What I did for beer today

[BrewMan13]

Prepped for brewing tomorrow, picked up a ton of stuff at the LHBS, kegged and tapped the oatmeal stout.

 

[seatazzz]

So the seller of my kegerator had three sixers in it; they made it look smaller in the pics. Get it home, lines replaced (off topic, is there an EASY way to get beer line on a barb???), and finally got my only two kegs with beer in them, in it...and made a discovery. I can fit SIX CORNIES IN THIS THING IF I WANT TO. Holy crap. Sorely tempted to add just one more tap, which would mean I have to brew more...what a horrible thing. WOOHOO!!!

 

[orionol73]

Don't leave us hanging dude, what kind?

Centennial that I received in my YVH Hops Box subscription!

 

[ba-brewer]

(off topic, is there an EASY way to get beer line on a barb???)

Put the end in some hot water then work quick to get it in place. Heat up the barb to keep it from cooling the tubing too quickly.

 

[aharri1]

Brewing a 12% barleywine that will go in an empty brandy barrel and then on vanilla beans

 

[seatazzz]

Put the end in some hot water then work quick to get it in place. Heat up the barb to keep it from cooling the tubing too quickly.

Yep do all that, and it still takes about 15 tries to get the damn thing started...not to mention making holes in my thumbs. Arrrgh.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Brewing a 12% barleywine that will go in an empty brandy barrel and then on vanilla beansView attachment 680876
View attachment 680877

Sounds wonderful! May suggest you wait and taste it before committing to vanilla, the barrel may give it enough vanilla tones.

 

[501irishred]

Yep do all that, and it still takes about 15 tries to get the damn thing started...not to mention making holes in my thumbs. Arrrgh.

Boiling water, not just hot. Submerge just enough to fit over the barb, leaving the section just beyond solid enough to help push it on.
A little more time soaking is way easier than standing on top of a connector, beating a hose with a 10 pound hammer. If you can’t pinch the tube closed with your fingers, it’s not soft enough yet.

 

[ba-brewer]

Yep do all that, and it still takes about 15 tries to get the damn thing started...not to mention making holes in my thumbs. Arrrgh.

Normally hot water from the tap is enough to soften the plastic. What size tubing and barbs?

If you use flare type fittings you can use a quick disconnect as a handle to help push them on. The force is in the palm and not your thumb.

On a removable tap shank connection end you can heat it up then slam the flat side down on a piece of wood to get the tubing on further.

 

[aharri1]

Sounds wonderful! May suggest you wait and taste it before committing to vanilla, the barrel may give it enough vanilla tones.

Good call!!

 

[JAReeves]

Bottled SWMBO's Viognier. Racked the mead onto K-Meta and K-Sorbate for aging. Moved the latest PA to keg for dry-hopping. Decided to check on the Winter Spice Ale that tasted like a$$ at Christmas (it was young). I wanted to either keep it or dump it; and apparently it tasted good now (according to people who like that sort of thing), so I put it back on gas so it can carb and get in bottles next week. Cleaned. Cleaned some more. Cleaned a little bit more. Oh yeah, I cleaned the whole brewery.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Added maple syrup to an oatmeal stout and started collecting bacon fat for a tincture.

 

[Dave Sarber]

Put some more in the fridge.

After a siesta, need to wash a couple cases of bottles, and bottle my BigBrew2020 tripel.

 

[seatazzz]

Got one of the new burners installed on the brewstand, that my former brewboss had built for me out of angle iron about 2.5 years ago. The original burners just weren't strong enough, but these (only one of which has been installed so far) are rated for 200,000IBU and heated up 3 gallons of dead cold water to strike temp in about 8 minutes. Still need to hit up the hardware store for some needle valves so I can run one tank off my splitter, but next weekend (going camping this weekend) it will be on like donkey kong. Cannot wait to put my camp stove away and brew on this baby. Gonna attach my pump to it via straps and not step on it anymore.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

I just ordered some more base malt, from More Beer, as local availability is dwindling.

 

[bracconiere]

I just ordered some more base malt, from More Beer, as local availability is dwindling.

60lb's, and 5 of crystal 40L......they say it won't be here untill the 3rd...and today i kegged up my experimental wheat beer...10 gallons, or 9...

only have about a gallon or so left in this keg, and one other of cider....figuring 4-5 days to ferment after the 4th....damn, better put this 10 gallons of apple juice in the fermenter now....

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

60lb's, and 5 of crystal 40L......they say it won't be here untill the 3rd...and today i kegged up my experimental wheat beer...10 gallons, or 9...

only have about a gallon or so left in this keg, and one other of cider....figuring 4-5 days to ferment after the 4th....damn, better put this 10 gallons of apple juice in the fermenter now....

I don’t have a lack of beer, but I see supply dwindling and prices rising so with this order and what I have on hand, I should be pretty good until the end of the year, many more if fall events end up canceled.

 

[grampamark]

I just ordered some more base malt, from More Beer, as local availability is dwindling.

I ordered base malts from Morebeer yesterday, as well. Two-row, Pilsner and Munich. The projected delivery date is June 4. I have enough to brew a couple more batches so I don’t think the pipeline will go dry. Also ordered more Magnum and Willamette from YVH.

 

[Joshua Hughes]

Bottling a Best Bitter this evening.

 

[bracconiere]

I don’t have a lack of beer, but I see supply dwindling and prices rising so with this order and what I have on hand, I should be pretty good until the end of the year, many more if fall events end up canceled.

welp, if that's the case...guess my return to 'buying' malt was short lived, exactly the reason i learned how to do it myself.....

 

[seatazzz]

Took a half day today and brewed for the first time on the new improved brew stand. Burners did great, and having the pump out of the way was awesome. Took about the same amount of time to get to strike temp as it did on the camp stove, so when it came time for boiling I thought I had a bit more time...nope, epic boilover! Had to ramp it down a bit but still managed a nice rolling boil. Next weekend gonna do two more so that new kegerator doesn't look so empty....

 

[kmarkstevens]

I kegged a dark mild and spunded it. Also kegged a historic 1922 Camden S. My LHBS has plenty of grains for the apocalypse, and has been doing solid business as he is classified as "essential". One side effect of covid is there are brewers that haven't touched their rigs in years coming back to the fold, and a bunch of new brewers with time on their hands.

I have a stout ready to go. Also going to try biscuit as a base grain for an ordinary bitter just for fun.

 

[letsallgoforasoda]

I decided to start kegging after my bottle helper (kid) went on strike.
ordered 2 keg starter kit and a co2 tank.

 

[Joshua Hughes]

Today I’ll make sure I got stuff cleaned and ready to brew a Belgian Golden Strong Ale tomorrow.
brewed a Bitter yesterday so doing a lot of temp watching today. I put carboys in a yeti cooler. It does well for my always small batches.

 

[Joshua Hughes]

I ordered base malts from Morebeer yesterday, as well. Two-row, Pilsner and Munich. The projected delivery date is June 4. I have enough to brew a couple more batches so I don’t think the pipeline will go dry. Also ordered more Magnum and Willamette from YVH.

I think they are starting to speed back up I ordered and received within 5 days this week from them Came earlier than they said

 

[JAReeves]

I wanted to brew this weekend, however, it looks like there is no way the state is going to let us bring students on campus even to just pick up their diplomas. So tomorrow and Sunday I will be driving all over Los Angeles delivering paperwork and best wishes to my graduating seniors. I feel for their parents who don't get to see the diploma walk.

What'd I do for beer? I did buy a 60# Vittle Vault and a 55# bag of 2Row from my LHBS. But other than that, I'm just drinking home-brew and building recipes. It's all about my students this week.

 

[Ridenour64]

Cleaned my draft lines!

 

[Elric]

Went to the backyard and picked fresh spruce tips for the Pale ale I am going to brew tomorrow morning. Looking forward to it!

 

[BrewMan13]

The handles on my cooler mashtun broke off last year, so been dealing with it ever since. Been hemming and hawing about what to get next, but finally remembered I had an old cooler I wasn't using. So converted that today, and no leaks! Also checked out the keggle that was gifted to me by running some water through it, seems to be ok. Not often I'll be doing double batches, but glad to have the option.

 

[wetmk]

Prepared a Bell's yeast starter. Two Hearted and Oberon next up.