What I did for beer today

[Toadsticker]

Ordered a mini fridge and dual stage temp controller, both to be here before Christmas. Lager clones on the horizon!

 

[Channel66]

I'd like to hear more about the grain and recipe.

Same here

 

[LoloMT7]

Good luck! And if you don't win that competition you can always mail me a bottle and I'll mail you back a 1st place ribbon in whatever category you want.

I ended up taking 2nd in both categories that I entered. My honey ipa for the ipa category and my Belgian tripel for the specialty category.

It wasn't any professional comp or anything just one my lhbs threw together with a local microbrewery. They had 4 categories; light beer, amber, ipa, and specialty. They only had 48 entries total but I'm still happy they enjoyed my brews.

Pm me your address

 

[Piratwolf]

Hosted a club competition for Barleywines. Good times!

 

[pellis007]

Checked on my oatmeal stout I just brewed yesterday. Yeast are busy! Also re-tried my Irish Red Ale. I tried it at 3 weeks bottle conditioning and was very disappointed in the taste and carbonation. Today at almost 4 weeks it was delicious and fully carbed! I was very surprised at how much it changed in about 5 days.

 

[user 103238]

I used the basic pizza and bread recipes from the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. I'm sure you could adapt the basic principles to any existing recipe, but I can get you exact particulars if you'd like.

The bread recipe calls for 2-3/4 cups of flour, I ended up cutting the flour back by 1/4 cup, and used 1/2 cup of the dried/ground spent grain. I used a similar ratio with the pizza. My wife and daughters went for seconds on the pizza, and they have all been cutting off slices of the bread throughout the day - that's a pretty good measure of success in our household! Previously I've used the moist spent grain, which added a little too much texture to both the bread and the pizza. The last time I tried pizza with the family I used the spent grain from a porter, which didn't meld well with the pizza. The pale ale and a blonde ale grain seem to be a good balance.

I'm definitely pleased with the new process, and I will most likely take the existing ground grain and run it through the food processor to make it even more fine. Looks like I'll be doing some more baking this week for some early Christmas gifts. Also from another thread, I soaked some hops in a bottle of olive oil for the past week, and will be distributing small bottles of the hop-infused oil to those who will appreciate it.

Same here

 

[jtkratzer]

I used the basic pizza and bread recipes from the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. I'm sure you could adapt the basic principles to any existing recipe, but I can get you exact particulars if you'd like.

The bread recipe calls for 2-3/4 cups of flour, I ended up cutting the flour back by 1/4 cup, and used 1/2 cup of the dried/ground spent grain. I used a similar ratio with the pizza. My wife and daughters went for seconds on the pizza, and they have all been cutting off slices of the bread throughout the day - that's a pretty good measure of success in our household! Previously I've used the moist spent grain, which added a little too much texture to both the bread and the pizza. The last time I tried pizza with the family I used the spent grain from a porter, which didn't meld well with the pizza. The pale ale and a blonde ale grain seem to be a good balance.

I'm definitely pleased with the new process, and I will most likely take the existing ground grain and run it through the food processor to make it even more fine. Looks like I'll be doing some more baking this week for some early Christmas gifts. Also from another thread, I soaked some hops in a bottle of olive oil for the past week, and will be distributing small bottles of the hop-infused oil to those who will appreciate it.

What's the process for drying and grinding the grain? We've made quite a bit of bread with the grain right out of the mash run after it was drained and it makes a very dense, hearty bread I like having lived in Germany. It's also really good to mix cranberries (dried) or other fruit with it.

I'd like to make a lighter, more airy bread as well and it sounds like you've for something like the since it's working for pizza dough.


And what I did today - bottled my six pack of experimental/accidental sour and finished my fermentation fridge with heat.

 

[thisoneguy]

Ordered a chugger pump

 

[user 103238]

I set our oven to the lowest temperature it would go to, layered the spent grain on a rimmed cookie sheet, and just kept tossing it until it was dry. I initially put too much on and it was taking too long. Once it was completely dried, I ran it through my Victoria grain mill a couple of times to break it up. I was in a bit of a hurry with several other projects, so I wasn't quite able to get it to a flour-like consistency. That's where I'll try the food processor later this week.

I haven't yet tried any fruits - looks like I'll be trying some dried cranberries later this week. Thanks for the tip!

What's the process for drying and grinding the grain? We've made quite a bit of bread with the grain right out of the mash run after it was drained and it makes a very dense, hearty bread I like having lived in Germany. It's also really good to mix cranberries (dried) or other fruit with it.

I'd like to make a lighter, more airy bread as well and it sounds like you've for something like the since it's working for pizza dough.


And what I did today - bottled my six pack of experimental/accidental sour and finished my fermentation fridge with heat.

 

[jtkratzer]

I set our oven to the lowest temperature it would go to, layered the spent grain on a rimmed cookie sheet, and just kept tossing it until it was dry. I initially put too much on and it was taking too long. Once it was completely dried, I ran it through my Victoria grain mill a couple of times to break it up. I was in a bit of a hurry with several other projects, so I wasn't quite able to get it to a flour-like consistency. That's where I'll try the food processor later this week.

I haven't yet tried any fruits - looks like I'll be trying some dried cranberries later this week. Thanks for the tip!

Makes excellent toast with a bit of butter or cheese.

 

[user 103238]

Agreed!! My toast with 2 eggs this morning was as good as it could be with cheese and bacon!

Makes excellent toast with a bit of butter or cheese.

 

[jtkratzer]

Agreed!! My toast with 2 eggs this morning was as good as it could be with cheese and bacon!

Wait until the cranberries are in there.

 

[Haputanlas]

Cleaned my kegerator from a leak
Cleaned all of my kegs
Racked 3 beers to kegs
Started dry hoping an IPA
Put whiskey oak chips on another beer

 

[user 103238]

Just signed up for a 1-credit Intermediate Brewing and Fermentation class for next spring. Figured it's a great way to meet another segment of the local homebrewing population, increase my brewing knowledge, and it's free, so why not!!

 

[NicoleBrewer]

Last week I brewed two 5 gallon batches which will be ready just in time for me to give birth to my son and celebrate with a home brew. Haven't brewed or enjoyed beer in 8 1/2 months!

 

[Hulud]

Wrapped my grain mill as a Xmas present to me from my stocks dividend I got haha

 

[RVB]

Last week I brewed two 5 gallon batches which will be ready just in time for me to give birth to my son and celebrate with a home brew. Haven't brewed or enjoyed beer in 8 1/2 months!

AWESOME Brew Mama. Congratulations on your new baby brewer.
RVB

 

[NicoleBrewer]

Thanks!

 

[Piratwolf]

This afternoon, in preparation for brewday tomorrow & holiday consumption:
*clean 2x mash tuns
*clean & sanitize 5x5gal corny kegs
*keg 2x5gal batches of beer (Best Bitter & Patersbier I)
*clean & sanitize 4x5gal fermenters
*make 2x 1L starters to wake up yeast before pitching tomorrow night (wlp001, West Yorkshire)
*measure & grind grain for brew tomorrow
*measure, sort, & label hops for brew tomorrow
*split gas lines in kegerator to carb/serve 4 kegs at once
*chill/carb Apfelwine & Best Bitter


oh, yeah... and DRINK HOMEBREW!!!

 

[jtkratzer]

Last week I brewed two 5 gallon batches which will be ready just in time for me to give birth to my son and celebrate with a home brew. Haven't brewed or enjoyed beer in 8 1/2 months!

I hear brewer's yeast is supposed to help some women with breastmilk supply...my wife is trying it, usually going for the lower alcohol hefe's or Belgians where consuming the yeast is either the preferred method of drinking or a common practice.


I kegged the second carboy's worth of Bell's THA clone to make space for the two upcoming batches of beer.

 

[LTownLiquorPig]

Washed some empties my dad gave me, and emptied some bottles. Gonna bottle a bitter tonight or tomorrow night. Checked my Cooper's Pilsner kit, rocketing away at about 58*.

 

[BrewinHooligan]

Emptied a few bottles of homebrew with some help from my wife and added sparkalloid to the batch of 18%abv mango wine I have going in hopes to bottle it before Christmas (not for beer, but fermented beverage related at least).

 

[jtkratzer]

Pitched a 1056 starter to grow one smack pack into enough yeast for 11 gallons of 1.039 beer and 11 gallons of 1.078 beer.

 

[dualcells]

I have a Cream Ale (all grain, single infusion) brew in progress.

 

[Qhrumphf]

Made a LHBS run. Grabbed ingredients for three batches to brew over the next week and a half while I'm on vacation.

 

[JohanMk1]

Bought more bottles
Ordered grains and hops to be collected tomorrow
Collected some DME
Ordered a beersmith activation code

 

[unionrdr]

Just shy of broke,so no beer. My pm pal batch is 2 weeks old Saturday,gotta check it. Got a few more bottles to clean yet. Gott a see what I can scrounge for momma for Christmas & that's about it. Dang,a shot & a beer would feel so much better right now...

 

[JohanMk1]

Bought a flask and stir bar and built a stir plate, only to discover that the used fan i was using from a toasted power supply was the most likely reason for the power supply breaking down in the first place

Probably not going to be able to get a fan until next year.

 

[kman6234]

Cleaned and sanitized a carboy and keg... Upped the pressure on a pale ale in my kegerator to try and carb it for Christmas

 

[BrewinHooligan]

Just ordered another pound of hops to add to my 5 lb collection. I don't have a problem, I can stop whenever I want...