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What I did for beer today

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Saved a stout extract kit from extinction; will be brewing it, with some modifications in a few weeks. Did a bottle inventory, and the bottles that the Irish stout'll be packaged in will probably see the end of their long service. Dismantled and cleaned my bottling buckets; one is going to the curb tonight, spigots are soaking in Starsan. Thawed out a frozen bottle of my pumpkin ale.
 
I have a few beer flight paddles I've made, but nothing for serving full-size glasses. I made this yesterday, from leftover cutoffs of red elm and some oak dowels.
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Nice Job Max!
I've been wanting something similar to carry pints outside but just haven't gotten around to it. A little inspiration here.
 
I dumped 4 gallons of used starsan solution into my boil kettle. I found that starsan does a great job of dissolving the build up on the heating element better than anything else that I have tried. It removes almost all of the build up and what doesn't simply fall off is very easy to brush away leaving the element sparkling clean. Who knew?
 
I dumped 4 gallons of used starsan solution into my boil kettle. I found that starsan does a great job of dissolving the build up on the heating element better than anything else that I have tried. It removes almost all of the build up and what doesn't simply fall off is very easy to brush away leaving the element sparkling clean. Who knew?
I didn't.

How long does it need to sit in the starsan.

My elements are on tri-clamps and they get scrubbed after each use but still get some build up over time when I give them once over with barkeepers friend. Soaking sounds easier.
 
Kegged my Kentucky Common yesterday, hydro sample tasted pretty good. I used WLP029 German ale yeast which is normally very clean but I got some esters this time.

Also brewed an American Amber yesterday. Both the amber and Kentucky common will get entered into a contest.

Today I am on bubble watch, the amber started up just fine.
 
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Finally bottled my Grodziski.
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And, I didn’t look into the fermentor until I was nearly done, needing to tip the FV to to get the last bottles of goodness out. 😱 it tastes fine but who knows what will happen as it conditions at room temperature. So, I guess I won’t be keeping this slurry. If it turns sour maybe I can turn it into something else. Lichtainhainer, (sp?) perhaps?
 
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I've been wondering about the Flash Brewing kits at Morebeer because my time is really tight right now. I just went to the site and saw they have them 25% off for Black Friday, and I had a code for an additional 10%. I got 3 kits: a Blonde, a Citra Session, and an SNPA clone for cheap, and I have more hops for dry-hopping already. I'll try to remember to comment and rate them here as I brew them.
Tapped the Flash-Brewing Blonde today. I think it would do well with a BMC drinker, as it has no character. Of course, Blondes are designed to be easy-drinkers and nothing to offend, and this 1 fits the bill. If you want a beer for the general masses, it's a good choice. If you want a beer with a little character... not so much.
 
Today I cleaned and sanitized with
idophor the FV, and decided to hold on to the slurry, mixed up some DME and added it to see how it behaves and if any untoward things grow.
Yes, on the safety conditioning. While I was new to the hobby I used to do that with everything. Thanks for the reminder.
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Racked a mead into secondary, that will eventually get a lot of smushed raspberries to make a melomel. Can't add those, however, until the House NEIPA that I stuck in the ferment fridge to start crashing gets kegged. Why, you ask? Because of the $5 dry hop gizmo that fits in the neck of all three of my fermonsters (two 7g and one cute little 3g) that is some of the best money I ever spent on my brewery. Keep forgetting to get another one at the LHBS when I'm there every couple of months. If you use fermonsters I highly recommend them. Sturdy as sh*t, easy to clean, and saves you from either dry hopping commando or fishing a soggy mesh or muslin bag from the yeast slurry.
 
Today I bottled my P5 Ale ( because Pear, Peach, Pineapple, Phantasm, Pale Ale didn't quite roll off the tongue). There are a few bottles with some residual fruit bits since I blended them up with a little Mezcal for both a sanitizing agent and perhaps a hint of smokey agave character to come through. Now, as punishment for some heinous sin I can't remember committing, God saw fit to give me a soar throat and loss of taste/smell which prevented me from learning anything about my brew. Wife seemed to like it though so we'll see in a few weeks.
 
Bottled 2.5 gallons of a pretty basic Cascade/Centenniel IPA that even flat, tastes quite nice.
Brewed 3 gallons of 1.101 imperial stout for next winter, and dumped it on top of the IPA's yeast cake.
Checked gravity on the stout, already down to 1.029 after just 3 days! My basement office smells fantastically chocolatey. It expect it to drop a few more points over the next 10 days, then I'll bottle, and let 'em age until next winter.
 
@ba-brewer sorry for the delay responding to your question.

I simply let the Star San solution sit in the kettle over night to work. My element is also held in with a tri clamp but I'm lazy. I only remove it about every third batch or so. After it has soaked I remove it brush it down with a kitchen brush and use a scrub sponge to finish the cleaning. I was surprised how well it works.
 
I need to descale my hotrod heating elements, what strength Starsan did you use?
Those elements are basically the same as HLT and BK elements. I simply use used Star San that was mixed at a ratio of 1 ounce to 5 gallons of water. I say used but I'm talking about slightly used.

My kegs are Sanke Sixtels. In my cleaning process with them is 1st a hot water rinse 2nd fresh PBW soak 3rd hot water rinse then 4th a fresh batch of Star San soak and rinse. So the Star San is still clean and viable. Hope this helps.
 
Tapped the Flash-Brewing Blonde today. I think it would do well with a BMC drinker, as it has no character. Of course, Blondes are designed to be easy-drinkers and nothing to offend, and this 1 fits the bill. If you want a beer for the general masses, it's a good choice. If you want a beer with a little character... not so much.
I'll have to change the evaluation a little. After it got chilled and fully carbed, it's a decent blonde. Nothing to write home about, but has a little citrus twang in the front and a decent feel. The carbonic bite gives this 1 some character. It would go over well in a crowd, I think. Or I am, therefore I drink... or I drink, therefore I am... something like that.
 
I finished replacing the defective chiller sensor five minutes ago. The bad sensor did not affect any cooling; it was the temperature reporting sensor to the control room.
I will reward myself with a few beers tonight.
 

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I began building my keezer, got the collar squared away and the shanks installed. Giving the adhesive some time to dry, going to run lines later tonight and hopefully be done soon. Waiting on an order for a couple parts that I need to finish it fully, but it'll serve the 3 taps I have just fine.
 
Checked gravity on my 1.101 imperial stout that I brewed just 5 days ago (and fermented on top of a full us-05 ipa yeast-cake)... I think it's done at 1.022, which means this should be either 10.37% abv or 11.48% abv, depending on which abv equation you trust more. Tasted a drop, and it's very nice! Gonna set it out in the garage to cold-crash for a few days, then bottle with some bourbon and ec-1118.


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Checked gravity on my 1.101 imperial stout that I brewed just 5 days ago (and fermented on top of a full us-05 ipa yeast-cake)... I think it's done at 1.022, which means this should be either 10.37% abv or 11.48% abv, depending on which abv equation you trust more. Tasted a drop, and it's very nice! Gonna set it out in the garage to cold-crash for a few days, then bottle with some bourbon and ec-1118.

And hopefully resist the urge to sample before November! :rock:
 
After a break of around 3 months I returned to the brewhouse aka the backroom of our garage. I dad a lot of cider available and no urge to go out in the cold to brew. It sould be fun.
A Munich Dunkel was on the brewing schedule. I pulled out a former recipe the evening before and adjusted the hop varieties and quantities to the current stock. This time I hopped with Tettnanger, Tradition and Lilly, as I didn't have any Select to hand and I was also expecting a great profile from this combination. And by the way, I sent the obligatory two-liner to the customs office for the annual registration as a home brewer for 2025 - since this year, the home brew quantity has increased from 2 hectoliters to 5 hectoliters in Germany.

First of all, I steam-heated the fermenter while I weighed and milled the malts.
The brew day went very well overall - the heat-up times were a little longer than usual due to the significantly cooler ambient temperature, but on the other hand I've rarely cooled to below 20°C so quickly.
Finally I added the 5 litres of dilution from the fridge in the cellar and I had a pitching temperature of 14°C.
Before diluting, I had an original gravity of 15.3°P at 25 litres, an obvious measuring error then certified 11.8°P at 30 litres, mathematically it should be 12.8°P. However, I didn't want to open the fermenter again, so I only re-measured the undiluted fermentation sample, which confirmed the 1.062 OG.

Here's the recipe:
Code:
Munich Dunkel "Dünkl"
27l, 12.3°P,  25 IBU

5.0kg Munich I
0.2kg CaraAroma
0.2kg Melanoidin

14.0l + 5.5l mash water
14.0l sparge water

Mash in: 14.0l @ 57°C => 51°C for 10min
Infusion: 5.5l @ 98°C => 63°C for 30min
Decoct thick mash: 6.0l => heat to 72°C for 10min, then 10min to boiling temp => 72°C for 30min
Decoct thin mash: 5.0l => boil for 10 min => 77°C mash out

Boil for t-70min
15g Tettnanger (5.5a) + 15g Tradition (6.7a)+ 5g Lilly (7.5a)  @ t-60min
10g Lilly (7.5a) @ t-0min / flameout whirlpool

2l chilled water for dilution (this time I used 5l)

20g MJ M-76 Bavarian Lager yeast
As I already mentioned, I ended up with a bit more liquor: 30l, 12.8°P and 23 IBU

And here are some pics :)

Milling malts:
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Steam-cleaning the fermenter:
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Well earned brewers lunch:
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Hydrating the yeast:
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Siphoning the wort from the boiling kettle into the fermeter:
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Fermenter in the fermeting chamber at 10°C
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