Parti-gyle fun

[Kent88]

Sadly, it's destined to be dumped down the drain. Seems I had some kind of insidious, slow working infection somewhere in my equipment (guessing my bottling bucket or bottling wand) and I've had to dump everything I brewed since January - DIS, porter, small beer (second runnings from the barleywine), amber, and the barleywine itself.

It's been a month or so since the last time I opened one of the barleywines. The last one wasn't gushing, but it didn't taste right either. I'll open another and let you know how it turns out.

That is awful dude. All that work... reminds me of when I worked at a dairy farm and forgot to set the bulk tank to chill the milk and we had to dump it. Just sucks.

You going to make another parti-gyle anytime soon? Did you ever get that lager fridge you were thinking about?

Before thanksgiving I did a single decoction mash. I think you said that was on your list of things to do. Some advice, have a friend over to help you stir, be very confident in your stirring utensil, and heat the thick mash in a big kettle that can comfortably handle more than what you're putting in there.

I've been fermenting it in my biggest cooler (lid open) and using the swamp cooler method to keep it cool. I started off with adding a gallon of water to the cooler and then a 10lb bag of ice (which was probably overkill). That seemed to keep it pretty cool. I'm calling it a kellerbier so I wont have to age it for too long, just let fermentation finish, bottle, and bottle condition.

 

[stuknkrvl]

@Kent88 - Yeah, it's been painful. I was actually pretty proud of that porter. No plans for another parti-gyle any time soon. Combination of three kids and the holiday season has me hurting for brewing time and cash. Probably give it a go again in a couple months so I can let the barleywine age till the following winter.

I did get the lager fridge, and it works like a champ! Paired it up with a Johnson digital temp controller and I've been enjoying the ability to set it and forget it where my fermentation temps are concerned. I highly recommend you get one. The swamp cooler method works, but it's labor intensive and you can find a great little fridge for cheap. I traded a fifteen gallon demijon for the one I got on Craigslist.

A decoction brew is definitely high on my bucket list for brewing experiences. Just a matter of planning it out in terms of time. Already have to barter with the wife for time on a regular brew day as it is!

Let me know how that kellerbier turns out. You'll be my inspiration for a decoction session.

Cheers!

 

[Kent88]

Glad to hear you got your lager fridge. I have been running mine, a small fridge that wont fit a 3-gallon carboy, with an arduino that runs code that I mashed up myself. Not as elegant or user-friendly as other systems I've seen around the internets, but it works for me.

If this kellerbier turns out then I think I'll have a parti-gyle of my own mostly planned out. I'll make a gallon of doppelbock and I'll make the rest into a somewhat warm-fermented kellerbier that I might need to beef up with a little pils DME. I'll have to decoct again, as my 3-gallon mash tun pretty much maxes out at 6lbs of malt so it gets tough to do a multi-step infusion mash, so I need to figure out different methods of adding heat. Although I should probably just try a single infusion with a grist that includes some melanoidin malt, too.

But that has been put on hold for a bit, I have some Wyeast-PC Belgian Dark Strong yeast that I *need* to use in the next week or so. I also have some more of their PC Hellabock lager yeast that I ought to do something with. And after that I should really keep working on perfecting my sweet stouts.

But I'll keep you posted with the kellerbier. For now I can tell you it was 5lbs light munich, which was allowed to soak for a bit at ~132F before I pulled the decoction. After pulling the decoction I added a pound of dark munich malt to the mash tun and went back to stirring the thick mash as best I could. I got really nervous about scorching it, so I'm not sure I really got it to the degree of boil that it should be brought to. I forgot to get my volume indicating "dipstick" calibrated before I started sparging so I ended up winging it (and leaving out the pound of pils DME I had planned to use), adding a couple ounces of low AA hallertau at the beginning of the boil, and at the end of the boil I tried diluting to 1.050ish, which didn't give me the full 3 gallons I had hoped for.

It wasn't the greatest brew session, but I don't think I screwed it up to the point where the beer would be undrinkable. I really hope it turns out well. Next time I try a couple new methods, one being time intensive, I wont be doughing in at 4pm the night before a road trip and with a beer I plan to give away as a gift and don't have time to replace.