Got my Tilt set up in the pale ale I brewed this afternoon. This thing is pretty sweet, although I'm worried that being able to check on my beer while I'm at work is going to be detrimental to my productivity..
Nice pint glass, VikeMan. I grew up on TPA (back when it was called The Home of Rock & Roll). In fact, I'm old enough to remember when they were located at 104.1, before WNNK came along. Jammin' Jeff Kauffman, Hawaiian Chris James, Kim Rodkey, Joanna London. Those were the days.Kegged a Dark Mild. Here's the end of xfer racking sample.
Renewed my subscription to Brew Your Own and put together a few recipes for Doppelbock then trashed them all. I'm torn between Doppelbock and Wee Heavy to brew along with my Czech Premium....decisions decisions.....
Hint -- you can get colored bottle caps to differentiate among bottle contents...View attachment 721466
Bottle primed a fat tire clone... not sure how close I got, but it tastes pretty good anyway.
Don't leave a brother hanging, man, what yeast are you propagating?Broke out the 2 liter erlenmeyer flask, stir plate and accessories to build my starter tomorrow morning for Friday's BIAB pitch.
Sorry -- WLP051 California Ale V. LHBS didn't have any Wyeast 2112, so I had to improvise and this was the closest I could find in their 'fridge.Don't leave a brother hanging, man, what yeast are you propagating?
If he's going to spend the money, he might as well go big or go not.Talked one of my ex Army buddies down in Georgia thru his first ever batch of HB beer ever, 2.5 gallon extract Nut Brown ale. Its taken me 6 months to get him to finally brew the gift kit I sent him. I think I've created a monster! A thousand questions . And he's already chomping at the bit on advise for the equipment for 3 and 4 gallon batches. Slow down brewing padawan!!! I stirred him toward a SPEIDEL 3.5 gal or an Anvil 4 gallon but advised him to hold off until he's fermented bottled and tasted this first batch! He was about to purchase a 5 gallon water container on Amazon to use as a 5 gallon fermenter !! Long and hard is the road that leads from no home brew experience purgatory to full kegs and stocked brew fridge Nirvana!!! Patience Padawan!
Yeah I hear you but I don't want him spending a lot for equipment that 6 months or a year later is just collecting dust in a storage room. My other hobby obsession is Astronomy and I've know too many people over the years who come into the field and right away have big scope fever and spend several thousand dollars getting the biggest computerized scope they can afford, thousands on astro cameras and telescope accessories and find out how heavy this stuff is and that yes you actually need to take the time to learn not only the equipment but understand to put it to use. They go out 3 or 4 times then it collects dust in a garage or basement for several years before they decide to sell it for far less then they paid. Just want to make sure he's bitten by the brewing bug and becomes a true home brew convert.If he's going to spend the money, he might as well go big or go not.
I have, in my stack of brewing kettles, a 4-gallon, a 6-gallon, an 8-gallon, and now my new 11-gallon. I wish I'd bought the 11-gallon right up front -- would have saved me all those other bucks I spent.
ETA: I washed my brew bag and new pot to get the manufacturing gunk out of them.
Grain is ready for milling,
Water's ready for spilling,
BIABag is ready for filling, and
Pot is ready for grilling.
Saw that deal and you are reading my mind. My next hot ticket item on my list is a 2 roller grain mill with Hopper ! Been doing all grain 12 years but always bought it crushed. Last 2 hot ticket items were a 50mm guide scope and monochrome guide camera...my 2nd obsession .Ordered a Hullwrecker 2-roller grain mill and base to celebrate Pi Day (3.14) a couple days early. Northern Brewer has a $20 off deal for orders over $100, so yes! With discount and tax, it was $115.55. I'll brew all-grain now, buy grains in bulk, and crush it to my specifications. The savings will pay for itself shortly, freeing up more $$$ to buy more brewing stuff to make even better home brew. Oh yea!
My worst-ever boil-over resulted in an epic mess, which was followed by an extensive cleaning of the stove. Afterwards, it never looked so good.Brewing up a random mix of leftover base malts and maybe a 15 minute boil, going to bottle the wort and pasteurize them for use with starters.
My last starter overflowed when I blinked... the wife wasn't/isn't happy with the condition of the stove. Frankly neither am I
On the bright side... easiest bottling day ever!
I just used my brand new Hullwrecker today. Holy Grist, Batman! That sucker works gr-r-r-r-r-r-eat! Ground it at .020 for BIAB, and I had wonderful efficiency. I was expecting OG of 1.058 I got 1.078!!Ordered a Hullwrecker 2-roller grain mill and base to celebrate Pi Day (3.14) a couple days early.
Look at it this way -- if he doesn't want to keep brewing, you could always offer to buy it off him at a slight discount for wear...Yeah I hear you but I don't want him spending a lot for equipment that 6 months or a year later is just collecting dust in a storage room. .... Just want to make sure he's bitten by the brewing bug and becomes a true home brew convert.
Yeah I hear you but I don't want him spending a lot for equipment that 6 months or a year later is just collecting dust in a storage room. My other hobby obsession is Astronomy and I've know too many people over the years who come into the field and right away have big scope fever and spend several thousand dollars getting the biggest computerized scope they can afford, thousands on astro cameras and telescope accessories and find out how heavy this stuff is and that yes you actually need to take the time to learn not only the equipment but understand to put it to use. They go out 3 or 4 times then it collects dust in a garage or basement for several years before they decide to sell it for far less then they paid. Just want to make sure he's bitten by the brewing bug and becomes a true home brew convert.
Saw that deal and you are reading my mind. My next hot ticket item on my list is a 2 roller grain mill with Hopper ! Been doing all grain 12 years but always bought it crushed. Last 2 hot ticket items were a 50mm guide scope and monochrome guide camera...my 2nd obsession .
I think I've created a monster!
Good ol' American ingenuity! Improvise , Overcome , Adapt !I just used my brand new Hullwrecker today. Holy Grist, Batman! That sucker works gr-r-r-r-r-r-eat! Ground it at .020 for BIAB, and I had wonderful efficiency. I was expecting OG of 1.058 I got 1.078!!
Look at it this way -- if he doesn't want to keep brewing, you could always offer to buy it off him at a slight discount for wear...
Cheers!
As for what I did to beer today -- my first BIAB all-grain experience went great! Ground and loaded about 13 lbs of mixed grains into the strike water, just a bit high, and the grains took the temps down to 154F. The reflectix wrap kept the water above 150 for the whole hour, and the boil went great (except I never got any large raft of foam on top, not even with the hop additions). However, I did learn a few key things.
1. Start with 8 gallons of water vice 7. Between boil off and the bag, I lost almost 3 gallons.
View attachment 722008
2. Raise my ladder up another 4 inches so the hanging bag will clear the kettle.
View attachment 722009
3. Tighten the chuck on the drill -- the drill was spinning on me, and it wore down a bit of the Hullwrecker drive shaft before I figured that out.
The whole process added about 45 minutes to the brewday, a small price to pay for the wort I got out of it.
View attachment 722010
Cleanup was easy -- the bag emptied cleanly and there were just a few stragglers to rinse out of it.
Oh, and I fixed a small leak in my copper IC, so I'm happy about that, too.
I have just over 4 gallons in the fermenter of my Against The Grain APA. I'll let y'all know how it works out. Initial impressions on the OG sample -- sweet, grainy (Asst Braumeister said "honey-oat Cheerios"). I know that'll ferment out.
You have. I have several of them and it makes life a lot more complicated than it should be. I'm not bellyaching, I wrote the previous sentence with a big smile on my face. It's a joy spreading the hobby
Don't waste your money sending them books. Why bother reading when they can just hit you up.
Just wait until your buddy starts getting a handle on things and starts hitting you up with the, "You said this, but I read on the internet..." questions. Then you've got the guy that refuses to give up goop brewing and refuses to switch to all grain that likes to point out that, "You said it would be cheaper!"
Yeah, you've created a monster. But it'll be fun!
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