What I did for beer today

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Printed my labels for 12 BOC… very behind planned schedule, but it is happening.

 

[Ren06]

Checked the gravity on my blueberry melomel last night, started at 1.142, now sitting at 1.012 !!! Im hooked on D-47 now because it leaves alot of the fruit character behind instead of the ec-1118 which is kind of neutral. I think i found my new yeast. Most likely in a few days i’ll rack off the fruit and let the yeast do its job.

 

[grampamark]

Kegged the Fizzy Yellow Lager I brewed a few weeks ago and put it in the kegerator to finish lagering. Also harvested a couple of jars of yeast slurry (34/70).

 

[seatazzz]

Got my order from brewhardware two days early (thanks @Bobby_M !!) with eight new liquid posts for the kegs; and learned something new. All but ONE of my nine kegs are Cornelius, that odd man out is a Firestone; which means the new posts don't fit it. I never knew the different brands had different post thread sizes, oops. Going to check all the old posts as they come off to see if one fits, pretty sure one will (9/16 will go on a 19/32 thread but not the other way around, hope I didn't totally screw the threads), and I have a couple of new poppits that will work for it. Feeling rather sheepish this evening.

 

[grampamark]

The answer to “what fits which keg” can be found here.

 

[Pkrd]

Kegged my Taiheke pale ale.
Tidied up the kegerator somewhat.

Filled a keg with grapes and blueberries for christmas fizzy fruit.

We cracked into the pale ale and the fizzy fruit today.

The grapes were fantastic but the blueberries pretty much exploded with the rapid decompression.

 

[seatazzz]

Woke up to clear ice coating everything outside; had planned to go see my dad today (he's in memory care) but told my mom I ain't driving in this mess, it's supposed to warm up this afternoon but the ice won't go away completely until probably tomorrow. So I'm working on a cold-fermented lager recipe for Monday, knitting in the warm house with a couple of dogs to keep me company, and sipping on the Wit. Last big ice storm we had was in 2012, but for that one there was still a lot of snow on the trees, not to mention high winds.

 

[grampamark]

Pulled a gravity sample of the Cold Smoke clone I brewed a couple of weeks ago. Finished at 6.3%. The real thing is advertised as 6.5. Close enough for homebrewing.

 

[bike2brew]

Bottled Belgian style Tripel today. 44 bottles total. In fermentation 19 days, finished @ 1.011, ~85% attenuation, 8.7% abv.

 

[seanjwalker1]

Was supposed to do a transfer of the Xmas spice beer that's been cold crashing a week in the Arctic garage. But the wife has had me running hell bent to stores for hours and hours these last 3 days buying last min gifts that really nobody cares about. It's too late anyway to be carbed in the keg or bottles for Xmas so figured I'd let it ride a few more days. About to crack this puppy open and give a salute to the Fat man in the red suit bringing...I hope...Xmas brewing goodies tomorrow . Happy Christmas Eve to all of you !!

 

[South Arm Brew]

Was supposed to do a transfer of the Xmas spice beer that's been cold crashing a week in the Arctic garage. But the wife has had me running hell bent to stores for hours and hours these last 3 days buying last min gifts that really nobody cares about. It's too late anyway to be carbed in the keg or bottles for Xmas so figured I'd let it ride a few more days. About to crack this puppy open and give a salute to the Fat man in the red suit bringing...I hope...Xmas brewing goodies tomorrow . Happy Christmas Eve to all of you !!

Merry Christmas Everyone! Thanks Sean!

 

[bike2brew]

Brewed 5 gal IPA Cascade, in fermenters now @ 1.071 (avg). Sitting back now with a Stout brewed last year on Christmas Eve. Seems like an appropriate bookend to the year.

Merry Christmas everyone.

 

[seatazzz]

Wonderful daughter & son-in-law gave me $75 at Morebeer, gonna get me a hopper extension for the new grain mill, and need to think of what else....hmmm!!!

 

[seanjwalker1]

I was so disappointed I didn't get a Grain mill from the fat man today. 1st Xmas in 10 years I didn't get something brewing related .....trembling lip, verge of tears...then I got the notice my 75 inch 4k UHD HDR LED Dolby Vision TV will be delivered Mon ! I guess I can do without the grain mill for awhile longer ! Cheers and Merry Christmas my fellow brewing aficionados!!!

 

[Brewsmith]

Cleaned a keg to transfer my red IPA. Now I’m brewing my (almost) annual barleywine.

 

[Rish]

Made the NB Winter Warmer extract kit. 30 minute hop tea, no boil wort, done in about2 hours including cleanup. We'll see how it turns out in a couple of months!

 

[grampamark]

Kegged a 4 gal batch of Cold Smoke clone, saved the yeast, and cleaned the fermenter.

 

[Knightshade]

Cleaned a kicked keg…super boring but it had been sitting out for 2 days already. Cleaned the lines from that keg yesterday.

 

[brewbama]

Closed xfer a Helles from fermenter to keg with a spunding valve attached. It’ll secondary at 5°F higher than fermentation temp to allow it to finish and clean up any O2 I inadvertently xferred as well as any byproducts. I’ll move it to cold crash under CO2 pressure after 7 days.

 

[seatazzz]

Flipped my kegerator manifold over; with the evabarrier line on it, was having issues getting all six kegs in there (they were facing downwards before). Some 3M double tape, lots of thread tape, the drill, another screw for stability in the middle, and many many cusswords, it's done. Also discovered one of the new liquid posts is leaking on an aging keg, will have to fix that later (currently not connected to co2, I'm occasionally scatterbrained but not that much). And another discovery; my small adjustable wrench is the shiznit for removing evabarrier from duotights. But now the co2 lines stay well out of the way, no more digging between kegs to find an available one. Next up will be trying to find a way to attach each one to the top of the kegerator; can't drill up there, so looking into adhesive options. Please pardon the gunge in the bottom of the pic.

 

[bruce_the_loon]

Flipped my kegerator manifold over; with the evabarrier line on it, was having issues getting all six kegs in there (they were facing downwards before). Some 3M double tape, lots of thread tape, the drill, another screw for stability in the middle, and many many cusswords, it's done. Also discovered one of the new liquid posts is leaking on an aging keg, will have to fix that later (currently not connected to co2, I'm occasionally scatterbrained but not that much). And another discovery; my small adjustable wrench is the shiznit for removing evabarrier from duotights. But now the co2 lines stay well out of the way, no more digging between kegs to find an available one. Next up will be trying to find a way to attach each one to the top of the kegerator; can't drill up there, so looking into adhesive options. Please pardon the gunge in the bottom of the pic.



View attachment 808969

Pick one. And maybe replace the double-sided tape with one of the really good ones.

 

[hout17]

Yesterday went over to my buddies and helped him brew a hefe.

While we were mashing, he threw some oil in a pan on another burner I brought and fried up some chicharrones. We had chicharron tacos with a red chile sauce he made. Pretty awesome.

Neighbor could smell the mash and joined. I brought along my 71' Bodds clone and an irish red homebrew and my buddy brought out his IPA we brewed a little while back. Great time BSing on the back porch brewing with good food, beer, and friends.

 

[RevA]

Brewing a ridiculously small batch of low abv beer...

 

[hout17]

Brewing a ridiculously small batch of low abv beer...


View attachment 808976View attachment 808977

Looking good! Is that a English ale?

 

[seatazzz]

Pick one. And maybe replace the double-sided tape with one of the really good ones.

View attachment 808972
View attachment 808973

Thanks for the ideas! Ordered something similar that will use zip ties but should stick.

 

[seatazzz]

So here's the dry hop sock I made; tested in the fermonster, it's a bit awkward but should work. Phallic resemblance not intended, I swear. The little side pockets on the bottom have magnets sewn inside, the top will get stitched shut after adding dry hops. Hoping this works, it was fun to make.View attachment 808260

Wanted to report back on this. Dry hop bag stayed where it was supposed to until intentionally moved, even through moving the fermonster back out to the garage for kegging. Haven't tasted the beer yet, but the smell coming out of the spunding valve during kegging was a LOT of hops. Yeast slurry came out nice and clean, none of the green goo I got with commando or even muslin bags. Maybe not the best idea if one is going for a hazy, but if you just want clean aroma/flavor from the hops, it appears to work. Was dead easy to clean in the sink. Thinking of adding a drawstring to the open end of the actual hop bag, I have the technology to do so. If your SWMBO has a sewing machine they are easy to make. This is fun!!!

 

[RevA]

Looking good! Is that a English ale?

That's the plan yes.
All English hops - fuggles and EKG.
Ordinary Bitter grain bill

 

[BrewZer]

Got an early start on Friday with a starter started to multiplex a tube of WLP830 for a pitch into ~6 gallons of 1.070 wort. Picked up the 4 lbs of specialty grains and the Perle hops to mimic Abita's Mardi Gras Maibock in honor of the early Mardi Gras this year. Since I'll be cold-ish fermenting in the garage, I also picked up a controller to keep the fermentation ~53° using a heating pad underneath.

 

[seatazzz]

Just got home from job interview, manager already called me back when I was driving, now we're playing phone tag; but they were muy impressed and I think I'm about to get an offer. $5,500 more a year than last job, easy work, fair commute, hours suck but I can deal. Stopped at LHBS because new job is almost as close as old one, restocked two-row and Munich. Now biting my nails.

*EDIT I GOT THE JOB I AM SO EXCITED!!! Aced the interview per my new bosses, this gal still has it. WOOHOO!!!

 

[wetmk]

*EDIT I GOT THE JOB I AM SO EXCITED!!! Aced the interview per my new bosses, this gal still has it. WOOHOO!!!

So happy for you! Been there. There's quite a difference between just thinking you are employable and somebody saying, "We'd love to hire you. When can you start?"

 

[ba-brewer]

I missed my clear/sunny day to brew yesterday so I put up a canopy this morning(was suppose to sprinkle today and real rain thru Saturday) and got in my last brew of the year, 3gal of Czech pale lager. Rain was late and came as I was finishing the last of the clean up and the canopy was already put away.

 

[pvtpublic]

I missed my clear/sunny day to brew yesterday so I put up a canopy this morning(was suppose to sprinkle today and real rain thru Saturday) and got in my last brew of the year, 3gal of Czech pale lager. Rain was late and came as I was finishing the last of the clean up and the canopy was already put away.

If it ain't rainin', we ain't trainin'!

 

[seanjwalker1]

Just got home from job interview, manager already called me back when I was driving, now we're playing phone tag; but they were muy impressed and I think I'm about to get an offer. $5,500 more a year than last job, easy work, fair commute, hours suck but I can deal. Stopped at LHBS because new job is almost as close as old one, restocked two-row and Munich. Now biting my nails.

*EDIT I GOT THE JOB I AM SO EXCITED!!! Aced the interview per my new bosses, this gal still has it. WOOHOO!!!

Congrats !!!

 

[BrewZer]

Mardi Gras Maibock Clone -- I think I'll call it Hubig's Revenge -- is in the fermenter; now I have to let the garage do it's cool-down magic before I pitch.

My OG hit 1.072 against an expected 1.070, so once again, my grist mill is giving me excellent results in the mash. Plus, this time my temperature control was a little better - I put in my 15.5 lbs of grist at 160 and the temp dropped to 150 just as I expected. Insulation kept it there for the hour. A starch test at 45 minutes showed complete conversion. The wort was nice and sweet, and the Perle hops have a nice spiciness that should make for a pretty tasty brew.

 

[seanjwalker1]

If it ain't rainin', we ain't trainin'!

With all the manufacturing around these parts (SE Michigan) I would never be so bold to brew outside here canopy or not. Gives me nightmares just thinking about it.

 

[pvtpublic]

With all the manufacturing around these parts (SE Michigan) I would never be so bold to brew outside here canopy or not. Gives me nightmares just thinking about it.

I can't say I blame you! However, it would be interesting to send in a water sample to see what kind of water profile you would wind up with.

 

[seanjwalker1]

I can't say I blame you! However, it would be interesting to send in a water sample to see what kind of water profile you would wind up with.

Water profile is not too bad but I use RO water anyway. Just too much floating around here. Air quality is one of the worse in the US especially in summer. Wash your car and leave it outside !!! All manner of detritus! Dirt, bugs, pollen, God knows what from the car factories !!!

 

[brewbama]

Ordered ingredients for my next three beers: Scottish Light, Bourbon Barrel Oat Stout, and Ordinary Bitter.

 

[grampamark]

Pulled a gravity sample of the Irish Red my SIL and I brewed about 10 days ago.

1.005 works out to 4.8% ABV. Beersmith predicted 4.5. Color looks more amber than red, though. Sample tasted great.

I also did some cleaning in the brewery and mixed up a fresh batch of Starsan.

 

[seatazzz]

Had planned to brew today or tomorrow, but new knitting machine is out for delivery; that will take most of my time the next few days. Just turned down the ferment fridge on my last lager, to let it sit another week before kegging. Have a WF lager in the kegerator I haven't even tapped yet, so can take my time with this one.