What I did for beer today

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Checked on a small keg I have in the garage fridge with a Maibock that’s been lagering a long while. The last time I tapped it the beer was flat And I didn’t have time to check on the leak. Well, I’d like to get this one into a competition if it‘s still okay, so I carried out a tank of CO2 and the leak was coming from the PRV. Swapped the lid with another - problem solved. I plan to sample it on Sunday and bottle some on Monday. Last Tuesday I delivered 2 pins for a caskfest this Saturday.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Made 23 litres of Five Points Best this morning
3500g Maris Otter
200g Biscuit malt (in lieu of Amber)
200g XL Crystal
100g Torrefied wheat
15g Black malt
Fuggles
42g @45m
25g @15m
50g whirlpool 85c for 20 minutes
CML Midland yeast
OG 1.042 BHE 75%

 

[day_trippr]

10 minutes left in the mash of a Ballentine IPA recipe I've been playing with. This version uses the allegedly authentic hop combo and increases the corn to 30% - which made the first 15 minutes of the mash a challenge as the flaked corn literally dissolved!

Onwards!

Fly sparge chugging slowly along...

So far so good!

Sparge completed, pre-boil volume * gravity check passed (expected 13.5 gallons at 1.059 SG, hit the volume at 1.062!) so the boil is on!

Yeehaw! Gettin' 'er done!

Wrapping this brew day up! Chillin' to pitching temp...

Filling carboys....

Gas on! Unnecessary? Perhaps. Call it force of habit, I always do 4 minutes at .5 lpm per fermentor and have never had a disappointing fermentation.

Loaded into the 2nd ferm fridge, next to last week's imperial chocolate stout...

...and a pair of kegs hooked up to the two fermentors for purging.

Everything cleaned and polished and put away. First time using BRY-97. Fingers crossed.

Final stats: volume to the fermentors was on the nose at 10.5 gallons, and I maintained those extra 3 gravity points all the way to a 1.072 OG.

Cheers!

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

Everyone else seems to be really busy with brewing activities, like almost every day.

I guess, not to be outdone; Wednesday before my financial appointment, I picked up grain, yesterday I milled the grain and got the HLT filled/dialed in. Today I'm brewing!

A doppelbock type beer I call SpaceX Amber.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

10 minutes left in the mash of a Ballentine IPA recipe I've been playing with. This version uses the allegedly authentic hop combo and increases the corn to 30% - which made the first 15 minutes of the mash a challenge as the flaked corn literally dissolved!

View attachment 833059

Onwards!

Fly sparge chugging slowly along...

View attachment 833065

So far so good!

Sparge completed, pre-boil volume * gravity check passed (expected 13.5 gallons at 1.059 SG, hit the volume at 1.062!) so the boil is on!

View attachment 833070

Yeehaw! Gettin' 'er done!

You certainly have a nice brewing system and brewing area!

I'm getting close to the wort chilling part, fermenter is all set and I'm about to start shoveling spent grain out of the MT. Luckily, it's still nice outside (44 and light rain) so I can dump the grain in the field on our property.

 

[tdf]

Kegged 12 beers of Christmas spiced bourbon stout, cleaned the fermentor, and brewed a citra chinook pale ale (which is about to go into said fermentor).

 

[rhoadsst]

Bottled a smoked porter that I brewed for a family members upcoming 65th birthday. Used a good deal of cherrywood smoked malt from Briess, since they like a lot of smoke in that style. Smell is super smoke forward and the sample I tried tasted the part.

After that I made a kitchen sink IPA with some left over malt I needed to get rid of. There's a mix of 2-row, pilsner, flaked oats, flaked wheat and cologne malt. Threw in some citra, simcoe and el dorado. Not sure how it'll turn out but it'll be a fun experiment.

Now enjoying a home brewed brown ale after all that work. Cheers

 

[Deric]

Rainy, windy day so might as well brew. Small batch WCIPA.

 

[leedspointbrew]

Bottled the PITA pumpkin ale - from the sample, subtle vanilla (new addition) and cinnamon (Ceylon this year instead of generic), otherwise pretty similar to last year's batch. And as expected, S-04 was the hero; crystal-clear going into the bottles.
Then did a super-extra-thorough cleaning of bottling bucket, spigot, Fermzilla to get ready for next brew.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Cleaned 2 pins, well accept for taking the plastic parts out. I’ve decided to invest in the overpriced removal bar because the time it takes to chisel away at them is better spent elsewhere. Also getting entries ready for the last comp of the year, for me.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

Got my water report from Ward Labs and tried to come up with profiles for a couple of things.

 

[grampamark]

Went to the LHBS to get some Vienna malt and Mosaic hops for a Mosaic SMaSH I’m planning to brew tomorrow

 

[day_trippr]

Always a trend-bucker, to replace one of my vintage 6.5 gallon Italian carboys that grew a star on its side earlier this fall and had to be put down, I went with a new 6.5 gallon Italian carboy.

Picked it up at one of the last standing LHBS in Massachusetts, the "Beer And Wine Hobby" shop in the North Shore area. The last time I visited a store by that name was maybe 16-something years ago when it was located in a Woburn warehouse, but the current owner had moved the whole operation to a strip mall on Andover Street in Danvers (for my MassHole homies) some time ago.

And I spent at least a half hour speaking with the owner (Mister Genaro Cataldo) who is a super nice guy and can hold up his side of a conversation regarding brewing for sure. He has a fully outfitted store with an extensive and well laid out grain section and can do full sacks, carries White Labs, Wyeast, Imperial and Omega liquid yeasts along with Apex, Fermentis, Lallemand, and even Mangrove Jack dry strains, and apparently does quite a lot of mail order to keep the lights on. The store is only 10 minutes further away from me than Jasper's up in Nashua, so I could easily end up there again...

Cheers!

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Yesterday I brewed this New Zealand Pale Ale 15 litres
3000g Pilsner malt
150g Biscuit malt
100g Carapils
30g Chocolate malt
Moteuka 30g @45m, 20g @ 10m
CML Pia yeast

 

[Ayzala]

Still trying to figure out why my pump won't pump (it messed with me last Saturday brew day).

Took the head off and pulled the impeller. It was clean, not warped, did spin freely, passed the shake test (for loose or broken magnet pieces inside).
Ran the pump for a second and the magnet spun freely.
Put it all back together, making sure the head was centered and noting was binding.
Hooked it up to my HLT with some water, and...... Nothing... Not a drop moved.

WTH!!!

And sniffed the airlock, yummm.

 

[day_trippr]

^missing a thrust washer, maybe?^

I popped the heads of both of my 815PLs two days ago and found the thrust washer on the wort pump was totally gone while the washer on the liquor pump was full-thickness. The wort pump had acted flakey at more than 3/4 flow...

Cheers!

 

[day_trippr]

Kegging 10 gallons of imperial chocolate stout, and when that's done I'll have two carboys and a kicked keg to clean next...

Cheers!

 

[seatazzz]

Supposed to be working from home today; ignored the texts (my guys know what they're doing, if they need me they're gonna call) and kegged the latest version of the House NEIPA. Ran low on hops so had to augment the usual Citra/Sabro with some Cascade. Smells good, should be able to test it tomorrow. Then brewed up a batch of pressure fermented lager, on what 'might' be some mystery yeast. Jar of slurry in the back of the fridge, looks like 34/70, smells like 34/70, fwooshed when opened, should be 34/70. Did a starter with it, it took off overnight so pitched it with no qualms. I like that word. I also apparently hate to mark yeast slurry jars; the only reason I know this wasn't my usual ale yeast (Notty) is because there's another jar in the fridge that is actually marked Notty with the date. So it can't be that.

 

[OG_Conch]

Made my first all grain home brew yesterday. Anvil 6.5 maiden voyage was a Winter Warmer based on some Anchor Brewing’s Our Special Ale. Wish the fermentation luck !

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Deciding what to brew next. Thinking about dunkles weissbier, or American brown

 

[ba-brewer]

Drove to more beer to get a sack of grain at 20% off, then drove to a different more beer to get another sack of grain the first was out of stock.

Got the results from the last contest I entered, won a first place on my Czech premium lager and a second place for my German Liechtbier. MaxStout's piwo grodziskie got the best score of the beers I entered with a 40 but no ribbon.

 

[bike2brew]

5 gal batch of Hops Kitchen Stout. OG @ 1.068 and off to the races. 2nd run w/ SVBS, much smoother this time around w/ better temp control during the mash.

 

[govner1]

Sold my old 15 propane system and did the basic layout of kettles for my new 15g electric system.

 

[JScott02]

Just recently got back into the hobby. Racked a SMASH ale to keg last night, and brewed an American Wheat ale that will be a cherry wheat. First try at no chill brewing. Will be putting it into the fermenter tonight.

 

[seatazzz]

This morning kegged and tapped the lager on 'mystery' yeast that I fermented under pressure in my most excellent fermzilla. Came out pretty much fully carbonated, and damn if it's not one of the best pressure fermented lagers I've done in quite some time. A few more days conditioning will see it fully crushable by turkey day, when my daughter and son-in-law are coming to visit. Hope it lasts that long, I want them to taste it. Has a nice floral note from the Saaz hops I used late in the boil, nicely bittered, slightly malty, just a really good beer. Wow.

 

[fluketamer]

i made a recirculation box to use with my temp twister that i ordered

 

[BeerAndTele]

Off work this week so it's a rare weekday brew day. Stovetop BIAB Vienna Lager. Spilt batch to compare 2 different yeasts (34/70 vs. Novalager).

Cheers.

 

[govner1]

Kegged a 9 g batch of American stout. 2 3g kegs with stout fermented with US-05. Third gallon to 2° with Pasilla Peppers.

 

[BrewMan13]

Kegged my smoked ale. Always get great attenuation with Scottish ale yeast, should use it more.

 

[bike2brew]

Earlier last weekend made a significant overhaul in my conditioning closet with upgrade to plastic soda cases for bottle storage.