So who's brewing this weekend?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
deere322 said:
Saturday brew day is Fuller's London Porter clone.
Virgin run with my new coleman 70 qt. mash tun. Should go well.
Done numerous BIAB batches now it's time to go with the mash tun.
My efficiencies with BIAB have been in the 80%-+, not sure if I'll see that efficiency with a mash tun.
Click to expand...

What is your process for BIAB? I'm thinking about making the leap from extract and I've been under the impression that expected efficiency is around 70% with BIAB.
 
Homebrew Sunday for me will be an English Barleywine hopped with Columbus and Fuggles. Malts will be 2 row, Marris Otter, thomas foster amber, chocolate, special b, and c-120. US-05 fourth generation yeast cake. Will be shooting for 9.5-10% abv.

Off to AiH for supplies
 
Running two brews on the Zymatic today. Seems, though, that choosing the high efficiency option makes each one a 5hour brew...sigh. Got a spiced winter ale kit from the LHBS. He split it into two bags for me, so that was great. First one following the store recipe strictly. Second one switches out sugar for brown sugar, adds a whirlpool hop addition, and swaps out Nottingham for Safale Abbaye yeast. Both will be pitched tomorrow to ferment at 68F. Be interesting, I think to take back to LHBS and see if strict matches his expectations from the Zymatic, and to compare the recipe changes.
 
Robust porter today and a double decoction helles this weekend...to see if the decoction actually makes it better than the single infusion helles I made a couple months ago.
 
Mashing an American Pils now. Hope it turns out better then last time. Pitched the yeast too cold on that one. Took three days to start to ferment. This time, gonna pitch @ 68 and not put in the fermentation cabinet till it's fermenting.
 
Just started mashing a Blonde infused with blueberry tea. Wasn't planning to brew today, but it just kinda happened...
 
Just finished a session IPA. New recipe. Mostly Maris otter, a little Vienna and honey malt. Then Falconers, centennial and citra. Bittered with magnum.
 
1st brew day went pretty good. Still gotta iron out a few things but nothing major today. Not quite used to having everything spaced out compared to my other house, but overall I'm happy with the inaugural brew day in the new place. Looking forward to getting some water lines hard plumbed in here.

I had planned on getting started this morning at 5am to salvage part of the day to do some work in the yard, but work called in me last night. So, knowing I was going to have a few hundred bucks added to my check next week, I went shopping during the boil!

Fermenter's Favorites™ Fighter Jet™ Fly Sparge
The Luckiest Man Pale Ale All-Grain Kit
Base Kit
1 x The Luckiest Man Pale Ale All-Grain Kit - UNMILLED $29.51
Yeast Options
1 x White Labs WLP001 California Ale $7.99
Priming Options
1 x None $0.00
Monster Mill Grain Mills
Monster Mill Size
1 x Monster Mill MM3 Triple Roller Mill Kit $299.99

I've been wanting a mill for a while. Figured with the shift of overtime, I could get it without feeling any financial crunch. I'm just as tired now as I would have been had I not worked and the beer is just as done now - albeit several hours later. lol

Overall good brew day!

20160220_170640[1].jpg


20160220_171004[1].jpg
 
Clonefan94 said:
Just finished a session IPA. New recipe. Mostly Maris otter, a little Vienna and honey malt. Then Falconers, centennial and citra. Bittered with magnum.
Click to expand...

Nice, would like to see the recipe. Sessions are my next challenge..after RISs, which may have successfully tackled after version 3.
 
Well I'm brewing my barleywine this morning and had my first ever stuck sparge, yay me!! :drunk:

I had to empty the mash tun and then unclog the hose on my false bottom, it was completely full of grains. Only lost a few ounces of wort and grain in the process so can't complain too much. Other than that everything has been going smashing, should still end up being a good brew day.
 
A2HB said:
Well I'm brewing my barleywine this morning and had my first ever stuck sparge, yay me!! :drunk:

I had to empty the mash tun and then unclog the hose on my false bottom, it was completely full of grains. Only lost a few ounces of wort and grain in the process so can't complain too much. Other than that everything has been going smashing, should still end up being a good brew day.
Click to expand...

That's a drag man. Suggest rice hulls. I had a stuck stout due to oatmeal. I now separately mash oats, then add the liquid to strike water. It came out just fine.
 
Last weekend was my first batch - went straight to all grain with 70 qt mash tun with CPVC manifold - did a Bell's two hearted clone. This weekend I did another - not sure what the heck it is but got it at AIHB (kit) came with Zythos hops. Skipping bottles too going right to kegs :mug:. Cant wait to try one out soon. Brewed both batches on the kitchen induction cook top with the tun sitting on my kitchen island stools - wife didnt even complain.
 
I don't know how you people do this. I feel like I always see people say they are going to do a "double brew day". I had a bunch of bad luck (flipped an entire mill of grain into my patio during milling, drill ran out of battery so I us to hand crank some grain, stuck sparge, had a boil over, dropped my thermometer in the kettle and broke it, couldn't find a brew bucket lid so I had to Suran wrap it for 24 hr), all while entertaining some friends for lunch.

I started at 9:30am and didn't finished cleaning the last piece of equipment until 11:30PM.

I made a Denny Conn vanilla stout and a Rogue Chocolate stout, which will be blended together after fermentation and left in a 10g bourbon barrel for a couple months with some split vanilla beans and cocao nibs.
 
PianoMan said:
Nice, would like to see the recipe. Sessions are my next challenge..after RISs, which may have successfully tackled after version 3.
Click to expand...

If it tastes decent, I will definitely post the recipe. Since this was a "What I have lying around brew, I really want to make sure it tastes good before I post a recipe for it.
 
I will be brewing a Blonde Ale with 2-row, rye and wheat malt, and flaked rye and oats. Was thinking of toasting the flaked stuff, I have plenty of SRM to spare before it gets too dark. It will be my first batch using my bottling bucket as a mash tun (have been using a bucket for my last few batches and the temperature doesn't budge over an hour), with a trusty BIAB to separate the grain. I plan to use the spigot to drain liquid, and to just add my sparge water to the bucket. If it gets stuck, I can take the bag out and drain that way like normal. Seems like a no brainer cheap lautering method with a fail-safe for stuck sparges. It will be interesting to see how my efficiency is with this method.
 
filthyastronaut said:
I will be brewing a Blonde Ale with 2-row, rye and wheat malt, and flaked rye and oats. Was thinking of toasting the flaked stuff, I have plenty of SRM to spare before it gets too dark. It will be my first batch using my bottling bucket as a mash tun (have been using a bucket for my last few batches and the temperature doesn't budge over an hour), with a trusty BIAB to separate the grain. I plan to use the spigot to drain liquid, and to just add my sparge water to the bucket. If it gets stuck, I can take the bag out and drain that way like normal. Seems like a no brainer cheap lautering method with a fail-safe for stuck sparges. It will be interesting to see how my efficiency is with this method.
Click to expand...

I take my BIAB bag and put in my old zapap. I take a stainless grill and cover the pot, put the bag in the zapap and then lauter hot water through it to my preboil volume. This works much faster than using my old bottle bucket.

Plus I squeeze the bag.
 
filthyastronaut said:
I will be brewing a Blonde Ale with 2-row, rye and wheat malt, and flaked rye and oats. Was thinking of toasting the flaked stuff, I have plenty of SRM to spare before it gets too dark. It will be my first batch using my bottling bucket as a mash tun (have been using a bucket for my last few batches and the temperature doesn't budge over an hour), with a trusty BIAB to separate the grain. I plan to use the spigot to drain liquid, and to just add my sparge water to the bucket. If it gets stuck, I can take the bag out and drain that way like normal. Seems like a no brainer cheap lautering method with a fail-safe for stuck sparges. It will be interesting to see how my efficiency is with this method.
Click to expand...

Recommend using rice hulls to help the stuck sparge issue.
 
thaymond said:
I take my BIAB bag and put in my old zapap. I take a stainless grill and cover the pot, put the bag in the zapap and then lauter hot water through it to my preboil volume. This works much faster than using my old bottle bucket.

Plus I squeeze the bag.
Click to expand...

Have you tried both? It'd be good to know the time consumption vs. the zapap. The zapap sounds easy, but I'd rather not bother with it.

PianoMan said:
Recommend using rice hulls to help the stuck sparge issue.
Click to expand...

Well, the stuck sparge hasn't been an issue before because I've only ever done BIAB with a dunk sparge. I have been able to do 100 percent wheat beers and high percentage rye beers without a second thought and no rice hulls. My intent isn't to find a workaround for stuck sparges, but rather a workaround for some of the hassles of BIAB, like lifting the bag from bucket to kettle or kettle to kettle, letting it drain, squeezing, etc. I don't have a lot of space, so a pulley system for that sort of thing isn't practical, and a full volume mash is quite difficult in my smallish kettle (7.5 gallons), plus I'd lack the surprisingly good insulation I've been getting from my bucket mashes. I think if I was able to mash and sparge in a single, drainable vessel without investing in any extra equipment, that would be ideal. The test will be whether or not it works well enough, and then whether or not it results in on par efficiency. It's low risk too, because at any point I can still use the BIAB as normal. If I run into any issues with the sticky grain bill I have for this, I will try again with a pure barley brew to see if it fares better. If my efficiency is low, I can figure whether it is low enough to not bother with it again, or high enough to try and refine the process. My hope is that it will make brewdays easier, but I have to try it first.
 
filthyastronaut said:
Have you tried both? It'd be good to know the time consumption vs. the zapap. The zapap sounds easy, but I'd rather not bother with it.



Well, the stuck sparge hasn't been an issue before because I've only ever done BIAB with a dunk sparge. I have been able to do 100 percent wheat beers and high percentage rye beers without a second thought and no rice hulls. My intent isn't to find a workaround for stuck sparges, but rather a workaround for some of the hassles of BIAB, like lifting the bag from bucket to kettle or kettle to kettle, letting it drain, squeezing, etc. I don't have a lot of space, so a pulley system for that sort of thing isn't practical, and a full volume mash is quite difficult in my smallish kettle (7.5 gallons), plus I'd lack the surprisingly good insulation I've been getting from my bucket mashes. I think if I was able to mash and sparge in a single, drainable vessel without investing in any extra equipment, that would be ideal. The test will be whether or not it works well enough, and then whether or not it results in on par efficiency. It's low risk too, because at any point I can still use the BIAB as normal. If I run into any issues with the sticky grain bill I have for this, I will try again with a pure barley brew to see if it fares better. If my efficiency is low, I can figure whether it is low enough to not bother with it again, or high enough to try and refine the process. My hope is that it will make brewdays easier, but I have to try it first.
Click to expand...

Ah yes, feel your pain...literally. If I do a partiGyle, aka 2 batches, i'm layed up next day for my back. Tried to get my 20- something yr old boys involved, but no go. I just keep weight training, my only defense!
 
Ironically I was planning on brewing a Belgian Golden Strong Ale this weekend when I saw the contest. What a co-inky-dink!
 

Similar threads

MrEggSandwich
What is going on with my IPAs?
2
Replies
55
Views
5K
OleBrewing
OleBrewing
TandemTails
German Pils Mosaic Pilsner SMaSH Lager
Replies
3
Views
6K
Sammy86
Sammy86
Boozy Mcboozerson
American Lager Victory Prima Pils Clone
Replies
2
Views
9K
EasyBrew
E
Ashevillain
Freshy Extra Pale w/ Citra Assistance Welcome
Replies
14
Views
1K
brew_darrymore
B
jackwhite
almost dumped IT but tasted IT first...
Replies
2
Views
848
jackwhite
jackwhite
Brewer's Friend 300

Latest posts

Back
Top