What I did for beer today

Went and got a ton of hops (11 oz) for the experimental Nugget/Simcoe/Amarillo IPA I have planned. Probably didn't need to get them so far in advance, but I wanted to avoid a situation where one or more varieties were sold out.

My plan is to do no boil additions other than a 60 minute bittering addition of Chinook, then do a hopstand with 1 oz of Nugget and Simcoe and 1.3 oz of Amarillo (more to make up for the lower AA%) at 200 and then lower the temp to 170 for another. Then dry hop with the same mix.

erick0619 said:

Im sure if i do it again in a few days ill get a face full of co2. It seems like fermentation had just started this early morning. Is it the same burning feeling like when you're drinking soda and your burp comes out of the nose?

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Yes, but magnified many times.

Well, I got my car going again, & went to a shop run by a central-American family to get the old, original starter changed out. Two of the guys there were really interested in homebrewing, liking craft beers already. They seem to be interested in watching a brew day, so we'll see? Might have a couple more members?

Cut out and assembled the "guts" for 5 more 24 bottle beer crates.

Baja_Brewer said:

Thought about the 6lbs of DME in the backseat of my car whilst on my way to work. Need to boil some up and step up my Belgian yeast starters. Can also pull my two primaries from the ferm chamber and secondary, since the basement is sitting at a perfect 66*F.

Gotta figure out if I'll be able to brew this weekend before stepping the starter- or just do it - " Honey I have to brew, the yeast is ready!"

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Made my step up starters. 2X expired WLP545 (Belgian Strong Ale) and 2X expiredWLP 570 (golden strong ale) that had one step done about a month ago - each is a 1L starter with 100g of DME.

Should be able to pitch Saturday or Sunday - whenever I end up brewing.

Need to make ice tomorrow night to help chill.

Started cold crashing my APA based on Gordon Strong's Galaxy APA. Used Galaxy at FWH and flameout and Azzacca at 180-160 whirlpool. When I tested FG (1.012) it was delish! Sorta OJ'ish. of course the CO2 will modify that some. Looks to be interestingly good. although next time will add a little more bittering hops.

Edit: No Dry hopping, Also did the wet grains before crushing trick. Worked well, but tended to stick up the rollers, maybe a little too much water. Also floated the mash from the bottom and will do that from now on. Got the grains wet quicker with no clumps.

Bottled the Irish Red that was so slow to start, finished at 1.011. Flavor is nothing short of great.

I'm brewing outside right now and it started to snow!
It's really coming down!


It's a great day to make a brown ale!


You can see some flakes to the right!

We got hail & a thundershower yesterday about 5:30PM. Lasted about 5 minutes, a real cloudburst! Had to soak my test cylinder & hydrometer before testing the ordinary bitter a 2nd time. Wanna get some vinegar & bottling going today. Cold & breezy outside...

Cleaned my Picobrew, went and got water, started a Belgian golden strong ale. Going to follow that up with another Belgian, something darker.

Need to rack the Mosaic SMASH and IPA from last weekend for secondary and dry hop.

Going to clean kegs after that.

Also need to figure out if I should build a platform for inside the bottom of the downstairs fridge, or just try to use it as is for 3 gallon kegs- wondering if I can get more in there with a platform.

Cleaned a keg, starsan'ed another, kegged hard root beer, and cleaned 3 gallons of hard lemonade off the basement floor. Kegged the rest of the lemonade, and might brew a beer or another hard lemonade today. We'll see how things go.

aproveau said:

Check out the video of my Brother and I turning a giant 853lb pumpkin into a mash tun!
https://youtu.be/lD3hf2jeKuo

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That is epic!

That was really cool. Never thought of tryin' that, beyond how the old timers, pop in particular, taught me to ferment them/in them. I wonder how much flavor they got from it that way? There was some flavor & light color fermenting them covered in wax the way we did it.

Dry hopped my IPA that was brewed a week ago. I planned to use a ton of my homegrown cascade hops, but I didn't dry them enough or something and in the freezer something went wonky... Very grassy, unpleasant type aroma. I used maybe 5% of what I originally wanted to use, but still had another 3oz of Mosaic and Simcoe to dry hop with (store bought).

On the plus side, this IPA tastes amazing! First one I played with the water profile on... Along with the first time I did first wort hopping and a hop stand at 160-170F. Flavor town! And although my OG was slightly low, my FG ended equally low (just a few points). So I still nailed my expected ABV (7%). Finished at 1.011.

Transferred my imperial red to a secondary. It's been 5 weeks since brew day and I'm worried it's stuck at 1.036 (OG 1.094). Moved it from my fermentation chamber to ambient temp, transferred a bit of the trub so there would be a lot of yeast and added yeast nutrient and energizer. I'll check back on it in another month maybe. I'd like it to be at least 1.020 before packaging. Besides being cloying right now the flavor is great.

Later today I'm going to head down to my LHBS to get a CO2 fill. I think I'll pick up some enzymes while I'm there and maybe check out what they have for dry yeast in case this beer really is stuck.

ran 9 miles. beer me.

Took a gravity reading from my lager down to 1.022 from 1.060 time for that d rest.

Brewing a Scottish 80 schilling right now. Apparently bees like the smell of my boiling wort. I had the lid cracked to prevent boil over and a bee flew right into my kettle. He didn't come out. He's kettle trub now.View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1445192967.231275.jpg

Brewed a Chocolate Milk Stout and racked a Hobgoblin Clone to a keg.

Just finished kegging my Bells Best Brown, was worried about this it didn't ferment like normal but met the final gravity although a little thicker mouth feel than I thought, also finally my English pub ale is carbed and perfect timing, I'm ready for that beer

Finishing getting things cleaned & dried to bottle the ordinary bitter & get a gallon of vinegar going. finally got use of the kitchen back.

Bought a new kettle and has set up to slowly upgrade my brew.

I put together the fittings on my pump, and shook the Mead that I have in primary.

Fixed my stir plate by adding better magnets and spacing the lid to accompany the new bigger magnets

I cut 4 bottle caps alittle over in half, then cut it to fit the corner of the box and super glued them upside down to space the lid up. Working and spinning like a champ now pretty excited for it to finally be working good again.
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Brewed a mild dark british beer and bottled a blonde for christmas gifts.!

Kegged 10g BCS American IPA.
Refilled the H2O keg and put it on gas. Love to have sparkling water on tap.
Checked the APA that I brewed on the 3rd. Could be ready to cold crash.

Kegged my Christmas beer. Keeping my hands off of it until after Thanksgiving is going to be difficult because WOW the hydro sample was good.
Brewed 10g of Stout for an upcoming party
Reorganized my brew room
Realized that my new [used] keg has not been cleaned or filled with CO2 at my LHBS... so I didn't keg my batch of Yooper's Oatmeal Stout. Not cool.

Put my starter in the fridge as my brewday was postponed until Saturday (hopefully!)...

It was not technically today, but on Saturday and Sunday I judged two sessions for a local homebrew competition here in NE Minneapolis. I think I had the best Dark Mild I have ever had. I gave it a 44 and the other judge gave it a 46 (He is BJCP Grand Master Level 5). I really hope that beer wins BOS!

Brewed a schwarzbier, crashing the yeast starter today, will pitch tomorrow morning.

The airlock on the ordinary bitter was bubbling a couple times since I first checked it Saturday. So I waited till today & checked it again. clearer & less green/bitter. going to bottle today & start that first batch of vinegar. First time this year my son's school bus didn't show up. They're starting early this year! Had to drive all the way from Sheffield to Oberlin where LCJVS is early this morning. Saw lots of frost in the grass going South on sr 58.

Well, I got about a pint over 1G in the 2G pail with 1/2C of vinegar/mother. Also got 55-12oz bottles of ordinary bitter.

Formulating my first recipe ever. Also making some wishlists of ingredients for a Hobgoblin clone and a Surly Bitter Brewer clone. Planning on doing a lot of brewing in November!

Wiscohio_brewer said:

Formulating my first recipe ever. Also making some wishlists of ingredients for a Hobgoblin clone and a Surly Bitter Brewer clone. Planning on doing a lot of brewing in November!

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I just brewed for the first time in 3 months because of work and travel, but once work slows down in November I plan to brew 3 beers in 2 or 3 days. Hopefully I'll sneak another one in that month.

Racked my first 10 gallon split batch to kegs. Smelled amazing

Made a starter for the Williams Brewing Fireside Ale that I will be brewing within the next few days......

Once again this morning, reported spammers. Found a way to soak the dried krausen ring out of my Cooper's fermenter with only a quart of PBW. Will post pic later...

Brewed that Fireside Ale kit from Williams. Came in at 1.072, and about a quart over 5 gallons. This wort smelled better during the boil than any I have ever boiled. Reviews indicate at least 5 weeks of bottle conditioning, I'll need to forget about this one for a while, once I get it bottled. Sample tasted good but very sweet.

Brewed 10 gallons of IPA and kegged 20 gallons of Lager.

Brewed a Pale Mild.