What I did for beer today

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The Yeast for the Dubbel I brewed was a beast and I already reached full attenuation so I bottled that this morning. Had some errands to run in the afternoon and when I got back brewed up a small 1 gallon batch of a double IPA to use some falconers flight hops I have had sitting around for a while.
 
Got a brew day in, made a Maris Otter-Azacca SMaSH. Last time I did this, I drank 5 gallons in a week. It was tasty! I hope that I managed to eliminate the infection that killed my last two brews, wherever it might have been in the process. Spent a lot of time today in between the brewing steps cleaning, boiling, and cleaning some more.
 
Bottled a pale lager
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And brewed a citra pils
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I think it’s time to go back to amber and dark brews for awhile...
 
Are you bretting it?
Not this time. Using my 3 yeast blend I came up with of wyeast 3711, 3724, and metschnikowia reukaufii wildflower yeast. I do have a fantome bottle I grew yeast in that I plan to do because it has brett. I need to buy some hoses and a fermenter for brett only though to be on the safe side for next time !
 
Got into the brew rig pulling ball valves and pump heads for inspection and cleaning as needed. Valves (so many valves!) were all in great shape, and while the hlt pump was pristine inside, the wort pump head needed some cleaning - and I doubt that thrust washer would have made it through the next brew day. Definitely got my money's worth out of it though :D

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[edit] Also filled a pair of propane tanks, gave my Hopblocker the hot PBW treatment, got a big 1056 starter going...and poured a pale ale :)

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We were planning to have friends over this weekend but it fell through last minute; before we cancelled I did something that might have turned out stupid. Brewed a WF lager last Saturday, and with the pipeline being low for guests to sample, kegged it after SIX days in the fermenter. Yes, six. Was drinking a bit Thursday night during kegging so really didn't think it through, didn't test for FG or even taste it. Just pulled a well-carbonated (and slightly hazy from gunk) sample, and it tastes just fine, no different from the last one that sat in the fermenter for 2 weeks. Next up for the taster glass is the El Dorado IPA I did two weeks ago; that one I DID taste, didn't get a very good impression of it but eager to see what carbonation did.
 
Tapped my mini fridge today. I was using picnic taps since I sold my old keezer build, but they all broke this week. I guess they only last about 3 years and countless brews hahaha. I had some shiny taps laying around so I plugged them one into my fridge and now I got cold beer right outside my front door next to my bbq!
 
Ordered a "life-time" supply of o-rings from McMaster-Carr for my four ball-lock kegs.

1. Dip Tube: X-Profile, Oil-Resistant, Buna-N O-Ring, Black, 1 pack of 100, 3/32" Fractional Width, Dash Number 109, 90025K368. $7.78

2. Gas Post: High-Temperature, High-Purity Silicone O-Ring, Red,1 pack of 50, 3/32" Fractional Width, Dash Number 111, 9396K24. $9.09

3. Liquid Post: Oil-Resistant, Buna-N O-Ring, Black, 1 pack of 100, 3/32" Fractional Width, Dash Number 111, 9452K23. $2.78

4. Lid: Oil-Resistant, Buna-N O-Ring, Black, 1 pack of 10, 1/4" Fractional Width, Dash Number 417, 9452K218. $14.23

Total $33.88, not including shipping and tax.
 
Yesterday, moved the Azacca SMaSH to a keg and dry hop. Taster was delicious, should come in about 4.5%. The last 2-5 gallons I brewed had nasty infections, and after cleaning everything, I think I can ID it as having been in the fermenter somewhere (thank you to everyone who helped me Find the Bug!); learning to take apart and clean ball valves was a good thing.

Also brewed a Hop Leftovers APA to drop onto the freed-up yeast cake. It was humming along like a machine gun in 15 minutes! For bittering: Comet, Galena, Saaz; For flavor: Mt. Hood, Willamette; For aroma: Azacca, El Dorado, Huell Melon, Sterling. I'm hoping for another unicorn, but I'll take a pegasus.
 
Kegged my small batch (1 gallon) double ipa today. Glad it was a small batch as my brilliant plan for containing the hop matter didn't work out and my transfer clogged almost right away and I went from closed transfer to purged keg to probably the most oxygenated transfer I've had since I started brewing a year ago. I'll just have to drink it all quickly before oxidation takes too much of a toll on it. Also back to my old methods of dryhopping!
 
Pitched Darkness into my Irish Dry Oatmeal Stout, and it's happily fermenting away.

Ordered 10# chevalier mailt last friday from Houston. Nice brewshop folks with a good price on the gains, but called to let me know the shipping rates was for local to the area. Guy then called around and found shipping that was only slightly more expensive than then grain cost. :eek: I went for it anyway since a) I really want to try this heritage English grain and b) all the other sources I've found were about 2x what I'm paying now. Planning to brew a straight chevalier malt bill at 154F, 1040 OG, First Gold hops and see how it comes out. If feeling ambitious, I'll do a maris otter equivalent for a SMASH off.
 
What I did for beer over the weekend. I've been putting in a lot of hours at work so i took a scenic drive up to Vermont. I had gotten into AG just before the NE hazy explosion. Mill, pumps and connections. Not having a brewstand was a pita and the availability of fresh brews put it on hold.

Got a great deal in the for sale forum and she's found a forever home. Great brews and bbq too. I was doing some good stouts and lagers at the end. Ready to start up again
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Yesterday, moved the Azacca SMaSH to a keg and dry hop. Taster was delicious, should come in about 4.5%. The last 2-5 gallons I brewed had nasty infections, and after cleaning everything, I think I can ID it as having been in the fermenter somewhere (thank you to everyone who helped me Find the Bug!); learning to take apart and clean ball valves was a good thing.

Also brewed a Hop Leftovers APA to drop onto the freed-up yeast cake. It was humming along like a machine gun in 15 minutes! For bittering: Comet, Galena, Saaz; For flavor: Mt. Hood, Willamette; For aroma: Azacca, El Dorado, Huell Melon, Sterling. I'm hoping for another unicorn, but I'll take a pegasus.
I've never had any luck using more than 3 or maybe 4 different hops max.
Hope it turns out well.

I dry hopped my golden promise/rye west coast ipa today. Love being able to do o2 free dry hops. Gonna do another in 3 days.
 
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Pulled my office keg out of the refrigerator at work to check on things. Got tired of those 16 gram cartridges and leaky cheap regulators. My "real beer CO2 regulator" with a 74 gram cartridge is still working great after 2 months in the 'fridge!View attachment 719287
SpaceX will put that into orbit for you pretty cheap...
 
Yeasterday I went to my "local" LHBS(bout 20 minutes on the highway, homebrew stores are not that common here...) and got 10kg of maris otter, 1kg brown malt, 1kg of UK chocolate malt, they had appearantly stopped carrying Crystal150 so I have to look on the webz for that, oxygen scavenging caps and a pack each of wlp005 and MJ m42.
The m42 is for an oatmeal stout and the 005 for my ESB that I have to rebrew soon since my latest batch of it is drying out.
Tonight I'm gonna make a 2L starter on wlp007 for a british strong ale me and my dad are gonna brew on sunday, am gonna try some of the invert #3 i cooked awhile ago in it. And try the oxygen scavenging caps since I plan on storing this one about 3 months before I even start trying them.
 
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Got my hands on WLP006 vault strain. Here I am, on one hand trying to thin out my yeast herd, on the other picking up new strains.

Using it for a Wells Bombardier clone tonight.

WlP006 is one of the vault strains I really like, decent attenuation and nice mix of ester and diacetyl. I have a 1gal batch of best bitter fermenting with it now.

I got behind on slant cycling and was over 13months since I used wlp006, I thought it was a goner. The new slants I made looked like streaked plates, just isolated colonies instead of filled in areas.

I am in the same boat I used to have 26 strains and got it down to 20, I think something like 10 or 12 might be more manageable.
 
Lessee...got my first Moderna vaccination :) , filled two kegs, cleaned two carboys, measured out grains for tomorrow morning's grind and salts for the kettles and loaded the brew rig with RO water for a single malt wcipa brew. Using up a bag of organic two row base malt from Hadley, MA ("Valley Malts").
Will decide to either gap the mill tighter or just double-crush the malt as this "organic" stuff while flavorful runs smaller than every other base malt I use...

Cheers! ( "First Homebrew World Problems" :D)
 
Transferred my saison to the keg onto some sugar water. I'm trying carb conditioning in the keg for the first time. Figured it would work well for this style. Shooting for 3.8 vol.
In my experience with just try sugar water in the keg.
1. pull on the vent to see if air is escaping (natural carbonation). Should be substantial build up
2. remember that when the temperature drops, the carbonation (gas in solution) also drops
3. There are ~4-8 pints that are really good
4. It may be over carbonated to start with. You can vent the keg or put up with overly foamy beer
5. Once the natural carbonation drops, then turn on the gas to 10-15 psi depending on preference
A spunding valve may help to dial it all in, but just dumping in sugar works reasonably well. ;)

This evening, I
- kegged 5 gallons Old Laxey Brewing: Bosun Bitter Clone with WLP006. Have about a gallon left and will bottle that tomorrow
- Kegged 5 gallons Irish Dry Oat Stout, and bottled 2 liter bottles for an Irish friend. I used Darkness yeast on this baby.
- Kegged 2.5 gallons of Tony's 1979 Boddington with Notty and bottled 2 liter bottles
 

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Did a gravity reading on my irish stout this aft. Either still needs some time or it stalled out. Will give it some more time and check again. Taste of the sample was right on though, so even if it stays where it is I will be more than happy with it.
 
Finally got some chalkboard pens. The chalkboard paint on the side of my kegerator isn’t really textured enough for regular chalk. I repainted the area above the faucets to make it a little taller and then installed the chalkboard tap handles my daughter had given me for Father’s Day last year. My tap list is a lot more legible now. I have an Altbier that will be kegged this weekend and a Cream Ale that will be kegged next week.
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Finally got some chalkboard pens. The chalkboard paint on the side of my kegerator isn’t really textured enough for regular chalk. I repainted the area above the faucets to make it a little taller and then installed the chalkboard tap handles my daughter had given me for Father’s Day last year. My tap list is a lot more legible now. I have an Altbier that will be kegged this weekend and a Cream Ale that will be kegged next week.View attachment 721068
Looks good! Chalk pens are the shiznit, write on anything and just wipe off. I've had some issues with some of the darker colors on my chalkboard paint, but some Mr Clean and it comes right off.
 
Brewing up another WF lager this morning with more light Munich than last time, for the heck of it. Also finally ordered 8gb of RAM to replace the 4gb currently in the brewery laptop; should have done it years ago. Hopefully it will let me run more programs without crashing. This model laptop (about 6 years old) has a max capacity of 8gb or I would have ordered 16, mama needs a new laptop sometime this year.
 
Second dry hop for my most recent west coast IPA. 1.25oz chinook and 2.5oz centennial.
I could easily fit 5oz
I'm glad I just used the 1.5" tc port and didn't blow money using the 4"!
 

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Went to the LHBS to rustle up the grains and ingredients for a 5 gallon Czech premium lager. 1st time I was in the supply store since Sept. Didn't recognize the owner and his helpers their hair had grown so long! Thought the store had been bought out by metal headbangers ! 1st week they opened their tap room back up but I'm not ready for that kind of crowd yet. Drink mine at home alone. This is the only time in history you can be a solitary drinker and not be chastised!!! 🍻
 
Walked to the LHBS to swap a CO2 tank, pick up some yeasts (Dry English Ale, S-05, and Napoleon), and get some Carapils. I have been reading "The New IPA: Scientific Guide to Hop Aroma and Flavor" by Scott Janish, and so I am going to experiment with adding under modified malt to accentuate some of the hop flavors in my PA's and IPA's.
 
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