Bottled 2.7 gallons of imperial stout (28 bottles) that I brewed 2 weeks ago, sample tasted quite nice.
What I did for beer today
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I'm sniffin' my airlock like a CO2 addict... man, that mix of grains and yeast sure smells good!
Dry hopped my Brut IPA.
I had been a bit weirded out as my workshop smelled very much like I'd been fermenting a hefe.
On closer inspection, it's mango. ALL THE MANGO.
I had been a bit weirded out as my workshop smelled very much like I'd been fermenting a hefe.
On closer inspection, it's mango. ALL THE MANGO.
Got the beer lines cleaned again. 4 taps at a time thanks to a nifty manifold from Brewhardware.com - everything is neat and cleaned. Faucets removed, brushed and PBW'd / starsan too. Thorough.
Just about 90 minutes before beer thirty when I can sample the beer thru new lines.
Just about 90 minutes before beer thirty when I can sample the beer thru new lines.
Brewed a batch of Skibsol (Danish ship's beer). Smoked malt, some Munich I, rye malt, Carapils, and Carafa II for color. Bittered with Perle. Racked 5.75 gallons of wort into my Brew Bucket, pitched rehydrated US-05. OG was 1.045.
One thing I did different this time is I dissolved the 2.2g Wyeast yeast nutrient in 100ml sterilized water and added that to the chilled wort just before the pitch. I've been reading on some other threads that a lot of the zinc is absorbed by the trub if the nutrient is added to the boil, so added it on the cold side. No idea if I'll see any difference, but decided to try this approach.
One thing I did different this time is I dissolved the 2.2g Wyeast yeast nutrient in 100ml sterilized water and added that to the chilled wort just before the pitch. I've been reading on some other threads that a lot of the zinc is absorbed by the trub if the nutrient is added to the boil, so added it on the cold side. No idea if I'll see any difference, but decided to try this approach.
Finally bit the bullet and got markable tap handles
Had to use all of the 1318 I had on hand for my last hazy, so today I restarted the over-build line using a barely month-old smack pack that quickly inflated once smacked and warmed. That was the demise of the line last time as I started with an almost 6 month old pack that was lethargic every step of the way...
Cheers!
Cheers!
I had kind of a highly motivated beer streak this week besides work - a bit exhausting but satisfying.
Some good preparation made it easy to keep it going, now it is time to document the results:
I brewed three small batches of pale ale three days in a row: Munich Kolibri, Like Hell, Wai-iti Summer in my Utility Beer Reseach Kitchen.
All with the same mash scheme, boiling time and some revived MJ M44 WestCoast, sleeping since October in my fridge:
- 4.5l mash water + 3.5l sparge water
- 10min @ 57°C, 70min @ 66°C, mash out at 78°C;
- boil 70min;
Munich Kolibri (6l)
1100g Munich + 60g CaraPils + 40g Acid;
4g Citra (12,5a) + 1,5g Perle (10a) @ t-70min;
5g Kolibri (4,9a) @ flame out whirlpool;
dry hopping with 10g Kolibri (in a few days);
goal: comparison with a former UBRK recipe with Pilsener instead of Munich malt.
Like Hell (6l)
1100g Pilsener + 60g CaraPils + 40g Acid;
5,4g Tettnanger (5,5a) + 2,8g Tradition (6,7a) @ t-70min;
goal: comparison with a former UBRK Münchener Hell brew - Pale Ale with Helles style hopping.
Wai-iti Summer (5l)
half a liter less of mash and sparge water;
800g Pilsener + 100g Biscuit (self made) + 50g CaraPils + 50g Acid;
12g Wai-iti (3,5a) @ first wort
+ 30g thin sliced ginger @ t-30 min, + 10g @ t-5min;
3,6g Wai-iti @ flame out (just added the rest)
goal: getting closer to my desired Summe Ale - I skipped the orange zest, this wasn't heading into the right direction imo, but a welcome try. This time I lowered the amount of ginger by 2g/l, also reduced the IBU by about 5 and added some biscuit malt, just because I think that was necessary. Let's see, how this turns out.
And last but not least: I bottled today 28,5 l of my Münchener Dunkel called "Dünkl". It's the third time I brewed this recipe. Two years ago when I did it the first time I got an infection into the fermenter and I had to dump it. Since then I feels like the final boss. It will take now some weeks until it's really finished, but the fist sip was not bad - and not bad.
PS: .. and for those who remember it - I could manage to reduce the used count of different bottle cap colors - just by drinking some beer over the last months. So I have now some capacity (beside the brilliant "just add a sticker you fool!" idea). The Dünkl got the black caps. Of course.
Cheers!
Some good preparation made it easy to keep it going, now it is time to document the results:
I brewed three small batches of pale ale three days in a row: Munich Kolibri, Like Hell, Wai-iti Summer in my Utility Beer Reseach Kitchen.
All with the same mash scheme, boiling time and some revived MJ M44 WestCoast, sleeping since October in my fridge:
- 4.5l mash water + 3.5l sparge water
- 10min @ 57°C, 70min @ 66°C, mash out at 78°C;
- boil 70min;
Munich Kolibri (6l)
1100g Munich + 60g CaraPils + 40g Acid;
4g Citra (12,5a) + 1,5g Perle (10a) @ t-70min;
5g Kolibri (4,9a) @ flame out whirlpool;
dry hopping with 10g Kolibri (in a few days);
goal: comparison with a former UBRK recipe with Pilsener instead of Munich malt.
Like Hell (6l)
1100g Pilsener + 60g CaraPils + 40g Acid;
5,4g Tettnanger (5,5a) + 2,8g Tradition (6,7a) @ t-70min;
goal: comparison with a former UBRK Münchener Hell brew - Pale Ale with Helles style hopping.
Wai-iti Summer (5l)
half a liter less of mash and sparge water;
800g Pilsener + 100g Biscuit (self made) + 50g CaraPils + 50g Acid;
12g Wai-iti (3,5a) @ first wort
+ 30g thin sliced ginger @ t-30 min, + 10g @ t-5min;
3,6g Wai-iti @ flame out (just added the rest)
goal: getting closer to my desired Summe Ale - I skipped the orange zest, this wasn't heading into the right direction imo, but a welcome try. This time I lowered the amount of ginger by 2g/l, also reduced the IBU by about 5 and added some biscuit malt, just because I think that was necessary. Let's see, how this turns out.
And last but not least: I bottled today 28,5 l of my Münchener Dunkel called "Dünkl". It's the third time I brewed this recipe. Two years ago when I did it the first time I got an infection into the fermenter and I had to dump it. Since then I feels like the final boss. It will take now some weeks until it's really finished, but the fist sip was not bad - and not bad.
PS: .. and for those who remember it - I could manage to reduce the used count of different bottle cap colors - just by drinking some beer over the last months. So I have now some capacity (beside the brilliant "just add a sticker you fool!" idea). The Dünkl got the black caps. Of course.
Cheers!
Last edited:
Chris White has said, losing zinc in the boil is due to chelation. I used to boil nutrient and water together in a beaker in the microwave. The last addition, for a mead, I let the water cool. It feels like a mistake. Time will tell.
I’m getting things ready for a brew day, a simple American light lager. Then an American lager to follow on the yeast cake down the road.
Easy stuff... Cleaned a spent corny of stout, starsan, pressure, and on the shelf ready to package.
Began a pils D rest. Ready on Tuesday to cold crash. While that's happening, I'm gonna cold crash a blonde ale in the mini freezer/inkbird unit. On Tuesday - the blonde ale goes to the Keezer to stay at serving temp, awaiting the next kicked corny. On Tuesday the pils will begin a cold crash.
Ordered PBW, starsan and 10 lb of Breiss chocolate malt 350L. Love that stuff.
Began a pils D rest. Ready on Tuesday to cold crash. While that's happening, I'm gonna cold crash a blonde ale in the mini freezer/inkbird unit. On Tuesday - the blonde ale goes to the Keezer to stay at serving temp, awaiting the next kicked corny. On Tuesday the pils will begin a cold crash.
Ordered PBW, starsan and 10 lb of Breiss chocolate malt 350L. Love that stuff.
In the spirit of always upgrading, I just ordered a Stout Spout.
It's been in the fermenter a week now, at 65F +/- a degree, so it's time to check gravity and taste on the Piraat clone.
Visually, it's slightly hazy with a nice white layer of yeast on the bottom, well compacted below the bottling spigot. I'm not going to bottle from there -- I'll decant to a bucket and consider whether or not I want to add malt primer to that or use up some bottling tabs I have from the hefeweizen no-boil experiment.
The sample reads 1.012, down from 1.089, so 10.1% ABV -- almost right on! I expected it to go a bit thin due to a lower mash temp than I wanted, but there it is, not as much as I thought.
Tasting the sample starts with smells of bread and malt. On the tongue it shows some alcohol warmth up front; definite malty, bready sweetness in the middle and some hops in the back to keep it from being cloying. It's the closest I've ever come to liquid bread. I just wish I had a bottle of Piraat to compare it to... but that can be fixed with a trip to the beer store.
At about $9 per bottle retail, I just turned $48 into $522 -- alchemy at it's most useful! Two weeks to go and I'll bottle it in 58 12oz longnecks to avoid 22oz buzzes.
Visually, it's slightly hazy with a nice white layer of yeast on the bottom, well compacted below the bottling spigot. I'm not going to bottle from there -- I'll decant to a bucket and consider whether or not I want to add malt primer to that or use up some bottling tabs I have from the hefeweizen no-boil experiment.
The sample reads 1.012, down from 1.089, so 10.1% ABV -- almost right on! I expected it to go a bit thin due to a lower mash temp than I wanted, but there it is, not as much as I thought.
Tasting the sample starts with smells of bread and malt. On the tongue it shows some alcohol warmth up front; definite malty, bready sweetness in the middle and some hops in the back to keep it from being cloying. It's the closest I've ever come to liquid bread. I just wish I had a bottle of Piraat to compare it to... but that can be fixed with a trip to the beer store.
At about $9 per bottle retail, I just turned $48 into $522 -- alchemy at it's most useful! Two weeks to go and I'll bottle it in 58 12oz longnecks to avoid 22oz buzzes.
Fixed. The guy at the beer store looked at me like I was nuts when I checked out. "That's expensive beer!" he exclaimed! "Yes, but it's GOOD beer!" I replied.
Finished a couple small woodworking projects. A "flight" of shaker pints and a bottle carrier.
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This has been in progress for some time but the last couple of projects are all done. Rearranged the brew rig, lowered it and flipped the bottom shelf. Moved the two unitanks up, making room for the bigger uni. Discussed the panel upgrade elsewhere, and over right side is my half batch e-kettle with separate 120V controller down bottom.
Pulled a sample of my Brut which has been carbing for 48 hours. I think I've nailed this one, super crisp and dry with just the right amount of fruity hop aroma and some great slightly funky mango from the yeast. Right now it's perceiving a lot sweeter than it's 1.002 finishing gravity would suggest which I'm guessing is a product of all that "absolutely nothing but fruit" Luminosa that went into the DH.
Finished off a recipe for a 10.5% West Coast TIPA that's designed to use up my remaining stash of Cryo BRU-1 and Centennial. Ordered a few bits I need for that.
Finished off a recipe for a 10.5% West Coast TIPA that's designed to use up my remaining stash of Cryo BRU-1 and Centennial. Ordered a few bits I need for that.
Today was dry hop day for my "Munich Kolibri" Ale
First I cleaned-boiled my hop sock (yes, it's actutally a sock). No matter how often I repeat this, it's never not greenish afterwards.
10g Kolibri hops in the sock, tie the knot and pour on the boiled and cooled water.
Allow to cool to fermetation temperature (actually it's storage room temperature) and put the sock and the hop tea into the fermentation bucket.
The 2nd gen M44 yeast was very quick this time. Rest for four or five more days and then heading for the bottle.
First I cleaned-boiled my hop sock (yes, it's actutally a sock). No matter how often I repeat this, it's never not greenish afterwards.
10g Kolibri hops in the sock, tie the knot and pour on the boiled and cooled water.
Allow to cool to fermetation temperature (actually it's storage room temperature) and put the sock and the hop tea into the fermentation bucket.
The 2nd gen M44 yeast was very quick this time. Rest for four or five more days and then heading for the bottle.
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I picked up a grain mill from an HBT member xrobevansx last fall - he generously included a variety of grain that I'm now finally getting around to organizing / figuring out what to do with same. Lots of odds and ends that I'm not entirely sure how to utilize.
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You have an Octoberfest roughly with the Munich and Vienna, a wheat, and maybe an English ale of some sort (a stout would work with the roasted barley). The crystal malts appear to be a range for various styles to keep on hand, I do that too.
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Thank you! Will keep all of those in mind.
Spinning up the 2nd pass of an over-build 1318 starter. Had a chamber empty so went full-temperature control 
Cheers!
Cheers!
It looks lonely in there all by itself.Spinning up the 2nd pass of an over-build 1318 starter. Had a chamber empty so went full-temperature control
View attachment 869184
Cheers!
It's preparing for a higher calling than socializing
I knew that the glorious English Brown corny was really close to kicking - but Lordy... This batch was one of my best. Nector from heaven tasty. Really close to beyond imagination. Yum. But so close to over. :-(
Pouring what I believe is the last pour, I focused... Slowly it poured and filled the glass as close to filled as you might hope for. And then... The sound ... Zcxghfffft. Of kicking.
With an athleticism far beyond the expected for my age, the tap was shut so quickly that my flick approached the speed of light. At the same time, I pulled the glass out. Remarkable hand eye coordination.
Anyway, I got the last pour. Perfect. No trube cuz I was too fast. I am going to use this move in the future. Ha.
Pouring what I believe is the last pour, I focused... Slowly it poured and filled the glass as close to filled as you might hope for. And then... The sound ... Zcxghfffft. Of kicking.
With an athleticism far beyond the expected for my age, the tap was shut so quickly that my flick approached the speed of light. At the same time, I pulled the glass out. Remarkable hand eye coordination.
Anyway, I got the last pour. Perfect. No trube cuz I was too fast. I am going to use this move in the future. Ha.
Lampy
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Replaced an airlock
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Soldered on a TC port on my SS Brewtech mini-bucket. I dimpled it out, hoping that would help the clamp clear the recessed lid. It helped but it's probably still too tight for a thumbscrew. I may have to put a hex nut on instead. Next two I will use longer ports. It was really hard to get the fitting in after first dimpling the hole, much patience is needed. The lid is thin too, heated up super quick. I was heating underneath on the TC and the solder started to flow as I was heating up a third spot on it.
It got up to 24 degrees below freezing by me today. And I know someone from ND is going to reply that that's swimsuit weather, but I'm still jealous of your brew day.Currently brewing a milk chocolate stout. It's a nice weather day here in Southeastern GA. Cheers!
I've been working on establishing a personal yeast strain. It's elementary but I have repitched a strain of ale yeast over 20 times. Now I have cleaned it and rebuilt the yeast to a pitch able size. It is in its final beaker ready to pitch tomorrow into an American Pale Ale.
Wisconsin is with you on these frigid days and nights.It got up to 24 degrees below freezing by me today. And I know someone from ND is going to reply that that's swimsuit weather, but I'm still jealous of your brew day.
Shipped some entries to Drunk Monk today. I think I was shipper 5 or 6 for the whale pod box I used. Reduce, reuse, recycle. 
Yesterday I brewed 23 litres of my Sussex Bitter clone
3500g Irish Pale malt
200g Flaked Maize
150g Medium Crystal Malt
25g Progress at 60m
25g Bramling Cross at 15m
25g EKG at whirlpool 80C for 15m
Nottingham style yeast
3500g Irish Pale malt
200g Flaked Maize
150g Medium Crystal Malt
25g Progress at 60m
25g Bramling Cross at 15m
25g EKG at whirlpool 80C for 15m
Nottingham style yeast
An Ankoù
Well-Known Member
Is this a Harvey's Sussex Best clone? A fellow brewer swears by this stuff and is always trying to clone it. Ive never tasted the draught and the bottled leaves me indifferent. What's your take on this beer, @Cheshire Cat ?
Yes it is a Harvey’s Sussex clone. I have tried the real stuff many times and it’s superb. I make the clone regularly. I don’t have their yeast and have guessed the water profile based on chalk cliffs.
PS I usually whirlpool with 15g each of EKG and Fuggles but didn’t have any of the latter.
PS I usually whirlpool with 15g each of EKG and Fuggles but didn’t have any of the latter.
An Ankoù
Well-Known Member
I'll give it a whirl, then.
What water profile do yo use? High in bicarbs?
Ca 80
Mg 16
Na 35
Cl 75
SO4 80
HCO3 100
Mg 16
Na 35
Cl 75
SO4 80
HCO3 100
An Ankoù
Well-Known Member
I brewed a pale ale using my experimental yeast and it had activity in 4 hours. I will monitor fermentation closely and keep the temperature at 68 to 72 degrees. I expect it to perform much like US 05 and Chico 1056.
I also kegged a Marzen brewed 1/30/25. Got it lagering til St Patty's Day.
I also kegged a Marzen brewed 1/30/25. Got it lagering til St Patty's Day.
I harvested the Kolsch yeast slurry that’s been sealed up in the “kegmentor” as I plan to use it to pressure ferment an American light lager soon, then American lager will go on that cake after the light one is packaged. I wasn’t sure how I would find it. The liquid yeast was stinky when I pitched it, but not when I opened the keg . So into a sanitized jar fed it some boiled DME to be sure it’s okay and capable of making beer before I take up fridge space. Also began cleaning the keg, filling with hot water and PBW. Recipe for fizzy yellow water is pretty uncomplicated.
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