What I did for beer today

[seanjwalker1]

Found out today I'm expected to work on Saturday, so brewday gets postponed to Sunday. Nothing beer-related today except drinking a few pints; had to go pack up my dad's clothes and things this afternoon with my mother in preparation for his move tomorrow to a new memory-care facility (he has Alzheimer's). Current location is run by some flakey individuals, seemed a great place when we first moved him there but he needs more than they can provide. New place is specifically geared towards residents with stage 2 & above dementia/alzheimers so we're hoping for something better.

Well bless your soul. Hard thing sometimes to deal with. Sending your way.

 

[Transamguy77]

Kegged 2.5 gallons of cider, made an Irish Stout, an Irish red, a dark mild and 5 gallons of skeeter pee. All the beer kits were from AIH and all extract. I have been busy with home projects and can’t brew all grain and so until I can this should hold me over.

 

[jcav]

Kegged my Vienna Lager today. Sample tasted very good even this green. I have high hopes for this one when it is finished lagering.

John

 

[JAReeves]

Yesterday called around until I found a replacement probe for my ink bird. It was too late to brew by the time I found one, so I just shared out some beer with the neighbors and sampled what is aging in the fermenters. The port has a solid vanilla flavor from the oak, and the sours are amazing. The apricot saison is funky but not tart, so I may need to add some sour culture to that one soon. The blackberry cider is amazing, the pear cider needs more pear, and the lager may have been infected, so I am on the wait-and-see with it. Tasted fine tho, the El Dorado hops are real nice, smooth mild bitterness, very dry and crisp.

 

[Immocles]

Laid off this week so it might be a brew heavy stretch of days before I go back in next Monday.
Today, I brewed a small batch red IPA. Been sitting on some viking red active malt for awhile now and finally able to use some of it up. Color seems to have a nice red tone (I cut it with some 2-row) to it, so Im excited to see it when its fermented and drops clear. Overshot my OG by a healthy six points though. Whoops...

 

[zacster]

Took a reading on my Hoppy Winter Ale and it was at 1.012, down from 1.055 and it is still going. It really went crazy in the fermenter and it was on the cool side at 64. I stuck the sample in my beer fridge and I'll taste it when the yeast drops out a bit. I'll give it 2-3 days more to take the next reading. I plan on dry hopping in a secondary for a week, or maybe go straight to keg and put the hops in a bag and drop them in.

I just did the taste and it is really nice, bittter with a nice hoppy taste. A little dry hopping will add a nice aroma too. It dropped pretty clear after only an hour or two in the fridge.

 

[KeizerBrewr]

Checked on my BGS today as it has been taking a carbonation nap(Day 14 yesterday). I'll be moving it to the cool garage to false lager for the rest of the month so that way I don't have anything weird happen and to let my parents have their spare tub back. The baby is due the 18th and the Wife is ready for her now. lol

 

[catdaddy66]

Bottled my Green Warrior APA... Got only 46 bottles but it's ok because it tastes great and came in at an FG of 1.004 for an abv% of 7.4!

 

[seatazzz]

Just tapped the WF Crystal Lager I kegged yesterday; helped the carbing by doing a bit of shake n roll last night. VERY impressed with this one; it's been 2.5 years since I've done a lager with Crystal, and now I remember why I like it so much. Delicious lager flavor, slight floral on the nose and flavor, just an all-around good beer. This one will go fast. Good thing I brewed another one yesterday....and waiting anxiously for the Amazon guy to deliver my new pump, want to play with it tonight.

 

[Elric]

Kegged the citra pale ale and peanut butter marshmallow imperial stout I had cold crashing. Then a bunch of fermenter cleaning while logged in making afterhours changes at work.

 

[ba-brewer]

Kegged my Cali Cream Ale lager. Pitched the yeast from that 3gal batch into a 10gal batch of Helles Lager I brewed today. Without being crashed I expect the yeast to be roaring in the morning.

 

[zacster]

2nd sample of my winter hoppy ale, down 2-3 points and now at 1.009. Pretty tasty so far. It is still active too so maybe a few more days till it stops. I think I'll transfer to secondary in my twin 3gal Better Bottles to dry hop and clear it in the fridge and then keg it. My keg is buried in the NYC snow at the moment. 6%abv at this point, another couple of points to drop will make it a little stronger.

 

[Novacor]

Spent some more time trying to convince my wife why I need a Ss Brewtech Brew Bucket.

 

[seatazzz]

Just attached the new pump to the old base (fit perfectly), got the connectors on it, now I'm waiting on 5g of water to boil to give it its first test run. Going to run boiling water through the plate chiller (both ways) to clean it good, and get the manufacturing oils out of the pump preparatory to brewday this weekend. Also it's fun to be doing something brew-related on a weeknight. And sipping (who am I kidding, it was a horrendous day at work, I'm chugging it) on the latest truly delicious WF lager that I kegged the other day. Husband is off to bowling practice since we finally got upgraded to stage 2, night to myself. Life is good, good, GOOD! Yes I'm gloating.

 

[ba-brewer]

Just attached the new pump to the old base (fit perfectly), got the connectors on it, now I'm waiting on 5g of water to boil to give it its first test run. Going to run boiling water through the plate chiller (both ways) to clean it good, and get the manufacturing oils out of the pump preparatory to brewday this weekend. Also it's fun to be doing something brew-related on a weeknight. And sipping (who am I kidding, it was a horrendous day at work, I'm chugging it) on the latest truly delicious WF lager that I kegged the other day. Husband is off to bowling practice since we finally got upgraded to stage 2, night to myself. Life is good, good, GOOD! Yes I'm gloating.

which pump did you go with?

Seeing how you are up in the Seattle area, have you used any of the Skagit malting Malts? Some look interesting and have wanted to try them but shipping cost was always, but now steinbart's in portland has reasonable rate so might try some.

 

[Immocles]

Spent some more time trying to convince my wife why I need a Ss Brewtech Brew Bucket.

How'd it go?!

 

[Novacor]

How'd it go?!

While I did make the case for the merits of stainless steel, the price tag is still going to be the biggest challenge to overcome. She did like when I pointed out that I could upgrade and get the cooling coils and make more of the lagers that she likes, but again that doubles the price tag.

 

[Immocles]

That’s how they get ya.

 

[Jhedrick83]

Ordered the inkbird ten controller and mat. Started to research mini fridges. Time to get serious about controlling fermentation temperature. About to go bottle a Belgian Tripel in about 20 minutes too.

 

[kmarkstevens]

Seeing how you are up in the Seattle area, have you used any of the Skagit malting Malts? Some look interesting and have wanted to try them but shipping cost was always, but now steinbart's in portland has reasonable rate so might try some.

This is going to not be helpful but I too am in the Seattle area. I've been to the Skagit valley or driven thru there dozens of times but haven't tried the malt. Skagit Valley is more famous for their tulips. My HBS doesn't carry this, but the HBS in Kenmore had some the last time I visited about 2 years ago. I'm actually just chiming in to say I recently discovered Steinbart's and think they are pretty awesome.

I bottled a yeast off between Pub, WLP085, S-04 and WLP017 on Saturday. At the same time, I spunded/kegged a London Porter clone with the leftovers of all 4 yeasts. This is one of my top 10 recipes although it may not be exactly replicating Long Porter (for example, it lacks brown malt, but I think brown malt tastes like ass) The resulting mélange tested for the first time today is pretty tasty. Gotta wait about 2 more weekends before taking the bottled yeast off to my LHBS.

I have discovered that a simple recipe to test different yeasts isn't enough. Sure, it will give an indication on yeast taste and effect. However, I recently found a mild yeast off that had bottle conditioned for a few months. The WLP085 had zero chocolate on my palate but the S-04 did. So, when culling the herd of my yeast bank, I've also added a more complex grain recipe to see how that turns out. Anyhoo, the suicide porter with 4 different yeast fermentations came out nicely.

 

[seatazzz]

which pump did you go with?

Seeing how you are up in the Seattle area, have you used any of the Skagit malting Malts? Some look interesting and have wanted to try them but shipping cost was always, but now steinbart's in portland has reasonable rate so might try some.

Haven't tried Skagit yet, it's a bit pricey. Jon at Jon's Homebrew in Puyallup carries them and has used them, says they're great. One of these days I'll buy a bag when I'm flush. Went with the MrBrew magnetic pump; ran for over 30 minutes last night with boiling water and not one hiccup. I'm very happy with it.

 

[zacster]

I just checked my hydrometer because it bothered me a bit to see my ale going down to 1.009 yesterday and it is still actively fermenting, not that it's a bad thing. It just didn't seem right. In plain water at 72 it is reading .996 so it is reading low. It doesn't change the ABV because both the post boil and post ferment reading adjust by the same amount but it does impact my brewhouse efficiency. This was a replacement hydrometer for the one I broke a few years ago but never gave it any thought as I didn't brew much in those years either.

I still need to let the brew finish fermenting in any case.

 

[Immocles]

Bottling day. First up was an Irish red ale. Should clear up nicely while conditioning. I think the color will poke out better at that point but otherwise satisfie

Second batch was a dopplebock. Super excited for this one! Comes in at 8.5% and tastes nice already, but I imagine it’ll only get better (and clearer!) with time. First time using S189

 

[seatazzz]

Sipping on some more lager, and building an IPA recipe for this weekend to inaugurate the new pump. Got plenty of hops, decided to go with Crystal & Mosaic on a nice two-row/pilsner/light Munich base with heavy hitting on the late additions/dry hop. Also contemplating how to convince the husband that I need a new laptop for the brewery; keyboard is getting wonky (the "n" just doesn't want to work, taking forever to type this). I use it for work as well, they won't pay for diddly so I need to find one myself.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Washed bottles, so I can package an amber ale tomorrow. A few of them will be going to a competition.

 

[Immocles]

Been brewing pretty dark or hoppy lately. Decided to brew a nice simple pale lager. It’s a hair higher gravity than I wanted, but I’ll live.

 

[Sunfire96]

Testing and sampling a kolsch and cider. Probably bottling the kolsch tomorrow

 

[Tom R]

That last photo makes my thumb hurt.

Here's a 100mL starter I'm just getting going from frozen WY1272.
I'll step it up twice more, then pitch into 5 gal.

 

[zacster]

I just put my AHS Hoppy Winter Ale into my twin Better Bottles to dry hop and cold crash in my fridge. OG was 1.055, FG is 1.008, 6.2%abv by my calc.

The Brooklyn EIPA bottles in the back are to drink until this gets ready, and I felt like I'll have enough left over from kegging to bottle a few. And here is the funny thing, that Vintage seltzer bottle is to hold the temp probe at a steady temp when I open the fridge. I place it underneath. The Better Bottles also have a well at the bottom (you see that in front) where I can put the probe between the two so it measures the fermentation for lagers pretty precisely. I don't need that since this is a secondary and it is already fermented.

 

[Jhedrick83]

Ordered my first Tilt today.