What I did for beer today

Bottled up an Amber Ale! I got 60 bottles from the batch. Would have been 61 but on neck broke during a cap crimp. Also got my brother and his wife interested in brewing and plan their first brew day!

warix said:

Bottled up an Amber Ale! I got 60 bottles from the batch. Would have been 61 but on neck broke during a cap crimp.

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I hate it when that happens. Damn you Anchor Steam!!!

Bottled the rest of a keg, to empty it. Disassembled faucet, shank, QD's, and keg, for cleaning.

Yesterday my dad and I finished cutting the mini fridge, cut out the back of the chamber for just the condenser plate to fit through, had to bend it back into the U shape, cut some R board to help seal off so no air leaks down in the empty chamber part of the fridge and all goes directly into the Fermentation Chamber. Just need to finish silicone caulk sealing in around the outside of the fridge and the window between the fridge and chamber, getting so close now.

Got my first full volume boil going since the move into my new apartment! I miss brewing outside already... But I'd rather be brewing inside than not at all!

Did my 2nd stage dry hop of the Plinian Legacy. Bottling day will be on Saturday!



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didn't do much today other than once again go creep on my beer fermenting away in the chamber. Checking temps, looking at bubbles... Though I did have to clean and replace the airlock as krausen got pushed up into it (and no hose of the right size to make a blowoff tube)

It's seriously become a twice-a-day habit to go watch friggin bubbles in an airlock atop an opaque bucket fermenter. I think I have a problem.

Soaked bottles and cleaned the jugs I'm using for my mead. Hope to get that going tomorrow.


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I cleaned, and sanitized, a corny keg.

I also created a recipe format, to organize my recipes into a binder, instead of scribbling on loose papers.

Figured after three days and not pushing any krausen through my blowoff tubes, I pulled the tubes and replaced with airlocks.

plath said:

Soaked bottles and cleaned the jugs I'm using for my mead. Hope to get that going tomorrow.


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Mead is a new exercise in patience. But it's worth it!

Hopinista said:

Mead is a new exercise in patience. But it's worth it!

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I've never even tasted mead. Is that crazy? My husband says it's gross...


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My Irish red's temp spiked to 75F yesterday afternoon with the S-04. Temp was supposed to be 69F,got to 77F. so i put a fan on the fermenter & got it down to 68.6this morning,according to my All-Temp laser thermometer. So I shut off the fan,thinking the temp strip would show again. The temp strip was black,with a tiny bit of blue color on the 68F square. Weird. Never saw that before?...

Soaked bottles in acid solution to get rid of deposits left by soaking in OxyClean solution for a month. Oops!

cleaned up the blow off from my raspberry wheat.. thought I was safe with just a 3-piece airlock while I was at work.. Never have I been more wrong

In a feeble attempt to save a failed stout that is now a brown ale, I racked it over 16 oz of cold brewed coffee to a keg in hopes that it would be slightly more appealing.

Im building a panel for my ebrewery and today I laid out the components in the box. I think I need a bigger box...


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Dry run with brewing equipment......burner....etc. Checked boil off rate....in preparation for weekend brew (Saturday is national Homebrew Day!!!). I havn't brewed for quite some time (I feel shame)

Assembled my STC-1000 controller. Works good so far, just need to fill some fermentors.

Replaced my blow off tube with an airlock and updated my beer tasting notes.


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plath said:

I've never even tasted mead. Is that crazy? My husband says it's gross...


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I have had one commercial mead - really dry stuff from New Zealand - that I didn't really like. I made JAOM for my wedding, on the other hand, and it was a massive hit.

Yeah it's no wonder mead isn't more popular, since all the commercial meads I've ever tried have been average at best. That's not to say I haven had a bad homemade mead, but I have also had several which were absolutely fantastic.

weirdboy said:

Yeah it's no wonder mead isn't more popular, since all the commercial meads I've ever tried have been average at best. That's not to say I haven had a bad homemade mead, but I have also had several which were absolutely fantastic.

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Ive had some amazing meads from a meadery up by Chicago IL. Maybe Rockford area. Check em out!


"Sometimes Im right half of the time ...."

Wild Blossum I think it is


"Sometimes Im right half of the time ...."

My husband got me the kegging system i have been asking for, and this weekend he is going to make me a keezer.

Good to know about the mead! I started a two gallon batch yesterday! I figure even if my husband doesn't like it I can give some away for Christmas and hopefully it's decent by then.


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(Last night) Bottled my first homebrew. . .ever.

JackQT said:

(Last night) Bottled my first homebrew. . .ever.

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Congratulations!

Aaron

JackQT said:

(Last night) Bottled my first homebrew. . .ever.

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Way cool! Now you are hooked!

I guess this kinda counts. I had to get a new,more powerful wireless router so my wife's new laptop could share the connection. Weird to me that the USB cable from the modem also has to plug into the new router to work at all? All so I can talk to y'all. Besides the other brewing stuff,etc. I also saved 10 bucks on the 2' x 4' table from Walmart over homer cheapo's,which is 4" smaller in width. Now I can set up my bottling table against the other wall from the fermenter stand for a bottling table.

plath said:

Good to know about the mead! I started a two gallon batch yesterday! I figure even if my husband doesn't like it I can give some away for Christmas and hopefully it's decent by then.


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I had never tried it before my first batch. Luckily I loved it lol

It has been a heck of a beer week.
Last Friday- built wooden box to hold all brew day gear (I brew outside)
Saturday- Stained, finished box. Started build on RIMS control box
Sunday- Cold crashed DIPA
Monday- Received 2 used kegs (AIH has killer deals on used pin locks). Washed, filled with star-san, pressurized. Added Gelatin to DIPA
Tuesday- Cut remainder of holes in control box, mounted all external hardware
Wednesday- Cut and mounted PID in control box. Continued wiring. Kegged DIPA
Today- Hopefully finish wiring, pull some DIPA bottles off of the keg and get it carbonating.
Saturday- BREW DAY FINALLY

Ordered the 84 lbs of grain (crushed) for my club brew day from my LHBS.


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Bottled two 1-gallon SMaSH experiments (US-05 and BG-1), discovered pellicles forming on the other two (S-04 and WF-3) so I'm gonna let them ride for a few months in a corner of the room.

Also bottled 48 bottles of RIS.

Still have to clean my bottling gear and wash another 50 or so bottles from the wedding on Saturday, but they'll keep for another couple hours.

ordered 50lb pilsen ($43), 50lb dme ($150)

Brewed: 5g Gulden Draak clone + 5g Rodenbach clone
secondaried : skeeter pee

Well,while we were out yesterday afternoon,the electric company shut the power off right before we came down the street. Paid the bill,just got the power back on at 11:30 this morning. Gotta get the water jugs filled with spring water for National Home Brewer's day tomorrow. ESB will be brewed. Ny Irish Red's @ 63F ATM. Got my new bottling table just about set up in the man cave. I was going to get the 2' x 4' folding table from Home Depot for $39.78. But found it at Walmart 10 bucks cheaper. It has a black resin finish on steel that'll be easier to clean. Now my fermenter stand has a decent amount of room for my 2 fermenters. Definitely opens up more room in here. Have to get a new pic when it's done.

Picked up this mini fridge off Craigslist. Only $50! And it still had all the plastic and tape on the inside. Started taking it apart to make it a kegerator. Perfect for two cornys. I'll take a pic of the finished project after work. Can't wait!




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Seeet! Difinately post some pics of finished product.

Swung past the university science supply store for an Erlenmeyer flask. Turns out campus doesn't charge taxes on purchases making it an even better deal. Guess it's the least they could do to make up for having to park for the privilege of shopping there.

Before and after! [plenty of room for one more keg. Rigged up a fan today too for the tower. Beyond happy with the results.
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