What I did for beer today

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Happy Father's day daddy brewers !
 

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Last post here this weekend, I swear. Got the parts for the ferment fridge, and I'm a little annoyed. They sent the motor assembly in a sturdy box, and the fan blade in one of those flimsy plastic things; yes it had a blade broken off on arrival. Would take two days to get another one here, so I just used some superglue and strong tape to put it back together. Just installed it about 30 minutes ago, and fridge is working perfectly again. Yay!!! I didn't let it run very long, just long enough to make sure it started cooling and the fan was spinning. True test will be when the current beer in there is ready for crashing next weekend. Despite all odds I went ahead and brewed yesterday, had a fan running behind the fridge in case it needed to turn on; this one is fermenting at 71, so it maybe came on twice.
 
Transferred latest NEIPA to dry hop keg and did a FG sample. FG was right on and transfer was the easiest so far. The sample tasted better than the last version and I loved the last one. I did better keeping mash temp where I wanted this time and I think that ended up helping the FG.

Also tasted the WC IPA that has been carbbing a few days and it tasted great dispute needing a bit more time to carbonate.

Heading to Mexico for work for a few days this week but when I get back I should finally have both a hazy and WC on tap at the same time or at least shortly after
 
Brandon Yu said:
First time mashing with a sous-vide which I already use for cooking.
OMG, makes life so easy hitting and maintaining mash temp. GAMECHANGER! I didn't do the boil with it, but regular electric stove, but maybe next time.
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I’ve done that with my first cheapo stick. How are you cleaning the heating element?
 
WestMichiganSteelheader said:
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Damnit, I dropped one of my favorite pint glasses. What is even worse, it was full of beer.
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I hate it when that happens, and I’m glad you were outside at the time. Yesterday I was getting ready to install a screw on swing top to a vintage Bluepoint 1/2 gallon growler and it crashed to the tile floor and glass shards almost made it to the living room. Of course I wasn’t wearing shoes at the time. After the cleaning was done I successfully installed in on my other vintage growler.

Instead of making another post, and now that I’m caught up, I’ve done a few things for beer in the past week and a half. The 9th and 10th was my club’s competition. I did some stewarding all 3 sessions. I was the prize coordinator, and thankful for all the helping hands unpacking and packing up at the end. I managed to earn 2 ribbons and a couple prizes for myself. Today I’m making space to bottle some mead and get a new one started, I also plan to add apricot purée to my apricot wheat that needs more flavor. Later HBC meets, at a brewery I haven’t visited in a while.
 
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3 Dawg Night said:
new airlock started bubbling happily
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Yeah , no worries , it'll be fine.
Yesterday I bottled the beer I brewed before I went offshore for three weeks.
5 gallons of "Dobby the house bitter"
5 gallons of "I just cut a big one" ( Low ABV Vienna lager , my experimental lawn mowing beer) .
Going back offshore tonight ... deciding if I've got time to brew another batch before I have to go . 🤔
 
Not completely beer related, but gave me the warm fuzzies like a good beer does. A friend at work has recently gotten into cross stitch, and was lamenting today that she didn't have a hoop or a frame. Remembered the big wooden frame that I've had sitting in a box for about 20 years and offered it, if I still had all the parts. Came home to find all but one knob intact (can replace with a simple wingnut from the hardware store), then had to figure out how to put it together. Did I mention this thing is well over 20 years old? Of COURSE youtube had a video on how to assemble it. She's ecstatic, I've emptied one of the many storage tubs in the garage that the husband is always b*tching about, everyone is happy. Oh look, beer!
 
BrewMan13 said:
2 days ago I made a maltodextrin solution so @Dgallo and I can thicken up our barrel aged imperial stout.
Last night cleaned a keg and line, and put the maibock on. Going to go super slow with this one as I wouldn't mind it "lagering" a bit more, but didn't want to leave the line open if possible.
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Using Maltodextrin is one of the techniques I need to do, since I am not adding lactose to any of my long-aged beers. How did it work out for you, or how has it worked in the past?
 
JAReeves said:
Using Maltodextrin is one of the techniques I need to do, since I am not adding lactose to any of my long-aged beers. How did it work out for you, or how has it worked in the past?
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I'll let you know tomorrow. I made it ahead of time since he doesn't generally have a lot of free time, and we have to blend it and rack the beer as quickly as reasonably possible, so I wanted it to be ready at a moments notice. I actually used half a gallon of dry stout as the liquid to dilute the main beer as little as possible. We used 3 lbs for about 10 gallons. Way higher than normal recs, but this is a BIG beer that attenuated surprisingly well, so want to get some of that body back.
 
Not today but last night, homebrew club meeting was a lot of fun. Got to try some awesome beers made with rye (one by our own @doug293cz, was very very good), learned more about bottling, and volunteered for our Iron Brewer challenge due in August. Going to try a wee heavy for the first time in several years. Took my Mosaic IPA for others to try, got some good feedback on it. This morning brewing up a NEIPA with HBC586; made a small batch a while back that was quite tasty. This time using Imperial Loki kveik to see what that yeast will add to it.
 
Today I made a hopper for my new Crankandstein grain mill.
IMG_20230624_195101840.jpg

The mounting board is from my Barley Crusher which recently gave up the ghost. Had to add a scrap of plywood between it and the mill as the hole for the BC is bigger than the Crank.

The next step is a stand and to add a motor. I have an old general purpose motor with a 10:1 gear reduction for a nice, slow grind.
 
Pushed up my new hop inventory into brewersfriend. I didn’t bother getting specifics but this is probably around 80oz of hops that i only paid $10 for. 2022 crop. 4 of those 8oz cans are lupomax varieties.

No..we won’t talk about the cost of homebrewcon, hotel, food, etc., etc. 😜

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Ordered some stuff from Midwest. I had recently received a "20% off any single item" card in the mail. But the promo is so riddled with exclusions, I ended up saving a whopping...get ready for this...50 cents!

Hooray for me, I guess.

The grain isn't eligible, so the discount went to the hops. And it was deducted from only one unit of the hops, as I was ordering 4 x 1oz packages (they were out of the larger sizes). So I received 20% off one of the ounces of Saaz--technically one item.

MidwestDiscount.jpg
 
Today was a sad day. As so many of us have had to do, I dumped not one but TWO beers; one kegged, and one that never made it out of the fermenter. Kegged beer was my own stupid mistake; the carb stone I had on my carbonation lid was clogged, so I swapped it for another line with a stone on it; that had a questionable hose clamp on it. Beer tasted of nothing but bad metal. The one in the fermenter is another story altogether; I've been plagued with acetaldehyde issues ever since I got the fermzilla. Most likely culprits are too much pressure too early, and temperature a bit high. Both keg and fermzilla now soaking in some warm oxyclean, and I'm drowning my sorrows in grapefruit vodka and sprite. Had grand plans to sneak in a quick brewday tonight but it's too warm out here.
 
seatazzz said:
Today was a sad day. As so many of us have had to do, I dumped not one but TWO beers; one kegged, and one that never made it out of the fermenter. Kegged beer was my own stupid mistake; the carb stone I had on my carbonation lid was clogged, so I swapped it for another line with a stone on it; that had a questionable hose clamp on it. Beer tasted of nothing but bad metal. The one in the fermenter is another story altogether; I've been plagued with acetaldehyde issues ever since I got the fermzilla. Most likely culprits are too much pressure too early, and temperature a bit high. Both keg and fermzilla now soaking in some warm oxyclean, and I'm drowning my sorrows in grapefruit vodka and sprite. Had grand plans to sneak in a quick brewday tonight but it's too warm out here.
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That’s a shame. You should invest in temp control, it’s such a night and day difference in your beers. With temp control, you’ll really have no reason to pressure ferment either. You’ll be killing two birds with one stone
 
Dgallo said:
That’s a shame. You should invest in temp control, it’s such a night and day difference in your beers. With temp control, you’ll really have no reason to pressure ferment either. You’ll be killing two birds with one stone
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I do have temperature control; a nice ferment fridge with a bayite temperature controller, with a heat lamp. Except for fermenting a bit too high (71°), I don't think that's it. I made an absolutely fantastic pressure fermented lager in a keg fermenter a month or so ago, at 71°, that had no issues whatsoever; and it went grain to glass in 6 days. So all fingers are pointing in the direction of the fermzilla, or too much pressure that stressed the yeast. I can only keep trying!
 
seatazzz said:
I do have temperature control; a nice ferment fridge with a bayite temperature controller, with a heat lamp. Except for fermenting a bit too high (71°), I don't think that's it. I made an absolutely fantastic pressure fermented lager in a keg fermenter a month or so ago, at 71°, that had no issues whatsoever; and it went grain to glass in 6 days. So all fingers are pointing in the direction of the fermzilla, or too much pressure that stressed the yeast. I can only keep trying!
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Yeah, 71*f shouldnt be an issue especially if your fermenting underpressure.

Acetaldihyde cleans its self up, so I don’t think it’s the pressure or the fermzilla. I think going grain to glass in 6 days is most likely your issue. After pressure ferms I would suggest reducing pressure and still performing a solid d rest, that should clear it up for you.

Either way, hope that issue clears up for you. I used to have acetaldihyde issues early on when I was brewing brewers best kits and listening to their directions to pull my beer off the yeast to a secondary fermenter after 5 days.
 
seatazzz said:
I do have temperature control; a nice ferment fridge with a bayite temperature controller, with a heat lamp. Except for fermenting a bit too high (71°), I don't think that's it. I made an absolutely fantastic pressure fermented lager in a keg fermenter a month or so ago, at 71°, that had no issues whatsoever; and it went grain to glass in 6 days. So all fingers are pointing in the direction of the fermzilla, or too much pressure that stressed the yeast. I can only keep trying!
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I really want to get a fermzilla at some point. I love the functionality they have from what I've read! I'm looking at the new tri-conical over at morebeer. At some point I'll pull the trigger lol.
 
Dgallo said:
Yeah, 71*f shouldnt be an issue especially if your fermenting underpressure.

Acetaldihyde cleans its self up, so I don’t think it’s the pressure or the fermzilla. I think going grain to glass in 6 days is most likely your issue. After pressure ferms I would suggest reducing pressure and still performing a solid d rest, that should clear it up for you.

Either way, hope that issue clears up for you. I used to have acetaldihyde issues early on when I was brewing brewers best kits and listening to their directions to pull my beer off the yeast to a secondary fermenter after 5 days.
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Sound advice
 
not today but for tomorrow i have a busy day planned in the brewery.
1 rack 2.25 gallons of mexican pilsner to the keg. after cleaning sanitizing and purging it.
2 raise temp of my lager to 70 degrees for dar rest
3 dry hop my other pilsner
4 encourage myself to rack my cider to another clean sanitized and purged keg its been on the yeast for at least 3 weeks now
5 drink some beer
6 if all that is done place the brined tuna in the smoker (not beer related but beer associated loosely - smoked tuna tastes great with beer)
 

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