Brewing today!

[Yooper]

After suffering from "the plague", I'm feeling quite a bit better. (See my NyQuil thread for details.......)

Anyway, I decided that I feel well enough to brew. Because it's an impromptu brewday, I'm brewing without a starter for the first time in ages. I'm making California common today.

I crushed the grain, and will start heating the strike water once I rest up from the grain crushing.

Here's the recipe (taken from Brewing Classic Styles, for the most part):

8 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 73.56 %
1 lbs 4.0 oz Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 11.49 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 9.20 %
10.0 oz Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 5.75 %
0.75 oz Northern Brewer [8.00 %] (60 min) Hops 21.0 IBU
1.50 oz Northern Brewer [8.00 %] (15 min) Hops 18.7 IBU
1.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.00 %] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -

1 Pkgs California Lager (Wyeast Labs #2112) Yeast-Lager

 

[Homercidal]

Take it easy, girl!

I have browsed through Brewing Classic Styles and really liked the book. I brewed an American Brown Ale this weekend from that book, but I had to sub the hops and victory malt.

After you get done brewing, have Bob do your cleanup so you can have a glass or two of homebrew while you recover from your exertion!

 

[Yooper]

Take it easy, girl!

I have browsed through Brewing Classic Styles and really liked the book. I brewed an American Brown Ale this weekend from that book, but I had to sub the hops and victory malt.

After you get done brewing, have Bob do your cleanup so you can have a glass or two of homebrew while you recover from your exertion!

Ha- Bob doesn't touch the Brewbeast. But he will dump my spent grain, especially since I'm under the weather. The only way I can do this on a day that I'm still not well is on the Brewbeast. No lifting at all, so it's really not too difficult. With my old way, there was tons of heavy lifting and schlepping stuff around. This is one of the advantages to the "new" system.

I can't believe I've had the Brewbeast for nearly 11 months already! And I still don't have my volumes nailed..........

 

[smizak]

ima jealous. I haven't brewed since Aug. Need to get on the horse, test my new 50' chiller out!

Feel better Yoops.

 

[Homercidal]

I haven't brewed nearly enough lately either. And I am now lifting my Keggle with 5 gallons of wort on top of a cooler on the table. Not exactly what I want to do, but eventually I will get a pump and make it easier on myself.

And I'm still working on volumes as well. I think it's more of a problem with me not figuring out Beersmith as well as I ought to.

 

[Yooper]

I haven't brewed nearly enough lately either. And I am now lifting my Keggle with 5 gallons of wort on top of a cooler on the table. Not exactly what I want to do, but eventually I will get a pump and make it easier on myself.

And I'm still working on volumes as well. I think it's more of a problem with me not figuring out Beersmith as well as I ought to.

About a month ago, we found ourselves, are you ready? ALMOST OF OF BEER! We were down to our last 5 gallons, because I never had time to brew. Bob even panicked. So, I'm trying to brew weekly now to catch up. The other issue is I have a BoPils planned, but that will take months and I have to have enough beer in the meantime.

I have one beer to rack when I feel like lifting things, and then I want to wash that yeast since I used British Ale Yeast II, Wyeast 1335.

Bob started a batch of blackberry wine yesterday, and he's thawing the sauvignon blanc juice pail to do later today. I'm glad I have a dozen (or more) carboys!

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

Have you ever used Kaiser's efficiency spread sheet to monitor your brewday? I know it is too late today, but that will greatly help you figure out how your system works and where liquid is getting lost or staying. I highly suggest it. That and his brewlogs are great too. Taking really good notes for just one brewday makes a huge amount of difference in how much you know about a brewery.

I am out of beer right now for the first time in years. It is awful. I have a pale mild that will be ready this weekend, so long as I can find time to toss it is a keg...

 

[Yooper]

Have you ever used Kaiser's efficiency spread sheet to monitor your brewday? I know it is too late today, but that will greatly help you figure out how your system works and where liquid is getting lost or staying. I highly suggest it. That and his brewlogs are great too. Taking really good notes for just one brewday makes a huge amount of difference in how much you know about a brewery.

I am out of beer right now for the first time in years. It is awful. I have a pale mild that will be ready this weekend, so long as I can find time to toss it is a keg...

You know, that's a great idea! I have been more closely measuring volumes, because this "new" system is still sort of new to me. By boil offs have changed drastically, and I'm still deciding if and when to turn down the element. I can maintain a rolling boil at 65% usually, or I can let it rock at 100%. This batch has 3.75 ounces of leaf hops (typo in the first post- 1.5 ounces for aroma) and I'm now trying a new hopblocker on my diptube. I know I'll lose at least a quart there today. It's fun messing around with new items, but it makes it hard to nail the volumes!

 

[IrregularPulse]

you got the pump nailed down? I ran a wet test with mine a week or so ago and had some problems keeping it going. Kind of nervous to use it in an actual brew day.

 

[Yooper]

you got the pump nailed down? I ran a wet test with mine a week or so ago and had some problems keeping it going. Kind of nervous to use it in an actual brew day.

Yes, unless I clog it up with leaf hops (hence the hopblocker)! I've had some issues with whole leaf hops escaping my bag and clogging up the CFC. Since it's a two-tier, the BK isn't much higher than the pump, and once it loses prime, it's tough to restart. Especially if the CFC and pump are loaded with leaf hops.

 

[Yooper]

Guess what happens when you're not paying attention and you have the hose going into the MLT from the HLT not pointed down, but straight out?

That's right- 185 degree water shot out directly at your chest. I turned it downward, and pulled off my shirt as soon as I could, but the damage was done.

I grabbed a bag of frozen peas to cover most of the damaged area, but I ended up with a couple of blisters on a very sensitive part of my body.

The whole left side of my chest is reddened, but the blisters are mostly right near THE most sensitive part of the body.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Guess what happens when you're not paying attention and you have the hose going into the MLT from the HLT not pointed down, but straight out?

That's right- 185 degree water shot out directly at your chest. I turned it downward, and pulled off my shirt as soon as I could, but the damage was done.

I grabbed a bag of frozen peas to cover most of the damaged area, but I ended up with a couple of blisters on a very sensitive part of my body.

The whole left side of my chest is reddened, but the blisters are mostly right near THE most sensitive part of the body.

Sorry to hear that Yoop. Don't let us dorks distract you!

 

[skeeordye11]

Wow, it's been almost 10 minutes and no one has asked for pictures yet? Everyone must be asleep or something...

 

[Cpt_Kirks]

Guess what happens when you're not paying attention and you have the hose going into the MLT from the HLT not pointed down, but straight out?

That's right- 185 degree water shot out directly at your chest. I turned it downward, and pulled off my shirt as soon as I could, but the damage was done.

I grabbed a bag of frozen peas to cover most of the damaged area, but I ended up with a couple of blisters on a very sensitive part of my body.

The whole left side of my chest is reddened, but the blisters are mostly right near THE most sensitive part of the body.

Crap, that happened to me about a year ago. Carrying a pot of hot sparge water out the back door, I stumbled and it splashed on my chest. I had to sit the pot down before I could whip my shirt off.

I feel for you...

 

[Yooper]

Wow, it's been almost 10 minutes and no one has asked for pictures yet? Everyone must be asleep or something...

Geez, thanks for your concern! Blisters are reddened areas are NOT attractive, trust me.

That was the fastest I've ever disrobed, though.

 

[shecky]

That was the fastest I've ever disrobed, though.

Yeah, right, I'm not buying that for a second.


Sorry to hear about the mishap. I, for one, do not desire to see the reddened areas. Get back to me when you're healed.

 

[Hugh_Jass]

Wow, Lorena tough couple of days. Hope you get better soon.

Oh, and did the Cali Common make it?

 

[Yooper]

Wow, Lorena tough couple of days. Hope you get better soon.

Oh, and did the Cali Common make it?

Yep! It's sitting at 68 degrees at the moment and I just pitched the yeast. That's the important thing after all! I'm going to let it start at 68, and then bring it down to 65 for the duration. Usually I do it cooler, but I also usually use White Labs San Francisco yeast which likes it cooler than the Wyeast strain, in my opinion.

The hopstopper worked great! lschiavo helped me with a diptube for it, and even though I left behind 3 quarts in the BK (ended with 6 gallons, with 5.25 gallons in the fermenter), I was very pleased! I did sort of chicken out, though, and only use one ounce of leaf hops because I was afraid I've have a repeat of a clogged CFC and no way to chill the wort. Next time I'll go ahead and bag pellet hops, and put the leaf hops in the wort. There was a nice bed of leaf hops and hot break left in the gunk in the BK, and very little clear wort so it worked out really well.

 

[dogtailale]

Ohmygod that had to have hurt. Looks like you finished your brew, so it looks like your doing a weeeeeeee bit better.

Things will get better.

 

[Yooper]

Ohmygod that had to have hurt. Looks like you finished your brew, so it looks like your doing a weeeeeeee bit better.

Things will get better.

Thanks! I just realized after dinner that I can't use the "vicks vaporub" tonight.

I'm doing quite well, and I plan on going back to work tomorrow for at least 1/2 day. The coughing needs to slow down a bit, because I don't want to scare my coworkers!

 

[BryanJ]

I have pretty much this exact recipe that I was planning on doing sometime this weekend. I'm making it for a friend and ive never done a lager before. The wyeast say temp range from 58-68. After primary fermentation is done do I have to cold crash the beer for an extended period of time?

 

[Hugh_Jass]

How you feeling today, Yoop?