What I did for beer today

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Milled my own grain for the first time ever for an attempt at blue moon (waynes recipe). Then brewed it last night into this morning before the snow came in. Hit my OG spot on at 1.052 just waiting for the yeasties to start doing their thing.

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Milled my own grain for the first time ever for an attempt at blue moon (waynes recipe). Then brewed it last night into this morning before the snow came in. Hit my OG spot on at 1.052 just waiting for the yeasties to start doing their thing.

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Nice work! What fridge you using as a ferm chamber?

Dan
 
Kegged 5 gallons Mosaic IPA. OG = 1.066, FG 1.017 thus ABV ~ 6.4%. So S-04 yeast attenuation good at ~ 75%. Aroma of Mosaic hops with that tropical, fruity, and earthy characteristics excellent. Need space in Kegerator before chilling. Gonna drink some Kolsch and solve that issue!
 
Amarillo is a lot more forward hope, it goes to the grapefruit orange lime for me, while azzaca is mild but certainly I could smell the mango and peach, bit of grapefruit as well, chinook was pure grapefruit to me, it feels more earthy but I had no real smell comparison at the moment. Im new to brewing, on my 13th batch, experimentation is limited so to get a real "feel" on the hops, I think this experiment works well to get a hint of the hop profile, apart from the theory, with no need to brew a 5gal batch.
 
Last Black Friday, I bought two pounds of AIH's "Mystery Hops" (two lbs of 2oz packets of Yakima Hops that were obviously going past their sell by) because I can't keep track of all these new hops anymore and it seemed like a good way to force me to brew with (past their sell by date) new hops.

Which is a step forward for me because I liked all the old hops and hadn't gotten to know them all as much as I'd have liked and then, suddenly, there was this avalanche of new hops that tasted like fruits that used to puzzle me whilst looking at the Jelly Belly flavor card.

Twenty bucks well spent, I'd say.

Don't judge.

Tonight I tapped my first keg of Mystery Hop lager. Pils 70/Corn 20/rice 10, Magnum at 90, Motueka and Cashmere at whirlpool, both again as keg hops for 72hrs @32F.

Boy golly, that's different. I'm not sure how I feel about it. It's certainly a fun beer and there's enough magnum to keep it crisp, the corn's creaminess sets up the hops perfectly, and the rice keeps the stage clean for...hop flavors that suggest that this tried-and-true, ultra-clean grist tastes like a non-temp controlled fermentation.

I'll need to let this keg ride for a while. Currently, I'm not impressed by the IPL thing. I'd prefer some Simco and Sorachi Ace. At least you'd know your Pine-Sol lemon was cleanly fermented.
 
Cleaned a couple kegs and kegged my april marzen and my northern discovery golden ale. I decided to not naturally carbonate the marzen as the yeast was a bit sluggish.

My Kolsch turned into a warm fermented lager a few days back when I lost patients with the slow moving koln yeast and added 34/70. I made it to 36hr post pitch with no change in gravity. The gravity samples did have a sort of funny flavor to it but today it seemed quite clean, almost too clean.
 
Brewed up a foreign extra stout (nailing the mash temp and pH was followed by the propane tank running out for an undetermined amount of time as I grabbed a bite to eat between the 60 and 20min hop additions), then kegged the maibock. Dead simple recipe, but already has some nice malt depth. A bit of harshness on the finish I hope fades with some lagering. Also had previously kicked the imperial stout, cleaned the line, and tapped the latest version of my captured wild yeast beer.
 
Delivered some of the extra equipment I am selling, passed some beer to a neighbor, and jumped in feet-first into induction brewing. I should get the burners (1-3500w BK & 1-1800w) next week and can retire my propane tanks.

I suppose I should keep the burner and one tank in case I want to brew during a black-out, but what are the odds?

Trimmed at least a dozen extra shoots off my Centennial. It is a beast! I even cut half of it out and gave it to a buddy and it’s still trying to rule the world!
 
About to go do the final test/taste on the 2nd version of the hard root beer base; if this one is no good I'm giving up the idea. Also need to clean kegs for the lager & lemondrop blonde that are ready to go. On the handywoman front, helped the husband install the new house thermostat (last ditch before replacing the furnace, that's gonna be about 4 grand that we don't have), and cracked all the ice from the bottom of the house fridge, that was making the condenser fan make a horrible noise. Our old house fridge (which is now my most excellent ferment fridge) never had issues and it's over 16 years old, although I did have to replace the capacitor thingie with a 3-in-1 from Amazon; the current house fridge has had nothing but issues since we got it. Furnace is running great, house fridge stopped making the noise and is running fine, all is well with the world. Except I got my 2nd shot yesterday and my arm hurts like no mans business.
 
I planted a new comet rhizome today. My triple perle is in its third year, and my cashmere is new also. My comet died in its 3rd year. I learned a lot about downy mildew in Central Florida. It can run rapid fast. I plan to get some bamboo from the neighbor and put it in the ground with some twine going down.
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I made a white sorghum AK yesterday, and pitched with Darkness today. Also decided it might be a good idea to ferment it really dry, so added about 2 tbls koji to the fermentation chamder.

What seems to be a much more practical approach to gluten free brewing, also did a Chevallier malt ordinary bitter. Will pitch Pub tomorrow and add in some clarity ferm to make it gluten "free for all intents and purposes".
 
Running the 1st cleaning cycle through the new setup. Time to learn how to do all new things.

My assistant came out to help operate ball valves and pump.

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Looks like a shiny new SS Infusion tun? How are you liking it?

A few months ago, I nabbed a legacy model that was on sale. I didn't see the point of TC fittings on a mash tun and I like things that are on sale, so I decided that now was the time to buy. I'm used to the introduction of a new piece of equipment triggering a period of adjustment and compromise as I figure out its quirks and develop workarounds and process changes to accommodate its shortfalls.

I can't say that's been the case with the Infusion tun. It mashes in where it's supposed to mash in, holds temps supernaturally well, and that false bottom doesn't seem to know the meaning of a stuck sparge--although I'm certain I've jinxed myself (those were brave, no, dumb words for a man with a hefe on deck).

I started using the SS sparge arm last month and even that was entirely uneventful. In fairness, the attachment fitting for the sparge arm is either too clever by half or just plain half-assed, but that's the nature of sparge arms. All told, I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around a piece of brewing equipment that works without drama. While boring, it's awfully nice.

I hope you find yours to be as surprisingly good as I've found mine.
 
Where is this sideways bridge, and how do you stay on it???? LOL....

I tried to flip the picture around, but I suck.

I felt really guilty about taking that picture, but how often do you see that truck? At any rate, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge is infested with Virginia and Delaware drivers doing their best to be the cholesterol on our nation's arteries, so you have to try pretty hard to be the worst driver on that bridge.
 
Looks like a shiny new SS Infusion tun? How are you liking it?

A few months ago, I nabbed a legacy model that was on sale. I didn't see the point of TC fittings on a mash tun and I like things that are on sale, so I decided that now was the time to buy. I'm used to the introduction of a new piece of equipment triggering a period of adjustment and compromise as I figure out its quirks and develop workarounds and process changes to accommodate its shortfalls.

I can't say that's been the case with the Infusion tun. It mashes in where it's supposed to mash in, holds temps supernaturally well, and that false bottom doesn't seem to know the meaning of a stuck sparge--although I'm certain I've jinxed myself (those were brave, no, dumb words for a man with a hefe on deck).

I started using the SS sparge arm last month and even that was entirely uneventful. In fairness, the attachment fitting for the sparge arm is either too clever by half or just plain half-assed, but that's the nature of sparge arms. All told, I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around a piece of brewing equipment that works without drama. While boring, it's awfully nice.

I hope you find yours to be as surprisingly good as I've found mine.

I love the SS Mash Tun! I do fine-crush, batch sparging with a Wilser Bag as my filter and it's amazing. When I bought the new induction-ready kettles, pump, and plate chiller (from a guy quitting home brewing), I also received a 2nd 10G SS Mash Tun, so if anyone in Los Angeles (or willing to pay shipping) wants one, check my items in the "for sale" section.
 
Transferred my apple and sour cherry cider from fermenter to keg. 3 liters of apple juice, 1 liter of apple/sour cherry mix, a bunch of yeast nutrient and a spoonful of harvested voss kveik. Had a small glass left over at bottom of fermenter that i used for gravity reading and a sample. Really happy with how it tastes. Kveik fermented out clean and dry and there's lots of apple flavor while the cherry adds a bit of taste and a nice level of sour as well.
 
Cleaned a keg and refilled it. The keg had lost it's pressure so I replaced o-rings and the gas poppet. The beer I kegged was my dry kolsch yeast kolsch turned warm fermented lager. It did have a funny taste after it started fermenting but then it went away. Seemed to come back since I checked gravity last. Good news I can identify the funny flavor(and aroma), bad news it is green olives. Probably should of just dumped it but I am going to give it a few week to see if it turns not funny again.
 
Those things are huge. I’ve never received anything like that.
I was quite surprised too. I preordered them from Morebeer.com when I received noticed they were taking rhizome orders (1/26/21). I bought small Comet plants from Great Lakes last year but none of them survived. So I figured this year I would go with rhizomes. I’m happy with my order!
My Chinooks I bought years ago were from a local hop farm about 10 minutes away. He and I walked the field and he cut back some large Chinook crowns for me which would make these Comet rhizomes look small.
 
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