What I did for beer today

[Hoochin'Fool]

Today I bottled 2.5 gallons of belgian quad (1092 -> 1010). Sample tasted really nice! Hoping that I don't end up regretting not adding bottling yeast, but I think Lalbrew Abbaye dry yeast can eat up the priming sugar.

Then I washed, sanitized, and put away 96 bottles.

 

[Knightshade]

Sampled the lager since gravity needle had stopped moving for 2 days. Wasn’t certain it was going to be worth moving forward at only 71’ish% attenuation but it seemed dry enough and thankfully not sweet. So, decided to dry hop it as planned. I’ll transfer in 3 days, let it sit for a couple weeks in the kegerator and try my damndest to ignore it.

 

[leedspointbrew]

Ground grains for tomorrow's brew. This was made challenging by scale and grain mill malfunctions; fortunately, troubleshooting resolved issues in the time I had available.

 

[Immocles]

Kegged an amber ale that has sat in my fermenter in the basement since October 4th. (yesterday)
Brewing an amber lager that hopefully will see a keg sooner than that (today)

Really hoping to get back into the swing of brewing in 2025. Ive missed it quite a bit but finding time and energy has been a chore.

 

[ba-brewer]

Dry hopped my IPA today, removed the blowoff tube from my Irish stout. Lost about a cup of beer but was surprised at the amount of yeast that on the bottom(it's a quart jar).

Also made a 10mL starter from a slant to build up to reslant and make a future beer.

 

[BrewMan13]

Racked my gruit stout to the barrel. Decided to condition the barrel with gin in hopes the botanicals with play together with the stuff in the beer. Fingers crossed...

 

[brewskitom]

Cleaned all the kegs that kicked over the holidays so they're ready for upcoming brews.

 

[day_trippr]

Had a keg kick last night so today I swapped in a freshie and ran the kick through the ol' Mark II.

Then I spent a couple of hours cleaning and sanitizing my RO system before replacing the pre- and post-filters.

Removed all the filter housings and their O-rings for a good cleaning while the membrane rested in a bucket of freshly pulled RO water. Hit the O-rings with silicone keg lube.

Put the empty housings in place then ran 200 ppm bleach sanitizer through the system with a 40 minute dwell time, followed by four rinse cycles. Then I drained the system, installed the new filters, then ran the system to discard a couple of gallons to flush out the filters.

Should be all set for another year

Cheers!

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

Brewed 2.75 gallons (was aiming for 3.0) of basic IPA with Cascade @60, Cascade @10, and Mandarina tossed in once temp cooled to 170 (and left in the kettle to slow-chill outside). Just moved the bucket down to the basement and added yeast (US-05). Got plans for this eventual yeastcake!

Really wish I would have been more careful measuring my strike water, because I was about 1/3 gallon too much. Decided to boil a 3/4 gallon really vigorously on the side until it looked about right, then combined everything. Post boil gravity was 1.062, and volume 2.75 gallons -- software says if I topped that up to 3.0 gallons it'd be right at 1.057 (which the recipe predicted), but I think I'm just going to leave it alone.

 

[Knightshade]

Transferred lager from fermenter to keg, which prompted running sanitizer through the keg line before hooking it up to condition in the kegerator.

Which means I have all 4 lines fully populated now! This has only happened maybe three times in the 3ish years I’ve had this damn thing.

Cleaned the lines and connectors used for the transfer, and then looked at the fermenter (a 6.5 Torpedo keg) and asked myself if I felt like cleaning it tonite. Which would require going out in the dark and inspecting the various vermipost bins to determine which I could dump the trub into.

It is still sitting up on the counter where I left it.

 

[garzlok]

Kegged an Irish Red Ale. Replaced all the O-rings in 2 kegs and then pressure tested. Prepared a yeast starter for the Dortmunder to be brewed on Saturday....and finally, planning the next 4 batches.

 

[day_trippr]

A while back the folks that bought Northwest Hop Farms sent me some NZ hops to try out. Unfortunately it was just days before The Spousal Unit had a total hip replacement and between that and the holidays I hadn't gotten around to doing anything with them. But we survived the holidays, and She is bopping around way better than pre-op now, so I'm free to get into all kinds of trouble again

So...I decided to do a pair of single hop IPA half gallon mini-brews using the Rakau and Wakatu on hand and some Muntons light DME. I did 35 minute boils with additions at 30 and 5 minutes, then chilled down to 170°F for a 20 minute stand. Aimed for 69 point OGs and 56 IBUs for both recipes. Took a little over an hour with the only out-of-band happening was splashing some wort on Her stove Fortunately she was out running errands (phew!)

Everything gathered around the stove. I haven't used those 1 gallon "carboys" in forever but glad I kept them around.

Parallel processing!

Little dudes get their own instrumented ferm chamber just like the big kids!

The smells were quite tasty so I'm looking forward to seeing how these turn out. Once they've fermented out they'll get one round of dry hopping, then crash, carb, and consume...

Cheers!

 

[Knightshade]

Homebrew equipment cleaning fairies didn't visit so I cleaned that damn fermenter that was left sitting on the counter right where I left it last night. Also cleaned out the outside mini fridge/fermenter out on the patio that had a bit of an overflow earlier in the week but I couldn't really address since it was still actively being used.

Didn't realize how much dog hair had collected near the compressor...and spider webs...kinda scary so took care of that crap as well.

oh..and took the tap handle OFF of the lager so I wouldn't be tempted to sample it. Lets see if I can maintain that discipline for 3+ weeks, seems unlikely.

 

[Skeeter686]

Homebrew equipment cleaning fairies didn't visit ...

And here I thought I was the only one who has that problem. WTH, fairies? I've got pizza... help me out here!

 

[day_trippr]

I got caught in a time pinch last big brew and had to use all of my 1318 and had to restart the line. Yesterday I picked up a smack pack and didn't notice until I got home it was born back on August 19 (!) It took most of the afternoon to warm up and inflate after smacking, but I went ahead and used it for the first round - a 5 liter starter.

20 hours later it's just getting going - probably the longest lag I've ever had with this strain. I wonder how many cells were still viable. I'm guessing not a lot

I just now checked the current SG and it's 7 Brix/1.022 when normally it would be finished at around 1.009 by now. Gonna have to leave it on the stir plate for another day at least. With no way to quantify the cell count I've been relying on the BrewUnited "Homebrew Dad" yeast calculator for that but this has been so out of band I'm wondering if I can rely on its prediction now...

Cheers!

 

[tdf]

I got caught in a time pinch last big brew and had to use all of my 1318 and had to restart the line. Yesterday I picked up a smack pack and didn't notice until I got home it was born back on August 19 (!) It took most of the afternoon to warm up and inflate after smacking, but I went ahead and used it for the first round - a 5 liter starter.

I, too, just put together a starter with some old yeast (WLP002 I had overbuilt in May of last year). It looks like I have some activity a few hours in. You have inspired me to check the SG before I use it, though. Not something I usually do with starters.

 

[day_trippr]

This was literally the very first time I even felt the need to check the SG on a starter
Does not portend well, but gotta press on for now! OG for my starters is always 1.037, fwiw...

Cheers!

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Yesterday I dry hopped my Helicopter Pale with 50g of Chinook. Will leave until Monday.

 

[day_trippr]

A follow-up to yesterday's post: SG is now down to 1.009 as would be expected of a 1318 starter with 1.037 OG. Gonna let it spin for the afternoon then crash it and see how much mass was produced...

Cheers!

 

[tdf]

Dry hop #2 for my hazy pale ale.
This Citra hop hash was the hardest I’ve gotten.

Nothing the food processor couldn’t handle

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

I’ve been doing little things toward getting my Grodziski packaged. Took a sample, checked gravity had a good taste. Washed bottles dumped a few bottles of old homebrew too. Note to self: stop pouring it down the drain, dilute it and “water” things outside.
I still haven’t moved it, Sunday and Monday are going to be busy, so maybe Tuesday will be the day.
Registered for a couple of competitions.

 

[Wigglebutts Brewery]

Follow up to #23702 on WLP618 non-alcohol yeast.

Above is day 4, fermenting nicely. Krausen is transparent thin, bubbles form and break like a kid’s toy. Per White Labs recipe the fermentation was 8 days, seemed done. Cold crashed for 3 days. SG 1.013 - FG 1.009, ABV 0.5%, reasonable. pH needs to be below 4.5 for preservation purposes but it was 4.8. I added some citric acid as it’s a pale ale. After kegging I tested pH again… now it was 3.9. I had a panic moment; luckily FOTR club meeting was that night and I spoke to a couple of our best brewers.. panic gone as we have a plan. A couple days later I drew a sample and it tastes ok as is.. Lesson learned, be patient. Final report in a couple weeks after its carb’d, final tweaks if needed and in the serving frig.

 

[day_trippr]

I checked out the recipe you used but what is the intended volume?

Cheers!

 

[Cameronl]

I got a SS Brewtech Brew Bucket fermenter for Christmas. Today I took a drill to the lid and added a temp twister and thermowell.

I also used some 4" PVC and a sealed toilet flange for a holder that I can fill with cleaner to let it soak without needing a tall bucket with gallons of cleaner. I'll need to screw it to a wider base so it won't tip over. (we won't talk about the pipe primer originally applied to the wrong side of the pipe...)

Testing for leaks...

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

Sampled the first bottle of the last batch of imperial stout I brewed back in April... It was pretty much the Bourbon County Brand Stout clone, minus the actual barrel-aging recipe.

og: was 1.122
fg: 1.040
ibu: 75

yikes, still really "hot" (but in an intoxicating manner), but still have high hopes

 

[ba-brewer]

Kegged my IPA and Irish Stout today. Started a WLP029 German Ale yeast starter as the slant I was working on was dud.

 

[HM-2]

Dry hopped my rum barrel aged imperial red rye ale with 50g each of Sabro and Apollo.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Today I moved my Helicopter Pale to the bottling bucket. It’s about 3C in the garage so should clear quickly.

 

[MaxStout]

Bottled 5 gallons London porter. Came out at 4.2%ABV. Between that and the 3.8% ordinary bitter I did before I can have "damp January."

 

[day_trippr]

Made up the second stage for a 1318 starter and got it back on the stir plate...

...then I checked the progress of the two single NZ hop mini-brews. They've both gone from 1.069 to 1.019 on mini S04 pitches...

\

...then ground up 12 ounces of Citra pellets and dumped half into each carboy of my 4th batch of Citra single hop hazy...

Didn't even break a sweat

Cheers!

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Today I’m brewing 19 L of Mosaic IPA
3300g Maris Otter
1300g Munich light (I’m short of Maris Otter
200g Amber malt
200g Naked malted oats
60m mash at 65C
Hops all Mosaic
19g 60m, 19g 15m, 28g w/p 85C for 20m, 32g DH.
Clipper yeast

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Today I’m brewing 19 L of Mosaic IPA
3300g Maris Otter
1300g Munich light (I’m short of Maris Otter
200g Amber malt
200g Naked malted oats
60m mash at 65C
Hops all Mosaic
19g 60m, 19g 15m, 28g w/p 85C for 20m, 32g DH.
Clipper yeast

OG came out at 1057 which is a BHE of 70% as opposed to my usual 75%, I suspect the Munich malt.

 

[Mr. Vern]

Saved a Malestrom stir plate from the bin-store flippers. $3 without a cord! Shocking to see how much they sell these for at NB.

Looking forward to rummaging through my AC adapter collection for the appropriate 700MA, 12VDC power supply. It says it'll handle up to a 5 gallon carboy which makes me want to explore.

Old faithful still works (the popular StirStarter box which was even submerged for a few days) and will be kept as a backup.

 

[tdf]

Packaged my Citra Mosaic Eclipse hazy.
I will mash a bit higher next time - it finished at 1.01. Tastes great though. Melon, citrus, and some great dank aroma.

In the background you can see the mash going for a 1.035 bitter.

 

[Wigglebutts Brewery]

I checked out the recipe you used but what is the intended volume?

Cheers!

5 gal in the keg. I used Beersmith as a checkpoint

 

[tdf]

View attachment 866845
Packaged my Citra Mosaic Eclipse hazy.
I will mash a bit higher next time - it finished at 1.01. Tastes great though. Melon, citrus, and some great dank aroma.

In the background you can see the mash going for a 1.035 bitter.

Into the fermentor!

 

[Deadalus]

I got a SS Brewtech Brew Bucket fermenter for Christmas. Today I took a drill to the lid and added a temp twister and thermowell.View attachment 866676

I also used some 4" PVC and a sealed toilet flange for a holder that I can fill with cleaner to let it soak without needing a tall bucket with gallons of cleaner. I'll need to screw it to a wider base so it won't tip over. (we won't talk about the pipe primer originally applied to the wrong side of the pipe...)
View attachment 866677

Testing for leaks...
View attachment 866678

That's a great idea for the coil. If it's top heavy, a plastic cutting board would make a cleanable weighted base.

I just got the minibucket. Probably going to just use my minifridge but I have considered use my glycol chiller. SS Brewtechs cooling packages were a little pricey so going with the temp twister is probably a little cheaper. (Might not fit for me though.) I see you have some bubble wrap, another option is a cozy made from a sleeping pad. Have you considered condensation? You'll get some coming out of that foam around the lines, besides some from the fermenter. Would be bad for the wood, especially the OSB under the bucket.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Today I bottled 34 bottles of my Helicopter Pale. I cold crashed for 2 days at garage temperature of about 5C and very clear and about an inch of sediment at the bottom of the bottling bucket.

 

[Cameronl]

I see you have some bubble wrap, another option is a cozy made from a sleeping pad. Have you considered condensation? You'll get some coming out of that foam around the lines, besides some from the fermenter. Would be bad for the wood, especially the OSB under the bucket.

The reflective bubblewrap comes from Hello Fresh boxes. I've got a stack of them. I cut it to fit around the fermenter, with a heated mat taped to the inside for warming if needed. Condensation hasn't been much of a problem. I'm going to cover the wood base with vinyl.

 

[BeerNsteadofH2O]

Today, I dumped the trub and dry hopped an American IPA, yesterday I bottled 10 gallons, a dry irish stout and a blonde ale..
Washed, sanitized and put away both fermenters.. now I guess I have no choice but to brew Friday and Sunday..I'm thinking Cascadian IPA and a Irish red..that'll do.me until February.