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What I did for beer today

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Thanks Hoppy2bmerry, 6 gallons of head space should act in some ways like open ferment, no? And 2.5 gallons of beer should produce CO2 to fill that head space. Or am I missing something?
Just myself and others have run into problems from too much head space, but in my case the fermenter had been opened for a transfer.
 
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Comparison taste of last 2 porters. Latest version better
 
Ignored the one in the ferment fridge. Had intended to taste it today (Strata SMaSH) but life, work, and nap got in the way. Dropped the dry hop on Thursday, next available time to taste it will be Wednesday. For once the pipeline is full, so can let this one go a bit longer. And looked into a competition coming up, would have to join AHA to enter (yikes $$) but I'm tempted. The latest lager and the NB Blonde I have on tap would do well. Brewpub owner friend is pushing me to enter as many competitions as I can to get my beers out there and noticed, but I'm chicken.
 
Ignored the one in the ferment fridge. Had intended to taste it today (Strata SMaSH) but life, work, and nap got in the way. Dropped the dry hop on Thursday, next available time to taste it will be Wednesday. For once the pipeline is full, so can let this one go a bit longer. And looked into a competition coming up, would have to join AHA to enter (yikes $$) but I'm tempted. The latest lager and the NB Blonde I have on tap would do well. Brewpub owner friend is pushing me to enter as many competitions as I can to get my beers out there and noticed, but I'm chicken.
Jump in there and enter those beers. You can learn a lot from the score sheets. You won't always like it but the feedback is very useful. I've entered competitions from the start and still do each year. Use the info to tweak your recipes.
 

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Made a large dent in the cellared beer inventory. Met a cousin I didn't even know existed until a few years ago ( found him on Facebook). Also found out I have 2 more cousins I haven't met yet. Along with my 2 brothers, turned into an all day drinking and ancient family photo viewing party.
Looking at the aftermath this morning, I found 2 12 packs of Bud in the fridge, that somehow never even got opened, the new cousin must have brought them, because my brothers know better!

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Scraped, chopped and soaked 4 vanilla beans in some 8 years old El Dorado rum. I need to buy more vanilla and get it ready for the upcoming Small Table Milk Stout ( around 4.5% ABV ).

Ordered some Simpsons Golden Naked Oats for the Milk Stout and hops: Southern Cross, Sticklebract, Topaz, Motueka, Wai-Iti.
 
Bottled 5 gallons of Hefeweizen. Didn't get quite as much banana as I wanted, but still sampled well.
Bottled the JAOM I threw together back in July. First attempt, and only my second taste of mead. I think I like it, but I also think I'd need a bigger taste to make certain, but my shift starts this afternoon, so I don't need to go overboard haha. I decided instead that I'm going to let it sit in bottles until New Years before I crack one of the smaller ones open.

Also sampled my azacca hopped blonde last night. Terrible off taste. I think its that dreaded bandaid-y taste I've read about. It's the first time Ive come across it, so I'm blaming the yeast slurry that I used. I was slightly skeptical about it to begin with, but tend to just let things ride. Big disappointment though if it doesn't mellow out, I was pretty excited about it and I can just make out an otherwise great hoppy, grapefruity flavor before getting bombarded with it.
 
Made a large dent in the cellared beer inventory. Met a cousin I didn't even know existed until a few years ago ( found him on Facebook). Also found out I have 2 more cousins I haven't met yet. Along with my 2 brothers, turned into an all day drinking and ancient family photo viewing party.
Looking at the aftermath this morning, I found 2 12 packs of Bud in the fridge, that somehow never even got opened, the new cousin must have brought them, because my brothers know better!

View attachment 648160

Awesome!
 
Nursing along a batch of hi test RIS, on 5th day with active krausen. Doing very well for something of this ABV. Will pull a gravity sample later today. Or maybe not. Doing good, leave it alone. Hmmm.....
 
Made a large dent in the cellared beer inventory. Met a cousin I didn't even know existed until a few years ago ( found him on Facebook). Also found out I have 2 more cousins I haven't met yet. Along with my 2 brothers, turned into an all day drinking and ancient family photo viewing party.
Looking at the aftermath this morning, I found 2 12 packs of Bud in the fridge, that somehow never even got opened, the new cousin must have brought them, because my brothers know better!

View attachment 648160
They make good rinse water.
 
Did he list himself as a co-brewer? :rolleyes:
I gave a coworker a few bottles of my second brew ever, an extract kit from Brewer's Best. It was the Golden Ale. In any case, he entered it in a local competition and got third place. I didn't have the heart to tell him that he shouldn't have done that.
 
So Friday at the school's tailgate, I supplied my coworkers with: British IPA, Stout, Imperial Stout, and Barleywine.

The British IPA went over well, though I am not as happy with it as I could be (aren't we our worst critics?) as I think it needs more aroma hops, the Stout I am thinking might need to be dumped (it hasn't gotten better with aging and the recipe needs a rework), the Imperial Stout has not carbed after 6 months in the bottle and is too sweet, and the Barleywine is good, but will probably be amazing by Christmas.

I am thinking of dropping a couple grains of Red Star Champagne Yeast into each bottle of the Imperial Stout. Good idea? Bad idea? Alternatives?
 
So Friday at the school's tailgate, I supplied my coworkers with: British IPA, Stout, Imperial Stout, and Barleywine.

The British IPA went over well, though I am not as happy with it as I could be (aren't we our worst critics?) as I think it needs more aroma hops, the Stout I am thinking might need to be dumped (it hasn't gotten better with aging and the recipe needs a rework), the Imperial Stout has not carbed after 6 months in the bottle and is too sweet, and the Barleywine is good, but will probably be amazing by Christmas.

I am thinking of dropping a couple grains of Red Star Champagne Yeast into each bottle of the Imperial Stout. Good idea? Bad idea? Alternatives?
That should carbonate it but it might dry it on down. It will ferment very dry and produce a compact sediment. ... Alcohol Tolerance: 12% For Soda Making : To create carbonation in the bottle. Notes : Red Star Pasteur Blanc (formerly known as 'champagne' yeast) is a strong fermenter with good ethanol tolerance, and ...
 
Too much stuff, not even time for more than one picture lol. Disassembled and cleaned two kegs with pbw, transferred my RIS from secondary, cleaned my secondary fermenter, roasted my raw cacao nibs, and then soaked them in vodka for the RIS keg.
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Got a high ABV RIS put to bed. Pitched yeast last night, got the ferm freezer set for a long, slow ferment. Got a stuck ferment on a Scotch ale, trying everything to get the FG down.

Just upped the temp on my fermentation freezer, for an RIS that is winding down. Preparing vodka tinctures of cacao, vanilla and cinnamon for secondary.

Nursing along a batch of hi test RIS, on 5th day with active krausen. Doing very well for something of this ABV. Will pull a gravity sample later today. Or maybe not. Doing good, leave it alone. Hmmm.....

This RIS is amazing me! Still chugging along. Pitched 2 tbs (23g) of US-05 on 10-8, still have krausen on day 7. OG was 1.106, yesterday down to 1.035, and still rockin!
 
I just dumped a batch of Scotch ale for the same problem. Do what you gotta do.

So Friday at the school's tailgate, I supplied my coworkers with: British IPA, Stout, Imperial Stout, and Barleywine.

The British IPA went over well, though I am not as happy with it as I could be (aren't we our worst critics?) as I think it needs more aroma hops, the Stout I am thinking might need to be dumped (it hasn't gotten better with aging and the recipe needs a rework), the Imperial Stout has not carbed after 6 months in the bottle and is too sweet, and the Barleywine is good, but will probably be amazing by Christmas.

I am thinking of dropping a couple grains of Red Star Champagne Yeast into each bottle of the Imperial Stout. Good idea? Bad idea? Alternatives?
 
Ignored the one in the ferment fridge. Had intended to taste it today (Strata SMaSH) but life, work, and nap got in the way. Dropped the dry hop on Thursday, next available time to taste it will be Wednesday. For once the pipeline is full, so can let this one go a bit longer. And looked into a competition coming up, would have to join AHA to enter (yikes $$) but I'm tempted. The latest lager and the NB Blonde I have on tap would do well. Brewpub owner friend is pushing me to enter as many competitions as I can to get my beers out there and noticed, but I'm chicken.
I got three ribbons at the Wa State Fair last year, and this March got a 2nd place medal in Cascade Cup for my lager; I guess I'm not just chicken, I'm lazy too. Have to clean bottles (I keg), get the bottle filler set up, fill out forms, pay money, and schlep the entries to the dropoff site. Yep I'm lazy too.
 
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