What I did for beer today

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Went to a brewery...and left with 6 unopened bags of malt. They were uncrushed, and the place doesn't have a mill, so they can't use 'em. Then once I mentioned I was a homebrewer, they offered them up. Giving most to my brewclub, as what am I gonna do with 55lbs of chocolate wheat, lol. Keeping a bag of base malt for myself though.
 
Kegged my 34/70 warm cold split batch today. A few days ago I was worried it might be another dumper as I thought I picked up an olive flavor again. Luckily that flavor seemed to go away or dropped lower enough I dont taste it. I was thinking I had something wild get into the last beer with that flavor but now I am wondering if it might be the yeast and/or the particular batch of hops as they were common in both beers. The warm fermented half seemed cleaner than the cold ferment half from sipping the warm hydro samples. Funny thing was the warm half finished a few days earlier than the cold but was more hazy.

The pic is the cold fermented half, not that clear but cool shadows.
 

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Took 17 peeks at a quiet fermenter.

14 more peeks at a quiet fermenter. Pub is weird stuff. Flocc'd, but it's all sitting on top. This happened on my last batch, too. Eventually taking off at about 48hrs. Harvested slurry getting a little old, almost two months.

What did I actually do today? Purchased a big ol' Ball jar to add a shaken-not-stirred starter to my process.

ETA: Activity @ 36hrs. Phew!
 
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Planned my Sabro/Citra IPA for tomorrow, and finally ordered the last piece I'll need to get the new mash tun where I want it. Old one had a sparge arm incorporated into the lid, which won't work with the new cooler; so I just ordered a CIP ball (fixed not rotary) that I'll install in the lid of the new one with a few more pieces of hardware from HD. Won't be here in time for tomorrow, but next brewday should see it done. I'll post a pic when I have it complete, damn proud of this build.
 
So, decided 1 week of the beer only diet was enough. From 195 to 188 in a week. I'm now back to intermittent fasting (injest calories between 5PM and 11PM), exercising by walking at least 2-4 miles per day, limiting my portions (both dry and beer), targeting under 1000 calories per day, watching what I eat, and take this a bit slower. I had two nice big shrimp and salad with vinegar for dinner. Have had 2 3% beers today. Didn't really notice the not eating. That said, only drinking beer started to become a chore. Almost as if I didn't like beer but was forcing myself to drink it. And I needed to switch up for at least 3 different flavors or after two in a row of the same suds then it was almost nauseating for #3. Strange but a fun experiment.
 
Took advantage yesterday to actually watch a blowtie spunding valve video, then went and redid the spunding valve properly. Now I shouldn't randomly find out the PSI when I tap the keg. Although I think I was kinda getting when the keg was over-pressured just by sound during venting. ;)

Anyone that wants to test out spunding - no need to actually buy a spunding value. Just dump 1/2 cup white sugar in a 5 gallon keg batch to prime it.

Don't waste time and money on trying to make your own spunding valve or buy any of the brass made junk out there like I did. David Heath Homebrew has a pretty good video on the Blowtie 2 vs Spundit v2. I have the Blowtie v1 because v2 was out of stock, and whichever site I bought it from didn't want to make me wait. Supposedly the blowtie v1 has a bit more accurate pressure guage, but I personally would get the blowtie v2 as combined unit.
 
In the last week or so: brewed a sabro/mosaic DIPA, helped out brewing a festbier at a local place, brewed my own marzen, kicked the maibock, cleaned the line, and tapped the schwarzbier. I won't drinking much of it however, as the schwarzbier is ear-marked for the southern vermont homebrew fest, where our club will setup a booth (for the first time) and have 4+ brews to offer.
 
Checked the Final Gravity on my Czech Premium lager, down to 1.008 from 1.054 spot on! Taste is very close to an Urquell but not quite. Very Bohemian so I'm not disappointed. Will transfer to a secondary off the yeast cake for 3 days for a D rest then lager for 3 more weeks and clarify before kegging. Very happy since my 1st attempt at Czech 7 years ago was an unmitigated disaster. Will brew my Doppelbock in 3 weeks 😊
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My iTap came in the mail yesterday
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, so right after work I built a bottling station mounting it and my new table capped. I test bottled three 500ml bottles of cherry and apple cider that we weren't really drinking and made room in the keezer for my Rauchbier which has been patiently lagering waiting for a tap to free up!
 
My iTap came in the mail yesterdayView attachment 735356View attachment 735357, so right after work I built a bottling station mounting it and my new table capped. I test bottled three 500ml bottles of cherry and apple cider that we weren't really drinking and made room in the keezer for my Rauchbier which has been patiently lagering waiting for a tap to free up!
Wow that's really Snazzy! Bet it cost a pretty penny! And here I am excited about ordering a Tapcooler beer bottler in the near future...kind of bust my bubble 😳 😂
 
Wow that's really Snazzy! Bet it cost a pretty penny! And here I am excited about ordering a Tapcooler beer bottler in the near future...kind of bust my bubble 😳 😂

it's $118 on amazon vs $80 for tapcooler. The stand I just made from some ikea shelves and scrap wood that I never used from our kitchen reno years ago.
 
HVAC guy dropped off the new furnace & AC this afternoon; got solid confirmation that on Saturday his guys will also install the quick connect on the natural gas line so I can finally stop running out for propane every couple of weeks. Still need to buy some hardware for it, but I just might get to test it out this Sunday, along with the finally finished mash tun. If it works, I'm going to stop using the hot water heater to fill my HLT and go with cold water from the tap; been getting some brown floaties from the hot water heater that I'm not happy with (damn thing is only 5 years old, really???). Having an unlimited supply of fuel will make brewday that much easier.
 
Brined a turkey overnight. What does that have to do with beer? Well, I used my extra bucket fermenter and kept It in my ferm fridge. And, there are enough people coming here tonight that there will be beer consumed along with the turkey. Close enough, right?
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Brined a turkey overnight. What does that have to do with beer? Well, I used my extra bucket fermenter and kept It in my ferm fridge. And, there are enough people coming here tonight that there will be beer consumed along with the turkey. Close enough, right?View attachment 735605
You are never ever going to ferment or bottle beer out of that bucket ever ever ever again right ??? 😳😳😳😳 forever ever....ever.....till it biodegrades 10,000 years from now it's a brine bucket!!!
 
Checked the Final Gravity on my Czech Premium lager, down to 1.008 from 1.054 spot on! Taste is very close to an Urquell but not quite. Very Bohemian so I'm not disappointed. Will transfer to a secondary off the yeast cake for 3 days for a D rest then lager for 3 more weeks and clarify before kegging. Very happy since my 1st attempt at Czech 7 years ago was an unmitigated disaster. Will brew my Doppelbock in 3 weeks 😊View attachment 735386
Speaking of Urquell, what happened to Pilsner Urquell? The last couple of times I had one they were nothing like I remembered them. I got no Saaz hop aroma or flavor and the malt character was lacking too. Needless to say I was very disappointed. Maybe it had gotten too hot in transport, I don't know. But I was unhappy with what I got.
 
Speaking of Urquell, what happened to Pilsner Urquell? The last couple of times I had one they were nothing like I remembered them. I got no Saaz hop aroma or flavor and the malt character was lacking too. Needless to say I was very disappointed. Maybe it had gotten too hot in transport, I don't know. But I was unhappy with what I got.
I have not noticed anything different. May have been old or skunked ? I don't drink them all the time but my brother in law drinks them enough for me to keep a 6 pk or 2 on hand. Taste like they always have to me. A good summer lager.
 
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