12 Beers of Christmas 2017

[boasist]

I ordered boxes today, now I need find some packing materials and get my labels printed. I hope to be good to go to ship before Thanksgiving.

Same here, I'd like to get my shipping labels set, when will the shipping info be made available to us?

 

[Auger]

Same here, I'd like to get my shipping labels set, when will the shipping info be made available to us?

I'll send a link now.

 

[jerbrew]

Wow, almost all of you are on the other side of the country. Gunna get some miles on this batch.

 

[TBC]

Wow, almost all of you are on the other side of the country. Gunna get some miles on this batch.

Yeah I noticed that also. Nice cheap shipping along the east coast for me! I plan on bottling Tuesday or Wednesday this week.

 

[Easycreeper]

Looking forward to reading reviews on everyone's brews!

Some background and question for each of you:

The quad is conditioning very slowly in spite of the addition of champagne yeast at bottling. I plan on shipping these out and possibly one of the first batch (it's a little sweet and wasn't fined and so is hazy) as well given enough space in the boxes I purchased. Space is iffy, however.

Would you rather me not participate, ship the bottles and let you know when conditioning is complete, or ship the bottles and include a packet of EC-1118 if conditioning poops out completely?

Thanks, everyone.

 

[Auger]

When you say conditioning slowly, is it actually coming along, or is it really just completely flat? As long as it's progressing, I'd say ship them...there's still a few weeks to go, get them someplace relatively warm to push it along and check again after Thanksgiving to see how things look. Just my thoughts.

 

[Easycreeper]

The monster can bottle thing I'm using to monitor is only slightly tighter than when the beer was bottled.

I'll throw one in the fridge tonight and open tomorrow evening to see if it's progressing at all. If not, I'll rehydrate some additional yeast and use a dropper to dose each bottle.

Right now, all the bottles are sitting in a closet next to the water heater since that's likely the warmest place in the house.

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up before they ship anything my direction in case the situation is unacceptable.

 

[b-boy]

I picked up a counter-flow beer gun to fill my bottles. This will be the first timer using it. The beers is fully carbonated.

I'm planning to :

• Take the keg off CO2.
• Cool the keg to just above freezing
• Freeze my bottles prior to bottling
• Bottle using the beer gun instructions

Before I fill the bottles, should I carb the beer a little higher in anticipation of losing some CO2 during bottling? For example, I'm at 12 PSI for serving now. Do I crank the beer to 15 PSI for a few days, purge the keg right before bottling, then bottle?

Anyone have experience with these things?

 

[passedpawn]

I picked up a counter-flow beer gun to fill my bottles. This will be the first timer using it. The beers is fully carbonated.

I'm planning to :

• Take the keg off CO2.
• Cool the keg to just above freezing
• Freeze my bottles prior to bottling
• Bottle using the beer gun instructions

Before I fill the bottles, should I carb the beer a little higher in anticipation of losing some CO2 during bottling? For example, I'm at 12 PSI for serving now. Do I crank the beer to 15 PSI for a few days, purge the keg right before bottling, then bottle?

Anyone have experience with these thing?

I think going to 15psi is a good idea. I've had a few of the ones I bottled and while they are carbonated fine, it could be a little better. I carbed at 12psi @ 35F.

 

[b-boy]

Awesome. Thanks.

I usually keg, so the bottle carbonation thing is a little sketchy to me.

I had issues the few times I did it. I figured I'd just stick with what I know.

 

[Auger]

I would chill the bottles in a fridge, but don't freeze them. If the beer is at or near enough to freezing temp and the bottles are below, you may have some issues with the beer freezing as it comes off pressure and hits the cold bottles.

 

[boasist]

I was a little concerned with carbonation as well. I don’t bottle much anymore. But I figure I’ll be out of the secondary a little after thanksgiving, then keg and bottle, or just sugar and bottle?

 

[Auger]

I force carb in the keg, then bottle off the keg. In your case I'd probably do the same in order to ship finished beer, vs. shipping beer that will have to bottle condition for a week or two after receipt.

 

[dryboroughbrewing]

I picked up a counter-flow beer gun to fill my bottles. This will be the first timer using it. The beers is fully carbonated.

I'm planning to :

• Take the keg off CO2.
• Cool the keg to just above freezing
• Freeze my bottles prior to bottling
• Bottle using the beer gun instructions

Before I fill the bottles, should I carb the beer a little higher in anticipation of losing some CO2 during bottling? For example, I'm at 12 PSI for serving now. Do I crank the beer to 15 PSI for a few days, purge the keg right before bottling, then bottle?

Anyone have experience with these things?

First time using a counter-pressure filler... take pictures. See if you can catch the moment when you realize you really needed a 3rd hand :fro:

 

[HopHeavy]

First time using a counter-pressure filler... take pictures. See if you can catch the moment when you realize you really needed a 3rd hand :fro:

Terrific! My first time, too. But I am worried that my carbonation level might be a little on the high side. I jacked the gas up a bit thinking I will lose some in bottling. And why did the gas accessory kit come with a liquid disconnect? I already had the liquid side worked out...

I am inspired to connect the gas with the liquid disconnect via a sanitized and CO2 purged keg sitting beside the beer keg. They will be at the same pressure since they will be hooked into the same gas manifold. I won't have to have the beer and gas lines coming from two different directions, as I had feared. (My cylinder is outside my kegorator)

Can someone who has experience with the beer gun check my logic on this?

 

[TBC]

Terrific! My first time, too. But I am worried that my carbonation level might be a little on the high side. I jacked the gas up a bit thinking I will lose some in bottling. And why did the gas accessory kit come with a liquid disconnect? I already had the liquid side worked out...

I am inspired to connect the gas with the liquid disconnect via a sanitized and CO2 purged keg sitting beside the beer keg. They will be at the same pressure since they will be hooked into the same gas manifold. I won't have to have the beer and gas lines coming from two different directions, as I had feared. (My cylinder is outside my kegorator)

Can someone who has experience with the beer gun check my logic on this?

This is how I hooked mine up.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=454129

 

[TBC]

Bottled the gingerbread ale with the beer gun. Now I just have to make a lame label. It tastes good. The gingerbread taste masks the alcohol.

 

[Easycreeper]

Looking good, everyone. Wish I had gone the same route with kegging and using a beer gun at this point...

Cracked open one of the quads and just the barest ffft sound which is more attributable to the headspace being at room temp when bottling and at serving temp when opening. Had to be vacuum only since there isn't a trace of carbonation on the tongue. Guess I'll be opening 49 bottles and dosing with rehydrated yeast. Sigh. Hopefully it takes this time...

 

[Devin]

How the heck did I miss these threads in the past? I am going to have to watch for next year's and see if I can get in. Sounds like fun!

 

[Easycreeper]

Back in business! Opened the monster can bottle thing and added some dry wine yeast and recapped, squeezing some of the air out. It's already expanded again 12 hours later!

Must have killed the EC-1118 somehow... Going to rehydrate some premier cuvee that I've got laying around since that seems to be working better than the champagne yeast.

Was sweating there...

 

[TBC]

Used my artistic ability in designing my label. Hope you guys like it. Wife is going out with the girls tomorrow night so I plan on packaging then.

 

[boasist]

Bubbling has ceased and I'll be harvesting the yeast and dropping in some more hops, ginger, and honey this weekend.

A shot from the brew day...

 

[passedpawn]

Here's what you're getting in your stocking from me. Hope you enjoy.

 

[HopHeavy]

You don't ever NEED a label. I'm not planning on putting labels on my bottles that I send.

Pretty fair effort for not planning on labeling! If you have only put half the effort in the beer behind that label, it is likely to be fantastic.
Well done!

 

[Auger]

 

[dryboroughbrewing]

I found cappable belgian 375s at the LHBS the other day, so now I have literally no excuse to avoid bottling this thing, other than loathing bottling.

 

[TBC]

Boxed everything up. It took 2 hours and 4 beers. Game plan is to ship this upcoming week.

 

[Easycreeper]

First time making and applying labels... Hopefully skim milk sticks well enough (thanks @passedpawn for the tip!). Artistic photography isn't a skill. Oh well.

 

[boasist]

Everything is looking great with the other brews!

I went to go to secondary yesterday, and I saw some action in the sightglass still. So I took another reading and sure enough it's still dropping, so I have to keep waiting. I'm surprised as that's a solid week of good fermentation.

 

[boasist]

Dropped in the honey, hops, and ginger yesterday.

The ginger is already coming through nicely, honey as well, still waiting on more hop though.

Still feeling good I'll deliver for you all. Thanks again.