What I did for beer today

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from yesterday, brewed a simple west coast ipa. i've been thinking about and tinkering with my process to try and drive down brew day time. with a one hour mash and one hour boil, i finished up in 6.25 hours, which included all the cleaning.
 
Popped test bottle #3 from my APA, "Experiment 626." Three weeks in the bottle, this stuff is pretty nice, with a malty smell, a fairly neutral start, and a nice assertive, but not aggressive, hoppy finish.
 
And, today, drew a FG sample from the fermenter on the Irish Red, "Septic Red Eye Ale," and got a 1.010, for 6.96% ABV (a bit high for an Irish Red), but that's probably because the 1 lb of local honey turned into about 2 lbs 'cause it had solidified and I had trouble getting it out of the jar, so I said screw it and put it all in.

Good aroma, nice maltiness up front, with a bit of biscuity sweetness, flavorful mid-swallow with a pronounced mouthfeel, and an ever-so-slightly bitter finish. The color is a bit light for what I was shooting, but still within the spectrum for the style.

i think I'll keep it on the yeast for a couple more days to see if it cleans up some.
 
Pondering on brewing a 'true' lager tomorrow since I've got the grain and some fantastic S-23 slurry that worked well in a 'warm' fermented one a few weeks ago, and the time since the husband is playing golf with his buddies tomorrow morning and we have nothing planned until late afternoon. Hmmm. Or I could just relax and work on emptying some kegs...ah the possibilities.
 
I ordered parts to build a diy quick carb. Took the pump off the grainfather for a deep clean and checked on the Belgian blond i brewed yesterday, its chugging away at 64*f.
 
I kegged my Jaryllo pale ale. SWMBO says to call it Jeronimo Pale Ale.

20180704_152515.jpg
 
Didn't brew because slept in. Did take a taste sample of both the Strong and the stout I brewed last weekend last night, after over vigorous fermentations I was worried, but both taste great at this point. Daughter and son-in-law are in town this weekend, looking forward to bringing them bottles of the lager and IPA I have on tap. Tonight staying close to home to keep the furbabies safe.
 
After three days of fermentation I switched from blow off tube to a traditional airlock. There has been a huge krausen for two days but zero bubbles were escaping through the blow off tube (yeast is extracted from a bottle of Fuller's 1845). When I switched the airlock it immediately started to bubble once in a second or so... The leak may exist even if it is not visible and the connections feel rather snug..

Btw, it is very hot inside and it has become too difficult to control the temperature of my water bath. Just tried to keep it reasonable in the beginning and then it went up wildly...it is going to be an experimental ESB.. I am not so worried about the ester production but I just hope there won't be too much fusels etc.
 
Checked pH on a lacto fermentation that's nearly done for what will be my dry-hopped, kettle-soured "summer sour". Also checked gravity and pH on my lambic and Flanders Red, and had a wee sample of course :)
 
Today.. I bought quick disconnects for gas line to hook up the bottle filler. I'm also waiting to hear some details on a guy selling a HERMS 8gal system. I only really want one kettle and the pump to create a recirculating BIAB sytem.
 
Did my final gravity check on the Irish Red Ale in the fermenter. 10 days in, and it's starting to clear, there's some stubborn yeast clinging to the side at the edge of the wort, but the gravity hasn't changed since my last check on Monday... still 1.010.

Flavors are mellowing some, and it still has a malty slight sweet start, toasty/bready mid, and barely bitter finish. Color is a bit lighter than I wanted, but at least it's reddish and not brown. My brewing assistant likes it... I liked it... looks like bottling tomorrow. I'm putting the bottles in the bleach bath right now... If all goes well I'll have 32 x 16 oz and 16 x 12 oz bottles starting to carbonate tomorrow afternoon.
 
I have enough bottles to package my Irish red ale, now I need to bum two cases from my brother for my dark mild.

Gotta find a local source for bottles that are minimal in $, plentiful in #.
 
jiMithing83 said:
Ask friends to save pry top commercial brews. All of my bottles are reused ones.
Click to expand...

Great idea... 100% non compliance by beer drinking friends. That is usually my instructions to people I gift beer. I also say If they like it I will return them full again.

No luck so far.
 
—>Instead of brewing just one batch, I did two. It’s only about an extra hour or so of hands-on work, and I got ten gallons! Did my NE IPA and a Citra IPA.
—>Really focused on brewing salts this time when compared to my city water. I think this will have a profound effect on both the mouthfeel and the persistence in the haze.
—>I am really, really looking forward to running downstairs to my chest freezer/fermentation chamber early tomorrow to see kräusen forming on two batches!!!
IMG_1530923661.237998.jpg
 
Today I cleaned both of my beer lines in my two tap kegerator, recirculating hot PBW in my pump system and then ran Sani Clean through it as well. Tomorrow I will keg my 10 gallon batch of Dunkelweizen!

John
 
I cleaned up my RIMS tube element from my 4th of July brewday. Clean as a whistle.
 
I've got a keg soaking in the tub right now with an eye to kegging the Strong I brewed last weekend. Planning on brewing another version of the warm fermented lager tomorrow since the current keg is about to kick. Also took a hydrometer sample of the milk chocolate stout I've got fermenting, it's only down to 1.030 from 1.076, and the krausen dropped after three days. Will give it a swirl tomorrow morning to see if I can get it to come down a few more points, if it doesn't I'll still be happy with it. Very dark, chocolatey, slightly sweet, and delicious. First stout I'm actually proud of.
 
Bottled the "Septic Red Eye" Irish Red Ale. Got 12x24 oz and 20x16 oz bottles out of the batch. I left some in the bottling bucket due to yeast rafts hanging about the surface...
 
Last edited:
iaefebs said:
This is a thread intended for anyone that does anything related to home brewing. You can post any thing you want as long as it was what you did today. What I did was make a Stout. If you made a chiller, brew pot, ordered hops, ordered grain, brewed a beer, made your first beer, whatever... what did you do for beer today?
Click to expand...
Horse heads Brewing DIPA
 
Yesterday I kicked a keg, so I immediately cleaned it and the tap line it was on. Then I hooked up my scotch ale (strongest beer I've yet done) to the previously emptied tap line. Also transferred my doppelbock to a keg to finish lagering, since all that head space so long after fermentation completed was making me nervous.
 
Bottling my Irish red today. Just got home from work so I am taking a breather with my brown ale.

Liquid courage! Lol
 
Bought a 10G round cooler and a false bottom to modify my BIAB process. I’m going to boil water in my kettle, move (underlet) to cooler for mash, and move back to kettle for boil. This is in an attempt to do LODO in BIAB so I’ll be purging hoses, etc during the process.

Looked at my frozen watermelon juice for Saturday’s brew, and started thinking about a stout for the fall.

I think I have more fun tinkering then anything.
 
I weighed out my grain bill and hops for a session NEIPA tomorrow. I'm using Citra, azacca, and mosaic as a combo with this one.
 
Popped test bottle #1 from the Septic Red Eye Irish Red Ale. Yes, it's only been in the bottle 5 days... and it needs a week or two more. But I got a good pop with the swingtop, and the color is good. It's clearing nicely. Flavor has warm, malty/bready notes and there's very little bitterness, even in the finish.

I will endeavor to wait a full two weeks before opening another one.
 
Helped my brewpub friend/boss get his garage taproom ready for the final night in the garage before he opens his new taproom. Cleaned, helped move full kegs to the new digs, and ate some truly delicious ribeye that he provided for the occasion.

And here is a shameless plug...anyone in South King County (WA) who needs something to do next Saturday night, I strongly suggest hitting up Rail Hoppn' Brewing on Main Street in Auburn (next door to Oddfelllas). We won't be brewing there for a month or two (still waiting on a couple permits) but the taps will be flowing. Tell Billy Jack that Becky sent you.
 
Today, I'll include last night... Last night, I kegged the cider; today I: racked the blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, strawberry melomel, and did my first solo all grain batch (fresh squished from MW supplies).
 
Repitched a starter on some old liquid yeast. (One small perk of working in a homebrew shop is getting out-of-code yeast for free.) Much to my surprise, the first starter actually fermented down to 1.001. There is life after 6 months.
Brewed a wheat malt / Mandarina Bavaria SMaSH. Efficiency wasn't what it ought to be (70%) but I BIAB super thin (3qt/lb) and boil full volume. Could be worse, I suppose.
 

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