What I did for beer today

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Watched some airlocks and cleaned some kegs. I decided not to keg my current beers quite yet.

I was finally able to taste orange from Voss when I tasted the gravity samples, but it seemed like it decreased as the fermentation proceeded. The lower pitched seemed to help but it also slowed down the fermentation even with the temp at 95F.
 
I'm in the same boat. I kegged a batch of CAP today and it was soooooooo enticing coming out of the fermenter, nice and clear and the Liberty hops were popping in a big way. I am sorely tempted to give it the shake it and crank it treatment, but I know it'll be even better in a few weeks.

Waiting sucks.

I'm currently chilling a batch of something that I need a name for. I'm currently thinking of it as a Modern German Pils, perhaps a Nouveau Bavarian Pils because I've had a pint and I'm proud of the fact that I can spell "nouveau?" Anyway, it's bog standard German ingredients and mash techniques coupled with modern, West Coast hopping doctrine. A 2oz whirlpool of Hallertauer Mittelfruh at 170 for 45min is amazing. It really showcases just how floral HM can be. I'm eager to have this one on tap again. At any rate, its current name is "German Pils IV," it deserves better than that.

Yeah, waiting sucks.
Mittelfruh has been my go-to hop for late additions in my lagers/blondes for a while now; coupled with Tettnanger for bittering it gives a very nice floral nose and mild flavor at the finish. The Munich Helles I brewed today had 1.8oz of Mittelfruh at boil and nothing else, and smelled delectable going into the fermonster. Can't wait to see how yours turns out.
 
Picked up this guy tonight. Was NOT expecting to get a silver for an IPA that I wasn't particularly proud of, but apparently the judges liked it better than I did. Conversely, the two beers that got blue ribbons at the WA State Fair didn't do diddly in this competition. Don't care, I've got another fancy medal, and THIS one can double as a bottle opener....

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Every year my Homebrew club has the fantasy draft. So they basically have a list of grains, hops, yeast, adjuncts and you get to pick them in a certain order. I got sabro hops, Belgian yeast, breakfast cereal, maris otter, special b malt, and caramel 80 malt. It actually came out tasting like Cocoa Puffs smelling like it. I used three boxes in the mash! Also, I had a really good assistant Brewer that helped me open the Cocoa Puff boxes, and put them in!
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Picked up this guy tonight. Was NOT expecting to get a silver for an IPA that I wasn't particularly proud of, but apparently the judges liked it better than I did. Conversely, the two beers that got blue ribbons at the WA State Fair didn't do diddly in this competition. Don't care, I've got another fancy medal, and THIS one can double as a bottle opener....

View attachment 743592
Congrats !!!
 
Finally hit the button on the Tapcooler counter pressure bottler I've been eyeing all year along with 3 of its accessories. All bought with Amazon gift cards from the family I've been hoarding since my BD last Jan. $148 for everything and I didn't pay 1 penny 😁😁😁. Gotta love it !!! So happy I did my own new kettle build instead of using my gift cards for a new one !
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Checked in on my bottling experiment. 9 weeks since bottling. Bottled straight from the fermenter spigot; no bottling bucket. The only difference between these 2 bottles is the one on the left received a shot of Private Preserve Wine Preserver under the cap. Pretty amazing, I think.
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Obligatory clear glass comment here...
 
Checked on this weekend's yeast starter. Thought I would be chilling it today and then kick starting it up again Thursday with fresh wort, however, it is super foamy today. I guess the yeast really needed that wake-up call. Might just add more wort to it tomorrow and again on Friday to keep it building up the population. Unless this is a bad idea?
 
Checked on this weekend's yeast starter. Thought I would be chilling it today and then kick starting it up again Thursday with fresh wort, however, it is super foamy today. I guess the yeast really needed that wake-up call. Might just add more wort to it tomorrow and again on Friday to keep it building up the population. Unless this is a bad idea?
I believe you said you were waking up some dregs or older stored yeast, if you got it to come alive where it is making a krausen I would step it up with more wort. Would be best to put on a stirplate too to maximize growth. If you are shaking them you get a more modest growth and the yeast will start fermenting if you dont keep up with the shaking.

Waking something up you really never know how many cells you have but if you estimate 1B cells from the first step and put it on a stirplate with fresh wort it will grow to a limit and stop depending on the amount of wort. So if you have extra or less than 1B for the first step you will end up with a pretty much what the calculators estimate for the next step.

There is some information in the Slanting sticky from the maltose falcons that suggest a few cells from a slant will grow to 1B cells in 10mL of weak 1020 wort. Generally people do steps of 10x volume for each progressive step. I normally do smaller steps like 5x for the first few as it easier to see the growth.
 
Finally keg my last beers I brewed. Voss ended up finishing at about 80%attenuation after all, citrus flavor somewhat subtle in the warm hydro sample.

My CO2 gauge has been getting low so I weighed the cylinder and still have a pound of CO2 left which should have a little time left. Found the seal from the regulator to the cylinder is starting to crater so might be getting it refilled sooner than later. Hopefully I can find the seal local if it does not hold up.

Made some slants from a couple starters I have going. Building up brewlabs TT for a best bitter and WLP026 for a strong bitter maybe a small British barley wine.
 
Finally keg my last beers I brewed. Voss ended up finishing at about 80%attenuation after all, citrus flavor somewhat subtle in the warm hydro sample.

My CO2 gauge has been getting low so I weighed the cylinder and still have a pound of CO2 left which should have a little time left. Found the seal from the regulator to the cylinder is starting to crater so might be getting it refilled sooner than later. Hopefully I can find the seal local if it does not hold up.

Made some slants from a couple starters I have going. Building up brewlabs TT for a best bitter and WLP026 for a strong bitter maybe a small British barley wine.

The seal on my regulator went, but with a little keg lube to hold it in place a ball-lock post gasket fit right in there. No leaks over the last year or so, and no specialty gasket I needed to find either. YMMV.

Reevesie
 
Every year my Homebrew club has the fantasy draft. So they basically have a list of grains, hops, yeast, adjuncts and you get to pick them in a certain order. I got sabro hops, Belgian yeast, breakfast cereal, maris otter, special b malt, and caramel 80 malt. It actually came out tasting like Cocoa Puffs smelling like it. I used three boxes in the mash! Also, I had a really good assistant Brewer that helped me open the Cocoa Puff boxes, and put them in!View attachment 743609View attachment 743610View attachment 743611
Sure hope it taste good....it looks like the stuff that comes out of an Army sanitation truck 😳
 
Just turned down the controller on the ferment fridge; new Munich Helles has been sitting at a 68° diacetyl rest for the last few days, now time to crash it down and leave it (yes LEAVE IT dammit) for at least a week. Now waiting on the man to get home so I can finally see our new truck in the daylight; brought it home Wednesday night late and haven't seen it during the day since because work, and his bowling night. 2019 Dodge Ram 1500 with a LOT more bells and whistles than we needed but it's pretty. And my favorite color, blue! Later might take some homebrew across the street to sit around the firepit and get smashed with the neighbors. Gonna be a good night.
 
Kegged 5 gals of Pale Ale with nowhere to put it since I'm still waiting for a bulkhead to move my CO2 tank outside the kegerator. Hope it doesn't mind hanging out without temp control for a couple days 'cuz I' m brewing tomorrow!
I've had mine on the back of my kegerator for over a year. Never a problem with carbonation or keg pressure.
 
Kegged 5 gals of Pale Ale with nowhere to put it since I'm still waiting for a bulkhead to move my CO2 tank outside the kegerator. Hope it doesn't mind hanging out without temp control for a couple days 'cuz I' m brewing tomorrow!
A few days should not be that bad as long as you have it under constant pressure or keep topping it off so you don't lose the seal.
 
Cleaned the brew area a little, hoping for a brewery tomorrow, but first I need to taste the starter. It's a sharp sour odor coming from rejuvenated WL007, and that's not what I remember from the last brewday (May!). May have to scrounge some yeast packets out of the keezer and hope that other harvested cultures will work as well or else I have to postpone until next week!

EDIT: Tasted the beer on top of the yeast cultures. The WL007 definitely went the way of Tart Saison, and in only a week! I did something wrong there, that's for sure. But the S-05 in the fridge tastes clean and neutral, so looks like I have yeast for mañana. Checked on a Belgian culture and got a distinct taste of mustard. That's a new one on me.
 
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Cleaned the brew area a little, hoping for a brewery tomorrow, but first I need to taste the starter. It's a sharp sour odor coming from rejuvenated WL007, and that's not what I remember from the last brewday (May!). May have to scrounge some yeast packets out of the keezer and hope that other harvested cultures will work as well or else I have to postpone until next week!

EDIT: Tasted the beer on top of the yeast cultures. The WL007 definitely went the way of Tart Saison, and in only a week! I did something wrong there, that's for sure. But the S-05 in the fridge tastes clean and neutral, so looks like I have yeast for mañana. Checked on a Belgian culture and got a distinct taste of mustard. That's a new one on me.
😯....😳😳😳 mustard...now I love mustard, just bought some authentic German hot mustard for my knackwurst...but mustard beer 😯
 
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