Random Brewing Thoughts

[ChaQuiseman]

Hothead and Tropical IPA are banging away. Fermentation is going crazy. I have 7.5 gallons fermenting so aggressively it's overflowing my grower the blow off is in.

Crazy amounts of blow-off on our end as well. The first time we used that blend at the brewery we had two ~25g batches blowing off into a single growler which made a huge mess overnight. We've been using a 3 gallon carboy as a blowoff for subsequent batches which has been working well so far.

If you end up harvesting any yeast, be sure to leave the lid of your mason jar or growler a little loose. Even at super low FGs this blend will still put out a lot of CO2 to the point where it could easily cause a jar to explode with enough time.

 

[Thorpe]

Crazy amounts of blow-off on our end as well. The first time we used that blend at the brewery we had two ~25g batches blowing off into a single growler which made a huge mess overnight. We've been using a 3 gallon carboy as a blowoff for subsequent batches which has been working well so far.

If you end up harvesting any yeast, be sure to leave the lid of your mason jar or growler a little loose. Even at super low FGs this blend will still put out a lot of CO2 to the point where it could easily cause a jar to explode with enough time.

And just to echo Chuck’s point, those were mason jars at terminal FG and in the fridge!

 

[TripleSixHoppia]

I made the same mistake with the MTF blend. I did a 2bbl batch with the local nano, I top cropped some into a mason jar to take home. By the time I sat down to drink one beer the lid blew off.

 

[TripleSixHoppia]

blowoff

 

[SirDickButts]

This came out really good! Chamomile flowers and oranges came thru nice!

 

[Skittle34]

Buddy and I were brewing up a nice pale ale this afternoon and everything was going swimmingly. While chilling I noticed that the water wasn't coming out of the chiller. Turns out the copper split in two places and added a lot of extra water. Day completely ruined.

We split the batch between two carboys (OG 1.040), but I'm not expecting much especially with Omega's DIPA yeast

 

[smithj21541]

Buddy and I were brewing up a nice pale ale this afternoon and everything was going swimmingly. While chilling I noticed that the water wasn't coming out of the chiller. Turns out the copper split in two places and added a lot of extra water. Day completely ruined.

We split the batch between two carboys (OG 1.040), but I'm not expecting much especially with Omega's DIPA yeast

Wow! That has got to sting. And I thought I had some doozies.

 

[Skittle34]

It does, but **** happens and it's a lesson learned to double triple check your equipment

 

[More Betterness]

Anyone have an ESB recipe they like? One of my favorite styles to drink and just realized I’ve never actually made one!

 

[rcubed1]

Anyone have an ESB recipe they like? One of my favorite styles to drink and just realized I’ve never actually made one!

I'd like to know as well since the one I brewed did not come out to my liking.

 

[JCastle1]

Anyone have an ESB recipe they like? One of my favorite styles to drink and just realized I’ve never actually made one!

I got a good one (also a few milds if interested). Coincidentally just got a cask so I've been meaning to rebrew it.

 

[JCastle1]

My notes are awful but here is the gist of it. Loosely based it off a Fullers ESB clone I found online. I played around with the recipe 4 times and here's where I ended up apparently (this was a few years ago):

14 Plato (1.056 OG)

90% Crisp Maris Otter
6% CaraMunich III
4% CaraMunich I

I use Weyermann cause I love it and it's easier to find here but you could sub with English Crystal 60 and 20 for a more authentic English beer.

Hops (~32-35 IBU):

1 oz EKG (60 min)
0.5 oz EKG (30 min)
0.5 oz EKG (10 min)
0.5 oz EKG (0 min)
0.5 oz EKG (dry hop)

I use S-04 cause it's the easiest option for me but I find it pretty clean fermenting, no diacetyl. If you want a mild diacetyl character and more fruity esters then Wyeast London ESB would also work.

 

[rcubed1]

My notes are awful but here is the gist of it. Loosely based it off a Fullers ESB clone I found online. I played around with the recipe 4 times and here's where I ended up apparently (this was a few years ago):

14 Plato (1.056 OG)

90% Crisp Maris Otter
6% CaraMunich III
4% CaraMunich I

I use Weyermann cause I love it and it's easier to find here but you could sub with English Crystal 60 and 20 for a more authentic English beer.

Hops (~32-35 IBU):

1 oz EKG (60 min)
0.5 oz EKG (30 min)
0.5 oz EKG (10 min)
0.5 oz EKG (0 min)
0.5 oz EKG (dry hop)

I use S-04 cause it's the easiest option for me but I find it pretty clean fermenting, no diacetyl. If you want a mild diacetyl character and more fruity esters then Wyeast London ESB would also work.

Thanks. I also started with a Fuller's ESB clone and slightly tweaked it. Wasn't happen with the malt and yeast character. Can't remember which yeast I used but it didn't come close to what I can from Fuller's house strain.

 

[JCastle1]

Thanks. I also started with a Fuller's ESB clone and slightly tweaked it. Wasn't happen with the malt and yeast character. Can't remember which yeast I used but it didn't come close to what I can from Fuller's house strain.

I've only tried using Briess Crystal before and wasn't happy. The version with Weyermann was way better but it certainly didn't have the traditional yeast character that Fullers has (easily changed with a different yeast though, I've never used London ESB but I've seen it as one of the top suggestions). As for hops I just really enjoy EKG, has a spice/honey quality that I liked a lot in the beer. I'm thinking of dry-hopping the next one with Cascade, see how it goes.

 

[rcubed1]

I've only tried using Briess Crystal before and wasn't happy. The version with Weyermann was way better but it certainly didn't have the traditional yeast character that Fullers has (easily changed with a different yeast though, I've never used London ESB but I've seen it as one of the top suggestions). As for hops I just really enjoy EKG, has a spice/honey quality that I liked a lot in the beer. I'm thinking of dry-hopping the next one with Cascade, see how it goes.

I used UK crystal malt for the darker one and American crystal for the lighter one. I'm trying to remember what I used for the base malt. I might of tried something other than Crisp Maris Otter, which I currently have an unopened sack of.

 

[user 307594]

Our ESB, Winchester, is:

87% Crisp Maris Otter
7% Crisp C60
6% flaked barley

mash in the mid-150s
EKG at 15 and FO at 1/2lb bbl total
backfill bittering charge of 18% aa apollo for ~30ibu
13.5p
DH EKG at 1lb/bbl

ferment with english strain of your choosing, I like s-04 if dry or our house strain BSI-7 (equivalent to WLP007)

 

[More Betterness]

I got a good one (also a few milds if interested). Coincidentally just got a cask so I've been meaning to rebrew it.

Thanks for the recipe! Interested in the mild recipes as well if you’re willing to share!

 

[JCastle1]

Thanks for the recipe! Interested in the mild recipes as well if you’re willing to share!

This is the one I'm rebrewing next week. Came out by accident (and it's not truly authentic because of it) but I love it. Was supposed to have black patent but I ran out so I replaced it with midnight wheat.

8.5 Plato (1.034)

82% Maris Otter
4.7% CaraMunich III
4.7% Briess Crystal 120
3.8% Briess Chocolate
3.8% Midnight wheat

Bittering is a single charge of EKG at 60 minutes ~15-18 IBU.

 

[smithj21541]

MoreBeer has the code Spring15 going. 15%off most items. I pulled the trigger on the new base make and some specialty grains. Win win!

 

[rcubed1]

MoreBeer has the code Spring15 going. 15%off most items. I pulled the trigger on the new base make and some specialty grains. Win win!

Which base malt?

 

[Skittle34]

Buddy and I were brewing up a nice pale ale this afternoon and everything was going swimmingly. While chilling I noticed that the water wasn't coming out of the chiller. Turns out the copper split in two places and added a lot of extra water. Day completely ruined.

We split the batch between two carboys (OG 1.040), but I'm not expecting much especially with Omega's DIPA yeast

So it appears we did have some sort of fermentation!



I'm waiting on my friend to get the FG reading because it's at his place in Boston, but I'm excited to see hear what he has to say

 

[smithj21541]

Which base malt?

Dingemans Belgian pilsner malt. I was leaning towards Golden promise but with what I have on Deck the pills malt made more sense.

 

[anteater1]

How stupid is it to try to transfer a wild ale from 750ml's to 12oz's just to enter in a competition?

 

[Beerontwowheels]

How stupid is it to try to transfer a wild ale from 750ml's to 12oz's just to enter in a competition?

The competition won't accept 750ml entries?

 

[anteater1]

The competition won't accept 750ml entries?

Nope, first time I've seen a very specific note that everything has to be 12 oz so they can stack cases.

 

[rcubed1]

How stupid is it to try to transfer a wild ale from 750ml's to 12oz's just to enter in a competition?

Probably not a great idea but if you do, make sure everything is ice cold and the beer nearly frozen.

 

[rcubed1]

Also I'll be running a sour/wild beer competition later in the year. We'll take a wide range of bottles so no one has do this sort of thing.

 

[Phischy1]

My club has an inter-club comp and this year the special ingredient for the month is rice.

I'm thinking of an imperial raspberry Berliner made with a box of Rice Krispie. The special ingredient used to be a grocery store item so this plays into it. I'm not sure what preservatives are in it, but would they denature in the boil?

6%, mash, boil 15mins, no hops, cool and move to FV, pitch lacto (which strain), let it run hot, transfer back to BK, boil, add hops, finish on yeast and puree.

Thoughts?

 

[JCastle1]

My club has an inter-club comp and this year the special ingredient for the month is rice.

I'm thinking of an imperial raspberry Berliner made with a box of Rice Krispie. The special ingredient used to be a grocery store item so this plays into it. I'm not sure what preservatives are in it, but would they denature in the boil?

6%, mash, boil 15mins, no hops, cool and move to FV, pitch lacto (which strain), let it run hot, transfer back to BK, boil, add hops, finish on yeast and puree.

Thoughts?

Would you be allowed to use rice syrup? That would dry up the beer nicely. For kettle souring I've had good success with delbrueckii and plantarum.

 

[liquiddegenerate]

Would you be allowed to use rice syrup? That would dry up the beer nicely. For kettle souring I've had good success with delbrueckii and plantarum.

I second plantarum... use it almost exclusively for kettle souring.