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What I did for beer today

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Brewed a two hearted clone with all whole leaf centennial. Using old school US 05. Smelled pretty awesome !
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Made the slightly painful decision to bury at sea the American Strong I brewed for an upcoming competition. Already sent two bottles of it off to the state fair, but it's going to fail miserably. Murky as all get out, way too bitter, and just doesn't taste right. Added some gelatin the other day to help it clear out, but nothing doing. Time *might* help, but I can't take the chance. There's a strong bitter aftertaste that I cannot for the life of me deduce how it got there; used the usual grain bill, hops, although I did have to add some DME to up the gravity. Going to brew it up again tomorrow, I've got three and a half weeks before entries are due so if I push this one a bit fast I'll be fine.
And at least you have the pride to bury your mistakes at sea ! I slink with shame like a thief in the night and dump it on the side of the garage nervously looking left and right hoping the neighbors don't catch me in my dastardly deed !!! 😂😂😂
I don't understand this "dumping" thing... why not keep it and use it to cook with?

Meanwhile, back out in the garage, we brewed our Galaxy SMaSHer ale today with 12 lbs of 2 row, 2 oz of Galaxy and a bag of Loki. OG came out 1.060 (1.054 predicted, so my Hullwrecker is kicking butt!) and the color is very pale, flavor is very sweet with a discernable hoppiness at the back of the throat.

This stuff should be good!
 
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Milled the grain for tomorrow's IPA. Haven't had one in a while, and I'm jonesing for something juicy. Recipe is loosely based on Georgetown Bodhizafa, with some hop changes because I don't have any Chinook or Columbus; going to sub in Cascade for a lighter bittering charge and hoping to get some incredible flavor/aroma from slightly higher late additions of Mosaic & Citra, with maybe a smidge of Amarillo, and a decent dry hop of all three if I decide on that. That's why I love dry hopping, you can decide on the fly what you really want your beer to smell/taste like.

And I think I may have stumbled on my poor performance with my last American Strong. When summer started, and our tap water got a LOT harder, I didn't bother to change my usual addition of 1tsp of Burtons, just threw it in willy-nilly without thinking about it. More than likely I made my water hard as the proverbial rock. With the new pH meter, found that our tap water is at 8.4, on the hard side; so tomorrow I'm not adding ANYTHING but k-meta to get rid of chlorine/chloramines, and see what happens. Half tempted to boil it out tonight and let it sit until morning, but I'll try this route first.
 
I don't understand this "dumping" thing... why not keep it and use it to cook with?

Meanwhile, back out in the garage, we brewed our Galaxy SMaSHer ale today with 12 lbs of 2 row, 2 oz of Galaxy and a bag of Loki. OG came out 1.060 (1.054 predicted, so my Hullwrecker is kicking butt!) and the color is very pale, flavor is very sweet with a discernable hoppiness at the back of the throat.

This stuff should be good!
That is an idea...I might bottle off a couple of 22s and use it in stews/soups this winter. Hmm.
 
I don't understand this "dumping" thing... why not keep it and use it to cook with?

Meanwhile, back out in the garage, we brewed our Galaxy SMaSHer ale today with 12 lbs of 2 row, 2 oz of Galaxy and a bag of Loki. OG came out 1.060 (1.054 predicted, so my Hullwrecker is kicking butt!) and the color is very pale, flavor is very sweet with a discernable hoppiness at the back of the throat.

This stuff should be good!
Some beer...or what should have been beer but was something else...just doesn't make the cut. I can't have the folks I give beer to think I'm trying to poison them!!!
 
Promptly jammed my pump with a simple mash of 1lb 2-row and 1lb oats....really?

Most of the goodness was extract, boiled, easy Citra add and....yeah. Cleaning the Brewzilla this weekend.

What I did for beer today?

I bought all my ingredients from my local HBS instead of the local 'Save-o-mart' or ordering online.

Paid $25 more, but it's well worth it to see local business running again.

Look into your backyard...I found a few gems for grains as well.

Cheers!
 
Promptly jammed my pump with a simple mash of 1lb 2-row and 1lb oats....really?

Most of the goodness was extract, boiled, easy Citra add and....yeah. Cleaning the Brewzilla this weekend.

What I did for beer today?

I bought all my ingredients from my local HBS instead of the local 'Save-o-mart' or ordering online.

Paid $25 more, but it's well worth it to see local business running again.

Look into your backyard...I found a few gems for grains as well.

Cheers!
Morebeer is one of my LHBS but today I did a similar thing and went to one of two other small mom and pop LHBS I am lucky enough to have close and bought a half a sack of malt at the per pound price. One of the small shops sent out an email a while back looking for business and I figured that buying some grain by the pound instead of a sack was the easiest way to put cash in their pocket.
 
Morebeer is one of my LHBS but today I did a similar thing and went to one of two other small mom and pop LHBS I am lucky enough to have close and bought a half a sack of malt at the per pound price. One of the small shops sent out an email a while back looking for business and I figured that buying some grain by the pound instead of a sack was the easiest way to put cash in their pocket.

Ja, I drove 40mins one - way just to get the grains, then remembered another HBS closer to home, bought hops with them too.
 
Milled the grain for tomorrow's IPA. Haven't had one in a while, and I'm jonesing for something juicy. Recipe is loosely based on Georgetown Bodhizafa, with some hop changes because I don't have any Chinook or Columbus; going to sub in Cascade for a lighter bittering charge and hoping to get some incredible flavor/aroma from slightly higher late additions of Mosaic & Citra, with maybe a smidge of Amarillo, and a decent dry hop of all three if I decide on that. That's why I love dry hopping, you can decide on the fly what you really want your beer to smell/taste like.

And I think I may have stumbled on my poor performance with my last American Strong. When summer started, and our tap water got a LOT harder, I didn't bother to change my usual addition of 1tsp of Burtons, just threw it in willy-nilly without thinking about it. More than likely I made my water hard as the proverbial rock. With the new pH meter, found that our tap water is at 8.4, on the hard side; so tomorrow I'm not adding ANYTHING but k-meta to get rid of chlorine/chloramines, and see what happens. Half tempted to boil it out tonight and let it sit until morning, but I'll try this route first.
Check out some of the new "cryo" hops for dry hopping. Perfect for your juicy IPAs.
 
Check out some of the new "cryo" hops for dry hopping. Perfect for your juicy IPAs.
I've got one fresh pound each of Citra & Sabro Lupomax in the freezer right now, that are on hold for a competition IPA I'm brewing next weekend; but might crack open the Citra for this one since my "regular" Citra is a bit low. I've used the Citra Lupomax before and loved it, can't wait to see what I get out of the Sabro.
 
Seek assistance anyway. Always for any burn worse than a first degree.

It got worse the next day, so rest assured I did go see the doc who sent me to a surgeon, who after the major blister ruptured, patched me up. Only real downer is I am on an antibiotic, so gotta lay off the sauce for 10 days or so.

Which reminds me, that was a week ago, probably time to keg that beer I brewed and get it conditioning!
 
Finished the tightening, polishing, passivation ECT..From plain stainless pot to pretty decent brew kettle with weldless ball valve, weldless thermometer, etched volume markings and personalized moniker.. Yeah, I'm breaking my arm patting my back 😂😂😂. I've never done something like this. And no, that's not my living room , it's my garage Man Cave.
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Milled the grain for tomorrow's IPA. Haven't had one in a while, and I'm jonesing for something juicy. Recipe is loosely based on Georgetown Bodhizafa, with some hop changes because I don't have any Chinook or Columbus; going to sub in Cascade for a lighter bittering charge and hoping to get some incredible flavor/aroma from slightly higher late additions of Mosaic & Citra, with maybe a smidge of Amarillo, and a decent dry hop of all three if I decide on that. That's why I love dry hopping, you can decide on the fly what you really want your beer to smell/taste like.

And I think I may have stumbled on my poor performance with my last American Strong. When summer started, and our tap water got a LOT harder, I didn't bother to change my usual addition of 1tsp of Burtons, just threw it in willy-nilly without thinking about it. More than likely I made my water hard as the proverbial rock. With the new pH meter, found that our tap water is at 8.4, on the hard side; so tomorrow I'm not adding ANYTHING but k-meta to get rid of chlorine/chloramines, and see what happens. Half tempted to boil it out tonight and let it sit until morning, but I'll try this route first.
I still boil my water one to two days before brew day. I don't see reference on here of others pre boiling their brew water. Am I just too old school?
 
That is an idea...I might bottle off a couple of 22s and use it in stews/soups this winter. Hmm.
Make vinegar out of some of that! Buy a bottle of "live" vinegar with the mother, pour beer in a big mason jar, add an ounce of the live vinegar, cover with a coffee filter to aerate/keep the bugs out, wait a month or two and Bob's your Uncle.
 
Since I was lazy yesterday and didn't finish the cleaning after brewday, using today as the intense brewery cleaning day. Already have boiling water recirculating through the pump (it's rated for 240° so I'm not concerned), hoses (which are getting replaced tomorrow), and plate chiller, to remove every last bit of gunk from them. Later I'm going to wipe down the inside of the kegerator and ferment fridge as they are getting nasty, and if I get really ambitious will do the monthly clean of the beer lines.
 
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