How's your brew day going?

[ScottT]

Mine's progressing nicely. I've got the kettle at a rolling boil and the first addition of hops in, the timer is set and I'm drinking a mighty fine 80/- if I do say so myself. I'm sadly down to my last 4 bottles. I'm goint to set 2 back to try next spring so that I can see how they've aged.

I'm doing a Hefe Weizen today and just couldn't make myself do an all extract batch so I did a little mini mash using 12 oz carapils (dextrine malt), 8 oz munich, 1.25 lbs golden promise.

I know that the golden promise didn't really fit in with the style but I needed a base malt to help with the conversion for the carapils and I didn't have any pilsner malt. It's still going to be light colored but may have a bit more malt character than most.

My starter is really taking off now, I pitched the starter yesterday at noon and was a bit stressed when it wasn't showing any sign last night at midnight. This morning it was just starting to show signs of carbonation. Right now, it's got 1" of foam on it and is looking much, much better. I'm using WLP300 HefeWeizen Yeast.

What's in your kettle?

 

[justbrewit]

i haven't started brewing yet, i'm sanitizing bottles right now, then i'll bottle the beer in my primary, then i'll start brewing!!!

 

[2nd Street Brewery]

Same for me, bottling tomorrow so dropping them in the tub to sanitize tonight. Then I'm sanitizing one of my carboys to rack my lager to. Picked up a 20lb CO2 tank today, full for $40 in preperation to start kegging. I hope to keg the lager I have in my primary when it's ready in a month. Brewing a Dortmunder this Friday since I have the day off.

 

[Orfy]

I can't decide what to do about a brew kettle so no AG for me. I've just racked a Porter to Secondary. I may brew another Porter Extract if I get bored.

 

[ScottT]

Picked up a 20lb CO2 tank today, full for $40 in preperation to start kegging.

Sweet deal for sure. I'm not usually that lucky.

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

Went to the HBS this morning and picked up grains, got my starter going by 10am, so hopefully I can get my APA going tomorrow a.m.!

 

[justbrewit]

racking out of primary right now, bottling very soon!! then i'll start my brew pot!! oh boy, oh boy

 

[justbrewit]

well, its all bottled up and now i'm starting the next batch!! boy its gonna be a late night for me!!!!

the batch i just put in the bottles was super yummy too!! verry hoppy!! and that makes me hoppy!!! the gravity wasn't as low as i'd have liked, but the brew started at 1.074 the ending was 1.021 its not a stout but i did put about a pound of speciality grains in it. it should be super in about a month. i'll keep ya all posted.

 

[david_42]

Finished the first Roque Mocha Porter clone (Tom's batch) about 1 p.m. Hit the OG exactly, 1051. Had a bit of a scorch, Tom's burner is much larger than my turkey boiler. Wort still tasted fantastic. We used WL Cal. V yeast. I think I may do the second batch tomorrow. That one will use Noghttingham. Tom also started a batch of hard cider. His wife picked up some really beautiful juice at a local farmer's market.

Tom jumps in with both feet. He already has a fridge to make a keggerator and plans on getting it built before his first brew is out of the secondary.

 

[justbrewit]

wort is cooling as i type. all went well. the hops tea that i made smelled KILLER!!! 5 different types of hops. 3 high AAU hops and 2 low for bittering. found a nice strainer yesterday for straining the hops out of the tea and it worked awsome. its 3:15 am here and i'm getting tired, i don't have a wort chiller yet so i've got about another hour to cool the wort. i might even let it sit overnight in the fermenter with the lid and airlock on before i pitch the yeast. any one ever do this??

 

[david_42]

Different day. Sunday morning & too windy to brew with the garage door open. That's really rare here. maybe later.

 

[Punn]

my brew day went ok yesterday.... Did an oatmeal stout (by request again). Got a little to happy with my oats, the boil would not break well, so for an hour I had to sit and put water on the boil so it would not boil over!!!

 

[david_42]

Well, I waited a few minutes and the sun is out, the wind has stopped and the mini-mash for RMP II is in the tun.

Even cleaned the extra buckets and kegs. Time for a sip.

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

Well, my day went pretty well brewing my APA. I did note this morning that I only had one hop bag and will need to acquire two more. Other than that I pretty much hit all my targets. Also racked my dark ESB into secondary w/more hops...it's tasting mighty fine. I'm collecting three more samples of washed yeast from that trub. Just waiting for my APA to get <80F and pitch my starter which is really doing its thing right now and I'll be all wrapped up.

 

[david_42]

Got today's batch done and in the primary. Clouded up and started raining again, then sunshine and pouring! Glad I can work in the garage. I now have a Roque Mocha Porter clone that is exactly like the one I brewed yesterday with my friend Tom, except his used WL Cali V and I used Noghttingham dried. Obviously there will be differences in the fermentation conditions, but I'm looking forward to comparing them.

(OK, I lied a bit. I scorched his batch a little and didn't scorch mine)

 

[homebrewer_99]

I finished a wheat last night around midnight. I'll be on the road these next 2 weeks.

I have a mead in the secondary, a beer in a primary and secondary.

I should be OK for Christmas.....

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

(OK, I lied a bit. I scorched his batch a little and didn't scorch mine)

That's why I always help my friends with home improvement projects...so I can do it right on my own house!

 

[Truble]

Well, my day (yesterday) started off OK. Went out, did some errands to kill time until the HBS opened. Picked up the ingredients for the stout I am going to try, and headed home. Also went to Lowes and got the bits for an immersion cooler. Got home and assembled the cooler, no issues, worked great. Got my grains together (extract with specialty grain brew) and dumped them into 2.5 Gal water, got them to 160*F on the stove, and then put them in the oven at 160*F (My oven had digital temp control that is right on) and set the timer for 45 minutes. Everything going smooth so far. Fast forward a little. I am sparging the prewort out to get those last sugars and filter out the spent grains, and the dog comes tearing into the kitchen after the cat and barrrels into me-spilled nice sticky water onto me and the towel I was working on. Then, once my wort starts to boil again, without thinking, I dump my hops in-FLASH OVERBOIL!!! It was like one of those volcanos you make in science fairs. Since it is a stout, and loaded with sugar, as soon as it hits the burner it carmelizes and turns into lava rock! Now my boil is still going nuts on the burner that I moved it to, and my primary burner is completely caked wiht burned wort. Now I have to dismantle that burner and clean it, since that is the 10KBTU one that I need to run my boil. While I was doing this, I was using my new wort cooler to cool the rest of the wort water to 85*F so I could dump it into the primary. When I was cleaning the burner in the other basin, though, I was using hot water with the hand sprayer. Didn't bother to put it to cold again. The hot water slowly softened the vinyl line that I had runnign from the sink to the copper, and WHOOSH- it popped off the cooper end barb connector and started spraying water around my kitchen like a loosed fire hose.Fast forward==>finally get everything straightened out, finished the boil, and started cooling the wort when the wife got home. The kitchen was a disaster. Luckily, I had called her and warned her not to be shocked. She just laughed and went to pick up pizza, knowing that neither of us was getting near the stove for a while. Got it all cleaned up in another hour, and had a homebrew. My OG came in at 1.090, and it smelled like heaven. I used dry yeast, since I have been getting good action on it. Since it was a stout (High G) I used more than normal. Rehydrated for 45 minutes, then threw in some of my boiled wort that I cooled down and mixed that up. By the time I was pitching, they wanted to party. Got action in the airlock after 2 hours, and this morning it was blowing through my three piece and had sprayed the wall it was next to. I put it in the tub, and cleaned the airlock. I am getting 5-6 bug bubbles per second, and the airlock was already foulded within a couple minutes. This better be tasty-though I think it might need to age a little....