What I did for beer today

[JohnDBrewer]

My 20 pound CO2 siphon tank was on it's last pound and my keezer's 5 pounder was on fumes, so it was off the Airgas for a fresh siphon tank. Came back and put an honest 4.6 pounds in the keezer tank, should be good until the early fall.

Airgas swaps siphoned tanks? I need to check into this. I have an extra 20lbs tank sitting around I wonder if they would swap that for a siphon tank? The 5lbs swaps are getting ridiculous expensive. I run another 20lb tank on my keezer and 5lbs tanks for festivals and general brewery work, easier to handle for me.

 

[seatazzz]

Milled grain for a double brewday tomorrow; kolsch first then the house NEIPA. Pipeline is dangerously low, might brew again on Monday if I can swing it. Would be the first time in quite a while the ferment fridge has two fermenters, we shall see.

 

[HM-2]

Brewed a low ABV Saison, cleaned and sanitised both my Fermzillas, transferred my smaller volume grain stash from bags to airtight tupperware.

 

[Willy]

Just swapped out a kicked corny keg of Louie The Lip Lager.... With another keg from the same batch that was cold crashed earlier in the week. So it should be 90% carbonated and ready to drink.

Checked in on the bubbly action on the English Brown Ales... The crazy days are over, should be ready to drink in a week to ten days.

The American Brown ale (Live at the Apollo) is about to get sampled for gravity (still has a few days left in the 2 week ferment). OG was 1.057 and now stands at 1.004 (for a hefty 7.1% ABV) Tastes delicious even without the bubbles.

 

[T Murph]

Today i put the Old Glory clone in the fridge to cold crash. It fermented at 68* for 4 days at 10 psi. Very little activity in the blow off so I will let it cold crash and clear 3 days before transferring it to a keg. This keg will serve as an extended cold crash clearing period for a full week. (This brew has 2 oz pellet dry hops in the fermenter) Then it will be transferred to it's serving keg. The extra transfer is necessary because it has to travel 20 miles to its final destination, family reunion which will stir up any setiment and it will have a couple days there to settle down and clear.

 

[Bramling Cross]

Here’s the first hefe I’ve brewed in years being pumped into my kettle. It lautered beautifully, phew!

Edit: Just realized I forgot to install the damned Hop Stopper 2.0 again. Hardly the end of the world, especially on a one off hefe. I have no plans to harvest the yeast, one hefe every few years is plenty.

Edit II: what a stupidly easy brew day, just 1oz of Haller at 60 and 1.4g of trifecta at 20. It felt like I had nothing to do once the wort hit the kettle. Not a bad change of pace.

Hit my numbers, left the floor clean, and it tastes nice enough.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Today I worked I my long neglected hop yard, more planned for tomorrow. I’m thankful the weather is cooperating this year. I also have a 1.75 corny soaking in hot PBW.

 

[Bramling Cross]

This morning I popped the lid off my hefe's fermenter and verified that there was a small but complete krausen, so I hosed down the inside of the fermentation chamber with StarSan one last time...then removed the lid .

Fingers crossed it'll be a good open fermentation experience.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Today I made 19 litres of a Hoegaarden clone.
2500g Pilsner malt
1400g Wheat malt
400g Flaked Oats
EKG & Saaz hops
Coriander and Bitter Orange peel 10m left of the boil.
Mangrove Jack M21 yeast.

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

Bottled my last IPA where I dry-hopped by opening the bucket. Re-learned why I should never just toss the pellets in to swim free: even with transferring to a bottling bucket (used a small pinch of ascorbic acid and potassium metabisulfite), the bottling wand choked on hop material after I was about 3/4 of the way through.

The other new-to-me thing I did was fill the bottles up almost to the top, to minimize headspace. It was a pain in the ass with the wand, so once it clogged up, I removed the wand and just filled from the bottling bucket's spigot. Turns out it was much simpler, and I didn't seem to get any splashing (beer hit the inside of the bottle at an angle, and ran smoothly down the side) either. But it took a couple tries to get my timing right on closing the spigot before overflowing. Don't think I dribbled any more than the usual amount I get from the bottling wand.

Also, rebrewed the same session-ish IPA recipe, soon as it cools down, I'm going to pitch my yeast (s-04), and attempt to suspend the dry-hops in a paintstraining bag with magnets. Seems like it'll work, weight wise, but worried that I'll move the outside-of-the-lid magnet while trying to snap the lid back on in place. Is there any trick to making it work reliably?

 

[Bramling Cross]

My hefe open fermentation adventure came to a screeching halt this morning. It overflowed the fermenter and made a small but noteworthy mess in my ale fermenter. I did my best to clean it up this morning, then threw the lid on it and attached the anti-suckback rig. When I got home, the place was a little sulfurey. It managed to plow through 20 points, or just shy of half it's 1.051 OG, before I called the cops on its backyard party. Perhaps that'll make a difference? It sure made a difference out of my ale fridge. Golly, that's going to be murder to properly clean...

I'm beginning to remember why it's years between hefe batches in my brewery.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

As well as brewing a Hoegaarden clone today I also kegged 19 litres of Five Points Best Bitter.

 

[Bramling Cross]

As well as brewing a Hoegaarden clone today I also kegged 19 litres of Five Points Best Bitter.

It's funny you mention that, while I was driving to work this morning I found myself wondering, "Why the hell didn't I brew a damned Witier?!!!!!"

 

[T Murph]

Sounds like several of us are brewing wits.. Today I decided which keg I will use for the first cold crash keg for my Old Glory American Wheat clone. It will first go into an AB sixtel for a week. Then I'll transfer it again this time into a beautiful Good People sixtel as it will be on display at a family reunion party.

Plus today my 6 port Duotight regulator board with all its attachments arrived in the mail. I'll be putting that together tomorrow. It's to replace a single Co2 line that was serving six kegs. A big PIA having to move the line from keg to keg.

 

[JohnDBrewer]

Kegged my Big Brew Day - Session Citra IPA, my Big Brew Day- American Barleywine and cleaned both fermenters. Need to get my Oktoberfest brewing next. Way late on that.

 

[Halfakneecap]

As well as brewing a Hoegaarden clone today I also kegged 19 litres of Five Points Best Bitter.

Ooooh been a while since i brewed a witbier. Just ordered yeast and unmalted wheat. Thankyou !

 

[Immocles]

Kegged an Irish red meant for St Patrick’s day. A little later than I expected, or maybe just early for 2026.

Brewed a porter. Brewing has taken a back burner lately so I think my next several beers will be using up old ingredients.

 

[leedspointbrew]

Spent way more time milling grain / troubleshooting grain mill than I should have. Some brewdays it seems like the universe is suggesting I leave it it to the professionals.

 

[Wigglebutts Brewery]

Foam on the Range Club held Iron Brewer start up. Think dart board to decide options for odd specialty items and for your style. Limited choice of grain so lots of substitutes. Yeast was only non limited item. I brewed up a coconut Porter. Helps a little that WB Brewery has a dart board. Contest concludes first Saturday in August with popular vote at club picnic. Looks to be ten entrees. Shout out for LHBS Brew Hut! Great day!

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Today I transferred my Hoegaarden clone to the bottling bucket. I will leave for 2 days before bottling. Turned out with an ABV 5.1%.

 

[Alfgs]

Bottled a batch of lervigs paragon barley wine where I added raspberries and a bourbon spiral.
Tastes great but a whole lot drier than the 1.040 it finished at, probably mostly because of the tartness the raspberries added but I am sure it will age great.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Today I brewed 19 litres of my Sandstone Trail English IPA
4000g Maris Otter
300g Amber Malt
300g Flaked Torrefied Wheat
30g EKG at 60m
30g Bramling Cross at 15m
40g Harlequin at 80C for 20 minutes.
Verdant IPA yeast
OG 1057 expecting an ABV at 6.2%.

Unlike most of my brews which are clones this is my recipe.

 

[MaxStout]

Attached ball lock gas posts to the lids of my two Brew Buckets, to allow me to squirt liquids in w/o removing the lids. Once in a while my drain valve gets clogged with trub, so I can also apply a psi or two of CO2 to get things flowing again when racking.

 

[pshankstar]

Finally had the time and nice weather to string up my chinook hops. Some are already 6 feet tall.

 

[Willy]

Busy morning. Last night, the English Brown kicked - thankfully, a 10 gal batch was ready to package into 2 corny kegs.

So ... Did that. Early! Been carbing for hours and hope it is ready in a few days. Sooner. Please.

And cleaned out 2 SS buckets (PBW & Starsan) . Same for two kicked corny kegs. All clean - buckets will get used tomorrow for a batch of pilsner with Hallertau mittelfru this time instead of Saaz.

Next up, weighing out the grains to mill tomorrow as I am heating up. Same for mineral additions and hops.

 

[T Murph]

@Willy have you tried using Saaz and Hallertau together in lagers or pilsners. I have and now I mix the two often, especially in my go to lager. If you haven't given it a try. Hopefully you will like it as much as I do.

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

Made 2.9 gallons of 1.067 Tropical Stout wort, finally used up the remaining "pucks" of Palm Sugar that have been sitting in the pantry for ages. Went for smooth roast: 5% roast 300, 3% chocolate 350, 3% pale chocolate, 2% midnight wheat, and I think I nailed what I was hoping to get from that -- LOTS OF chocolate/mocha flavor. Fingers crossed that 8% caramel (split between 60L and 120L) isn't going to be too sweet. Fermenting with a starter made from leftover S-04 and US-05 packets, hoping it gets down to 1.011 or so.

 

[Willy]

@Willy have you tried using Saaz and Hallertau together in lagers or pilsners. I have and now I mix the two often, especially in my go to lager. If you haven't given it a try. Hopefully you will like it as much as I do.

No I haven't yet. Okay. Hell yeah. I love Saaz. Haha. I'm jones-ing for more Saaz. Bwahaha.

 

[T Murph]

Last week I recieved my 6 regulator board and all the hardware. Today I finally got it installed and everything hooked up. Time will tell how well it works. But it has to be better than switching a single Co2 line from keg to keg.

 

[Bramling Cross]

@Willy have you tried using Saaz and Hallertau together in lagers or pilsners. I have and now I mix the two often, especially in my go to lager. If you haven't given it a try. Hopefully you will like it as much as I do.

They're a great combo! My current German pils was whirlpooled with Haller and Saaz. It's a great combo and the whirlpool really pushed the floral notes forward along with a really cool background note that isn't quite fruity, but nor is it citrus. Maybe kiwi-ish? Whatever it is, it's fun and plays nicely with the warming weather.

 

[Bramling Cross]

Today I turned my attention to cleaning the inside of my ale fermenter after the hefe fermentation. My word, it looked like a massacre inside. It's soaking in caustic brewery cleaner for a couple hours. Yet another reminder of why I don't brew more hefes. What a friggin' mess...

Also, I bought a pair of new lid gaskets for my SS Brewtech Brewbuckets. The old ones are going on seven years old and it seemed like good, fairly cost-effective preventative maintenance. I can't blame the hefe for that, but it did prompt me to remember that it was something I was planning to do.

Edit: If you choose to swap our your Brewbucket lid gaskets, get them direct from SS Brewtech. I cross shopped MoreBeer and they wanted nearly 16 bucks in shipping for a drop ship from SS Brewtech. Brewtech's shipping was something like seven bucks and the gaskets were a buck cheaper. This is why I don't use MoreBeer anymore.

 

[ba-brewer]

Edit: If you choose to swap our your Brewbucket lid gaskets, get them direct from SS Brewtech. I cross shopped MoreBeer and they wanted nearly 16 bucks in shipping for a drop ship from SS Brewtech. Brewtech's shipping was something like seven bucks and the gaskets were a buck cheaper. This is why I don't use MoreBeer anymore.

Did you get a set or two of O-ring for the spigot?

What is the expected outcome of the open fermentation, trying to tone down the phenols and boost the banana?

Different yeast but I had seen people saying that an open ferment of WLP037 Yorkshire Square Ale gets rid of the phenols. I have some of the yeast from the latest release a few months back and would like to give it a try but I am not sure I can truly get my chamber clean enough (the chamber is in the garage) to ferment without a lid.

 

[MaxStout]

Brewed an imperial stout, then bottled 3 gallons of Mott's juice hard cider. I finally got everything cleaned and put away at about 5PM, so so time for some beers.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Yesterday I bottled my Hoegaarden clone 31 bottles at 5.1%.

 

[ClaudiusB]

I am currently brewing a German Kölsch by a German brewer.
.

 

[Willy]

Mashed in for the German Pilsner by 7am (calling it Fritzy & Schlitzy for now.) should be all tidied up and finished before noon.
Update - boil is done, cooling almost finished, down to 78°F. 9:40am.

 

[GreenEnvy22]

I've had a busy couple weeks brewing. I have a 6 keg setup, and 4 of them all kicked within a week or so of each other (most were 4-6 months old).
So since May 1st I've made:
RyePA (9%)
Strong British red ale (7%)
Lawmower cream ale (5.5%)
Stout (still fermenting but should be about 5%).

I also have been finishing up reconfiguring my brewing area with a permanent setup of pipes running over to our pool (I use this water in the counterflow chiller so cool the wort and heat my pool at the same time), electrical upgrades, and getting a sink installed (I brew outside in my greenhouse).

My peated wee heavy is just about to kick too, and I'll be doing a batch of apple/pear cider for that keg.
In the summer I usually devote one keg to sparkling water, so that completes my 6 kegs for another couple of months.

 

[Bramling Cross]

Did you get a set or two of O-ring for the spigot?

What is the expected outcome of the open fermentation, trying to tone down the phenols and boost the banana?

Different yeast but I had seen people saying that an open ferment of WLP037 Yorkshire Square Ale gets rid of the phenols. I have some of the yeast from the latest release a few months back and would like to give it a try but I am not sure I can truly get my chamber clean enough (the chamber is in the garage) to ferment without a lid.

When I made the switch over to the Brew Buckets I looked at those spigot and racking arm gaskets and I determined that they were flashing, neon-lighted failure points, so I put together a crash box for those gaskets. You can see it pictured below. To my surprise, they've been quite durable. I've occasionally swapped them out for reasons of caution, but I have yet to have one actually fail. (way to jinx yourself, BC)

Regarding my decision to attempt an open fermentation with the Munich Classic hefe yeast, most published accounts of hefe brewing seem to note the importance of an open fermentation to achieve the correct flavor profile, I'm leaning heavily on Stan Hieronymus' Brewing with Wheat here. And as you know, there are no shortage of serious hefe home brewers that lend credence to open fermentation working at the homebrew scale.

I'm not a serious hefe brewer. It's a style that I enjoy in the spring, but I'm typically a bit hefe'd out by the time the keg kicks. I think the fact that my past hefes tended to be phenols forward with banana playing the supporting role contributed to that hefe fatigue. I'm not sure if it was the switch to Munich Classic or the partially open fermentation (it was open during the critical flavor forming period, so I think it did have an effect) but this batch seems like it's going to be a hefe I can finally be proud of. I also forced the pH downward in the kettle from the pH 5.4 mash number, to a post boil pH of ~5.1. It's a lot softer on the tongue and I think the pH thing helped with that.

I do have lots of experience with WY1469, which (I think) is a direct equivalent to WLP037. I think they're both T. Taylor strains, right? I've found that simply placing the lid on the fermenter, but not locking it down, is perfectly fine for avoiding the clovey-cherry pie thing that the T. Taylor strain will sometimes do when it gets too excited.

That's more or less what I did with my hefe. I pitched, then placed the lid on without latching. The following morning I peeked inside and saw that there was a thin but complete krausen offering the ale some protection, so I took a deep breath and removed the lid. The next time I use the T. Taylor strain, I'll do the same.

I hope you found some of that useful! I can't claim any expertise when it comes to open fermentations, but the above represents what I've learned so far. I'm sure others with more experience can likely give you better and more detailed advice.

 

[JohnDBrewer]

Tried my first serious low oxygen brew attempt, all steps, but i didn't really have a solution for a mash cap, so i just laid/floated some aluminum foil on top. Seemed to work ok. I still use keggles, so i guess I'll get a 15-inch pizza pan and cut it in half to put hinges on it like my false bottom.
Yeasted my water the night before, really nice bread smell in the morning before i fired up the burner.
Tried a very low rolling boil, but missed my OG. I tried to adjust/guess my "new" boil off, but didnt adjust it down enough on the software. My previous boil off was 1.33gal/hr and yesterday's was less than a gallon. The other steps I already did, just by luck, or following the original manual with my system.
Pretty good brew day.

 

[ClaudiusB]

Tried my first serious low oxygen brew attempt, all steps, but i didn't really have a solution for a mash cap, so i just laid/floated some aluminum foil on top. Seemed to work ok. I still use keggles, so i guess I'll get a 15-inch pizza pan and cut it in half to put hinges on it like my false bottom.
Yeasted my water the night before, really nice bread smell in the morning before i fired up the burner.
Tried a very low rolling boil, but missed my OG. I tried to adjust/guess my "new" boil off, but didnt adjust it down enough on the software. My previous boil off was 1.33gal/hr and yesterday's was less than a gallon. The other steps I already did, just by luck, or following the original manual with my system.
Pretty good brew day.

"Yeasted my water the night before, really nice bread smell in the morning before i fired up the burner."
What was the O2 concentration before and after?