What I did for beer today

[JAReeves]

Meditated in the garage brewery and pondered what was going to go where. Won’t be able to brew until the weekend after the super bowl, so figuring out what needs bottling, kegging, barreling, and so forth. I was about to say I have too many fermentation vessels, but…blasphemy!

 

[DBhomebrew]

Put an order in to the LHBS. Honey for more mead, growlers to age it. Hops and flaked maize for a few batches of early 20th century Fuller's pale ales. Rolled oats for breakfasts and cookies. A few other things.

 

[jcav]

Tapped my Dunkelweizen today! This one is spicy from the rye, with clove and banana along with chocolate and honey notes. Very tasty!

John

 

[grampamark]

Bottled a Blonde Ale at the city house. 26 12 oz bottles. So, my 2.5 gal batch produced 2.4375 gal of finished beer.

Sample from the bottom of the bucket.

 

[Rudeoso]

Picked up a 20# CO2 tank I scored on CL

 

[Bramling Cross]

Another folly was uncovered in my on going cleanup of My Recipes folder in Beersmith.

This is from my 2009 Christmas beer, a traditional W.Coast Double IPA comprised of Rahr two row, 1lb of Cascades, and third generation US-05. I remember this batch. At the time, I was deep into working out English Mild and English Brown recipes and I decided that a belligerent blast of hops would be a refreshing change. It started as a standard early-90s NW Pale Ale, but it mutated--Godzilla-style--into a 1.072 Double IPA with a pound of Cascades.

From my notes:

"Next year, make a X-mas beer you actually want to drink. X-mas isn't a casus belli."

 

[Elric]

Another folly was uncovered in my on going cleanup of My Recipes folder in Beersmith.

This is from my 2009 Christmas beer, a traditional W.Coast Double IPA comprised of Rahr two row, 1lb of Cascades, and third generation US-05. I remember this batch. At the time, I was deep into working out English Mild and English Brown recipes and I decided that a belligerent blast of hops would be a refreshing change. It started as a standard early-90s NW Pale Ale, but it mutated--Godzilla-style--into a 1.072 Double IPA with a pound of Cascades.

From my notes:

"Next year, make a X-mas beer you actually want to drink. X-mas isn't a casus belli."

you need to publish your brewing notes for the good of humanity!

 

[bracconiere]

i had kinda a casual lazy brew day, started kinda late...normaly i rush through it. but today i just took my time. took a nap durringing the mash, took my time sparging. all in all got 9.5 gallons into the fermenter, yeah took my time checking boil off too....11am->9pm.....

 

[JAReeves]

So now I understand why so many people swear by oetiker clamps. I spent 20 minutes and now have gone through two band-aids trying to get one off so I can have a fresh hose for tomorrow's Rye IPA keg. At least the beer is amazing, smoother than last time!

 

[bracconiere]

So now I understand why so many people swear by oetiker clamps. I spent 20 minutes and now have gone through two band-aids trying to get one off so I can have a fresh hose for tomorrow's Rye IPA keg. At least the beer is amazing, smoother than last time!
View attachment 759333

you just gave me the idea to use zip ties....if my worm clamps ever actually do start leaking.....

 

[Knightshade]

I’ve checked in on my fermenter a couple times today.

 

[Bramling Cross]

you just gave me the idea to use zip ties....if my worm clamps ever actually do start leaking.....

I've used zip ties for years. They're just as good, never rust, never cut you, never stab you, they never make you ponder "When was the last time I got a tetanus shot?," they're cheap, you always have the right size, they don't require a fillister screw driver* or a nut driver, and if one fails for some reason, you have a sack filled with 87 other zip ties.



* As the first order of business, fillister screw drivers should've been banned when our ancestors first decided to climb down from the trees. Fire, while important, was given priority and we've suffered the dire ramifications of this ruinous choice ever since. I think we all can agree that this calamitous lack of foresight resulted in people that insist upon standing on the left side of an escalator.

 

[bracconiere]

I think we all can agree

if you're talking about flat head screw drivers.....your point slipped past my head...

 

[Bramling Cross]

if you're talking about flat head screw drivers.....your point slipped past my head...

Good one.

 

[Bramling Cross]

Big day in the brewery!

I finally sat down and mixed my LODO trifecta blend, with help from member @Brooothru . I decided to test my full LODO rig (well, near as full LODO as I'm willing to go, still using my copper chiller--it's excellent and it's paid for). Throughout my adoption of LODO practices, I've been surprised at how little time and effort they take. I have noticed a difference. I'll concede that it is along the margins, but as a homebrewer I'm never satisfied. If I can get slightly better beer out of ten or twenty minutes of work, you bet I'll do that.

Nevertheless, I ran my low and long/warm and long mash schedule on today's LODO test subject, another Panther Piss adjunct lager. I really like the 145F for 90min followed by 158F with the recirculation rig going for 45min mash schedule. It really highlights the malt in fizzy yellow swill type beers. Yeah, I know this is a violation of LODO scripture, but I don't much care for Helles, and I intend to pirate what I can from LODO and use it for my own stupid ideas. Anyway, the LL/WL mash schedule resulted in a 1.058 fizzy yellow monster.

I kegged a German Pils to free up the fermenter.

All in all, it was a fun day in the brewery and the mop remained dry.

 

[bracconiere]

All in all, it was a fun day in the brewery and the mop remained dry.

glad it was fun! as far as the mop....i think that's sci-fi....

 

[Bramling Cross]

glad it was fun! as far as the mop....i think that's sci-fi....

You don't know how close I was to complete catastrophe today. When I forced the tubing onto my fermenter's weldless bulkhead, it moved inward toward the wall of the fermenter. I have no idea how that bulkhead was keeping 6.5 gallons of green beer inside and not all over the inside of my fridge and floor.

I gave it a good think before I opened the spigot and decided that the weight of the beer must be holding the O-ring in place. Okay....maybe I can get half a keg out of this?

I grabbed all my towels and spent 20mins staring at that bulkhead while the fermenter drained.

I have absolutely no idea why my fermenter didn't gush 6.5 gallons of beer onto the floor. Absolutely nothing was holding that O-ring in place. It took 2.5 turns to snug it up.

It was a good day and a lucky day.

 

[bracconiere]

maybe I can get half a keg out of this?

such a me thing to think....

have absolutely no idea why my fermenter didn't gush 6.5 gallons of beer onto the floor. Absolutely nothing was holding that O-ring in place. It took 2.5 turns to snug it up.

a topic for "brew science"! lol

lucky day.

 

[Knightshade]

I've used zip ties for years. They're just as good, never rust, never cut you, never stab you,

I…challenge that statement. I’ve had a good number of zip ties cut and stab me in the past. Lesson learned, don’t be lazy cutting off the tails.

 

[Bramling Cross]

I…challenge that statement. I’ve had a good number of zip ties cut and stab me in the past. Lesson learned, don’t be lazy cutting off the tails.

Cut off the tails? I have no clue what you're talking about.

 

[Bramling Cross]

such a me thing to think....

I'm not running my brewery as a charity over here?! Do you seriously think I enjoy doing chemistry for the good of the community?

 

[Bramling Cross]

I screwed up an edit.

I am an idiot and I'll go sit in the corner.

 

[bracconiere]

Do you seriously think I enjoy doing chemistry for the good of the community?

actually most home chemists do it to screw kids over....but this is a homebrew forum, and saving a half keg is important. otherwise you'd end up drinking the devil's brew....putting a hole in the counter....

 

[Bramling Cross]

actually most home chemists do it to screw kids over

My father is a chemist. When his mother died, we both flew back to Nevada and spent a few days putting her house in order. During that time we spent some time getting to know each other again, healing old wounds, and speaking more honestly to each other than we had ever done before. We really bonded during that time.

On our final night in Lovelock, Nevada, my father let it slip. He admitted that chemistry wasn't real and it was a prank that the Alchemists decided to pull on high school students.

He swore me to secrecy, but with a trained soothsayer as a son, he should've know better.

 

[bracconiere]

Alchemists decided to pull on high school students.

i can't get into how i feel about that, because the gov'ment believes it....

 

[DBhomebrew]

Bottled a 1939 Fuller's Old Burton Extra. Harvested its Pub. Bottled a peppermint session mead.

Now all my primary fermenters are empty. Basement's at 60°F. Getting antsy, this here's no time for empty fermenters.

 

[JAReeves]

Tapped the Rye IPA for today’s super bowl party; it’s amazing. Neighbors have already filtered in to get their pints. Topped off the imperial stout in the bourbon barrel. Also checked the FG on the lager, so tomorrow I can dry hop and cold crash.

 

[ba-brewer]

Cleaned a keg and filled it with my old school IPA, hydro sample tasted good looking forward to it once carbed.

Made a batch of slants, started with 49 but one of the jars tipped over inside the pressure cooker so only got 42. First time this has happened, either had too much water or not enough jars to keep thing stable while boiling.

Been behind on slant maintenance so waking up three different stains this time, WLP006 Bedford Alle, brewlabs CC and F40. Have not figure out what to do with the yeasts yet but will probable do one batch and split it three ways.

 

[grampamark]

Labeled the Blonde Ale I bottled last week. Decided to sample one, after only 5 days. It’s pretty well carbed already but not really clear yet. Tastes good, though.

 

[JAReeves]

Dry hopped the lager, cold crashing to 40F, added a balloon full of CO2 to the airlock so it doesn’t suck air back into the fermenter.