What I did for beer today

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Just finished bottling off the last three entries of the five I'm taking to the LHBS for a comp tomorrow. Now I've set myself to tasting the three I still have on tap, and criticizing as far as my soon to be tipsy brain will allow. It IS Friday, after all! Of course dumba** me decided to start with the strongest one; look for me later tonight on the Drunken Mumbling and Random Thoughts thread!
 
Stopped in at the LHBS to pick up the pack of Imperial Bartleby he ordered for me. He's been curbside up until August. It's nice to walk in, smell the grain in the air, and shop. He's got his customary kegerator of shop brew going again. German pilsner, hard cider, and a weissbier. All very nice.
 
Got bottles labelled and boxed up, ready to turn in later this morning. I use chalk pens to mark the bottle caps before applying the labels (some have been in bottles for a month) and very nearly mislabelled my IPA (I named it Sabrotooth) with Stout labels. Yes they look very different in the bottles but in my haste to get done I didn't even look. Caught the mistake when I opened the fridge to grab the next set of three to be labelled and saw the actual Stout bottles in the back of the fridge. Hoping to get a couple of medals, but mostly looking forward to the scoresheets. Most beers I've ever entered in a comp, with five going in, the limit. Oldest is the Imperial Stout brewed back in January, and the youngest are the IPA and the lager at just two weeks. Going over the entry forms now to make sure they're right, damn I'm excited about this!
 
Since I ran out of Barke Pils last weekend, I once again locked horns with the greedy gendarmerie and mouth-breathing drivers of Northern Virginia on a daring mission to acquire another 55lb sack from MyLHBS in Seven Corners, Va. The NOVA drivers did not disappoint, the gendarmerie was oddly absent today, and MyLHBS was as helpful and friendly as always. It's a good shop staffed by good people. They're worth the mortal peril to body and wallet that accompanies any suicide mission into NOVA.
 
fresh squished IPA on tap

Courtesy of Mr. seanjwalker1, I purchased that kit during last Spring's buy three IPA kits for a cheap price sale. Any advice? I gather it's a clone of something that I've never had before, much less heard of.

If you have any advice, I'm all ears. I'm thinking US-05, but I also have BRY97 and Notty in the fridge. I also have a working pitch of Verdant in my ale fermenter atm.
 
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Courtesy of Mr. seanjwalker1, I purchased that kit during last Spring's buy three IPA kits for a cheap price sale. Any advice? I gather it's a clone of something that I've never had before, much less heard of.

If you have any advice, I'm all ears.
Great Kit, I believe its Deschutes fresh squeezed IPA clone. Tastes pretty close to it. I didn't make any adjustments to it and it turned out great. I did 2.5 weeks primary then dry hopped 6 days and it turned out great. I used US-05 without issue
 
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Kegged 3 gallons of Oktoberfest.

Also filled up the digiboil for tomorrow's brew day and set it to 166F. I love waking up to hot strike water.
 
Yesterday kegged my Best Bitter, yeast never dropped until I moved the fermentor. Also Dry hopped my IPA and made a starter and slants for WLP059 for an upcoming brew.

Today brewed a german pilsner, did a extra long mash as I needed run some errands and got slightly higher efficiency than usually for my troubles. Temp drifted lower too so expecting a higher attenuation too.

Still need to step up my wlp059 later.
 
i brewed a 99.5% base malt beer with 2ozs chocolate malt, in a 10 gallon batch...the color is pretty! i got so much cheap old hops on hand i just said f'it, added what i had in one bag for 60 of belma, added probably 6ozs of bravo for 10...got my mashtun and kettle clean, and put away.....need to get the odds and ends clean still...all in all, a good day!


i guess this is a what i still have to do for beer post! ;) :mug:
 
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just for anyone else that brews on the stove...that's after a batch and, if you take the thingy's that keep it only half crack out, it pops out quick, and you can just hose it down.....goes from that to this!

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if i would have known that trick sooner, i probably wouldn't be the perma baked on crud! thinking about buying a new top from ebay to find out! just for anyone else's knowledge! :mug:
 
NUTS!

(translation: Yes, it's a hat-tip to the 101st, particularly the Siege of Bastogne.)
:off:
My favorite pre-credits epilogue card from a TV show/movie is the one at the end of the Bastogne episode of Band of Brothers that talks about how Patton "rescued" them. "No member of the 101st has ever agreed that the division needed to be rescued."
 
“Nuts”...that is SUCH a legend! Ever tried a Belgian Patersbier recipe? I planned twice to make one but never have.
 
:off:
My favorite pre-credits epilogue card from a TV show/movie is the one at the end of the Bastogne episode of Band of Brothers that talks about how Patton "rescued" them. "No member of the 101st has ever agreed that the division needed to be rescued."
Probably not good thread for discussing this, but I laugh every time I think of that. The bastards of Bastogne achieved what just couldn’t be thought possible. Gonna “start a conversation“ instead of posting more.
 
Well it was yesterday, but football opened at 10am PST, and so did my Centennial Blonde on tap! At some point I walked the mom-in-law through a router reset to fix her internet and passed a growler off to some neighbors who brought extra guests from New Mexico by for a tap tasting, and I apparently made pot roast that everyone loved.

IDK, I was seriously in my cups! And dad’s team, the Steelers won, so extra beers for that as well. A good time was had by all!
 
Stopped at Wallyworld for a couple of things, and bought two big plastic cereal containers that should do well to hold my adjunct grains. If it works I'll get more next week and have a nice row of them on my shelf. Currently they live in sealed plastic bags in my two-row container (a big trash can that's never been used for anything other than two-row) so hoping to up my storage game.
 
I received almost 60 lbs (27kg) of grains and about a pound of hops. I didn't think this would be possible due to covid restrictions and lockdowns where I live, but I'll be damned if it didn't show up today. I'm set for at least a few planned brews... A double NEIPA, a RIS, a fruited sour. So excited!
 
Attempted my first double decoction this past Saturday on my Oktoberfest. I didn't have a problem with pulling grains/boiling them, but was around 8 to 9° under my target temp at both steps and had to add water. I'm guessing I need to lower my water to grist ratio from 1:5:1 to 1.25:1 so there's less heat loss from water. Everything still went well and hit my numbers, it just took a little longer!
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This has been quite a day. My friend picked me up to go to the club meeting at the Rugby House and that's when I learned our local home brew shop will close it's doors at the end of this month. 50 years of home brewing gone. I have been shopping there for 23 years. First with wine and 21 years of brewing beer. Kelly taught me to brew. He has been my brew buddy for several years along with Don. Kelly has supported the local competitions and the club. This will not only affect the homebrew community but competitions and brew club as well. Kelly gave all members 10% off all sells which helped maintain a good head count and dues. Let this be a lesson to all, shop at your local home brew store and only order online for what they can't supply. This is a sad day for Dallas, Texas.

On a lighter note, my nine week old brew dog Jackie G climbed
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the steps up into the brewery on his own tonight. Deb and I christen him with a German Leichtbier. That's what we were drinking at the time.

Take care and keep brewing.
Prost
 
Deb and I christen him with a German Leichtbier. That's what we were drinking at the time.
Do you brew your Leichtbier to the BJCP guidelines? I liked the sound of the beer from the guidelines but the ABV just seems a bit low for me. More concerned I could not brew it without it being watery then the actual ABV. I have been playing about with semi-leichtbier, a 4%ish dortmunder sort of thing, that is my current lager on tap.
 
Do you brew your Leichtbier to the BJCP guidelines? I liked the sound of the beer from the guidelines but the ABV just seems a bit low for me. More concerned I could not brew it without it being watery then the actual ABV. I have been playing about with semi-leichtbier, a 4%ish dortmunder sort of thing, that is my current lager on tap.
Yes I brew to the BJCP guidelines and it is thin. It is 3.7% which I like but next time I'll add a touch of Munich to give a bit more flavor and body and raise the mash temp a bit.
 
Nothing beer related, just brewery related. Im in the process of adding a brewery in my basement. If you have never brewed in an unheated garage at -20F it’s something you should try at least once in your life. I’ve been doing it since 2001 and I’m done with it. My first batch I chilled in a snow bank. Anyway, I tied in my brewery into my 3 waters tonight (hot and cold softened water, and well water), took delivery of my vent fan, and got some planning done. Hope to get a couple sheets of drywall done tomorrow. Laundry room remodel work needs to get finished before the next big brewery push, and the 65l Brewzillas aren‘t supposed to ship for at least another month. Wall penetration for the vent needs to wait for a week and a half until I can commit a full day to get everything finished in one shot.
 
Well, an unnamed homebrew talk person was cleaning out some of their yeast bank and gifted me with Essex Ale (my local HBS swears by this one) and Manchester Ale. Much appreciated! The Essex Ale is re-cultured and going to pitch into a bitter by morning.

The Manchester will get recultured next and hopefully will be THE YEAST for Boddingtons.
 
It's more like what I plan to do for beer tomorrow:

Grabbing a selection of bottles and cans, mine and others, and filling a growler with my latest pale ale for tomorrow's tailgate before the home football game at the school I teach at.

As I am the stadium announcer and a teacher, I have to stay until the last car leaves, so I will not be posting this tomorrow night after it's all over.
 
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just for anyone else that brews on the stove...that's after a batch and, if you take the thingy's that keep it only half crack out, it pops out quick, and you can just hose it down.....goes from that to this!

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if i would have known that trick sooner, i probably wouldn't be the perma baked on crud! thinking about buying a new top from ebay to find out! just for anyone else's knowledge! :mug:
Been stove top brewing for 17 years. Never had that happen, lucky I guess. I have a burner but the air quality here in SE Michigan sucks. Bugs, pollen, dust, dogwood seed floaties, God knows what else from the Big 3 factories...gives me the willies.
 
Been stove top brewing for 17 years. Never had that happen,


that was from malt boiling over in my 4 quart pot, doing a decoction mash....and i looked into a new stove top to get rid of the other crud, $100-$200, at that point mightest well spend $500 for a completely new stove....honestly it looks worse in the picture....
 
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