What I did for beer today

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Snuck out of the house to the LHBS to get a full bag of two row and some pilsner to brew a lager up tomorrow morning. And snagged 2 packets of S-23 from the free yeast bin to make sure of a good fermentation. And had a great conversation with the proprietor of said LHBS about homebrewers who refuse to buy yeast older than 1 month....I know, beginning brewers may not know about using starters, but it still made me giggle. That expired-in-2016 yeast will get pitched into some fresh wort tomorrow morning and will more than likely take off like no-mans-business. Also bought a new bung for the 6g carboy since the old one disappeared (likely as a cat toy) plus some more whirlfloc. Looking forward to a fantastic brew day tomorrow.
 
Steeping elderflowers for syrup and bottling. Supply for when it's out of flower. Trees are setting fruit like crazy this year. Thinking of doing an elderberry lambic.

Fig branch I toasted yesterday for flavouring beer smells like a fine cuban cigar and vanilla. I think it will be good in a porter.

Just been inspecting the orchard, we have guava, lemons, passionfruit, monstero, black saopte and acerola cherries coming on. Just too many choices this summer. I'm thinking of fruiting an IPA with guava this year. Any suggestions on hops for that one?
 
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Working on the Brew House, new gfcG,new sink,dry wall patches,tape and bed,wall tile and grout, one cabinet.. IMG_20181209_115434.jpg
 
Finally got a brew weekend.

Yesterday I bottled 5.5 gallons of wild fermented cider with passion fruit juice as the priming sugar and 2.5 gallons of smoked porter (yum! Coffee flavors!).

Today brewing an extra-bitter AIPA, hoping for 5.5 gallons so I can bottle 5.

Still need to bottle the 4.5-5 gallons of barley wine. Maybe I should age some of it on fruit? Suggestions?

It’s also time to taste the mead and sours and see what they are doing.

Thanks to Travis in L.A. for the bottles! Homebrewers unite!
 
Finally tasted the Holiday Ale that's been staring at me from the corner of the living room I stuck it in for a few weeks. Was a bit paranoid because first taste (before adding spice bottle) had some acetaldehyde and the hops weren't playing nice with the malt. I remember I tried to brew a spiced holiday ale last year that didn't turn out very well, so paranoia was justified. Not with this one! Time has been gracious to me and the acetaldehyde is all gone, the spices meld well with the hops, and there's just enough maltiness to keep it from being a bitter spice bomb. Gonna keg it up tomorrow night in hopes of taking a growler or two to a party on Saturday, as well as bottling a bunch for gifts (like for my overly critical/picky sister who's been after me to brew something like this for months). Can't decide on the right name though...base recipe was Arrogant Bastard clone with some Crystal 40 thrown in for extra color and sweetness, and a heavy hand with spices. Husband says Santa is an Arrogant Prick, but I like Jesus was a Bastard (God wasn't married to mary, don't get upset with me). Don't care, it's great beer and can't wait for it to be carbed up and ready.
 
seatazzz said:
Finally tasted the Holiday Ale that's been staring at me from the corner of the living room I stuck it in for a few weeks. Was a bit paranoid because first taste (before adding spice bottle) had some acetaldehyde and the hops weren't playing nice with the malt. I remember I tried to brew a spiced holiday ale last year that didn't turn out very well, so paranoia was justified. Not with this one! Time has been gracious to me and the acetaldehyde is all gone, the spices meld well with the hops, and there's just enough maltiness to keep it from being a bitter spice bomb. Gonna keg it up tomorrow night in hopes of taking a growler or two to a party on Saturday, as well as bottling a bunch for gifts (like for my overly critical/picky sister who's been after me to brew something like this for months). Can't decide on the right name though...base recipe was Arrogant Bastard clone with some Crystal 40 thrown in for extra color and sweetness, and a heavy hand with spices. Husband says Santa is an Arrogant Prick, but I like Jesus was a Bastard (God wasn't married to mary, don't get upset with me). Don't care, it's great beer and can't wait for it to be carbed up and ready.
Click to expand...
Jesus was a Bastard gets my vote.
 
Cold crashed an oatmeal chocolate stout and changed a blowoff tube to an airlock on an APA that's going on the basement. It's a perfect 64 degrees F down there now so I'm trying to ramp up the brewing to take advantage. Doing a Pekko IPA SMaSH next I think this weekend.
 
I mashed, boiled and, pressure canned 28 qt of starter wort. Racked a chocolate stout into a keg. I also prepped a 3l starter's worth of WLP006 for freezing, 75lm slurry for a mild and, slanting. Now all I have left is WLP037 and WLP320 to freeze and slant.
 
Some nasty bug finally snuck up behind me and conked me on the head, so home sick today. Gonna keg up the Jesus Bastard later today no matter what, and in the meantime catch up on HBT and work on recipes. And Homebrew has LOTS of B vitamins that are good for what ails you, right? RIGHT????
 
Fermentation has completed for 4.46% ABV. Tastes good time to prime and bottle up. Tomorrow is blue cheese day, beer's no good without cheese.
 
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Kegged the cream ale (this was the one where I got the wort from my local brewery). Got crazy attenuation! Down to 1.006 with wyeast1007. Judging from his social media posts, he got about the same with S04. I'm gonna have to ask how he got such a fermentable wort. It's gonna have to chill for a bit though, as I don't have an open tapline; wanted to get it off the trub at least.
 
Wyeast 1084 Irish ale Yeast Starter. I did an overbuild for 3 liters only pitching maybe one to one-and-a-half collecting the rest. I seem to work well for me so I have a rotation of four different yeast strains now! Fermentation has begun on it. Brew a white Stout with chocolate and coffee on Sunday [emoji16].
IMG_20181214_102806651.jpeg
 
aharri1 said:
Wyeast 1084 Irish ale Yeast Starter. I did an overbuild for 3 liters only pitching maybe one to one-and-a-half collecting the rest. I seem to work well for me so I have a rotation of four different yeast strains now! Fermentation has begun on it. Brew a white Stout with chocolate and coffee on Sunday [emoji16].View attachment 602380
Click to expand...
Never heard of a "white" stout.. how's that work? Sounds interesting though..
 
seanjwalker1 said:
Never heard of a "white" stout.. how's that work? Sounds interesting though..
Click to expand...
Every two months my Homebrew Club has a contest and chooses a beer style. This basically taste like a stout except it's not dark. Here's the grain bill. You would use the same hops you would use in any other Stout. I'm doing cacao nibs in soaked in vodka and coffee beans in secondary plus some lactose near the end of the boil.
Screenshot_20181213-082933.jpeg
 
Completed my Tiki Bar today! Gives my new kegerator and my 3 new homebrews a home! Brown Eyed Girl is an English Brown, Hey Blondie! is a Deschutes Blonde, and I also have a Mango Peach cider on tap. I designed the bar from the ground up - took 6 weeks to complete. All bamboo with a tile bartop covered with epoxy!
Hacienda 1 Tiki Bar Front.JPG
Hacienda 4 Tiki Bar Back.jpg
Hacienda 9.1 Taps.jpg
 
Stocked up on two base grains;

- 55lbs of German Pale Malt - Avanguard
- 55lbs of German Pilsner Malt - Avanguard

Bought some hops too; Hallertauer, Mt Hood, Northern Brewer, and Mandarina.... Just ounces though, no pounds.
 
aharri1 said:
Every two months my Homebrew Club has a contest and chooses a beer style. This basically taste like a stout except it's not dark. Here's the grain bill. You would use the same hops you would use in any other Stout. I'm doing cacao nibs in soaked in vodka and coffee beans in secondary plus some lactose near the end of the boil. View attachment 602410
Click to expand...
Sounds D-lish! Think I'll forgo the cacao nibs and coffee beans though when I try this! Might up the Maris a few pounds too. Thanks for sharing!
 
Planning for brewday tomorrow. Went shopping to find a 12v DC power supply for the Bayite 7A014 pump the boss gifted me a while back; wound up having to schlep all the way to Fry's in Renton to find one less than $50. Got it home, and lo and behold I have a new pump! Fastened securely to the base I built for the old one, and tested out great on the keggle. I've read some good reviews on this pump; Bayite says the heat limit is 131 but I've read some brewers using it for higher and no issues. Next project after Christmas (if Mom fulfills my Amazon wish list) is to finally get the heavy-duty rolling brew stand we built last year up and running. Just need the propane fittings for it now. Also got a heat lamp for the ferment fridge so I can brew something other than lagers before spring.
 
And yes I post a LOT in this thread. Just tapped the Holiday Ale that's been carbing a couple of days, couldn't wait. Absolute perfection (to me at least). Nice bitter base, coupled with dark maltiness and plenty of spice. Taking a growler to a party tonight to get some opinions but I know it's a winner. Next year's recipe will incorporate some oats to make it thicker and maybe some molasses as a late boil addition.
 

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