best" worthy.

Just got my stir bar in the mail, finally have a stir plate. Just for fun and experience I'm gonna drink a few homebrews to experiment on bottle harvesting!

Well today was a busy day. I bottled my coopers stout and my first batch of apfelwein, which tasted awesome. Then I started a batch of coopers aussie pale ale

Just weighed out my grain bill for an amber that I will be brewing later this afternoon....Oh yeah,I also touched my brand new Thermapen,you know,just to be sure i'm not dreaming:rockin:

Bottling 5 gal. -Nut Brown Ale-

I sniffed the airlock on 10 gal Hefeweisen fermenting. Oh the bananas!

beerloaf

Bottling 5 gallons of honey hibiscus wit and 5 gallons of apfelwein!

sniffed airlocks
bought two quarts of corona familiar so i can use the bottles for the imperial cream ale
later today i will bake a loaf of spent grain bread and make pizzas with spent grain dough (both will be the 100% munich from last night)

Started soaking some of my stock pile of bottles to get the labels off. I don't really need the extra bottles right now, but it was something homebrew-related to do. I also worked out a plan for next weekend so I'll have time to do yard work, watch the Caps game, and squeeze in a brew day. I need to call the brew shop to find out if they still have Citra hops. Otherwise, I need to come up with something else to brew.

Bottled 18 bottles for a homebrew competition. Judging is next week.

I had a hard plastic/ rubber coated miller lite keg a buddy gave me a month or so ago. With an oscillating saw and a half hour of determination I got the cover off to find that it is basically a base-less, handle-less ALUMINUM keg with a rounded top and bottom. With some "aftermarket" handles and a crudely fashioned base I now have a new HLT.

Peeled the labels off of and washed a bunch of beer bottles. Agitated 42 bottled Belgian Ales to rouse the yeast and (hopefully) get some more carbonation in them.

Drank a couple of Red Hook IPA's after a long motorcycle ride near beautiful Sandy, Oregon.

Cleaned bottles. Currently sanitizing in the dishwasher. Soon I'll be bottling my IPA: my first all-grain batch! Can't wait for this, as well as the other two still in carboys, to be ready!

I checked the fast ferment test sample for my German Pils came in at 1.007 a point low but I will take it
Now off to check SG of the batch at 8 days fermenting

washed and sanitized bottles and bottling equipment after 10pm at night because that's the only time I can get to myself for beer making on weekdays.

Bottling after work today. Bavarian Hefe. First since 2004.


Well worth the effort


Prost!

T

Woke up at 6AM, turned the shower on hot, staggered to my 62 degree spare room and stared at my fermenting brews in the nude. When the cold got to me, I jumped in the hot shower.

It was a good day.

I ignored the Belgian Strong that has been in the secondary for about a month while I washed and de-labeled some bottles. I have to act as if I despise it or else I will be tempted to "take a reading" just so I can taste some. I want it, I want it bad, but I have to pretend it is a diseased hooker just to stay away.

I just bottled five gallons of Irish red ale (1.047 SG, 1.010 FG, 27 IBUs, 17.5 SRM) and five gallons of Scottish Heavy 70/- ale (1.037 OG, 1.009 FG, 15 IBUs, 13.7 SRM).


God I wish I had a kegerator :\

davekippen said:

I ignored the Belgian Strong that has been in the secondary for about a month while I washed and de-labeled some bottles. I have to act as if I despise it or else I will be tempted to "take a reading" just so I can taste some. I want it, I want it bad, but I have to pretend it is a diseased hooker just to stay away.

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Totally just snorted Jack and 7 from my nasal passages. Thanks for the laugh... and just...say...no...to Belgians until they're ready, which could be a while...