What I did for beer today

[CJ-3]

Grabbed another case of empty bottles from the local bar yesterday. Removed the labels and cleaned them. One more case to go next weekend.

 

[seatazzz]

Waiting on the priming solution to cool a bit, then the Great Bottling Bash of 2019 is on. Should get at least 26 22's out of it, plus three 12's to save for the Fair and one PET bottle for testing. After it's all done will try to come up with a label for it; in keeping with the brewery name, this one is Hot Road Jalapeno Amber. The boys wanted it super hot, taster nearly took the roof off my mouth. Uck but they're gonna love it.

 

[cochised]

Ordered a pH meter to finally start trying to understand mash pHs etc

 

[histo320]

That sounds like it might be good...have you made it before?

Nope. Been awhile since I brewed and wanted to dial in my process and equipment again.

Fermentation is going albiet pretty slow due to temp being 64 so I had to move vessel.

 

[JAReeves]

Waiting on the priming solution to cool a bit, then the Great Bottling Bash of 2019 is on. Should get at least 26 22's out of it, plus three 12's to save for the Fair and one PET bottle for testing. After it's all done will try to come up with a label for it; in keeping with the brewery name, this one is Hot Road Jalapeno Amber. The boys wanted it super hot, taster nearly took the roof off my mouth. Uck but they're gonna love it.

I love chili beers, so do you mind sharing the process to get so much heat?

 

[seanjwalker1]

Ordered a pH meter to finally start trying to understand mash pHs etc

Good move. I got mine a couple months back. Just find out if someone at your LHBS has a copy of a recent local water report before you fork over Mula for one.

 

[cochised]

Good suggestion.

First 2 BIABs have had bad off tastes which I think are either yeast or water related so trying to whittle down the suspects

Other partials and extracts I've done turned out fine

 

[Schlenkerla]

Searched for a good multi step mash calculator... Brewers Friend is the best I could find.

 

[seanjwalker1]

Good suggestion.

First 2 BIABs have had bad off tastes which I think are either yeast or water related so trying to whittle down the suspects

Other partials and extracts I've done turned out fine

Could be tannins from the sparge..biab is so much smaller than a normal sparge, it's easy to over sparge the grains and pull out more tannins than you want..just a thought

 

[cochised]

2 brews were full volume mashes, no sparging

Had an experienced brewer taste a Citra SMASH I did and he couldn't identify the off taste, but agreed with me that it was downright awful

2nd one was an amber, was much more drinkable but still a hint of the off taste. One could easily finish a pint of it and catch a buzz but I'm looking for a bit more than that

 

[seanjwalker1]

2 brews were full volume mashes, no sparging

Had an experienced brewer taste a Citra SMASH I did and he couldn't identify the off taste, but agreed with me that it was downright awful

2nd one was an amber, was much more drinkable but still a hint of the off taste. One could easily finish a pint of it and catch a buzz but I'm looking for a bit more than that

Was your temp spot on or withen a degree or 2? What was your water source?

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Finally got an airlock on my bourbon cask ale and checked the gravity, which has dropped seven points since being transferred. No sour or funk tastes that I can detect which is good because it is not what I was going for.

 

[cochised]

Was your temp spot on or withen a degree or 2? What was your water source?

Temp usually held pretty well, within a few degrees over the hour mash

Water is a private well at my in laws so might end up getting a water test done at some stage

Saying that I used bottled water for at least one of my bad batches

 

[Andrew Hodgson]

Yesterday I dry hopped my sour IPA wtih 2oz Zappa 2oz Cashmere 1oz Galaxy and 7grams Mosaic Hop Hash. Will package on Tuesday.

Also made up a batch of JAOM. Also tasted my kombucha which wasn't too tart, dropped the contents of one swanson lacto pill and we will see how she goes.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Dry hopped a Belgian IPA lemon drop... interesting choice, let’s taste what happens.

 

[seanjwalker1]

Temp usually held pretty well, within a few degrees over the hour mash

Water is a private well at my in laws so might end up getting a water test done at some stage

Saying that I used bottled water for at least one of my bad batches

Pretty good you're ticking off the possible causes..still could be a number of things..yeast condition, grains used, even sanitation. I'm a sanitation nut and I've still lost a couple of batches. Maybe take apart your spigots and sanitize the individual parts, could be some little nasties hiding out.

 

[seatazzz]

I love chili beers, so do you mind sharing the process to get so much heat?

Sure. I started with a basic 5g amber recipe (12lbs 2 row and 1.5lbs crystal 40), base beer is about 6%. I added 5 sliced jalapenos at 15 minutes to end of boil, and added 5 more as dry hop when it went into the fermenter. It fermented for 2 weeks at 64. It's still got a nice amber flavor, but plenty of heat and actually some good flavor, not just heat, from the jalapenos.

 

[ApolloSimcoe]

Got my collar stained and then one coat of varnish

 

[cochised]

Pretty good you're ticking off the possible causes..still could be a number of things..yeast condition, grains used, even sanitation. I'm a sanitation nut and I've still lost a couple of batches. Maybe take apart your spigots and sanitize the individual parts, could be some little nasties hiding out.

I'll continue to try and eliminate the various potential causes but seeing as my extracts go ok I'm still convinced its something in my BIAB method

I do need to improve how I use my yeast though so have liquid yeast coming and will attempt my first starter for next brew

 

[Andrew Hodgson]

Tonight I will be packaging 5.5 gallons of Sour IPA (Moon Unit SIPA).

 

[aharri1]

Racked 5 gallons of my toasted stout into the keg and fertilized the hop plants. They're looking good but not ripe yet

 

[bobeer]

Picked up my yearly supply of fertilizer and soil to finally transplant my 3rd year hop plants. I can at last start my own in ground garden at our new house and I couldn't be happier. Looking forward to seeing how the 3rd year goes. The labels were all sun bleached so I have no idea which plants are what. Oh well!

 

[bobeer]

Racked 5 gallons of my toasted stout into the keg and fertilized the hop plants. They're looking good but not ripe yetView attachment 619339

Where do YOU live? I'm just about to get the season started! Ha.

 

[aharri1]

Where do YOU live? I'm just about to get the season started! Ha.

Central Florida so I can actually get two harvest a year sometimes 3 if I treat them really well!

 

[Brewbuzzard]

Racked 3 gal of Velvet Hammer clone.

 

[brewbama]

Closed transferred a Beantown Lager to keg and began lagering it. If the hydro sample is any indication it’s gonna be a good May Day.

Poured three qts of sterile water in the BrewBucket, swirled it up good, waited 10 min to let the chunks settle and drained off two qts to harvest the yeast.

Filled the Brewbucket with PBW to clean, mowed the yard, and poured a pint of Dortmunder Export to chillax.

 

[seatazzz]

Not yet, but anxiously watching the clock at work so I can run to the LHBS afterwards to grab some yeast and adjunct grain for an ambitious double brewday on Saturday. Beautiful day for a long drive out to Snoqualmie.

 

[bradccook]

Made a 3724 2L yeast starter for Saturday's brew.

 

[seatazzz]

Ordered 2lbs of Mosaic leaf from YVH (on sale for $12/lb!), haven't had any for yonks and it's what makes our house IPA terrific. Won't be here in time for this weekend but will do up a SmASH with it next weekend.

 

[aharri1]

Fertilized the hop plants and picked a few ripe ones to test them and make some tea!