calling audibles on brewday

[fluketamer]

how many of you out there call audibles on brewday. i find myself sometimes calling audibles. ill suddnely descide to use a different bittering hop or to change my flavor additions to whirlpool. etc.

yesterday i looked at my lager which is only a few days away from packaging and thought i have a few pounds of hops, why not dry hop the hell out of it.

its now soaking up several ounces of hop oils ( i hope) .

do you guys change the beer as its going or do you pretty much stick to your recipe design.

the whole way through

 

[Pennine]

I just wing it as I go. First I get the water heating, then I pick a yeast and style. Next I work on the gran bill, mill them up and get the mash going. Once that's all done I will start thinking about hops. I do keep a wide variety of things stocked which is the only reason I am marignally successful at home brewing.

I wish I had more time to plan but I can barely find time to brew. I would rather brew an audible than make plans and not brew.

 

[BeerNsteadofH2O]

I'm a planner,i plan at least 3 brews ahead,write down recipes before I brew, keep a stock list of grain hops and yeast, I'd be horrified to start the day not knowing what I was going to brew- you guys have got bigger stones than me!

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

audibles on brewday

It depends. If I'm working on process / ingredient changes, brew day is highly choreographed. Otherwise, on occasion, I've 'made an audible' as the risk/reward ratio reinforces the 'reward'.

do you pretty much stick to your recipe design the whole way through

On occasion, after brew day, and based on 1) how the fermentation went or 2) how the hydrometer sample tasted, I've made adjustments (dry hop, other ingredients) to the beer before packaging.

I just wing it as I go. First I [...]

I would rather brew an audible than make plans and not brew.

If you are willing, and have time, can you post more about your approach?

 

[tracer bullet]

I'm a planner

Same, though slightly less so. I've got the recipe and any method changes figured out ahead of time, and on brew day I stick with the plan. I am pretty sure that what I was thinking about off and on for several days, usually involving some research and such, is probably a better plan that what I decide to change at the last minute. Sure I'll change something if I realize I messed up but to date haven't needed to.

 

[Brockness Monster]

I like efficiency and repeatability. I take detailed notes and write down any changes I think need to be done. I stick to the plan as much as I can, but things happen and the plan often turns into panic, fire and tears

 

[Broothru]

I like efficiency and repeatability. I take detailed notes and write down any changes I think need to be done. I stick to the plan as much as I can, but things happen and the plan often turns into panic, fire and tears

And occasionally it happily results in surprisingly good beer!

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

I have my recipes in beersmith and my process is pretty locked down.. but let's face it .. sh** happens and sometimes you have to react quickly, or audible or whatever.. for me this usually occurs when I think I have an ingredient on hand and I go to grab it and ... uhhh .. crap its not there, or the bag I thought was saaz is simcoe.. I typically have enough ingredients on hand to sift through my inventory to find a 'close enough" match and toss that in. So yeah that happens.

Sometimes on brewday I will purposely call an audible, like hey I know this recipe is great, but I've brewed it this way a couple times so let's throw a different hop at it and see how it turns out.. or I want a little more abv so let's add another pound of 2row or whatever, that makes it fun for me too, taking a know good recipe, making a minor change and seeing what I like better. I have a brew book that all the details get written into, so im not changing my known good recipe in beersmith unless I decide I like the changes once the beer is poured. This is one of the many reasons I love this hobby.

 

[Zadkiel]

I have no storage space - I live in a 1 bedroom flat in central london that also doubles as a home office for me and my wife, and our 2 cats - I'm so tight on space that my fermentation fridge doubles up as a storage cupboard for my brewing equipment when there isn't a brew inside - I not only have to buy my grain/hops/yeast exactly to match my recipe, I have to time buying it so it arrives just before brewday, so it's not getting in our way for too long.

So no, for me there is no opportunity for me to have extra supplies on hand and decide to make last minute changes, any extras I have after brewing (for example if my recipe used 80g of hops but they came in a bag of 100g) just goes in the bin, I have nowhere to keep it.

 

[Dland]

Ha, I had to look up the definition of audibles.

Anyway, I often decide on final recipe after I get the strike water heating up and as I crush the grains. I usually know what general direction I want to go with the brew that day based on what I've got in the pipe line, but final call will be made depending on what bags of grain and hops are already open, and stock rotation considerations.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Nope. I'm a planner. I'll often plan out a series of 2-3 styles based upon reuse of the same yeast, and to the extent possible plan out recipes to bulk purchase as much of the ingredients as I can. From there it's just executing to plan based on what's in Beersmith.

If there's an audible, it's because something's gone wrong.

 

[day_trippr]

Never have, and by the Big Hairy Thunderer in the Sky hopefully never will.
I'm way too OC to even consider it...

 

[MaxStout]

I often suffer from CRS (can't remember shiat). If I try to go unscripted, I'll leave something out.

 

[Broken Crow]

Like @Dland , I had to look up 'calling audibles' ...some sports thing I guess? If you mean 'off the cuff' or 'on the fly', I usually do that when I've noticed I have too much DME or LME in my cupboard and some hops or grain or other sitting in my freezer without purpose.. I'll throw together a "Pantry Ale" just to get old stock out of the way.

 

[wepeeler]

I never do anything as extreme as say change the beer style I'm brewing, but that's because I weigh out my grain the day before, and get the yeast going (if it's liquid). BUT, I never weigh hops out until I get at least a pre-boil gravity. That way if I'm way off with my efficiency, I'm not making a Heady Topper when I planned on a Pale Ale.