What I did for beer today

[HM-2]

Sampled the Brett beer out of my solera keg, comprised of:

2.5 gallons of disappointing Simcoe dry hopped Saison
2.5 gallons of mediocre Hopfenweisse
1 pack of OYL-218 All The Brett's

Been sat in a corner of my garage for the best part of four months now. Wanted to pull a couple of litres into a mini keg so I can carb up to 3 volumes and bottle some for my monthly homebrew club.

Given the less than stellar base beers, it's really good. The Brett funk is surprisingly delicate, but definitely there. It mostly pushes some tropical fruit and cherry-pie-marzipan (Brett C?) with a touch of acetic acid. Comes across a bit like a Picpoul de Pinet from a slightly warped alternative universe.

 

[Willy]

Packaged up 10 gal of Czech Pilsner into two corny kegs and cleaning out the Spike CF-10. Really easy so far as everything was smooth and effective.

We won't talk about the brew day yesterday with a mash that formed a seal (vacuum perhaps) on the false bottom, and wort creeped up, emptying thru the hoisting holes on the mash tun. Bringing little grain nuggets thru the holes and clogging the pump. Which resulted in the scoop it out one pan at a time, filter it, and put it in the fermenter. Let's not talk about that though.

 

[Willy]

Packaged up 10 gal of Czech Pilsner into two corny kegs and cleaning out the Spike CF-10. Really easy so far as everything was smooth and effective.

We won't talk about the brew day yesterday with a mash that formed a seal (vacuum perhaps) on the false bottom, and wort creeped up, emptying thru the hoisting holes on the mash tun. Bringing little grain nuggets thru the holes and clogging the pump. Which resulted in the scoop it out one pan at a time, filter it, and put it in the fermenter. Let's not talk about that though.

The good news is I packaged up 2 corny kegs of pilsner... So I am quite sure I can have at least ONE of those cornies to actually lager for 4-6 weeks. Haha.

 

[ClaudiusB]

This intermittent problem has been driving me nuts for weeks and I am not sure what I found was the real problem.
The data transmission connector was very corroded after years of faitful work. This is all part of the automatic acification system.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Transferred blueberry ginger cider to a pin to prime. I did this for beer. Making space to brew more beer.

The fermentor is all clean too. Whoop whoop.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

Transferred blueberry ginger cider to a pin to prime. I did this for beer. Making space to brew more beer. View attachment 860593
The fermentor is all clean too. Whoop whoop.

Is that a modified keg, inverted?

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Is that a modified keg, inverted?

It’s a pin cask standing on end. The shive is in, and I’m filling through the keystone port. Less surface area lower chance of oxidation. (That’s my rationale, anyway) I know the pros fill through the shive port but they have large diameter tubing, so there isn’t much choice.

 

[Bramling Cross]

Transferred blueberry ginger cider to a pin to prime. I did this for beer. Making space to brew more beer. View attachment 860593
The fermentor is all clean too. Whoop whoop.

That's so awesome! I spent a lot of time hooking up Golden Gate kegs from Henry Weinhard's and Rainier when I used to deliver beer in college. Golden Gates have a similar design, but different plumbing. I'm green with envy! I'd love to be able to serve my ales out of a proper pin.

 

[Bramling Cross]

Based on the success I had with my ale fermenter, I fitted a floating dip tube into my lager fermenter today. It's a conventional ball floater that I intend to replace with a Flotit 2.0 when I can catch one on sale, but the ball float should do the job just fine for lagers--I've got thoughts of IPLs floating around in my cranium, though.

My brewery is currently in an unusual configuration. Both fermenters are filled with sanitizer and doing nothing. I suppose I can brew a lager this weekend, no sweat if it hangs out in the fermenter for a while.

In the meantime, I need to start guzzling some mild like I mean it. I've got a WCIPA jones and no keg to put it into.

 

[MaxStout]

Based on the success I had with my ale fermenter, I fitted a floating dip tube into my lager fermenter today. It's a conventional ball floater that I intend to replace with a Flotit 2.0 when I can catch one on sale, but the ball float should do the job just fine for lagers--I've got thoughts of IPLs floating around in my cranium, though.

My brewery is currently in an unusual configuration. Both fermenters are filled with sanitizer and doing nothing. I suppose I can brew a lager this weekend, no sweat if it hangs out in the fermenter for a while.

In the meantime, I need to start guzzling some mild like I mean it. I've got a WCIPA jones and no keg to put it into.

I'm curious to hear about the Flotit 2.0 mod you have going in your Brew Bucket. I'm considering doing just that, to minimize the trub that usually gets sucked in through the racking arm. Rotating that arm is a little dodgy--turn clockwise and it's cinches up too tight and doesn't always turn the 90 degrees I need it to; turn the other way and risk having it come loose and leaking. I usually don't rotate it, just set it pointing straight up from the get-go and hope trub doesn't settle in and clog the damn thing (it's done that once and I used 1 or 2 PSI of CO2 to force it loose).

The Flotit 2.0 is currently $29 on Amazon.

 

[Bramling Cross]

I'm curious to hear about the Flotit 2.0 mod you have going in your Brew Bucket. I'm considering doing just that, to minimize the trub that usually gets sucked in through the racking arm. Rotating that arm is a little dodgy--turn clockwise and it's cinches up too tight and doesn't always turn the 90 degrees I need it to; turn the other way and risk having it come loose and leaking. I usually don't rotate it, just set it pointing straight up from the get-go and hope trub doesn't settle in and clog the damn thing (it's done that once and I used 1 or 2 PSO of CO2 to blast it loose).

The Flotit 2.0 is currently $29 on Amazon.

I'm in the same boat. I tried rotating it on my first or second batch and decided that it was a stupid idea--like most homebrew products, it's a really solid piece of kit that their marketing department couldn't help but press a bit too far. I've bumped the damned valve too many times while I've been lugging it over to the fermentation fridge, so I've learned to lock it down with a Crescent Wrench inside and some elbow grease on the outside. The O-ring is very good and doesn't seem to mind being abused. I have yet to replace one in five years of use. Note to self: might want to do that, dummy.

I've learned to leave my racking arms cocked at about 35-40 degrees and call it good. Unless you're dealing with a really dusty strain, it seems to keep the worst out of your keg while minimizing stuff from falling into the valve.

I don't have high hopes for the Flotit 2.0 regarding trub. First, while it's a very fine set of screens on the scale of hops, trub exists on a much finer scale. I don't expect the Flotit to be very effective in this respect. Second, it'll eventually near the trub, then touch down on the trub. Whereas now we both front load our trub intake during the first part of the racking process, I suspect that we'll both see that the trub intake simply moves to the back end of the racking process. I could be totally wrong about that, though. I'll let you know once I finally get a chance to put the new rigs through their paces.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

That's so awesome! I spent a lot of time hooking up Golden Gate kegs from Henry Weinhard's and Rainier when I used to deliver beer in college. Golden Gates have a similar design, but different plumbing. I'm green with envy! I'd love to be able to serve my ales out of a proper pin.

I think I may have one of those style kegs. It was less expensive than a pin, but once I got it, it wasn’t clear how to fill it and dispense. So if I’m lucky maybe I can off load it to a race car driver. I’ve bought 4 firkins, not thinking much about how I would move it once it was filled. Ugh. At least I can turn those into side tables or stools to sit on.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Based on the success I had with my ale fermenter, I fitted a floating dip tube into my lager fermenter today. It's a conventional ball floater that I intend to replace with a Flotit 2.0 when I can catch one on sale, but the ball float should do the job just fine for lagers--I've got thoughts of IPLs floating around in my cranium, though.

My brewery is currently in an unusual configuration. Both fermenters are filled with sanitizer and doing nothing. I suppose I can brew a lager this weekend, no sweat if it hangs out in the fermenter for a while.

In the meantime, I need to start guzzling some mild like I mean it. I've got a WCIPA jones and no keg to put it into.

This is a great idea! I’m just not getting the hang of the racking arm, and it’s a little hard to see it depending on the color of the beer. I don’t like sacrificing a pint to quart of finished beer!

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Today I brewed a wheat beer called Day Tripper (I.e. got a good Weizen) to use up my grains in Brixham.
15 litres
1500g Maris otter
1000g Wheat malt
300g Biscuit malt
300g Carapils
50g Acid malt
25g Challenger at 45m
25g Cascade at 15m
1 protafloc at 15m
150g Dextrose at 10m
CML Gretel at 24C
OG 1.053

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Edit above wheat should be 1000g.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Edit above wheat should be 1000g.

That’s more like it!

 

[Lampy]

I am experimenting with malting quinoa. 4oz Kirkland Organic Quinoa soaked for 3h, then spun in a paper towel lined salad spinner to remove extra water. Gain about 44% water weight. Laid on damp paper towels, covered with damp paper towels, then covered whole with a silicon baking mat. 20h post soaking, about 50% (I counted 62 random seeds) had obvious rootless varying in length from 1-4mm. Misted the paper towels and am now letting it germinate another day.

 

[Bramling Cross]

I have a belly full of sausage and eggs and I'm mashing in on a second batch of that Munich lager thing. I should probably come up with a better name for it.

 

[Bramling Cross]

The brewery is cleaned and the vessels have been reloaded and dosed with YOS charges. Tomorrow is WCIPA day.

 

[tdf]

I’m currently watching a keg fill (ever so slowly, watched pots and all of that) with a wcipa. I used Omega Daybreak-V, their version of the Boddington's strain with the hazy gene removed.

They aren't offering homebrew packs widely but apparently if you place an order for 20+ you can get most strains from them. I got a couple of packs from fermentednj.com, which is sadly now out of business.

I'm really excited to see how this goes. While the clarity is nice, the reason I've been wanting to try this yeast is that Omega claims 73-80% attenuation vs. 71-75% for the original version. I've used British Ale V and Verdant in some bitters and I love the fruitiness but I also like my bitters very dry.
I emailed to ask about the difference and they told me that yes, their "Lumina" technology also increases the apparent attenuation somewhat.

This IPA is the first testbed for that. Mashed low (65c) and 5% dextrose, it went from 1.056 to 1.009, for an apparent attenuation of 83%.

 

[Bramling Cross]

Belly full of sausage and eggs again while I mash in on the WCIPA.

I'm off to a brilliant start, if I may say so. After I started the strike underlet I wondered why my pump was making strange noises. I'm sure you figured it out quicker than I did. Yes, I had the send and return lines reversed. Perhaps this should be one of those rare mornings when I drink a cup of coffee...

Had a nice clean run off.

Rather than dirty three 300ml beakers for my large whirlpool addition of Centennial, Citra, and CTZ, I opted to use a cereal bowl. If it’s stupid but it works…

It’s been the better part of three years since I’ve been able to brew a US IPA. I hit my numbers and didn't spill anything. It was an enjoyable and relaxing day.

 

[Yesfan]

Did another stove top batch today, 2.5 gallons. I used More Beer's Single Hop Experiment recipe as a template. I figured this would be a great way to get rid of excess hop inventory and see the differences in the hops I have going forward. The last batch used up my Comet hops. The one today will use up my stash of Mosaic.

 

[day_trippr]

Swapped out three kegs that kicked within a day of each other for freshies then put the kicks through my Mark II cleaner.
No big whoop...

Cheers!

 

[HM-2]

More recipe writing! I normally do something big, boozy, high ABV in early November to have ready for the festive period. I had a couple of lower ABV brews planned but I'll push these back to do my big'un for this year.

This year's plan is for a big, big red IPA/barleywine. Shooting for 1.090 OG, 10% ABV and 75 IBU. 80% MO, 10% invert, 7% CaraRed and 3% T50.

I'll need to do a hop inventory to see if I already have everything I need (I bet I don't) but Amarillo, Centennial, and Sabro are planned to feature. 3 packs of WHC Old English. I had really good success with a red rye IPA done with rum barrel staves earlier in the year so I might try something similar with this one and some Spanish brandy.

 

[stamandster]

Brewed a semi-clone-esque version of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale I called "Half Life" -- https://share.brewfather.app/2OXhn6iooCCC2y

Got better than expected OG at 1056, happily chugging along now at 1038 12 hrs later. I've got a dry hop charge coming of cascade. Thinking of waiting till I drop the temp, close to end of/done with fermentation. Suggestions?

 

[flipster]

My recently brewed Ginger Summer Lager was today ready to go into the bottles.

90% Pilsener, 7% CaraPils, 3% acid, Lilly hops, ~10g/ltr ginger and a pinch of orange peel

Today I filled 15x 0.33 ltr bottles:

Back into the fridge and now I wait.

 

[ClaudiusB]

This has been a sad week so far. Our beloved Maselli analyzer passed away after serving me well over 20 years.
I donated the stainless steel pump and electrical components to a homebrewer.

 

[leedspointbrew]

Roasted pumpkin for an ale. Steeped vanilla in Michter's for extract at bottling time.

 

[day_trippr]

It's early in the day but so far for beer I cooked up a 1318 starter from an August overbuild...

Cheers!

 

[Willy]

Just finished transferring an American Brown ale, 9 gallon batch into a 6 gal torpedo keg and a 3 gallon mini corny. The torpedo keg will go into the inkbird controlled mini freezer for a nice slow crash & carb for about 5 days while the 3 gal mini will wait it's turn in "the on-deck circle" with an English nut brown ale and a dry Irish Stout.