Brewsmith
Home brewing moogerfooger
I was on vacation at Mt. Lassen in Northern California, so on the way home we stopped in Chico and I got a tour of the brewery.
What I did for beer today
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Brewed a 3gal batch of the Fuller's porter recipe I linked a little while back. My boil off was a little lighter than planned so my gravity was a little low, 1050 vs 1052 which I dont mind as I got a little extra beer. The recipe was straight from the horse's mouth and the spent grain ended up in a horse's mouth.
Looking at the raw grain it is surprising the beer turns out so dark.
Looking at the raw grain it is surprising the beer turns out so dark.
Busy day for beer! Packaged up 10 gallons of HB Mocha Stout in 2 corny kegs. The previous stout was over half finished, so I feel much better to have the next batch conditioning with some beer gas on top. I will do all I can to have some stout on tap. Important!
Measured the final gravity with the EasyDens (love that tool!!!) and it came in right where it was supposed to. (1.011). That gives me an ABV of ~4.1%.
Washed, cleaned and sanitized the two brew buckets so they will be ready for the next batch (Irish Red Ale I think).
Measured the final gravity with the EasyDens (love that tool!!!) and it came in right where it was supposed to. (1.011). That gives me an ABV of ~4.1%.
Washed, cleaned and sanitized the two brew buckets so they will be ready for the next batch (Irish Red Ale I think).
Attachments
Bottled just under 5 gallons of imperial stout. I had a pint of Jim Beam sitting on 2oz of bourbon barrel chips for a week. I strained off the bourbon and added it to the bottling bucket. Filled and capped 49 12oz long necks. With the booze, it's about 10.2% ABV.
Now they go in my crawlspace, where I will "forget" about them for 6 months. Oh, who am I kidding--I'll probably crack one open at 3.
Now they go in my crawlspace, where I will "forget" about them for 6 months. Oh, who am I kidding--I'll probably crack one open at 3.
Cleaned 5 kegs from a festival on Saturday. Kegged 10-gal of Festbier.
Decided I was tired of sitting hunched over when working from home/updating brewing notes/surfing HBT, so today went to Ikea and got myself a new desk. Just finished getting it put together after a SECOND trip to Ikea, because silly me didn't see that one of the legs for the desk came without hardware. They had a spare, and I am VERY happy. Tomorrow I will fill those drawers with random small brewery parts, nail-doing stuff, and whatever else I want handy. Tonight is all about cooling off with three fans blowing full blast, and pitching yeast on the Novalager thing I brewed this morning.
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Started the day watching a very happy bubbling English porter.
Then dropped the temp on my pre-prohibition lager by 5F degrees.
Next wheeled out my system and brewed 5gal of citra/equinox golden ale. Again slightly off on gravity due to low boil off. I have an electric brewing system and changed the wattage of the elements recently so I am getting things back redialed in.
More before and after pics, 50/50 golden promise/GW 2row, pictures does show so well but the GW 2row looks very pale compared to the golden promise even though the SRMs are pretty close.
Before the day is over I will need to add a blow off tube to my English porter as the low boils off compromised the head space in the fermentor and I can see the airlock got sullied. 3gals in a 3.5gal bucket is a crap shoot and that extra 1/10th of a gal or so pushed it over the edge.
Then dropped the temp on my pre-prohibition lager by 5F degrees.
Next wheeled out my system and brewed 5gal of citra/equinox golden ale. Again slightly off on gravity due to low boil off. I have an electric brewing system and changed the wattage of the elements recently so I am getting things back redialed in.
More before and after pics, 50/50 golden promise/GW 2row, pictures does show so well but the GW 2row looks very pale compared to the golden promise even though the SRMs are pretty close.
Before the day is over I will need to add a blow off tube to my English porter as the low boils off compromised the head space in the fermentor and I can see the airlock got sullied. 3gals in a 3.5gal bucket is a crap shoot and that extra 1/10th of a gal or so pushed it over the edge.
Bottled 2.6 gallons of Cascade/Citra pale ale, that somehow went from 1055 down to 1005 on 3rd-generation S-04 yeast...
Sample tasted (and smelled) really nice. Not sure what happened to make it drop that low, software was expecting 1011-ish. Mash was normal (151F, 60 minutes), must've been something wild.
Sample tasted (and smelled) really nice. Not sure what happened to make it drop that low, software was expecting 1011-ish. Mash was normal (151F, 60 minutes), must've been something wild.
Finally mashed in on a new batch of Panther Piss. I've had quite an adventure attempting to procure ice this morning. At one point in my adventure I yelled at some kids that were throwing cans at a homeless dude that was digging through a trash can. The homeless person yelled at me for yelling at his friends. I suppose I jumped to an unwarranted conclusion, totally my fault. I'm clearly out of touch. I suppose I'll have to find some cans to throw at my friends.
At least I'm back in my brewery. Things make sense here.
At least I'm back in my brewery. Things make sense here.
Made a trip to Arc3 and replaced the spent CO2 tank. I got lovely red Kegco tank - looks quite snappy.
I keep 2 tanks each of beergas and CO2 so I don't need to race to keep everything all bubbly. I just swap it out and get a replacement soon, at my leisure vs a dire need. Ha.
Later, I have a doubleheader to watch (brewers, so beer related) ... And will sample the 6 taps in no particular order, but the English Brown ale is still my favorite.
I keep 2 tanks each of beergas and CO2 so I don't need to race to keep everything all bubbly. I just swap it out and get a replacement soon, at my leisure vs a dire need. Ha.
Later, I have a doubleheader to watch (brewers, so beer related) ... And will sample the 6 taps in no particular order, but the English Brown ale is still my favorite.
I couldn't agree more about how nice it is to have an extra tank, makes things so much less stressful. "Oh, you're out of CO2? No worries, I'll call you again next week."
I'll just add this once, since I'll be doing it twice a day for the next 3 weeks.
Swapped out the artificial ice pack in the CoolBrew bag to keep my fermentation temps as low as possible given the circumstances. It's an APA lawnmower beer, (Twin Blades of Fury in honor of my new Toro mower) where I'm expecting lightness, thin mouthfeel, a bit of graininess with moderate hoppage and somewhere between 4.5 and 5% ABV.
Swapped out the artificial ice pack in the CoolBrew bag to keep my fermentation temps as low as possible given the circumstances. It's an APA lawnmower beer, (Twin Blades of Fury in honor of my new Toro mower) where I'm expecting lightness, thin mouthfeel, a bit of graininess with moderate hoppage and somewhere between 4.5 and 5% ABV.
I enjoyed a nice drive most of the way up to Baltimore to grab 5lbs of Munich Malt and a couple ounces of Challenger at Maryland Homebrew. It's a really nice shop. It's huge, the folks are nice, it's well organized, and they don't have inconvenient store hours. Can't say enough good about them. I should've picked up a sack of Otter, but I decided I liked the idea of driving up there next weekend. Kinda wasteful, but it's a nice drive and it'll allow me a week to start laying out my Fall and Winter brewing plans.
Spent most of the early morning doing math; figuring out how wide the ferment fridge, kegerator, new desk, and toolbench were, and where I wanted them. We had a set of metal shelving in the mix as well but that will be finding a new home soon, reducing the clutter. After much sweat, cable management, being patient with crabbypants husband, and lots of fabuloso where the FF and kegerator used to be, new setup is done. The toolchest just made its last move; the bottom is getting a bit rotty. Not surprising since it's a lot older than me (my grandfather built it) but it's still sturdy and holds all the tools including some of the big ones. Still lots of clutter to put away, my old recliner to get to the dump, but for now it's a much nicer space.
BrewMan13
Whole Nother Level Brewing
Haven't posted in a bit, so here goes: kicked the kolsch over the weekend, cleaned the line, and put the Munich dunkel on. Also got a brewday in (a little behind my original schedule, but still plenty of beer on hand). Missed my target OG but oh well.
Today I brewed 15 litres of a Sierra Nevada Pale clone
3000g Maris Otter
80g Dark Crystal Malt
25g Cascade at 45m, 15m and whirlpool
US-05 style yeast
3000g Maris Otter
80g Dark Crystal Malt
25g Cascade at 45m, 15m and whirlpool
US-05 style yeast
Packaged up and labelled four bottles of my West Coast Micro IPA late last night along with recipe card and price-to-brew as required by the rules of the competition I'm entering.
They're in their box, in an airtight bag, in a cool box full of ice packs in the boot of my car until I get back from the office, then I'll drop them in with the Malt Miller on my way home this afternoon.
They're in their box, in an airtight bag, in a cool box full of ice packs in the boot of my car until I get back from the office, then I'll drop them in with the Malt Miller on my way home this afternoon.
Cleaned out two spend corny kegs - an English Brown Ale called Squirrel Nut, and a Blonde 4.9% ale. Back ups already hooked up and carbed. English Brown had corny 2 of the same batch and Blondie was replaced by corny # 2 of the Louie The Lip Lager, which tastes better than #1 due to aging for 5 weeks in the cooling chamber.
The Czech Pilsner finished up the D rest and is cold crashing over the next 4-5 days before more lagering time and carbing up. I have time before the German Pilsner kicks.
The Czech Pilsner finished up the D rest and is cold crashing over the next 4-5 days before more lagering time and carbing up. I have time before the German Pilsner kicks.
Kicked a keg of my all-Citra DIPA hazy last night, swapped in a keg of its sessionable little brother, then this afternoon ran the kick through my venerable and verging on dilapidated Mark II Keg Washer. The last of the little plastic latching tabs that retained the plastic stand for kegs (and carboys) to the plastic base went to Homebrew Heaven, so the rig is completely dependent on gravity, inertia, and careful keg positioning to keep the keg vertical.
To my knowledge replacement parts have never really been available for this thing. I could resort to gluing it together, as long as I can still extract the pump assembly for draining prior to putting it away between uses. I'd chuck it and build my own if the pump wasn't still performing so well, so I'll keep using it until it becomes a pita I guess...
Cheers!
To my knowledge replacement parts have never really been available for this thing. I could resort to gluing it together, as long as I can still extract the pump assembly for draining prior to putting it away between uses. I'd chuck it and build my own if the pump wasn't still performing so well, so I'll keep using it until it becomes a pita I guess...
Cheers!
Bottled 2.75 gallons of 6.0% chocolatey stout, that was GONNA be dosed with coconut extract, but switched it up, and instead used up the last of my Brewers Best Peanut Butter extract.
I drove back up to Baltimore for a sack of Simpson's Otter. It has been more than a decade since I've used Simpson's, so I'm pretty geeked up about putting it through its paces. The raw malt tastes a shade more toasty than my old sack of Crisp, so I'm chomping at the bit to get it into some kegs. I'm looking forward to mild ale weather setting in.
JC Mendyka
Active Member
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Bought my 5 gallons of water for my next bat
Bottled 10 gal (96 bottles) of 2 varieties of IPA w/ Munich or Vienna malt. The darker one (Munich) had Centennial in the boil, while the lighter is all Citra and Mosaic. Closet is at capacity now so likely have a bit of down time before another brew day
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4 high on that back stack worries me a bit
I didn't write this up yesterday because I was zapped after a miserably hot summer brewing session. I have a bit of a mini project going that involves chasing a dragon. I'm trying to brew the most unambiguously UK-ish ale imaginable. The project has it's headwaters in a brief encounter I had with St. Peter's Pale Ale about twenty years ago. I've never seen it since, but it sure left an impression on my. The hops were nice, but that grist! I've never tasted a UK grist that was that unambiguously British. It left an impression on me. I've tried capturing it with Otter+UK amber malt to no avail. I just can't seem to wrap my head around UK amber malt. You can't taste it, so you up the percentage, you still can't taste it, so you up the percentage....whoa!!!! Too much!!!. I'm trying again with brown malt. I tried 5% earlier this spring and while it was a really nice ale, it was off the mark. I tried again yesterday with 2.5%. I think I'm getting closer to that overwhelming Britishness.
Time will tell.
Time will tell.
I took a sample of the Brown Bagger malt liquor that's been in the fermenter for 12 days. SG was 1.008, about where I want it. OG was 1.063, so about 7.3% ABV and 87% AA. Sample tasted good and the pH was 4.02.
I'll leave it in another week or so, cold-crash, hit it with some gelatin, wait a few more days, then bottle.
I'll leave it in another week or so, cold-crash, hit it with some gelatin, wait a few more days, then bottle.
I transferred my Julio Uno Lago and collected the trub. It's my first time collecting SafLager 34/70 off of a brew. We'll see after it has had a week to settle out to determine which of the 4 jars will actually get used to brew a batch. Next I transferred a pale ale that I call Coach Haus Pale Ale in memory of an old highschool coach to the fermentation fridge to cold crash.
