What I did for beer today

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JAReeves said:
Stopped at our local Italian deli and picked up a selection of Italian beer I had not yet tried. Was particularly impressed by the Birrificio Angelo Poretti Bock Rossa. A faint whiff of banana way in the back (thankfully!), but mostly a nice red roasted malt, dry, with pronounced noble hop bitterness. I was going to do a search for some more details, but anyone know anything about this beer: hops, yeast, etc.?
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Yeah I like that one. I have a few around here somewhere from last winter.
 
Got the thermometer and weldless valve on the kettle ( valve leaking but lucky I have several extra O rings and valve kits better than the one it came with, work on that later. Got the inside measured and marked off for the volume stamping. Ran out of time it's off to smoke pork on demand. Soon my Precious !!!
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I kegged 5 gallons of an English Golden ale, and 3 gallons of Jamil's Ordinary Bitter today.

My hops (East Seattle Goldings, N Brewer, Tettnang and Willamette) aren't doing so well this year. We had a 3 day heat wave, and my spouse has twice turned off the sprinkler system and it's been a week or so before I figured it out. All have cones going but the yield this year is gonna be lack luster I'm a fearin'.
 
Our club setup at the Southern Vermont Homebrew fest today for the first time and it was a total blast! Can't wait to do something like this again. We brought 8 beers and a mead altogether. Kicked one keg (one of mine :) ), and just generally got a lot of nice compliments. When someone said "people are talking about you guys", I couldn't help but be a little proud. The beer names got some nice laughs as well. Also some people clearly didn't know it was a "homebrew" fest based on some of the questions, lol. Anyway, I was on picnic tap duty as you can see in this pic, so a lot of kneeling down...
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not really beer, but hard lemon-aid.....i had a couple loaves of bean bread, and vital wheat gluten that didn't turn out. didn't want to waste food, so i dumped them in a bucket with 8-9-9.5 couldn't remember how many pounds of sugar...and 5 gallons water...got a brix of 6.8-7 and a hydro of 0.993-4...so 11.8%-12.1%...

just checked it, that's what i did today for drinking.....we'll leave how it's lower class then pruno, for tomorrow..... :mug:


(it may not be beer, but if i run out i can keg my 'preserves' and have it on tap in a jiffy, so i don't have to buy BMC!)
 
Not today but yesterday, dropped off the entries for the Washington State Fair. Got four in; Lager, Blonde, Citra/Sabro IPA, and American Strong. The only one that I don't think will do anything is the Strong; it turned out pretty cloudy (still don't know why) and more bitter than I like, but I had already paid for it so in it went. 2 years ago I got three 2nd-place ribbons, for the three entries I sent in; in 2 years I've improved quite a bit so I might do better this year. Today I'm pondering on giving hard seltzer another try; first two batches were way too cidery (too much sugar, no nutrient), and gonna go with RO water from the store with some additions.
 
Just pulled a pork tenderloin off the smoker, the butt's still got hours left. Got a spent-grain sourdough bulk rising in the fridge. An SNS starter cooling down for pitching. And finally, 4 gallons of wort headed to a boil on the stove.

First time with Golden Promise. First time doing a SM...ahh! Just caught a boilover!!!...aSH.
 
DBhomebrew said:
Just pulled a pork tenderloin off the smoker, the butt's still got hours left. Got a spent-grain sourdough bulk rising in the fridge. An SNS starter cooling down for pitching. And finally, 4 gallons of wort headed to a boil on the stove.

First time with Golden Promise. First time doing a SM...ahh! Just caught a boilover!!!...aSH.
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I love Golden Promise! Use pounds of it in my English dark ales and Winter Warmers. Good stuff
 
I also mused and kicked around in my head what a porter or wee heavy would taste like with French Oak soaked in Absinth would taste like ??? Never ever tasted Absinth but it's something I always wanted to taste. Sounds like something though better left back there in the Time Tunnels of my youth !!
 
seanjwalker1 said:
I also mused and kicked around in my head what a porter or wee heavy would taste like with French Oak soaked in Absinth would taste like ??? Never ever tasted Absinth but it's something I always wanted to taste. Sounds like something though better left back there in the Time Tunnels of my youth !!
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I could see it doing ok in a clean roasty stout, but probably not a London Porter full of brown malt.

Definitely get yourself a bottle! After you assuage your curiosity by tasting it straight, mix yourself a Sazerac! I used to be an Old-Fashioned/Manhattan guy, but boy oh boy Sazeracs are good!
 
DBhomebrew said:
I could see it doing ok in a clean roasty stout, but probably not a London Porter full of brown malt.

Definitely get yourself a bottle! After you assuage your curiosity by tasting it straight, mix yourself a Sazerac! I used to be an Old-Fashioned/Manhattan guy, but boy oh boy Sazeracs are good!
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I have no idea what a Sazerac is ?? I quit drinking liquor about 15 years ago. I was a Crown Royal man for years with an occasional rum and coke or Gin and juice. Too much Crown Royal for my own good.
 
A classic New Orleans cocktail in the vein of an Old-Fashioned, but more savory and mysterious.

The absinthe is used to coat the glass, that's it. Ice, rye (or cognac), Peychaud's bitters, sugar, lemon garnish. Really old recipe, very classy. Currently pretty trendy.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sazerac
 
Measured out my water and milled grain last night between 1-2am.

Wasn't even thinking as I poured the 2nd runnings into the kettle from the sparge bucket. Almost overflowed with another good amount still in the bucket. Huh.

While measuring in my half-sleep I had used the strike figure for both strike and sparge! An extra 3/4gal on top of the intended 4.5 in a 5gal kettle ain't gonna work!

So, I pulled out a second pot and am giving some heavy wort reduction a go. Plans change, roll with them!
 
DBhomebrew said:
Shake, shake, shake, shake. Shake, shake. Shake, shake, shake.
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While I twiddle my thumbs waiting for some wort to reduce, figured I'd report about my first SNS starter. First starter, really.

Simply, I'm sold.

I usually see the first signs of fermentation anywhere between 18-48 hrs after pitch.

I pitched and shook the starter while brewing the batch using some of the pre-boiled wort (boiled for a minute or two on the side, cooled, then pitched). At about 11a. At 11p, the starter was showing small signs of fermentation and I went ahead and pitched it into the beer before going to bed. Woke up at 7a to find a thin krausen had formed. By dinnertime it was chugging along full throttle.

I know I have a few improvements as to how I incorporate this into my process, but straight away I am very pleased.
 
Reduction will really add another dimension to your brew! I reduce for my Wee Heavys' and Doppelbocks. Is all that gonna fit comfortably in your fermenter ? Might need a blow off. Looks good by the way
 
seanjwalker1 said:
Reduction will really add another dimension to your brew! I reduce for my Wee Heavys' and Doppelbocks. Is all that gonna fit comfortably in your fermenter ? Might need a blow off. Looks good by the way
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Yup! My kettle is my volume bottleneck. I ended up putting 4 gallons of wort into a 5gal fermenter. A quart more than planned with an extra 2pts of gravity.

Yes, the reduction sure was tasty! Like malty caramel sauce. Would've tasted great on a scoop of ice cream!
 
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Degassed the keg that my murky American Strong is in, and added some gelatin. Should have done it on kegging, but other things intervened. Right now sipping on some delicious Apple Pie Cider from Washington Gold Cider, and looking forward to the chilling Watermelon Cider that the man (right now obsessed with ciders) brought home. A bit later will give the currently fermenting hard seltzer a test and taste, to see if it's worth boiling down 2.5lbs of blackberries into syrup for flavoring. Hoping it will be.
 
Made the slightly painful decision to bury at sea the American Strong I brewed for an upcoming competition. Already sent two bottles of it off to the state fair, but it's going to fail miserably. Murky as all get out, way too bitter, and just doesn't taste right. Added some gelatin the other day to help it clear out, but nothing doing. Time *might* help, but I can't take the chance. There's a strong bitter aftertaste that I cannot for the life of me deduce how it got there; used the usual grain bill, hops, although I did have to add some DME to up the gravity. Going to brew it up again tomorrow, I've got three and a half weeks before entries are due so if I push this one a bit fast I'll be fine.
 
seatazzz said:
Made the slightly painful decision to bury at sea the American Strong I brewed for an upcoming competition. Already sent two bottles of it off to the state fair, but it's going to fail miserably. Murky as all get out, way too bitter, and just doesn't taste right. Added some gelatin the other day to help it clear out, but nothing doing. Time *might* help, but I can't take the chance. There's a strong bitter aftertaste that I cannot for the life of me deduce how it got there; used the usual grain bill, hops, although I did have to add some DME to up the gravity. Going to brew it up again tomorrow, I've got three and a half weeks before entries are due so if I push this one a bit fast I'll be fine.
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Possibly the mash temp or over mashed increasing tannins ? How long are you letting your gelatin sit ? A lot of material I read when I first started using gelatin would say 2 days, a few days but I found through trial and error 10-14 days worked best. Just my 1 cent. Good luck in your 2nd batch!
 
seatazzz said:
Made the slightly painful decision to bury at sea the American Strong I brewed for an upcoming competition. Already sent two bottles of it off to the state fair, but it's going to fail miserably. Murky as all get out, way too bitter, and just doesn't taste right. Added some gelatin the other day to help it clear out, but nothing doing. Time *might* help, but I can't take the chance. There's a strong bitter aftertaste that I cannot for the life of me deduce how it got there; used the usual grain bill, hops, although I did have to add some DME to up the gravity. Going to brew it up again tomorrow, I've got three and a half weeks before entries are due so if I push this one a bit fast I'll be fine.
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And at least you have the pride to bury your mistakes at sea ! I slink with shame like a thief in the night and dump it on the side of the garage nervously looking left and right hoping the neighbors don't catch me in my dastardly deed !!! 😂😂😂
 
Made an attempt to stamp numbers in my brew kettle using carbon hardened 1/4 inch stamps. Forget it! Hammered that sucker for 5 min, barely made a scratch ! So it's plan # 2, electrolyte etching which I didn't want to do. That or a sight glass but I'm leaning toward etching. So it's off to Wally-World or Harbour Freight when I get time to get some thin pos and neg wires and a fully charged Alkaline 9v, order some numerical self adhesive reusable stencils from Ama-Almighty-Zon so I'm set back for a couple of days. Should a just ordered a freaking pre stamped kettle but one has to learn ! Not defeated yet !
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seanjwalker1 said:
Made an attempt to stamp numbers in my brew kettle using carbon hardened 1/4 inch stamps. Forget it! Hammered that sucker for 5 min, barely made a scratch ! So it's plan # 2, electrolyte etching which I didn't want to do. That or a sight glass but I'm leaning toward etching. So it's off to Wally-World or Harbour Freight when I get time to get some thin pos and neg wires and a fully charged Alkaline 9v, order some numerical self adhesive reusable stencils from Ama-Almighty-Zon so I'm set back for a couple of days. Should a just ordered a freaking pre stamped kettle but one has to learn ! Not defeated yet !View attachment 739032
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Did I mention my new kettle has the volume markings already.....you are way more handy than I am, I would never be brave enough to attempt that on my own!!!
 

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