What I did for beer today

unionrdr said:

Try spraying the end of the tubing on the cane with some Starsan. work it in & it should help it slip. Got my ESB wort in the sink with cold water & a bunch of ice gel packs. Forgot a bag of ice. Not working as well as I thought, or I need to experiment with how many & what size packs to use. Sure would save money on the overall cost.

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Thanks for the tip... definitely scared my kid when that thing snapped. Sounded off like the dad from A Christmas Story.

Ha, yeah. Reminds me of my #2 son the first time I took him hunting & he heard the 12 gauge go off. Looks like I'll have to go back to ice for wort chilling. The armload of ice packs just aren't getting cold enough. But I still think strapping 3-4 of'em around a fermenter will keep the temps down. Gotta try that one yet.

Just pre-ordered a nugget rhizome. Can't wait to plant this and see how it does in the nasty summers we get here. I know people in my area have grown hops successfully so I'm hopeful.

unionrdr said:

Ha, yeah. Reminds me of my #2 son the first time I took him hunting & he heard the 12 gauge go off. Looks like I'll have to go back to ice for wort chilling. The armload of ice packs just aren't getting cold enough. But I still think strapping 3-4 of'em around a fermenter will keep the temps down. Gotta try that one yet.

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She was fine with the audible snap... what she was not ready for was the barrage of curses that flowed from her - up until this point - very laid back father.

Zekk, I also plan to grow hops this year. Let us know how it goes.

Don't feel to bad young'en. I've done that too many times & I always felt like 2c worth of sheep stuff on our Lord's sandals for having done so. Guess it took me a lifetime to breed out the habit??? Rehydrating some S-04 for the ESB wort now. Dang gone it was fine to smell wort with Northern Brewer hops & EKG again in the house. The floral & herbal really came out in this particular batch. Still got an OG of 1.054 after spilling a pint or so. I still can't figure out how it spilled down the side & the !#@#%&^&%^%#$ spigot came loose. Must've pulled some threads? Not bad though, & I'll take it. Almost done rehydrating...

Put my "Fat Centennial Blonde" in the fridge to cold crash for a few days. SG stable @ 1.009 from 1.052 by day 9... I'm liking the Nottingham.

Upped the temperature on my robust porter using WLP002. Fermentation was going really fast and furious - one of the most vigorous ferments I've ever seen - starting about 10 hours after pitching and continuing for about 12 hours. I struggled to keep the temp around 64 it was so vigorous. Then, as 002 seems to do, it quickly slowed down to almost nothing, so I'm slowly increasing the temp to about 70 to ensure full attenuation.

Kegged a DIPA and dry hopped another DIPA. Also organized some equipment.

Got my equipment cleaned up last night from brew day. My ingredients for the Kottbusser are scheduled to be delivered today. High of 14F should make that interesting.

Hydro sample of our yeti clone one week after a successful brewday hitting all of our numbers. OG 1.090 View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1420648086.850145.jpg

Just bottled my pliney clone..time to clean up the brew kettle and feed my primary

My ESB is bubbling happily at about 66F atm. Midwest shipment came in a lil bit ago & liquid yeast was half frozen. My grains were colder than a well digger's bumm.

Listening to my California Common bubbling mightily in the fermenter thru the blowoff tube while planning my next two all grain brews (cream of three crops and my first saison)...

Ahhhhhhhhh..........!!!!

I got a big whiff off my ESB's airlock yesterday without going near it. Herbal/floral goodness...oh yeah! :rockin:

Finally finished my toolbox-enclosed RIMS build (that I hesitantly started in August with very little idea what I was doing...), and ordered a SS Brew Kettle to go with the Chronical/FTSs I picked up over the holidays. It's been a good month for homebrew

got 3 pounds of hops in the mail... that alone was worth having a beer!

Tested out my brand new refractometer, and making plans to vacuum seal my leftover hops yeast and malts

Bottled "Big Ass Texas Brown Ale".
OG. = 1.054
FG. = 1.010
ABV. = 5.78
Attenuation = 81%

I think I will brew "Flat Tyre" next followed by an IPA.

Cheers

Picked up some Knox unflavored gelatin on my way to work this morning... I really want my Fat Centennial Blonde to sparkle.

We'll see how it works out, never used it before.

Gotta get more spring water to brew the kottbusser this weekend. May likely have to put the starter for the yeast in the MB where it's warm enough.

Welp... poured some gelatin/water solution in my beer. Looked crazy going in, we'll see what happens.

Checked fermentation in the Honey Pale Ale and the Imperial Stout this morning. All good except for slightly off target temps on the PA.

Temps in the brew studio/basement are lower than usual with the single digits outside. I didn't adjust to the cold weather fast enough. My inside freezer conversion fermentation temperature control chamber (FTCC) needs a fermwrap. The one outside already has one that works perfectly with the STC1000. DOH!

Kegged my Vienna/Amarillo smash, first all-grain batch. Forgot to grab a taste, going to give it a few days to crash in the fridge. Put my no chill from yesterday into a bottle, and pitched the slurry from the batch I kegged.

I supported my brew bud on his fifth beer.

At six in the morning, I received a frantic call. When he checked on his porter in his chest freezer, the lid kinda stuck a bit before it opened to reveal a blow out explosion. I didn't laugh. I didn't say I told you so.

I assured him that the beer was fine. Just clean up the mess and set the blow off tube into a growler of starsan.

This weekend though, I'll laugh and give him a little hell.

Researched options for my Jacked Up Brewlevator beer stand. Paid for a 1 year forum membership on Homebrewtalk and posted.

Kegged my Zombie Killer cherry/honey/apple cider then made slants to start a yeast bank.

bottled a Saison, shared some home-brews with a new brew buddy, and had a wonderful Saison Darkly to celebrate...man I wish I could find a recipe for that beer!

Let's see started by pitching lacto in one gallon of beer and belgian sour mix 1 in the other, the one with lacto with will get Brett lambicus in a week or two. Then checked in on my tropical Wheatish ipa and got it started cold crashing then decided to make some spent grain soft pretzels that were amazing

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Bought four food-safe buckets from Wally's and four gamma lids from Home Depot, then transferred my open 55-lb bag of MO and a new 50-lb bag of two row into them. Pretty money storage setup.

i brewed my first wheat beer..when i place in fermenter and take my readings (4.9%) will be time for a beer..

Brewing my next round of Coniston Bluebird Bitter clone. And got my BJCP exam results. Got an 87, which is f***ing awesome, and as good as I could have dreamed. Now I just need to rack up the judging points. One hasn't posted yet, but once that does, I'm only 0.5 points shy of Certified, and then it's racking em up till I can take the written exam. National rank or bust.

Dry hopped what Im dubbing Mellow Yellow a Heady Topper inspired DIPA.

Clankenbrew said:

Dry hopped what Im dubbing Mellow Yellow a Heady Topper inspired DIPA.

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Care to share the recipe? Love me some heady but alil difference never hurts too lol

Dry hopped my centennial (2 hearted?) IPA and made a trip to lhbs for kolsch yeast...next up bee cave kolsch 😀

Bottled my first all-grain batch today.

Made a list of supplies and prices for 5 gallon batches and submitted to SWMBO for approval vs. brewing a gallon a week. Looks like I get to brew for real.

Made my starter of wlp080 for my cream of three crops ale I'm doing tomorrow... I'll step it up early in the am.

Cleaned bottles and stepped up a starter. Going too bottle my porter in a little.

Dry-fit all of the fittings to the new Steelhead pump and to the Therminator, then figured out which parts need to get returned and ordered the RIGHT parts. Sigh.

Then I tossed all the newly-set slants into the fermentation chamber where it's a toasty 70F (my WLP002 robust porter was carefully temperature-controlled during active fermentation, and I've warmed it way up to ensure full attenuation.) If nothing grows on those slants in those conditions, they're good to go.

Ordered some keg lube and 4 lbs. Of PBW for the kegs to be cleaned out. First all grain brew is going in the kegs hopefully two weeks from today!