What I did for beer today

[Noob_Brewer]

Had a couple homebrewclub peeps over to help me bottle for the first time (I'm a kegger). Bottles are for some comps (also a first time entering comps for me). It was a fun event overall and happy that the tapcooler filler that I purchased a while ago but never used yet worked exactly as advertised with the ball lock for CO2 adapter. Then we commenced to share some beers and sample more from the keezer.

 

[grampamark]

Sniffed an airlock. Oh, wait…

 

[Noob_Brewer]

Sniffed an airlock. Oh, wait…
View attachment 774262

Airlock sniffing is an integral part of my “quality assurance program” as well. At least that’s what I’m saying it is. Better than glue eh?

 

[ba-brewer]

Cleaned a keg and dry hop my IPA. Watched airlocks(not normally a sniffer) for a while and took a gravity measurement of my festbier and gave it a temperature bump.

 

[3 Dawg Night]

Kegged my all-Mosaic APA. Lot of melon flavor in there.

 

[3 Dawg Night]

Kegged my all-Mosaic APA. Lot of melon flavor in there.

Also, I'm back to having no empty taps!

 

[Noob_Brewer]

Also, I'm back to having no empty taps!

Thats awesome! I have 6 taps all with beer right now, but two are getting dang close to kicked...and I don't have anything in the fermenters. UGH

 

[BrewZer]

Second gravity check of the Lawn Mower Ale. Stable at 1.012, getting bready up front with marked bread aroma, slight hop bitterness and a bit of herbal from the Hallertau late addition. Clearing nicely but still holding little yeast rafts at the surface.

 

[earachemyeye69]

Replaced the two tap tower with a three tap.

 

[JAReeves]

Took a look at how things are progressing in the garden. The Centennial died off 2nd year in a row, idk. The Medusa didn't last but maybe two weeks and then rotted away. The Cascade and Eroica are doing ok, about 12' of growth so far. The Comet is 1st year, and only about 3' tall. On the other hand, Pic #1 is the Old Mission and Pic #2 is the Chinook, both have burrs, are over 15' tall, and are still going strong!

 

[Sam_92]

Very nice looking hops! I just put my trellis' up last week and my hop leafs got a bit eaten while they were growing on the ground but I'm very excited for the years to come when they might actually start producing.

 

[JAReeves]

While pouring a 2nd cider, I heard a suspicious “bloop,” from one of my fermenters.

Could it be? Did my 2nd yeast addition actually start doing its job? Took a sample of the barley wine that stopped at 1.052, and it’s down to 1.044. Life is good.

 

[leedspointbrew]

Bottled the Motts Creek Hazy Squared - El Dorado instead of Galaxy whirpooled. We'll see how this one is in a week.

 

[seanjwalker1]

Great story! Being new to all of this, do you mind if I ask you when/how much you add to the beer? In the primary or secondary? Thank you!

I believe most folks put fruit in the secondary. How much I couldn't tell you but I imagine how much of the fruit taste you want and what kind of fruit you are using based on how many gallons...subtle or in your face. I've read putting fruit in the primary will scrub away alot of the taste vs secondary which will preserve much of the fruit flavor profile.

 

[seanjwalker1]

Wasn't today but last Sat. Headed over to my fave LHBS to get the grains and fixings for a Brittish Golden Honey ale. 11am and they were closed...strange. Was just about to walk away all the while mumbling curses to the beer God's...forgive me...cause this was 1st chance I've had in months to get over there...when I saw the note hanging above the hours notice...Closed till after the 4th due to the untimely passing of the owner..... What the What ???? I was in deep shock for days. I had no idea how the owner, a fairly young man, I'm guessing late 20s , could have suddenly departed. All kinds of horror scenarios haunted my mind for days....car accident ? Robbed and shot ? Domestic violence ?? Finally got a email from one of the shop workers I've known for years. The owner found out in late May he had advanced stage 4 bladder cancer . Was setting up a plan for chemo and radiation but by end of June he was gone...just like that, just that quick and so young !!!! That young man was so nice and taught me so much about brewing over a 10 year period. He's the reason I went from extract brewing and bottling to all grain and kegging. I'm still in shock. I can't lose my fave LHBS Cap N Cork !! Brew God's bless you Andy. Save a spot in the Great BrewHalle in BrewVanna !!

 

[WesBrew]

Sat around waiting for a pkg that won’t be delivered today. Imperial pub and Kolsch yeast and some hops are out there, somewhere

 

[seatazzz]

Came home to a dead 20lb co2 tank. Muttering imprecations about husband and guest possibly messing something up, I did tests on all six kegs; nothing. Did the thing where I pressurized the regulator and turned off the main valve, with all the valves closed, then open, to see which side the leak was on; yep, on the kegerator side. Checked AGAIN; and found the leak. I have a 6-way manifold; 5 for taps and one for force carbing. One of the tap lines was recently changed from a black to a gray disconnect, so I could have five on tap; guess who didn't tighten the nut enough? Yep, me. Second spraying of starsan found the inevitable bubbles coming from the nut. Tightened it good, pulled the line out and reseated it, and no leak. I'm a dumba**.

 

[ba-brewer]

Today I watched bubbles for a while and checked on the shipping status of some parts I ordered to add a second pump to my brewing setup. I have two temperature controllers in my setup but I have been manually controlling the hot liquor tank and stirring it. The new pump will allow the controller to set the temp and keep me from over shooting my sparge temps.

Yesterday I brewed a golden ale and it seemed to turn out OK even though I had a couple troubles getting it done. Started off by accidentally snorting some camden dust while I crushed them up, man did that stuff burn. I normally smash the tablets in the bag with the end of a screw driver handle but this time I had a whole package loose in a mortar and pestle which created some fine dust to float up. I could not see the dust but sure did feel it. It took a while for my nose to stop burning but part of that could of been the tap water I used to rinse my nose out. Then when I mashed-in I started to hear something funny coming from the pump, a kind of soft ticking type noise. It wasn't until I dumped all of the grain in that it dawned on me that I forgot to connect the false bottom to the ball valve on the mash tun. Even with the pump throttled down the crushed grain did not plug it up and I had good flow or I might of caught it earlier. That was first time I have done that so I am blaming it on being under the influence of camden. Took about 20mins to scoop the grain out and clean the RIMS and pump so the temp dropped to the low 140s so it should be a pretty dry beer. Everything after that ran pretty well but with bad thing coming in threes I kept wondering what was going happen next.

 

[grampamark]

Kegged a Blonde Ale, brewed an Altbier, and kicked a keg of Amber Ale.
Not a bad trifecta.

 

[JAReeves]

So last year's grape crop got eaten before I could harvest. Every year I plan to do a wild-fermented wine that is blended with my pale sour. Those wild yeasties are our house culture that I try to keep alive year to year as well. Last year was a big crop of grapes and in one night <poof> gone. This year I took a lesson from YouTube and used the leftover plastic boxes from fruits and veggies. So far, so good. The hops grow in front of the grapes in the raised boxes.

 

[NJL]

Belly crawled under the house to run a 240v 15a lead from the electricity box at the front through to the back yard where I brew.
Totally worth coming face to face with ancient rat skulls, getting covered in dust and bruises to have an extra 2400w heat stick to boost the heating times on my slow 2400w BIAB system.

 

[seanjwalker1]

Today I watched bubbles for a while and checked on the shipping status of some parts I ordered to add a second pump to my brewing setup. I have two temperature controllers in my setup but I have been manually controlling the hot liquor tank and stirring it. The new pump will allow the controller to set the temp and keep me from over shooting my sparge temps.

Yesterday I brewed a golden ale and it seemed to turn out OK even though I had a couple troubles getting it done. Started off by accidentally snorting some camden dust while I crushed them up, man did that stuff burn. I normally smash the tablets in the bag with the end of a screw driver handle but this time I had a whole package loose in a mortar and pestle which created some fine dust to float up. I could not see the dust but sure did feel it. It took a while for my nose to stop burning but part of that could of been the tap water I used to rinse my nose out. Then when I mashed-in I started to hear something funny coming from the pump, a kind of soft ticking type noise. It wasn't until I dumped all of the grain in that it dawned on me that I forgot to connect the false bottom to the ball valve on the mash tun. Even with the pump throttled down the crushed grain did not plug it up and I had good flow or I might of caught it earlier. That was first time I have done that so I am blaming it on being under the influence of camden. Took about 20mins to scoop the grain out and clean the RIMS and pump so the temp dropped to the low 140s so it should be a pretty dry beer. Everything after that ran pretty well but with bad thing coming in threes I kept wondering what was going happen next.

Well at least you will have sanitized airway passages !!! Wow !

 

[Texas_Red]

Picked up grain and hops from my LHBS for my brew this weekend. Receiving my tilt hydrometer from UPS today as well.

 

[BrewZer]

The Lawn Mower Ale is in the bottle, as of this afternoon. Still kind of bready, so I'm hoping the carbonation will add just a touch of acidic bite to it.

Now I've got to pack all my stuff back up until the next batch.

 

[earachemyeye69]

Brewed a pils and planned a Duvel(ish) batch.

 

[Broken Crow]

Measured out the proper length for my replacement saturation line for my quick-carb and planned several things to do for my next 6.5G stout & 10G mild which I am still not physically able to do, but I did and am putting all my effort into emptying my last full keg.

 

[seatazzz]

Not today but yesterday; made another batch of hard seltzer, this time using a can of Oregon Fruit pineapple puree, and doing a full 5g instead of 2.5. The first batch is going fast; nice to have something different on tap. Husband is out of town until next Wednesday, so this weekend might just be a double-brew weekend.

 

[bracconiere]

After my previous (very hilarious, come on guys need more likes) post,

say what? as an adult, i can see you are already 120% more liked then me here!

Not today but yesterday; made another batch of hard seltzer,

wait a second you've only been brewing since 2013 did you say? and you're already resorting to sugar washes?


and if hard seltzer counts now, i checked the gravity....

 

[ba-brewer]

Sat in commute time traffic crawling for a couple hours to return a bad pump and pick up a replacement. Should of tested it the day I got but I was waiting until I got the rest of the parts I needed. Replacement worked fine.

Kegged my festbier, which involved cleaning a keg and cleaning the fermentor.

 

[bracconiere]

Sat in commute time traffic crawling for a couple hours

damn pedestrians! lol