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What I did for beer today

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Dry hopped my 3rd attempt at Da Yooper's pale ale with an oz each of comet and 007 (Idaho 7).

Gotta drink a few more so I can bottle Sunday.
 
I moved 10 gal of Dopplebock to the conditioning fridge And taste tested the Hellas Bock and the Barleywine.
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Weighed out the peaches I need to prep to go into my Peach Milkshake IPA later tonight. Gravity is down to 1.018, krausen is still up but I need to get the fruit in there if I want this keggable by next weekend. Some of you are going to frantically tell me NO, you have to wait until krausen is down...but my brewpub boss dumps his wort straight out of the chiller onto fruit for his strawberry and lime blondes, and they turn out great. I'm going to scald the cut up fruit and chill it before I dump it in the fermenter, but my thinking is...there's alcohol in that fermenter. As long as I do everything in my limited power to get clean fruit in the fermenter, the alcohol already present will overpower anything that might manage to make its way in there (which if I do my job right, it won't). Base beer tastes great, whirlpool hops really pop, and the lactose gives it a nice sweetness and mouthfeel even with a lot of yeast still in suspension. So far, good...and yesterday I dry hopped the Hoppy WF lager I brewed last weekend as well. THAT one is going to be epic from the hydrometer sample I drank all of, and was tempted to take more. And, because I was way too ambitious last weekend, I've got another WF lager that once the two aforesaid are out of the fermentation fridge and kegged, will get ramped down to 48 for some extended lagering time. Won't need to keg that for at least two weeks, so looking forward to actually lagering in the fermenter instead of the keg this time.
 
Yesterday I cleaned the keg and associated tap line from the porter that I kicked the day before; ready and waiting for the oatmeal stout! Also completed my 3-day cleaning of a carboy that I used with a diastaticus yeast strain.
 
Kegging today using the norcal keg fermenter t set up. Closed transfers are so easy this way. Dont lift a 10 gallon batch by your self, its heavy.
 
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Yesterday kegged what I'm calling my India Pale Lager (basic lager recipe, fermented on 2nd gen 34/70, and flavored/aroma'd with a ton of Mosaic hops) and today sipping on a sample of it. Deliciousness. Also tasted the Peach Milkshake IPA done last Sunday, that got the peaches dumped in it on Thursday. Shaping up well, going to need another week on the fruit but I'm happy with the way it's turning out. Nice mouthfeel from the lactose, and the peaches are starting to come out.
 
I`ve not brewed anything for nearly a year and so all my brewing equipment has sat idle for months on end. Some time ago I figured to get back on the wagon and put all my bottles, about 200 of them, to soak... and forgot about them for a few more months. I promised a brew batch to my neighbor for the kid`s ATV he gave me so I went to the wash room and opened the lid of a few brew buckets where the bottles have been soaking and the smell that greeted me... It can only be described as rotting onions soaking in raw sewage! Literally made my eyes water! Valiantly I still tried washing them as I need the buckets they`ve been soaking in, I got the big boiling kettle scrubbed squeaky clean but even after two rounds with a bottle brush and a rinse with a bottle washer I`m still finding black spots inside the bottles so I`m not gonna risk a batch to go bad in the bottles cause it`s a funkload of work and worst case scenario I could end up with a battery of glass grenades in the shelf... Thing is it`s gonna set me back over a hundred to replace em all, luckily I don`t have to do it all at once but still... Lesson learnt, always always rinse immediately after pouring...

Also received a shipment the other day, munich, floor malted bohemian dark, tettnanger and hallertau mittelfruch, add few kilos of viking pale ale from the sack in the garage and I should be getting two batches of dunkel-ish ale.
 
I dry hopped my latest version of Da Yooper's pale ale on Wednesday so I have my bottles soaking to sanitize them. Tomorrow the batch will get bottled and stored for 10-14 days for priming. Should be pretty awesome!
 
Kegged my APA, cleaned the fermenter it was in. Gearing up for a housewarming party on Friday, gotta keg the cider on Thursday and figure out food then we're mostly set, other than putting out the picnic table/chairs.
 
Made a starter for a Scottish Ale, and kegged a Lemon-Wheat beer from almost a month ago.
Hopefully can get the Scottish Ale made and kegged quick, and have a completely full keezer :)
 
What is the ball valve on the cross for?

I think it can be used for blow off tub during fermentation. I didn't use it for that as this does not fit into my ferm chamber. I have a separate triclamp cap with a 90 elbow and a thermowell.

If this set up were to fit in my ferm fridge I could use it for both fermentation and transfer.
 
After finally getting rid of all the copper in my brewhouse, and a reconfiguration from 3 tier to 2 tier.

Brewed a smash of pale malt and centennial

6 oz. Of centennial mostly whirlpool additions.
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I`ve not brewed anything for nearly a year and so all my brewing equipment has sat idle for months on end. Some time ago I figured to get back on the wagon and put all my bottles, about 200 of them, to soak... and forgot about them for a few more months. I promised a brew batch to my neighbor for the kid`s ATV he gave me so I went to the wash room and opened the lid of a few brew buckets where the bottles have been soaking and the smell that greeted me... It can only be described as rotting onions soaking in raw sewage! Literally made my eyes water! Valiantly I still tried washing them as I need the buckets they`ve been soaking in, I got the big boiling kettle scrubbed squeaky clean but even after two rounds with a bottle brush and a rinse with a bottle washer I`m still finding black spots inside the bottles so I`m not gonna risk a batch to go bad in the bottles cause it`s a funkload of work and worst case scenario I could end up with a battery of glass grenades in the shelf... Thing is it`s gonna set me back over a hundred to replace em all, luckily I don`t have to do it all at once but still... Lesson learnt, always always rinse immediately after pouring...

Also received a shipment the other day, munich, floor malted bohemian dark, tettnanger and hallertau mittelfruch, add few kilos of viking pale ale from the sack in the garage and I should be getting two batches of dunkel-ish ale.

I've been in the habit of rinse after empty for many years. Even store bought bottles and cans that go to the recycle. Even since I hardly bottle anymore. I use the bottom rack of the dish washer to clean, before sanitize and they come out great. Pots and pans, air dry for the washer setting I use. I've had a few bottles get spots in them from not rinsing very well.
 
I've been in the habit of rinse after empty for many years. Even store bought bottles and cans that go to the recycle. Even since I hardly bottle anymore. I use the bottom rack of the dish washer to clean, before sanitize and they come out great. Pots and pans, air dry for the washer setting I use. I've had a few bottles get spots in them from not rinsing very well.

Stupid part is I HAVE a faucet mounted bottle washer and a drying tree right next to it in the utility room but I guess I'm just too damn lazy to use them. That will have to change now. I looked around the local homebrew shops and everyone's out of the bottles I want and the rest cost too much so currently looking into soaking them in bleach for a while. Anyone done that? I have a 45Liter stainless steel sink in the garage I'm not afraid to get markings on but still wondering if it can take a bleach solution and what kind of strength should I be using? From what I've read the water should be cold to avoid gasses emitting from the sink. There also seems to be fruit flies inside several bottles, those darned little flying f***s glue themselves into the inside wall and will not budge, I've chucked dozens of bottles because of them. Hoping the clorine would get tuose out too.

Any tips greatly appreciated! I got sth like 200 stinky bottles to get sparkly clean.
 

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