What I did for beer today

[DBhomebrew]

Woke up, kissed the wife and kids as they headed out to the zoo, made coffee, looked at the lawn. Can't mow until the dew lifts.

In the meantime, getting ready to bottle a strong Voss pale and a 70/- SMaSH.

 

[seatazzz]

Seatazzz, I enjoy reading your posts and respect what you have to say, so you're the first brewer (out of the countless seltzer posts I've read) that I can ask this question to: Why ferment seltzer? Doesn't it make more sense to just mix a keg-sized glass of vodka/everclear and soda and call it good? I'll admit I've never had a hard seltzer, so perhaps there's something I'm missing?

I appreciate your time.

Good points. Yes, I could just make carbonated water and add everclear or vodka, and add flavoring; but where's the fun in that? I guess I'm making it harder than it should be (pun intended) but I do like a challenge. Kinda reminds me of the meme of the guy sitting around looking depressed, that at least two members here have labelled "me between brewdays". I just like to brew.

Your post reminds me of a few years ago when some friends of ours were making "moonshine"; in quotes because all it was, was everclear, rum, sugar, and peaches or apple juice & cinnamon sticks (I wound up making two batches); left to sit in mason jars for a few weeks, then drunk. Literally. That stuff got me absolutely messed up. But it was too easy. Brewing, be it beer or seltzer, or cider (which yes isn't brewing but I use my brewing equipment so I'm calling it that), is my hobby and passion.

 

[seatazzz]

I have a friend who I am probably going to do a 5G keg of seltzer for her wedding; she’s a low-carb nut. Anyhoo, all of the local fermented microbrew seltzer taste like…well, you sit on it, and so I thought everclear, H2O, fruit juice, and CO2 would be good.

Is it the challenge of making a good one?

I think so. I've made four batches so far; first one was crap, second one crap but a little better, and third one not so much crap but smelly. I've got my back up about this and have challenged myself to get it right or die trying (not literally), pretty much the same thing I did when I started homebrewing. And let's admit it; doing it this way is so much cheaper than schlepping off to the liquor store to buy Everclear (or any cheap vodka would work, I guess); all I'm spending is my time, and less than 4lbs of table sugar which is cheap as hell. Yeast, nutrient, I have on hand anyway.

 

[seanjwalker1]

I have a friend who I am probably going to do a 5G keg of seltzer for her wedding; she’s a low-carb nut. Anyhoo, all of the local fermented microbrew seltzer taste like…well, you sit on it, and so I thought everclear, H2O, fruit juice, and CO2 would be good.

Is it the challenge of making a good one?

I seriously will never get this seltzer craze . Water, a tad of (like <2%) juice, some tasteless white alcohol and a couple rolls of alka-seltzer thrown in.... To each his own....i guess...

 

[3 Dawg Night]

I seriously will never get this seltzer craze . Water, a tad of (like <2%) juice, some tasteless white alcohol and a couple rolls of alka-seltzer thrown in.... To each his own....i guess...

@seanjwalker1 is my hero. Definitely need to get him in on the next round of Fellowship of the Homebrew.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Woke up, kissed the wife and kids as they headed out to the zoo, made coffee, looked at the lawn. Can't mow until the dew lifts.

In the meantime, getting ready to bottle a strong Voss pale and a 70/- SMaSH.

The grass isn't mowed, but the beers are bottled.

 

[kmarkstevens]

First Fresh Hop Ale of the season. Northern Brewer with golden promise, flaked barley and biscuit with Kolsch yeast. Was targeting 1042 but ended up with 1050 OG. Depending on the space in my fermenter, I'll probably add some "hot liquor tank" water to bring it down a bit. Northern Brewer ripens up the earliest here, and I've done a labor day fresh hop ale for the past 5-6 years.

Not a good harvest this year. We had a heat spell at the same time my soon to be ex wife turned off the irrigation system without telling me. Northern Brewer yielded about a pound. The Willamette, which I don't care about will yield about a dozen cones. Tettnanger I'm guessing will clock in about about 1/2 pound in a few weeks. The East Seattle Goldings are doing the best, probably too many bines up, small cones and that may be 1-2 pounds worth in a few weeks.

 

[Falstaff]

Brewed! Made a wild herbal/gruit beer. Mugwort and elderberry with 60% wheat and a wild starter I've been building up from grain for two weeks. Beautiful brownish purple color.

 

[Wables]

Kegged 10 gallons! Not a big deal for some, but it was for me. A year and a half ago, the brewery that I bought my 2-row from closed. I quit brewing for a while…then my employer of 20 some years closed up shop. No brewing for me for a long while. Anyhow, re-employed for the past few months, and the LHB store, more of a wine store, started selling sacks of 2-row. I’m back into the brewing game again, and will likely be buying a e-brew system this week!

 

[ba-brewer]

Keg a dortmunder yesterday and brewed an IPA. I started late and with the ground water being warm it was almost today by the time I pitched the yeast.

Today entertained myself by checking the IPA and watching the airlock slowly come alive. Also cleaned a keg to fill with another beer I thought might be ready but the krausen has not dropped yet and it is still bubbling fairly steady so I will save that for another day.

 

[seanjwalker1]

Brewed! Made a wild herbal/gruit beer. Mugwort and elderberry with 60% wheat and a wild starter I've been building up from grain for two weeks. Beautiful brownish purple color.

I seriously hope that your face doesn't turn that color..you know..after ingesting all those wild 9th century assassins ingredients

 

[seanjwalker1]

Supply recon to the LHBS to hopefully brew an Irish Red Fri or Sat. Maris Otter, Crystal 20L, Carared, roasted barley, dextrine,

choc malt and Nottingham yeast and East Kent Goldings.

 

[seatazzz]

Supply recon to the LHBS to hopefully brew an Irish Red Fri or Sat. Maris Otter, Crystal 20L, Carared, roasted barley, dextrine,View attachment 741628 choc malt and Nottingham yeast and East Kent Goldings.

Yay! Can't wait to see that epic new brew kettle of yours in action!

 

[seatazzz]

Came home to pull the PRV on the two I've got force carbing, to find that the PRV on one of the lids is wonky. Used the only other lid I have that isn't on a currently in-use keg, and crisis averted, although very late. Have to get these two bottled off no later than Saturday morning to make the entry deadline for competition. I've done worse; three years ago for the state fair I was bottling the morning of entry deadline, and handwriting all of the entry forms and bottle labels, and barely made it. I've since discovered editable PDF versions of both, I type a hella lot better than I write.

 

[govner1]

Set up my new Inkbird ITC-608 temp controller on my new 15cf freezer.

 

[Sunfire96]

Checked the Oktoberfest with Omega Lutra. It's reached FG, just trying to decide when to bottle it. I usually lager after bottle conditioning

 

[JAReeves]

Went to Total Wine and bought a bunch of beer I’ve never tried before.

“Shhhooooosh, be wery, wery qwiet. I’m hunting beer.”

 

[Bramling Cross]

Yes, I could just make carbonated water and add everclear or vodka, and add flavoring; but where's the fun in that?

Where's the fun in that? I get you

While I don't share that particular passion, I do understand the passion.

It's fun.

 

[seatazzz]

So right now in the kegerator I've got 2 kegs of American Strong (one on tap, one aging), one of Blackberry Seltzer, one of Sabro/Citra IPA, one of WF lager, and one Bodhizafa clone (yes I can fit six in there); the Bodhi SHOULD have been done two pints ago, but is APPARENTLY a magic keg that is laughing maniacally at my feeble attempts to empty it in order to have a free tap for one of the beers I gotta get bottled off. Yah I know, 1st world problems, but I need this keg empty so I can get going on the next ones. Jeez. Guess my night's work is set. Yes I know I could leave that last 1/4-1/2-full pint-or more (the keg feels empty, dammit) and just move the tap to the one that needs to be bottled but I got standards here.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Put up with BS at work.

 

[JAReeves]

Put up with BS at work.

Did putting up with BS lead to a beer-oriented experience, or was it just fantasizing about beer while other people talked at you?

 

[bobeer]

After about an 8 month non intentional break from brewing I'm back in the game with a fest style ale. I had a few 10 lb bags of different kinds of German base malts so I threw a little bit of all of them together and added some hallertauer mittlefrueh throughoutthe boil. Hoping it's a good one!

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Did putting up with BS lead to a beer-oriented experience, or was it just fantasizing about beer while other people talked at you?

Both and now I am enjoying a few brews and thinking/debating/deciding if I should say "Keep This Job And Shove It" or retire due to the POTUS's latest idiot directive.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

After about an 8 month non intentional break from brewing I'm back in the game with a fest style ale. I had a few 10 lb bags of different kinds of German base malts so I threw a little bit of all of them together and added some hallertauer mittlefrueh throughoutthe boil. Hoping it's a good one!
View attachment 741875View attachment 741876

Yeast used? Nice crush.

 

[bobeer]

Yeast used? Nice crush.

I tried to prop up some old wlp0029 but it did nothing on the stirplate so all I had fresh was a pack of s04 haha. Need to go to the lhbs and reup on my yeasts! Should turn out tasty though.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

I tried to prop up some old wlp0029 but it did nothing on the stirplate so all I had fresh was a pack of s04 haha. Need to go to the lhbs and reup on my yeasts! Should turn out tasty though.

Same happened to me around Christmas with a California Common yeast.

 

[bobeer]

Same happened to me around Christmas with a California Common yeast.

Damn, I have some 9 or 10 month old Cali common yeast I was hoping would still be viable. Fingers still crossed!

 

[seanjwalker1]

Dunkel Vater Brauerei is in full swing! Commanding General (wife) even cut me some slack and said I could have an extra hour to finish my brew day before I pick her up ! Irish Red is gonna be good!! Kettle works like a charm!! Blessed be the Brew God's!!!

 

[BrewZer]

I'm chilling a bottle of the Galaxy SMaSHer ale we bottled last week. Got to test it weekly from here on out.

If it's good, I'll likely be testing it daily (maybe twice daily) so I can track how good it is.

 

[seanjwalker1]

Only 4 hours, Irish Red chugging away at 66° !