Kicked the keg of hoppy PA yesterday.
What I did for beer today
- Thread starter iaefebs
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk:
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2020
- Messages
- 3,542
- Reaction score
- 6,804
I've seen inspiring pics of your beautiful brew rig some time ago and if I recall correctly, you had one of those large TC sock filters inline on the path to the fermenter.... I'm wondering 2 things; Do you still use it? ..if not, why? and:Brewing my 17th batch of Julius and so far so good! Managed to strike before 9 am - a miracle for me
View attachment 849091
Onwards!
[edit] Fly sparging in progress. Haven't effed up yet!
View attachment 849097
Ever Onwards!
[edit2] Spent grains carted to next door neighbors chickens, HLT and MLT cleaned, and BK is well into the boil.
View attachment 849099
Have to boil off a half gallon more than usual to accommodate these two starters instead of my usual decanted pitch. Nbd, the early start helps...
View attachment 849100
[edit3] Sure got hot here today. I'm going through extra hand towels keeping dry while whirlpooling hops...
View attachment 849105
Shouldn't take much longer to get done today...
[edit4] Finishing up always takes longer than expected but I got 'er done.
Loading carboys...
View attachment 849109
Pitched, gassed, hooked up and ready to go...
View attachment 849110
In almost 20 years of brewing this is the very first time I pitched an uncrashed starter. I'm curious if "lift off" will happen quicker...
Cheers!
What is this:
I'm a strong proponent of large kettle filters and have a burning need to know!
I don't know what a "sock filter" is - is that a muslin hop bag? I did use those with whole leaf hops "back in the day", and I also used nylon hop bags for pellets. Then I bought an SSB 6"x20" hop spider which I used for many years, but spiders are a pain and I believe they reduce utilization. I tried using a Hop Stopper V1 from The Electric Brewery but it could cause wort scorching if left on the kettle bottom during the boil, and I couldn't recirculate through it without it plugging up, so I went back to the spider.
Then The Electric Brewery came out with their much larger Hop Stopper V2, and I got a little smarter and added a third port to my BK to use it.
I attached the Hop Stopper to the original drain port, but I recirculate out through one of the added ports and back in through the other added port, all while the Hop Stopper is hung up from a post. The picture you referenced shows the Hop Stopper in its "up" position where it stays out of the way of the boil and whirlpooling and IC chilling. Once the wort has hit pitching temperature I remove the IC, unhook the Hop Stopper and let it drift to the bottom.
Then I move the drain hose over to the port with the Hop Stopper and start the pumped runout to the carboys, being careful to keep the flow rate around 2 quarts per minute to as not to plug up the Hop Stopper and pancake it from pump suction. When the wort is all drained this is what's left in the kettle...
This has been working quite well even with the biggest hop loads in the kettle, and the utilization from the free swimming pellets has to be as good as it gets
And the wort is quite bright going in the carboys, leaving the pellet mush and a lot of break material in the kettle...
Cheers!
Then The Electric Brewery came out with their much larger Hop Stopper V2, and I got a little smarter and added a third port to my BK to use it.
I attached the Hop Stopper to the original drain port, but I recirculate out through one of the added ports and back in through the other added port, all while the Hop Stopper is hung up from a post. The picture you referenced shows the Hop Stopper in its "up" position where it stays out of the way of the boil and whirlpooling and IC chilling. Once the wort has hit pitching temperature I remove the IC, unhook the Hop Stopper and let it drift to the bottom.
Then I move the drain hose over to the port with the Hop Stopper and start the pumped runout to the carboys, being careful to keep the flow rate around 2 quarts per minute to as not to plug up the Hop Stopper and pancake it from pump suction. When the wort is all drained this is what's left in the kettle...
This has been working quite well even with the biggest hop loads in the kettle, and the utilization from the free swimming pellets has to be as good as it gets
And the wort is quite bright going in the carboys, leaving the pellet mush and a lot of break material in the kettle...Cheers!
It's going to rain here tomorrow so I'm going to brew my 10th batch of my Juicy Bits clone.
Got the grain bill measured out.
Unhooked the pair of kegs that were purged by last weeks batch of Julius, put a few psi of CO2 in them and tested their poppets for tight seals. Then tucked them out of the way until it's time to fill them. Need the space for tomorrow's grain buckets.
Set up the RO system to fill the brew rig and measured out the salts. Everything's pretty much ready to go...
Cheers!
Got the grain bill measured out.
Unhooked the pair of kegs that were purged by last weeks batch of Julius, put a few psi of CO2 in them and tested their poppets for tight seals. Then tucked them out of the way until it's time to fill them. Need the space for tomorrow's grain buckets.
Set up the RO system to fill the brew rig and measured out the salts. Everything's pretty much ready to go...
Cheers!
![Craft A Brew - Safale BE-256 Yeast - Fermentis - Belgian Ale Dry Yeast - For Belgian & Strong Ales - Ingredients for Home Brewing - Beer Making Supplies - [3 Pack]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51bcKEwQmWL._SL500_.jpg)
Off and running on a rainy brew day - complete with multiple power outages so far 
First step was to split my big 1318 starter in thirds, 2 jars to pitch and an over-build to stash.
Next is get the grains grinding and liquor heating. I use a BBQ monitor so I can be elsewhere doing other things while it's heating.
Underletting the strike.
A few minutes later a lifting stir to equalize temps.
Nailed the initial mash temperature!
Power went out right after that shot and is still out.
[edit] So my early-for-me start got set back by a 45 minute outage with the mash dropping to 140°F. It's back to 152°F now and all I can do is start the clock over again. Rats!
[edit2] Finally, mash is done and fly sparge has begun...
Onwards!
[edit3] One cannot double the mash time without some consequence, in this case gaining an extra 3 gravity points, taking the usual 1.057 SG pre-boil to 1.060. I can live with that, though it does show potential I have not been enjoying.
Anyway...as it's raining too hard to take the spent mash next door to the neighbors chickens I dumped it in an old wheeled 20 gallon shop vac barrel in the garage and will take that over when the rain ends.
Back inside, HLT and MLT cleaned and dried, and I'm 2/3s through the boil...
Hopefully no more surprises today...
[edit_last] Weeellll....there's always something, isn't there?
Once the boil had run its course I dropped my IC in and brought the wort down to 170°F and tossed in the 8 ounces of whirlpool hops.
Once the wort hit pitching temperature is was time to reconfigure the lines and run the wort to the carboys.
Got the expected almost-11-gallons into the carboys and moved to gas them up.
Moved the two carboys to the chamber next to last week's Julius batch and got them set up for fermentation. Noticed they looked exceptionally bright - and much darker than normal at this stage. Hmmm....
DOH!
That was a first - remembered all the hops but forgot to pitch the yeast! Fortunately it was only a matter of a couple of minutes late but I still feel like a knucklehead
Aaaanyway...aside from that screw-up this brew hit the books up a few OG points over the recipe, but that's fine with me! All's well that ends well!
Cheers!
First step was to split my big 1318 starter in thirds, 2 jars to pitch and an over-build to stash.
Next is get the grains grinding and liquor heating. I use a BBQ monitor so I can be elsewhere doing other things while it's heating.
Underletting the strike.
A few minutes later a lifting stir to equalize temps.
Nailed the initial mash temperature!
Power went out right after that shot and is still out.
[edit] So my early-for-me start got set back by a 45 minute outage with the mash dropping to 140°F. It's back to 152°F now and all I can do is start the clock over again. Rats!
[edit2] Finally, mash is done and fly sparge has begun...
Onwards!
[edit3] One cannot double the mash time without some consequence, in this case gaining an extra 3 gravity points, taking the usual 1.057 SG pre-boil to 1.060. I can live with that, though it does show potential I have not been enjoying.
Anyway...as it's raining too hard to take the spent mash next door to the neighbors chickens I dumped it in an old wheeled 20 gallon shop vac barrel in the garage and will take that over when the rain ends.
Back inside, HLT and MLT cleaned and dried, and I'm 2/3s through the boil...
Hopefully no more surprises today...
[edit_last] Weeellll....there's always something, isn't there?
Once the boil had run its course I dropped my IC in and brought the wort down to 170°F and tossed in the 8 ounces of whirlpool hops.
Once the wort hit pitching temperature is was time to reconfigure the lines and run the wort to the carboys.
Got the expected almost-11-gallons into the carboys and moved to gas them up.
Moved the two carboys to the chamber next to last week's Julius batch and got them set up for fermentation. Noticed they looked exceptionally bright - and much darker than normal at this stage. Hmmm....
DOH!
That was a first - remembered all the hops but forgot to pitch the yeast! Fortunately it was only a matter of a couple of minutes late but I still feel like a knucklehead
Aaaanyway...aside from that screw-up this brew hit the books up a few OG points over the recipe, but that's fine with me! All's well that ends well!
Cheers!
Last edited:
Yesterday got me going so I bottled up a couple cases to be exchanged this evening. That process kicked a couple kegs so the IPA and Irish Red Ale have taps. I was filling a pint out of the caskerator which triggered a keg check! Oooops almost out so brewing a Tinker’s Bunny Bitter for the replacement….. never ends 
6/2 Follow up: yeast was being a bit lazy so last night threw in the 50ml frozen vial of WLP002…. Lots of action this morning!!
6/2 Follow up: yeast was being a bit lazy so last night threw in the 50ml frozen vial of WLP002…. Lots of action this morning!!
Attachments
Last edited:
jerrylotto
Well-Known Member
Don't judge it right away, big stouts improve with age- especially if you expose them to wood . Either way though it's going to change probably for the better.Today was the day to prepare my first Imperial Stout, now I have to wait and see what comes out of the fermenter
Now I'm going to wait and see how this one turns out, then I'll try it over time to see the evolution, and the next time I make a stout I'll put it in wood to compare (I want to try putting it in a barrel for a few months, instead of using shavings)
But thanks for the tip, one day I'll let you know how it went
Many things. Took yesterday and this Monday off, had originally planned to go to Spokane to visit a friend but that fell through. Using these free days to set the garage to rights, and brew at least once. Kegged the pseudolager on Novalager this morning, made a starter for tomorrow's Peach Kolsch, milled grain and got water set up for said batch, cleaned a couple of fermenters. Tomorrow during brewday will clean the empty kegs, and clean kegerator beer lines (much overdue).
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2021
- Messages
- 583
- Reaction score
- 2,515
Bottled a 4 gal Kona Fire Rock clone - sample didn't taste bad; didn't taste much like FRPA though. Another partial success.
Cleaned and stowed the gear until August, when I'll try an Oktoberfest minus Lutra for the first time.
Cleaned and stowed the gear until August, when I'll try an Oktoberfest minus Lutra for the first time.
Today I made a starter for a Belgian Wit that I am brewing this week for July 4th.
John
John
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2021
- Messages
- 583
- Reaction score
- 2,515
Sent an email to Northern Brewer, complaining that $18.27 shipping for a 1 oz package of Hallertau Tradiition hops was ludicrous. Will they respond or care? Probably not.
(Hopefully) fixed my boring Saison by keg hopping it with two ounces of leftover Simcoe Cryo.
I’ve been beery busy since last Wednesday, getting my keg ready (first time doing a closed transfer) for a fundraiser poured at said event, sampled many beers- good times. Today I’ve packaged a small batch of Belgian Blond, some for competition some kegged for future enjoyment and sharing.
The rest of my week will be getting things together for my HBC’s competition and stewarding.
The rest of my week will be getting things together for my HBC’s competition and stewarding.
Today I brewed 15 litres of a Salcombe Gold clone
2600g Pale Malt
150g Carapils
45 minutes boil
10g Admiral at 45 minutes
12g Chinook at 15 minutes
25g Cascade & 8g Chinook at 85C for 20 minutes whirlpool
CML Midland (Nottingham style) yeast
OG 1046
2600g Pale Malt
150g Carapils
45 minutes boil
10g Admiral at 45 minutes
12g Chinook at 15 minutes
25g Cascade & 8g Chinook at 85C for 20 minutes whirlpool
CML Midland (Nottingham style) yeast
OG 1046
Been hot in the front range and our cooler’s waiting for a solenoid valve from The land of Auz so why not escape to the workshop, watch the French Open and beer stuff. Good news, someone coming by later this week for 15g oak barrel. Then I’m getting a 2.5 or 5g version for aging spirits and heavy beers, a fun rotation!
So I’m cleaning bottles from exchange and brewing a mango sour ale… Wildbrew Philly yeast with can of mango purée…. 8# 2 row and 1/2# crystal 55. Should be good for summer thirst.
So I’m cleaning bottles from exchange and brewing a mango sour ale… Wildbrew Philly yeast with can of mango purée…. 8# 2 row and 1/2# crystal 55. Should be good for summer thirst.
Attachments
Last edited:
hout17
Crush it REAL Good
Grabbed a 60lb storage bin on clearance for $17 and some change!
Next to grab a bag of Maris Otter or some plain old two row to throw in there. Excited!
Next to grab a bag of Maris Otter or some plain old two row to throw in there. Excited!
hout17
Crush it REAL Good
Went to my LHBS and picked up a 55lb bag of Maris Otter to put in my new storage bin and some Wyeast 1968.
Cameronl
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2021
- Messages
- 233
- Reaction score
- 730
What I'm GOING to be doing for beer today! Great idea for hanging those hoses without kinking. Thanks, T Murph!Brewed 5 gal of Murphy Brown Ale and carbonated my Old Glory American Wheat Beer. Shout out to @Sammy86 this beer turned out great. The added Citra Hops take it to the next level.
I guess I wasn't the only one admiring that.
Those look like Day Zero hoses from here!
Yesterday, rebuilt the two kegs the fam uses for mineral water. Set up the water for a brewday, I hope that'll be tomorrow, but Monday would work also if it comes down to it.
Competition was today. I stewarded one session, set up prizes with additional helping hands, won a second place for my gose, then when it was all done I packed up leftover prizes. Drank beer. It was a good day.
