What I did for beer today

[garzlok]

Go some yeast going for an upcoming Irish Red batch, and off to mill some grains!

 

[Wigglebutts Brewery]

Bottled 5 cases of beer for patrons, kicking 3 kegs in the process… Happy Holidays everyone!!

 

[Knightshade]

0945 this morning..said "F it, I'm brewing today dammit!!!!"

 

[BeerNsteadofH2O]

Replaced a defective circulator pump in my home made chiller, washed and filled my oldest fermenter for a brew day tomorrow.set up my water and grain for an 8 am start.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

A couple days ago I pulled a sample of the Grodziskie for a taste and measurement of gravity. A bit sweet, yet well on its way. I also have a small amount of the yeast in a “vitality” starter in my kitchen which has moved to the fridge to crash (this is the Grodziskie yeast from white labs) it doesn’t seem to be as “powdery” as Kolsch yeast and is flocking slowly.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

Moved my Christmas ale to the kitchen keezer, kegged my second Christmas ale, and moved the second one to the garage keezer.

Accidentally triggered a stout faucet and had to remove all three kegs from the garage keezer so I could mop it out.

Found out my garage keezer was leaking gas, so I took the gas plumbing apart and redid it.

 

[BeerNsteadofH2O]

Moved my Christmas ale to the kitchen keezer, kegged my second Christmas ale, and moved the second one to the garage keezer.

Accidentally triggered a stout faucet and had to remove all three kegs from the garage keezer so I could mop it out.

Found out my garage keezer was leaking gas, so I took the gas plumbing apart and redid it.

You do realize,washing the floor with stout constitutes alchohol abuse

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

You do realize,washing the floor with stout constitutes alchohol abuse

Thank goodness it was only a couple of tablespoons. Just enough to make an annoying mess.

 

[brewbama]

I bottled some competition beers for bottle conditioning.

 

[day_trippr]

Busy day! Getting ready for what's likely my last brew day of 2024 tomorrow, programmed my RO system to put 18 gallons in the rig while I measured out the grains and salts 'n' stuff and got everything staged. Only had one empty keg on hand, so I brought out my 1.7g Vevor mini keg, drained the least full keg in the keezer into it, attached its dispensing top with a fresh CO2 cartridge, and ran the freshly kicked keg through the venerable Mark II washer.

Loaded a fresh keg in the keezer, then pulled all six faucets off the tower for a full cleaning and O-ring inspection. Finally I swapped out the wet pair of EVA Dry 500 dessicators in the keezer for dry ones and plugged the wet ones in to dry overnight.

Cheers!

 

[Knightshade]

I was relieved to see a couple of bubbles in the blow off for the lager earlier this morning. Enough to dump out the tiny bit that was still left of the guava hard tea, clean that line and the keg.

Evening creeping in and I've noticed that the gravity hasn't moved at all on the Tilt, so now I'm starting to worry again. Pitch was only about 32 hours ago so I'm not going to stress about it too much. Unless it hasn't taken off by tomorrow morning...

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Downsizing the yeast bank and by yeast bank, I mean various sized mason jars, some quarts that only have a few oz of yeast (the only jar’s available at the time). Tossed 2+ year old Lutra and moved Hefe yeast from a qt to a half pint jar. Itss so a start and now there’s room for, um, food.

 

[day_trippr]

Got a late start this morning with a 10 AM strike, but things have gone smoothly so far. The new rotameter I picked up from bobby_m has been quite revealing wrt actual flow rates at different stages of the brew vs my assumptions. It should make it a bit easier to dial in batch to batch...

Cheers!

 

[leedspointbrew]

Ordered hops (Goldings, Fuggles, Magnum) for next two batches. Lack of foresight + extended shipping times = last brew of 2024 now being the first of 2025.

 

[Knightshade]

I checked in on all day on the fermentation chart for this most recent brew on brewers friend like a paranoid freekazoid w/an addiction to Fun Dip on a Vietnamese iced coffee IV drip before finally deciding to just give the damn thing some yeast energizer.

Only to open up the keg this evening and see a very slight krausen on top and go…awwwww hell. And dumped in 1 tsp anyways.

 

[MaxStout]

I bottled 5.5 gals of ordinary bitter that I brewed earlier this month. It was a "test" to see how it would turn out if I did no oxygenation other than pouring the chilled wort through a stainless strainer into the Brew Bucket. I pitched 1 packet rehydrated S-04 (with an exp. date of May 2024). I do use Go-Ferm when rehydrating. Of course it was a low-gravity beer so I didn't expect the yeast to have a difficult time. Still, it makes me think adding O2 at the pitch isn't necessary for dry yeast. At least not in lower gravity brews. For bigger beers I will hit the wort with O2.

Beer turned out fine, hydro sample tasted good with no off-flavors. Yielded 54 12oz long necks. Beer is 3.8% ABV, so will be a nice session brew.

I also brewed today, a London Porter. I did the same--pitched rehydrated S-04 with no oxygenation. OG was 1.052.

Next time I might stick my neck out and just sprinkle the yeast, like the mfr. says.

 

[BrewZer]

Discussed the next batch with Assistent Braumeister but we still can't decide whether we want to go heavy (Piraat clone) or SMaSH pale ale...

 

[Cameronl]

Washed with TSP and passivated with citric acid my brand new Brew Bucket. It was a Christmas gift from the wife.

 

[MaxStout]

Discussed the next batch with Assistent Braumeister but we still can't decide whether we want to go heavy (Piraat clone) or SMaSH pale ale...

I loves me some Piraat. Tried to clone it once, it was OK. Might have to take another shot at it. If you brew it, let us know how it goes.

 

[Ramjet]

Brewed a helles with Ipa malt the other day. Brewed inside with an induction burner for the first time. Beats brewing in the garage in a Wisconsin winter

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Today I bottled my Leffe Blonde clone at 7.1% into 36 50cl bottles.

 

[Wigglebutts Brewery]

I took leap to brew NA beer. LHBS had WLP618 brewing yeast, Saccharomycodes ludwigii so I got a packet. I used the White Labs recipe; 2# pale, 4oz each of white wheat, flaked oaks & carafoam. 1.5 oz each of Citra & Mossaic. Mash 169f!! Smells like beer, very pale, so we’ll see in a couple weeks.

 

[BeerNsteadofH2O]

Bottled 5 gallons of coffee porter , smells great, tastes great proofed out at 5.7 ABV, recipe predicted 5.4..we will see what we have in 2 weeks.

 

[Knightshade]

Went and visited the LHBS today. Finally going to try and do a golden stout!!

I’ve had this book marked for over 2 years. Have the recipe in brewersfriend already so, sometime this week it is happening!

https://beohhasbrewhouse.com/2021/06/27/brewing-a-golden-oatmeal-stout/

 

[BrewZer]

View attachment 865476

I loves me some Piraat. Tried to clone it once, it was OK. Might have to take another shot at it. If you brew it, let us know how it goes.

Last time I tried to hit Piraat numbers, it finished out at 14% instead of 9. But that was an extract brew with adjuncts. This time it would be all grain. And sugar.

 

[Deadalus]

Passivated my new unitank and mini brew bucket. Might go downstairs and put the fittings on the uni in a bit...

 

[tdf]

Filled 2 kegs with Russian River STS clone, brewed December 10th. I used the recipe recently published in BYO.
I also cleaned 4 kegs.

 

[BeerNsteadofH2O]

Busy day today, made my R/O/DI water for fridays brew, added my "brewing salts" checked the ph,and retained 4.25 gallons for strike water putting the balance of 6,5 gallons in my hot liquor tank.
Installed my digital read out I got the other day, then crushed my grain for Fridays brew day.
Moved my burbon aged ale to the secondary and added the burbon/oak chip tincture,this way I dont tie up my fermenter for a month.
My secondary is heated by the blue button pad, cooled by the brew styx controled by an inkbird controler..the insulated "box"keeps the brew away from daylight and is on casters.

 

[leedspointbrew]

Read up to page 64. Feel better now about my swamp-cooled "lagers".

 

[bike2brew]

As both fermenters are in use now, I spent the day cleaning a backlog of bottles soaking to remove labels etc.

 

[HM-2]

Brewed my first beer of the year!

Treehouse style IPA with CGX Azacca, Moutere and Nectaron. 7.5% with a target FG of 1.019, 42 IBU and a planned 12g/L dry hop. Using up the last of my Lallemand Koln.

 

[bike2brew]

I bottled 5.5 gals of ordinary bitter that I brewed earlier this month. It was a "test" to see how it would turn out if I did no oxygenation other than pouring the chilled wort through a stainless strainer into the Brew Bucket. I pitched 1 packet rehydrated S-04 (with an exp. date of May 2024). I do use Go-Ferm when rehydrating. Of course it was a low-gravity beer so I didn't expect the yeast to have a difficult time. Still, it makes me think adding O2 at the pitch isn't necessary for dry yeast. At least not in lower gravity brews. For bigger beers I will hit the wort with O2.

I recently had a couple bad batches of "cidery tasting" beer that could be diagnosed as "yeast stressed" or maybe infection induced off flavors. I tightend up my hygiene to remove any "potential/hidden FV biofilms" on the cold side, and oxygenated my wort for the first time using the anvil wand. Prior to that I always stirred agressively w/ paddle and generally had no other fermentation issues. That said, I also never rehydrated yeast but with my research on "yeast stress" have wondered if I ought to consider that as a mitigating variable also. Likewise, this has me wondering about my ptich rate? Typically I pitch 2 packets (11.5 gm) for my 5 gallon batches as the OG is often between 1.060 and 1.065, and perhaps up to 1.068, based on the "pro brewer" pitch rate. My most recent brew (a club brew) had an OG of 1.054 with the pitch rate specified to mfg recomendation. Our kit included a single 11.5 gm pack of S-04 which I sprinkled dry following oxygenation. So far everything seems to be fermenting nicely and I am hopeful the off flavor beer is behind me. A couple of questions: (1) Is the "pro brewer" pitch rate over the top, or could I get by with mfr recommendation, or mfr + 0.5? (these are brewer's friend options), and (2) is yeast rehydration, necessary or "nice to do"? Although pricey, 1 vs 2 packs of yeast is not a big deal relative to having a pitch rate that will encourage a high probability of healthy fermentation and good beer.

Thanks for the comments and feedback.

 

[MaxStout]

I recently had a couple bad batches of "cidery tasting" beer that could be diagnosed as "yeast stressed" or maybe infection induced off flavors. I tightend up my hygiene to remove any "potential/hidden FV biofilms" on the cold side, and oxygenated my wort for the first time using the anvil wand. Prior to that I always stirred agressively w/ paddle and generally had no other fermentation issues. That said, I also never rehydrated yeast but with my research on "yeast stress" have wondered if I ought to consider that as a mitigating variable also. Likewise, this has me wondering about my ptich rate? Typically I pitch 2 packets (11.5 gm) for my 5 gallon batches as the OG is often between 1.060 and 1.065, and perhaps up to 1.068, based on the "pro brewer" pitch rate. My most recent brew (a club brew) had an OG of 1.054 with the pitch rate specified to mfg recomendation. Our kit included a single 11.5 gm pack of S-04 which I sprinkled dry following oxygenation. So far everything seems to be fermenting nicely and I am hopeful the off flavor beer is behind me. A couple of questions: (1) Is the "pro brewer" pitch rate over the top, or could I get by with mfr recommendation, or mfr + 0.5? (these are brewer's friend options), and (2) is yeast rehydration, necessary or "nice to do"? Although pricey, 1 vs 2 packs of yeast is not a big deal relative to having a pitch rate that will encourage a high probability of healthy fermentation and good beer.

Thanks for the comments and feedback.

You could try adding one variable next time. If you were using O2 but not rehydrating your dry yeast, try rehydrating plus the O2.

I don't know if the pro brewer pitch rates are critical. I brew almost exclusively with dry yeast, and pitch one packet for 5 gallons of low-med gravity ale worts; 2 packets for lagers and high-gravity ales. It's been a long time since I've experienced stressed yeast types of off-flavors.

I rehydrate, but recently stopped oxygenating for low/med gravity wort--just pouring wort through a mesh colander into the FV. Jury's still out on that, though I just bottled the first "no-extra O2" brew and the sample tasted and smelled fine.

 

[HM-2]

I don't know if the pro brewer pitch rates are critical. I brew almost exclusively with dry yeast, and pitch one packet for 5 gallons of low-med gravity ale worts; 2 packets for lagers and high-gravity ales. It's been a long time since I've experienced stressed yeast types of off-flavors.

This is also my approach. I don't rehydrate or build starters, just lob it straight in, no oxygenation other than splashing during transfer. 1 pack per 6.5 gal batch under 1.050, 2 for lagers or up to about 1.080 and three device there.

Three packs of even expensive fancy dry yeast is still cheaper than one smack pack of liquid stuff.

 

[ba-brewer]

Yesterday I brewed a Irish dry stout, got excellent efficiency and ended up with more beer and a few points higher gravity so it in the nowhere land between a dry stout and an extra stout. It was a 3gal batch to be fermented in a miniSSbucket so I left about a quart in the kettle to provide some headroom.

Today I woke up to find out I needed more headroom, looked to have just started sending krausen thru the airlock so I added blowoff tube.

Also brewed a west coast IPA on the 31st.

 

[bike2brew]

You could try adding one variable next time. If you were using O2 but not rehydrating your dry yeast, try rehydrating plus the O2.

I don't know if the pro brewer pitch rates are critical. I brew almost exclusively with dry yeast, and pitch one packet for 5 gallons of low-med gravity ale worts; 2 packets for lagers and high-gravity ales. It's been a long time since I've experienced stressed yeast types of off-flavors.

I rehydrate, but recently stopped oxygenating for low/med gravity wort--just pouring wort through a mesh colander into the FV. Jury's still out on that, though I just bottled the first "no-extra O2" brew and the sample tasted and smelled fine.

Thanks for the prompt reply. The current 2 brews in progress were oxygentated wort w/ dry yeast. As you suggest if these turn out well, I may opt for rehydrating yeast on the next go around. Every brew is an experiment and hypothesis to test against the null.

 

[bike2brew]

Yesterday I brewed a Irish dry stout, got excellent efficiency and ended up with more beer and a few points higher gravity so it in the nowhere land between a dry stout and an extra stout. It was a 3gal batch to be fermented in a miniSSbucket so I left about a quart in the kettle to provide some headroom.

Today I woke up to find out I needed more headroom, looked to have just started sending krausen thru the airlock so I added blowoff tube.

Also brewed a west coast IPA on the 31st.

I have done that before also. Clearly, filling it and leaving the 1/2 gallon is not space enough. I might even argue that filling my 7.5 gallon to 5.5 can be a bit risky too. Good luck. I am sure it will be fine after the clean up.

 

[jcav]

Cleaned the fementer and changed the o-rings on the aseptic valve. Getting ready for brew day on Saturday.

John

 

[BrewZer]

I recently had a couple bad batches of "cidery tasting" beer that could be diagnosed as "yeast stressed" or maybe infection induced off flavors. I tightend up my hygiene to remove any "potential/hidden FV biofilms" on the cold side, and oxygenated my wort for the first time using the anvil wand. Prior to that I always stirred agressively w/ paddle and generally had no other fermentation issues. That said, I also never rehydrated yeast but with my research on "yeast stress" have wondered if I ought to consider that as a mitigating variable also. Likewise, this has me wondering about my ptich rate? Typically I pitch 2 packets (11.5 gm) for my 5 gallon batches as the OG is often between 1.060 and 1.065, and perhaps up to 1.068, based on the "pro brewer" pitch rate. My most recent brew (a club brew) had an OG of 1.054 with the pitch rate specified to mfg recomendation. Our kit included a single 11.5 gm pack of S-04 which I sprinkled dry following oxygenation. So far everything seems to be fermenting nicely and I am hopeful the off flavor beer is behind me. A couple of questions: (1) Is the "pro brewer" pitch rate over the top, or could I get by with mfr recommendation, or mfr + 0.5? (these are brewer's friend options), and (2) is yeast rehydration, necessary or "nice to do"? Although pricey, 1 vs 2 packs of yeast is not a big deal relative to having a pitch rate that will encourage a high probability of healthy fermentation and good beer.

Thanks for the comments and feedback.

In my experience, cidery flavors occur when I use too much adjunct sweetener, as in 3 lbs of honey in a 5 gallon batch. What did your recipes look like?

 

[BrewZer]

just pouring wort through a mesh colander into the FV. Jury's still out on that, though

My experiences with straining wort into the fermenter have been positive -- helps keep the trub layer smaller, too.