What I did for beer today

[Antti]

Just started malting barley.
20L (4,4 gallons) barley seeds were steeping and now that they are moist and softer I wait them to chit.

First time was a catastrophic failure (mould), second time went on and is now fermenting.

So this is the third time, and now the food dehydrator is full (cold blow now) and I'm hopeful that everything goes well.

 

[ninkwood]

I finally got around to making a mash paddle this weekend. This will replace the cheap plastic one I've been using since I started brewing. I did a decoction a couple weeks ago and swore I'd never do another one until I had a longer handle, as I mangled my back bending over the pot for an hour stirring.

This is made from some oak dowles. With a drill press and a clamp, it was alot easier than I anticipated it would be.

 

[ninkwood]

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?

Wow, 2 million cells/ml/°P for a session Kviek? Would you mind explaining your logic here, that seems like a lot!

 

[day_trippr]

Today I loaded my rig with RO water and got everything ready to brew another batch of my Ballantine IPA project Monday...

Cheers!

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Yesterday hubby and I served 2 pins at cask fest with our HBC. Today those pins are getting a cleaning.

 

[jwill911]

I have Voss Kviek spinning on the stir plate, weighed out the grains. Prepping for a, Passion fruit hazy IPA. The passion fruit I grew in my back yard. Plan to brew either Tuesday or Wednesday. Brewed it last year and it came out pretty good.

 

[Section1]

Finally got around to kegging today.

 

[Deadalus]

I finally got around to making a mash paddle this weekend. This will replace the cheap plastic one I've been using since I started brewing. I did a decoction a couple weeks ago and swore I'd never do another one until I had a longer handle, as I mangled my back bending over the pot for an hour stirring.

This is made from some oak dowles. With a drill press and a clamp, it was alot easier than I anticipated it would be.


View attachment 861512

I had a somewhat opposite problem in that my mash paddle bumps up against my hood. So I spent yesterday and this morning lowering my brew table by 2 inches to match the height of a new table I have for my fermenters. I also flipped the bottom shelf over to show its better side. I should have sprung the extra $20- $30 for the stainless undershelf. Since I had it completely apart I had to give the whole thing a decent cleaning too. Then of course the add-on wire shelves that hold my pumps needed shortening (and more cleaning).

 

[day_trippr]

Started another batch of my Ballantine IPA, so far so good. Rig powered up to strike with no issues and recirculation is in progress.

Nailed the initial 150°F mash temp (can't quite see the gauge)...

...and the first mash pH check.

Virtually on auto pilot cruising along...

Wort gone bright in 20 minutes...

Taking SG readings along the way to see when it peaks. From 40 to 50 minutes it gained a full Brix point so I'm pushing onwards...

[edit] Here's the current recipe.

[edit2] Extended the mash by 40 minutes until the SG flatlined at 21.4 - 1.6 Brix higher than the 60 minute reading, 2.6 from the 50 minute reading. Doing the fly sparge now...

[edit3]

13.5 gallon pre-boil volume hit with SG of 1.064, 5 points higher than expected. But I'm not sure I didn't lose a few SG points during the fly sparge. I'm gonna have to review all this tonight.

Anyway...MLT and HLT cleaned while the boil is going on...

Onwards!

[epilogue] Had a bit of a battle running out the kettle but powered through. Hops were super fluffy and took forever to settle.

Pitched, zinc'd, gassed up and stuffed in Chamber 1. OG was 1.075 so 6 points high. I can live with an extra .5 ABV

Cheers!

 

[mac_1103]

Started another batch of my Ballantine IPA

Are you still tweaking that recipe or do you think you've got it down?

 

[day_trippr]

I've stuck with the third iteration, which brought the corn up to just under 30% so it wasn't hiding in plain sight. I'll stick a copy of the recipe here when I get back to my pc...

Cheers!

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Today I picked up 25kg of Maris Otter, 3kg Light Munich and 4kg of wheat malt.

 

[stamandster]

Wow, 2 million cells/ml/°P for a session Kviek? Would you mind explaining your logic here, that seems like a lot!

That was an oops from a previous batch from different yeast, proceed however you like on your yeast pitching/colony

 

[day_trippr]

No rest for me today, had to spin up the second step of a 1318 starter for brewing another batch of Julius on Thursday.
Gave it a jump start with some straight O2...

Cheers!

 

[broot]

Brewed a German pilsner, Cleaned a fermenter and washed the yeast from a porter.

 

[Imhoppy]

Kegged 5 gallons of Grapefruit Pulpin' (all-grain). Awesome aroma!

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Yesterday I brewed 19 litres of New Zealand IPA
4800g Maris Otter
200g Naked Oats
20g Southern Cross at 60 minutes
35g Rakau at 15 minutes
35g Nelson Sauvin 20 minutes whirlpool at 80C
CML Pia yeast
OG 1062 BHE 76%

 

[day_trippr]

I was getting ready to brew a hazy tomorrow and while measuring out the malts I discovered my malted oat supply was riddled with friggin' weevils! Ugh!

I keep all but my base malts in a rolling bin in their original plastic bags, which are then placed inside grocery bags by group (crystals and caramels in one, flaked grains in another, dextrin malts in yet another, etc). I had a 6 pound bag and a 4 pound bag of malted oats in their outer bag together, and they were both infested.

I took everything out of the bin and placed each bag on a table under strong lighting which tends to bring the weevils out where you can see them. I took the bin outside and washed it out and let it dry in the sun, and left the malt bags on that table all afternoon while I worked on other things. They're still sitting there with no more signs of wildlife but I'll keep checking until I go to bed tonight. If I only lose the oats I'll consider myself lucky.

I had enough flaked oats to do tomorrow's brew so I just had to grind the base malts and some carapils...

Got the brew rig filled with RO, salts measured out, and everything else positioned for the morning...

On an unrelated note...this picture of a boisterous Ballantine IPA fermentation shows why I have an in-line "krausen catcher" on my keg purging line...

Cheers!

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

I had an infestation of weevils once, pesky little things and not easy to get rid of. I suspect a bag of un-malted barley was the culprit. Bagged grain is not sealed completely!

After getting rid of most of them; some grain tossed and most used immediately. I think the bugs are attracted to the warm air. I placed the grain in shallow pans outside in the sun. Cleaning the brewing/grain storage area is critical as well as sealing up all cleaned grain. I use sealed plastic bags in Gamma seal top buckets.

 

[day_trippr]

After lengthy exposure to bright light I determined an 8 pound bag of white wheat malt was the only other bag suspected of harboring wildlife. It wasn't 100% for sure like the oats but I thought I saw a corpse. Not enough to toss, but enough to use the "desiccator" function on our kitchen oven to slowly bring the malt up to 140°F, stirring every five minutes, for 20 minutes exposure, which allegedly will kill both animal and eggs. At the end I re-bagged the malt and wrapped the bag in a towel and let it sit overnight for added effectivity. I'll keep that bag separate from the rest for observation.

Rig is powering up for the day's brew...

Cheers!

 

[Skeeter686]

use the "desiccator" function on our kitchen oven to slowly bring the malt up to 140°F, stirring every five minutes, for 20 minutes exposure, which allegedly will kill both animal and eggs.

Is that more effective than freezing? I put my last infected bag into the freezer to kill them off, and it seemed to work.

 

[MaxStout]

4 or 5 days in the deep freeze will kill them and the eggs. Trouble is, I don't have enough freezer space for more than maybe 10-15 pounds at a time.

I do the same thing with bags of flour.

 

[day_trippr]

I don't know that either is more effective as both are recommended: to kill all stages of weevils, either heat at 140°F for at least 15 minutes, or freeze to 0°F or lower for 3 days. I didn't have freezer space for 8 pounds of wheat. Seems to have worked as I couldn't provoke any visible movement today.

And segueing into "what I did for beer today", I knocked out my 18th batch of the HBT Julius clone, joining Monday's IPA brew.

Four kegs to be purged from the two batches...

Cheers!

 

[Skeeter686]

4 or 5 days in the deep freeze will kill them and the eggs. Trouble is, I don't have enough freezer space for more than maybe 10-15 pounds at a time.

I do the same thing with bags of flour.

So then, the 4 or 5 weeks I did was probably plenty effective.

I forgot that I had a bag of oats sitting in the freezer, until my wife emphatically reminded me about it.

 

[JohnDBrewer]

CO2 also does the trick. Drop it in a corny keg, flood it with co2.

 

[MaxStout]

CO2 also does the trick. Drop it in a corny keg, flood it with co2.

It won't kill the eggs, but yes, it kills the beetles. CO2 is used in conjunction with nitric oxide to kill beetles and eggs, but the CO2 itself is only used to create a low-O2 atmosphere before introducing the NO.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/scien...der either,not contribute to insect mortality.

 

[day_trippr]

It won't kill the eggs

Interesting, I was told something that implied that is not correct.
Just like bird eggs, bug eggs are porous to allow O2 intake, otherwise the eggs will not survive to maturity.
And that enables killing them with CO2.

But that study disclaims all that. Hmmm. Or does it? I gotta read the whole article I guess...

Cheers!

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

Interesting, I was told something that implied that is not correct.
Just like bird eggs, bug eggs are porous to allow O2 intake, otherwise the eggs will not survive to maturity.
And that enables killing them with CO2.

But that study disclaims all that. Hmmm. Or does it? I gotta read the whole article I guess...

Cheers!

The best thing to kill the bugs and eggs is running everything through a mill with your grain then soaking it all in the mashtun with your heated water. Hopefully your grain to bug/egg ratio is properly set.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

If I found weevils in my grain I would dump it. I know that’s an expensive solution but it’s the lessers of two weevils.

 

[SaisonMan]

If I found weevils in my grain I would dump it. I know that’s an expensive solution but it’s the lessers of two weevils.

OK, that made me laugh. Now go to your room.