What I did for beer today

[seatazzz]

Got to make my first in-person visit to my usual LHBS today, and bought not only what I came for (full bag of 2-row and some light munich) but also some root beer extract. Trying my hand today at some hard root beer, just for the heck of it. Waiting now on the sugar water (aka prison hooch) to boil down before cooling, then will rack into the old carboy with some champagne yeast and see what happens. Fun!!

 

[Bramling Cross]

I've been kinda lazy recently. The weather has turned nice, so I've been working on my car.

I tapped a keg of Dark Mild w/ Invert #3 (see the awesome collaborative thread here) and a keg of German Pils today.

The German Pils benefited from a fresh bag of Barke Pils and a spectacularly good shipment of hallertauer mittelfrüh. It's a nice beer and I'd be hard pressed to make a better example--the hops are phenomenal and Barke Pils is as good as ever. Nevertheless, after a year spent diving deep, really, really deep into the ribald joy of CAP, it leaves something to be desired.

It's like driving a modern BMW with an electric rack and a turbo four-banger or a chronically plowing AUDI. It's impressive as hell, but where's the fun? If there's no fun, then what's the point?

Call me a cretin, but I'm all-in on the crude, un-refined joys of corn, Clusters, and free-breathing six-cylinders that send power to the back axle.

 

[Novacor]

Got a bonus at work so I went to my LHBS (first time in person in a year!) and bought myself something shiny.

I also picked up another corny keg and a few more odds and ends while I was there. Felt good to be able to browse again.

 

[ba-brewer]

Dry hopped an IPA. Also started cold crashing a german pilsner. The german pilsner I split in two and fermented both parts with WLP925 high pressure lager yeast, but half I did under pressure warm(mid 60s) and the other half cold no pressure to compare results. Moved the pressure half to the cooler to start lagering.

 

[zacster]

I just put my Hoppy American Amber into my secondaries for cold crashing. Both bottles are the same, they just fit nice and square into my fridge, I'll recombine them in the keg.

 

[VikeMan]

Australian Sparkling Ale FG sample. Yeah, it's pretty dry.

 

[Novacor]

So after showing my wife the new Anvil fermenter that I bought yesterday, she gave me the greenlight to go and pick up the cooling system

Going to brew up a red IPA tomorrow, I'll post more pics when I get everything set up.
Going to spend the rest of the day cleaning and passivating the new fermenter, then weigh out and mill my grain for tomorrow.

 

[orionol73]

Added a shelf and Organized the cellar

 

[JAReeves]

Added a shelf and Organized the cellar
View attachment 723807

Wow. You have an actual cellar! Here in SoCal, we don't do cellars/basements; we do troll closets (under the stairs).

 

[TheEagleRising]

Tried out my Brew Boss COFI filter setup while brewing my NEIPA I'm gonna call Hobo Sex Fight

 

[BeerAndTele]

Brewed a simple American Pale Ale yesterday (2 row, a little crystal, and a bunch of Cascade) ...

BUT ... I split the batch into 2 fermenters, pitching WLP001 Cal Ale yeast into one and WLP007 Dry English Ale yeast into the other. I've made good beers with both before but never tasted them side-by-side (with all other variables the same) before.

I believe they do similar things at the White Labs Kitchen & Tap in Asheville, NC.

 

[Tancred the Brewer]

Checked on the fermentation temp of the American Barleywine and American Pale Ale I parti-gyled on Saturday. Both are bubbling away fine at 68* which is right where I want them. The third airlock in the back is a Cider I transferred to a secondary on Saturday. It is bubbling too so I must have resurrected some yeast in the process.

 

[danimal92sport]

Brewed a simple American Pale Ale yesterday (2 row, a little crystal, and a bunch of Cascade) ...

BUT ... I split the batch into 2 fermenters, pitching WLP001 Cal Ale yeast into one and WLP007 Dry English Ale yeast into the other. I've made good beers with both before but never tasted them side-by-side (with all other variables the same) before.

I believe they do similar things at the White Labs Kitchen & Tap in Asheville, NC.

Beer and Teles are my two passions Bought my first Tele when I was 13 and it sits right by my home office desk.



Interested to hear the results of your experiment!

Dan

 

[VikeMan]

Beer and Teles are my two passions Bought my first Tele when I was 13 and it sits right by my home office desk.

Now that you're a grownup, give a Les Paul a try.
Jus' kiddin'

 

[danimal92sport]

Now that you're a grownup, give a Les Paul a try.
Jus' kiddin'

Had one years ago in college, loved it and Will own another.

I digress.

Dan

 

[JAReeves]

Since the Centennial and Eroica (already cut bull shoots on the Eroica) were peeking, I decided to scrape some dirt and see how everyone else was doing. Cascade, Old Mission, Shaddock, Crystal, and Nugget are getting ready. At least I know they are alive! This weekend I am going to have to put up the twine from the roof to the roots. I also have several Muscat grapevines that are shooting out leaves and branches. Patsy! I must have fruit!

 

[Novacor]

Brewed a red IPA and got the new Anvil temperature control set up.

 

[fourfarthing]

Added a shelf and Organized the cellar
View attachment 723807

“that’s somebody that doesn’t drink” - my wife

if only she knew

 

[wetmk]

Brewed a simple American Pale Ale yesterday (2 row, a little crystal, and a bunch of Cascade) ...

BUT ... I split the batch into 2 fermenters, pitching WLP001 Cal Ale yeast into one and WLP007 Dry English Ale yeast into the other. I've made good beers with both before but never tasted them side-by-side (with all other variables the same) before.

I believe they do similar things at the White Labs Kitchen & Tap in Asheville, NC.

Congrats! You made two beers instead of one! Such a fun hobby.

 

[kmarkstevens]

BUT ... I split the batch into 2 fermenters, pitching WLP001 Cal Ale yeast into one and WLP007 Dry English Ale yeast into the other. I've made good beers with both before but never tasted them side-by-side (with all other variables the same) before.

Cool, a straight yeast off. Funny how one's perception of a yeast can be completely out of whack during a blind taste test. I have also found that a yeast off is good to do on a more complex beer than a straight SMASHY. An English porter I tested had WLP085 stripping out chocolate notes that the S-04 and Whitbread left in.

White Labs tasting room in San Diego showcases their yeasts, but as I remember from my one quick visit, did not have side by side split batch comparisons.

 

[kmarkstevens]

Since the Centennial and Eroica (already cut bull shoots on the Eroica) were peeking, I decided to scrape some dirt and see how everyone else was doing. Cascade, Old Mission, Shaddock, Crystal, and Nugget are getting ready. At least I know they are alive! This weekend I am going to have to put up the twine from the roof to the roots. I also have several Muscat grapevines that are shooting out leaves and branches. Patsy! I must have fruit!

nice collection! We've had a bit of a false spring in Seattle most likely to be followed by grey drizzle until the 5th of July. That said, I went out today and saw bull shoots for Northern Brewer, Tettnanger and Willamette. The East Seattle Goldings have not come out yet.

I haven't figured out the optimal time to let the shoots go in my area. What I did last year and probably do again this year is:
1 April - let one non bull shoot bine start to train for each hop
15 April - let the second bine go

These go up decorative trellis' on the southern facing side of the house. I've found that more than two bines ends up being bushy and prolly not as good of a yield.

 

[aharri1]

Sample of my Azacca, El Dorado, and Galaxy hazy. 2nd dry hop and spunding valve have been on for a few days. Taste and smells ready! Transferring it to the keg tomorrow

 

[Bramling Cross]

I learned that Sharkbite fittings (certainly not my first choice, but it was the only thing available at the Ace hardware near work) do not work with silicone tubing.

Like any good homebrewer, I shrugged off yet another eight bucks squandered on so-called "professionally made" components and spent two hours learning how to use a zip-tie to constrict a silicone hose to achieve my needed gpm throughput.

Easy peasy.

 

[BrewZer]

It's bottling day for my Against the Grain AG BIAB APA. That means:

1. soak and rinse bottles
2. disassemble bottling valve, disinfecting it, reassembling and reinstalling on bottling bucket
3. soak and rinse bottling bucket
4. soak and rinse transfer tubing
5. soak and rinse bottling wand and tubing
6. clear the workspace in the kitchen
7. boil the bottling sugar
8. decant the beer into the sugary bottling bucket
9. fill the bottles
10. cap the bottles
11. celebrate by finishing off my remaining bottle of Seasonal Saisonal
12. CLEAN UP

1 - 7 are done already, and I'm waiting for Assitent Braufraulein to wake up so we can proceed thru the list.

I might switch numbers 11 and 12 especially since 21 oz of 8% ale on an empty stomach will likely put me in low earth orbit.

ETA: All done. Except for number 11, which I just started. I will lock up my keyboard before I get too far into it, just to avoid "drunk posts."

 

[3 Dawg Night]

Forgot to update last night:

Made my starter (WLP001) for a blonde ale I'm brewing on Saturday.

 

[ba-brewer]

I keg my IPA and other half of my lager experiment the day before yesterday. The wlp925 high pressure yeast seems to be both a tight flocker and a fluffy one. Normally I would make use of the yeast cake for another beer but I decided to start a starter of WLP835 Lager X.

Yesterday I brewed up a Best Bitter and slit it, fermenting half with Verdant IPA yeast and Brewlabs Culler Coats.

Today I am watching bubbles, the Culler Coats is already bubbling away but the verdant is not. Crashing my Lager X starter.

 

[bracconiere]

to try to be an anti-hero, i'm heating strike water....

edit: damn, i was looking at this trying figure out how many 'days' it would last me....

Added a shelf and Organized the cellar
View attachment 723807

and now i'm letting my strike water cool down to strike temp.....

 

[aharri1]

Due to the massive amount of rain in Central Florida last year I pretty much got zero hops and the comet hops got root rot and died .
My triple perle is making a comeback though. I dug a slope away from the hops and threw in some gravel to hopefully mitigate that issue. I ordered a cashmere rhizome from Yakima to replace the comet. Tomatoes are coming up too! Also, I spun up a starter of my london ale III culture that's almost 2 years old. Surprisingly, it took off in about 2 mins!

 

[Bramling Cross]

I made a UK pale ale with Invert #2. It turned out nice and I'm eager to get it in a keg.

 

[JAReeves]

Dropped the hop twine from roof to crowns. Weeding the heck out of the garden. Trying to sell a beginners BIAB system so I can move around in my brewery.