What I did for beer today

[Cheshire Cat]

Today I bottled my Mena Dhu Stout 36 50cl bottles.

 

[flipster]

I made a list - a list of beers and ciders in my fridge and storage room.

I usually had two to three, rerely four different types of beer in the fridge. The lid colors and color codes of the rubbers on the swing-top bottles were still manageable in my head.
Since I also brew a lot of small batches, I would have completely lost track without LEAN. Nevertheless, I now have to write down what's what.
Colors start to repeat ... Including cider, there are currently 17 different beverages in 21 different bottle/cap combinations.
There are more combinations than beverages, because I usually use swing-top bottles in addition to crown caps for bottling larger volumes, which then don't leave the house.

(Yes, I know 9°C is "warmish" ... I like it that way.)

edit: and I should headlined this: Dear HBT - this is your fault!

 

[Cheshire Cat]

When the colours clash buy some coloured sticky dots.

 

[flipster]

When the colours clash buy some coloured sticky dots.

Thank you for shattering my worlds of complicated thoughts to nothingness with a simple and yet effective idea. I came up so far with "designing one or even more rubber stamps, reactivating my print industry related contacts to get some screen-print inks from them and apply it to the bottle caps to make more kinds of different and self designed caps!"

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

Bottled 2.7 gallons of coconut stout
Brewed 3.25 gallons of imperial stout (1.101, 70 ibu)
Mopped the floor

Bottled the 3 gallons (minus trub/yeast) of imperial stout I made just ten days ago, 1.101 down to 1.023, and tasting quite nice already! Added 8 ounces of no-name bourbon, priming sugar, and ec-1118 yeast to make sure it carbs up.

 

[MaxStout]

Thank you for shattering my worlds of complicated thoughts to nothingness with a simple and yet effective idea. I came up so far with "designing one or even more rubber stamps, reactivating my print industry related contacts to get some screen-print inks from them and apply it to the bottle caps to make more kinds of different and self designed caps!"

I get rolls of 3/4" dots on Amazon. But writing the style and date on 50+ dots is my least favorite part of bottling day.

 

[Piilu kirves]

Looked deep in to my fermenzilla and been fasinated about all the activity.

 

[Bramling Cross]

I get rolls of 3/4" dots on Amazon. But writing the style and date on 50+ dots is my least favorite part of bottling day.

That's equal parts brilliance and masochism. Who knew that bottling day could actually be made more miserable?

 

[Bramling Cross]

Looked deep in to my fermenzilla and been fasinated about all the activity.

Have you tried pitching WY1968/Pub, ie the Fullers strain? It doesn't always do it, but it'll sometimes create these amazing golf ball sized clumps of yeast that whirl around inside your fermenter like some kinda Hollywood notion of an asteroid field. It's hours of fun for the whole family.

 

[Piilu kirves]

Have you tried pitching WY1968/Pub, ie the Fullers strain? It doesn't always do it, but it'll sometimes create these amazing golf ball sized clumps of yeast that whirl around inside your fermenter like some kinda Hollywood notion of an asteroid field. It's hours of fun for the whole family.

It is my first brew with fermenzilla, amazing how muts activity with 34/70

 

[Willy]

Busy day for beer today. Ordered 4 large 32 gal containers for holding grain and misc.
Ordered 2 55 lb sacks of grain. One Marris Otter and one BestMaltz Red X.

And ... Just finished the mash hoist, using an existing gazebo for vertical and beefed up the structure with 4*4s so it has no problem lifting out wet mash on a strong 12 gal batch. Looks good and is plenty strong enough to handle heavy loads.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I get rolls of 3/4" dots on Amazon. But writing the style and date on 50+ dots is my least favorite part of bottling day.

Why write on the dots just cross reference the cap and dot colour to a separate log.

 

[Willy]

I think I'm the master procrastinator!

Reminds me of an awesome dad joke.

My wife often gets mad at me calls me lazy.
Sheesh. It's not like I'm doing anything.

 

[MaxStout]

The park where we're camping is next to a golf course with a nice restaurant, so went there for lunch.
Burger and a Fulton O-Fest. The hopping definitely American, not noble. Maybe Citra? Still tasty.

Edit: Crap! I meant to post this in the What are you drinking? thread. I need another beer...

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Preparing a pin cask for transfer of a mixed style beer. Amber with NZ hops low bitterness like a NEIPA. Checked on a cider kit a started last night for serving at the same festival as the beer. Pictures later…

 

[BikerMatt]

Last one, promise Wanted to brew the last 4.2kg of malts I had left in the bag last night (bottom left), also first time using a Lallemand yeast. Pitched last night, after around 20h going like a racecar blblblblblblblbllblblbl. Haven`t had anywhere near this much beer on the making at the same time before but you know, gotta make hay when the sun`s out. Now I need yet more bottles though

 

[mac_1103]

Why write on the dots just cross reference the cap and dot colour to a separate log.

Caps are available in about a dozen colors. Maybe more. How many combinations do you need?

 

[MaxStout]

Sure, I could just use a dot color code system, no writing.

Then when I give freebies to friends they'll look at them later and say, "Hey! I got 3 red dot and 3 green dot beers!"

Or I could make a color key so they can look 'em up.

 

[mac_1103]

I could make a color key so they can look 'em up.

I don't label my beers so this is exactly what I do when I give away mixed packs. And the key is usually pretty obvious... let's see, what color caps should I use for the golden ale? how about the black IPA?

 

[Skeeter686]

Edit: Crap! I meant to post this in the What are you drinking? thread. I need another beer...

That's OK... I drank beer today, too! I made room for more beer in the fridge... compared styles... whatever.

 

[flipster]

Caps are available in about a dozen colors. Maybe more. How many combinations do you need?

The crux of the matter was the post about the list I made (see here) - I was indeed running out of colors.
I do have now 15 different bottle caps (dark green just arrived, and counting 'silver' and 'chrome-ish' as two different ones) and I store actually 17 types of beers and ciders (the two types with just one bottle left in the kitchen fridge not included).
I usually try to match the cap to the style as well. At the moment, however, it is more likely to simply use the next color that becomes available. At this point I'm not willing to brew a style matching the next available color (although this might be an interesting challenge...).
You're actually listing "chocolate stout" and "black IPA" in your signature - I'd say both deserve the black caps...

Why write on the dots just cross reference the cap and dot colour to a separate log.

Touch up pens in different colors or nail polish popped into my mind, but I still like the sticky dots idea. I might just apply them to the styles that will run out first. They will also kinda stick to chilled bottles. Applying varnish to a cold bottle might not be that easy.

Sure, I could just use a dot color code system, no writing.

Then when I give freebies to friends they'll look at them later and say, "Hey! I got 3 red dot and 3 green dot beers!"

Or I could make a color key so they can look 'em up.

I try to finish my bottle labels before I hand beers out, but sometimes I'm just behind schedule with my creative work.
But instead of handwriting, have you thought about these printable stickers.
If you're using just one color of caps it would at least save some work. If you're using multiple colors, you could order pre-printed stickers with a QR-code linked to an online list. Or still print labels with QR-codes showing the description as text ... or linking to a designed label (I'm getting creative now).

BTW, here's my actual list. just pinned to one of the beer fridges in the basement.

And as an actual task, what I did for beer today: waking up the harvested yeast for a brew day tomorrow and finalizing the recipe I have in mind for a next try getting closer to "THE Summer Ale".

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Just remember when you are calculating the permutations of 15 coloured caps and say 6 coloured dots to minus the same colours so red on red doesn’t work.

 

[mac_1103]

You're actually listing "chocolate stout" and "black IPA" in your signature - I'd say both deserve the black caps...

Maybe they do, but both went into swing tops - different sizes, so yeah that's something I actually had to write down / remember.

 

[brewbama]

Kegged a Helles this AM. Brewed the Helles based on John Palmer’s recipe in HtB 10 days ago. Went from SG to FG in 5 days and my habit is to allow maturation to equal fermentation so today was kegging day. I’ll lager it ~6-7 wks for a nice malty complement to a 7.5% Baltic Porter, an hoppy APA, and a roasty Stout already on tap for the cooler wx.

 

[Bramling Cross]

Sure, I could just use a dot color code system, no writing.

Then when I give freebies to friends they'll look at them later and say, "Hey! I got 3 red dot and 3 green dot beers!"

Or I could make a color key so they can look 'em up.

Yeah, I’m in a churlish mood.

 

[Bramling Cross]

I heard a worrying crack from my old plastic roller cart during my last brew day. Not at all interested in the prospect of cleaning up a full MLT dumped onto the kitchen floor due to a structural failure in my rolling cart, I grabbed a SS cart rated to 400lb (yeah, right).

As a guy that hasn’t brewed over 1.060 in over a decade, it’s great knowing that I could brew a barley wine without worrying about my cart collapsing. You never know when you might need five gallons of barley wine, right?

The lower shelf on the new cart also provides a home for my stupidly large grant.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

I heard a worrying crack from my old plastic roller cart during my last brew day. Not at all interested in the prospect of cleaning up a full MLT dumped onto the kitchen floor due to a structural failure in my rolling cart, I grabbed a SS cart rated to 400lb (yeah, right).

As a guy that hasn’t brewed over 1.060 in over a decade, it’s great knowing that I could brew a barley wine without worrying about my cart collapsing. You never know when you might need five gallons of barley wine, right?

The lower shelf on the new cart also provides a home for my stupidly large grant.
View attachment 860328

Very nice cart! Ya gotta love stainless steel.

 

[leedspointbrew]

1). Went overboard on cleaning, then bottled the second iteration of my Bucktoberfest - looks more dunkel than marzen, but I'll be satisfied if it tastes as good as the last batch.
2). Started organizing / condensing the beer crap in my multipurpose room - wife is starting to give it the fisheye.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

I bought a jukebox! This will enhance drinking at my bar and will bring lots of inspiration for future brews.

 

[JAReeves]

Yesterday, tasted the 10-11% BW that has been on gas aging for several months. The Slightly Sour Brett, Spicy Rye, Bitter/Earthy Hops, and Light Caramel Sweetness from the Barrel make for an interesting tipple. I think it's the best BW I have made yet. I'm not sure what it pairs with, though. Maybe a strong, salty cheese.