What I did for beer today

[grampamark]

Finished the small cabinet I built, mostly out of leftover wood and plywood, to put on the wall of my garage above the quick ‘n’ dirty keezer. I only had to buy the hardware and a 2’x2’ piece of plywood for the door panel. It holds some glasses and the shallower top shelf will hold the usual assortment of small bits necessary for maintaining a draft system.

 

[bwible]

Darn you! Now you've got me thinking about moving from bottles to kegs... and it won't be cheap!

If you don’t have any keg equipment at all then the first thing you need is kegs and a CO2 bottle and regulator. You can find used kegs (which most of them are.) I think the going rate for 5 gallon kegs is $30 or $35 each. I haven’t priced a CO2 bottle and regulator for awhile. Maybe $125 for both, new? Or this is something maybe you can pick up used. Then you need the hoses and the fittings that go on the keg posts to put CO2 in and get liquid out. Those shouldn’t be more than $7 or $8 each. Buy a set of new gaskets for each keg. There are 5 - one inside each post, one on the outside of each post, and the big one that goes under the lid.

Then you can buy a built kegerator or make one out of a freezer chest. The freezer chests are less money. You need an Inkbird or other controller for the temp because you don’t want it to freeze. Plenty of articles that show how to make a collar to attach and put faucets through so you don’t mess up the chest. The thing with the freezer chests though is they open at the top. So you have to lift your kegs up high to get them in and out. Built kegerators are like a small refrigerator with a door that opens front to make things easier. And freezer chests are made to freeze. People put a controller on them for beer so they don’t freeze. They are not made to work like that and my understanding is that its hard on the compressor. That said, I know guys who have converted freezer chests they’ve been using for years and years.

I searched and I searched and I haven’t seen any dorm type refrigerators that are deep enough to hold a carboy for fermenting or a couple kegs. They are all too shallow inside, not deep enough. And they have door shelves and beer can holders inside the door that protrude inside. Most of them also have a small freezer inside at the top that would be in the way. All your kegerators have a door that is completely flat on the inside and no freezer.

I figured if I wanted a kegerator for beer then it was best to just buy a kegerator built for beer instead of messing with less than ideal solutions.

People sell kegerators, both built kegerators and home made ones, on places like CraigsList. But you never know how well they work or how long they had it.

 

[Brewbuzzard]

Deb and I bottled a case of Independence Day Kolsch.

 

[bwible]

Deb and I bottled a case of Independence Day Kolsch.View attachment 773279

Love those caps. I use them for my American Pale Ale. Then assuming I only have 1 in bottles I don’t need labels.

 

[seatazzz]

Turned the ferment fridge down from 87° to 68°, to let the Lutra Blonde I brewed yesterday morning finish out. Had high krausen 90 minutes after pitching some proven slurry, was mostly down this morning, and I'll probably set it to crash on Wednesday. Love that yeast. And dropped my work laptop on my foot, getting it set up, after my coworker texted me that something needed my urgent attention that in the five minutes it took to get the bleeding to stop was already handled. Now my toe hurts.

 

[828brewing]

While I've never used real fruit in my beer (I've kicked the idea around a time or 2) you could probably make a killer summer Shandy wheat beer or a hard lemonade. I've really thought of using real lemons in a wheat beer or even a dark bock. I add sweet lemonade to 80% of my beers anyway! Habit I picked up in Schweinfurt Germany decades ago. Sounds crazy I know and I thought the same thing as a 19 year old soldier. I was like Germans are crazy! Who on God's Earth puts lemon in their beer?!? I tried it...been hooked ever since. It's basically just a Shandy which I been drinking since 1984 that didn't catch on over here till decades later. Just a thought . I'm sure you will find good use for your lemon gold mine.

Great story! Being new to all of this, do you mind if I ask you when/how much you add to the beer? In the primary or secondary? Thank you!

 

[csantoni]

I supplied the beer for a work happy hour event. This is the first time I've shared my beer with anyone other than friends and family. It was a big hit and truly gratifying. I'm especially pleased with my chocolate porter as it was my first time making anything darker than an IPA and it really turned out nicely.

 

[BeerAndTele]

Second of a 2 -step shaken-not-stirred starter of WLP001 Cal Ale yeast. Over-building it so I'll have a big pitch in my 2.5 gal house IPA I'm brewing later in the weekend, plus 100b cells to put back in the fridge for next time. Step 2 goes apesh!t very quickly, this pic was less than 3 hours post-pitch.

 

[BrewZer]

One-week gravity check on the Lawn Mower Ale. FG 1.012, ABV 6.69 (so it's a bit higher than I expected). Color perfect, still a bit hazy, malty start, bready middle, slightly grapefruit finish.

Two weeks to go in the fermenter, then (if I decide to get all keggy about it) I'll either force carb or (if not) I'll bottle with corn sugar.

 

[grampamark]

Hit a few garage sales today. Scored 2 growlers for 75 cents apiece.

 

[Elric]

One-week gravity check on the Lawn Mower Ale. FG 1.012, ABV 6.69 (so it's a bit higher than I expected). Color perfect, still a bit hazy, malty start, bready middle, slightly grapefruit finish.

Two weeks to go in the fermenter, then (if I decide to get all keggy about it) I'll either force carb or (if not) I'll bottle with corn sugar.

Damn!!! Hope you don't have a riding mower with a lawn mower beer coming in just shy of 7%!

 

[3 Dawg Night]

Brewed an all-Mosaic version of my house APA. I'm excited to see how it turns out!

 

[seatazzz]

Brewed an all-Mosaic version of my house APA. I'm excited to see how it turns out!

YVH had a flash sale on 2021 Mosaic this week, I scored 2lbs. Might have to try it in my House APA recipe, I usually just use it for IPAs. Intriguing!

 

[seatazzz]

Heading down to my mentor's brewpub in about an hour, to bring back the keggle I bought from him 4 years ago (I got a new SS kettle for my HLT). In the many years I've known him he's gone from running a tiny brewpub out of his garage, to a very nice place in downtown Auburn with pretty shiny new big conicals, and he just recently set up his system so he can start the water remotely. We used to get started at 5am and were going until 4-5pm for ONE 3bbl batch, just texted to make sure he's still brewing today and he's just now getting up. By the time he gets to the pub the water will be at strike temp. When I get home I'll get my Lutra Blonde kegged, and decide what I'm brewing tomorrow morning.

 

[3 Dawg Night]

YVH had a flash sale on 2021 Mosaic this week, I scored 2lbs. Might have to try it in my House APA recipe, I usually just use it for IPAs. Intriguing!

Yeah, my house APA is usually 100% Citra. I wanted to try something different, and Mosaic should be in the same ballpark as Citra but different enough to make it interesting. I'll let you know how it turns out!

 

[Noob_Brewer]

Cleaned all my keezer taps and liquid lines. No pics to post, but its not glorious beer porn pics anyways. Always hate starting it but always glad I did it once its done. Time for a beer.

 

[seatazzz]

My mentor buddy recently started making hard seltzer (yah I know, everybody is doing it), had some yesterday during my visit and it's better than anything you can get from the store; so giving it one more try. Had it done and in the ferment fridge in less than an hour; and some may scoff but I'm going to ferment it on Lutra. HBFL did a video on hard seltzers back in 2020, they tried three different yeasts (distillers, champagne, and Lutra) and the Lutra by far turned out the clearest, and according to them, pretty tasty. This one probably wont' be clear, since I didn't have any fresh and had to use slurry; but it's only a 2.5g batch, if it tanks nothing much lost but my time and 1.75lbs of mixed white and brown sugar. Sitting pretty at 90° in the ferment fridge. Going to the Mariners game today for husband's birthday, bet it takes off before we leave. Also pulled the PRV on the Blonde I kegged yesterday, hope to have it ready to tap by the time we get home tonight, to share tomorrow during the quiet (all fireworks banned in my town) festivities.

 

[BrewZer]

Damn!!! Hope you don't have a riding mower with a lawn mower beer coming in just shy of 7%!

Mow first, beer after. I don't know why the attenuation got up to 80% -- I was using wet towels to keep the temp down, and the software predicted 5.5%.

 

[BrewZer]

... and he just recently set up his system so he can start the water remotely. We used to get started at 5am and were going until 4-5pm for ONE 3bbl batch, just texted to make sure he's still brewing today and he's just now getting up. By the time he gets to the pub the water will be at strike temp.

 

[Bramling Cross]

I made a cream ale yesterday. I was supposed to make this a couple weeks ago but decided to hold off because I wanted to radically reevaluate my approach to light colored water. Although I’m really happy with where my water is now, I think it’s good practice to sometimes reset what you’re doing and go back to your old baseline to see if the improvements you’ve made actually are improvements.

 

[Dgallo]

Just finished bottling 3 gallons of a Brett fermented Hoppy ale that was conditioned on 3 lbs of apricot purée and dryhoped with Australian Enigma and Galaxy. It was fermented with Escarpment Labs Brett D

 

[Dgallo]

Deleted. Double post

 

[wetmk]

So it wasn't today , but it was this weekend. Saturday I brewed a tripel that I've brewed a dozen times. I was going to "dry hop" it with saffron for this years 12 beers of Christmas. The next day while I was putting stuff away after I got home from a friends house late that night I noticed a little dish on the counter. It contained the coriander that I should have put into the kettle 30 hours ago. That's not the worst of it though - we've all forgotten to add ingredients one time or another. What I can't get to the bottom of is that I came in at 1.064 when I expected1.071. Moral of the story: "Friends don't let friends brew drunk!"

 

[seatazzz]

Order from brewhardware arrived (in a PIZZA box, omg @Bobby_M that was classic but everything was just fine), installed the hardware for the 5th tap and playing around with the false bottoms (snork) to see how they will work best. And now I can tell my friends I (kinda) got pizza from NJ.

 

[JAReeves]

Since I brew with induction, this is ultimately beer-related; signed a contract to have a new roof and solar put in.

 

[grampamark]

Kegged the first batch brewed at the city house since “building” the quick ‘n’ dirty keezer, an Amber Ale.

 

[ba-brewer]

A few days back I brewed a double batch(or almost) of IPA and diluted part into a golden ale. For todays new I check their gravity and raised the temp on the golden ale. The IPA is about a day behind the golden ale but I expected that as my last version/cake of wlp007 has been really slow to start for some reason.

Finally got around to brewing my festbier today. Mashed it low and did a 90min boil so it made for a long day. Got pretty close to my expected gravity, 1 point high and did not over boil so the correct volume.

 

[seatazzz]

Tested & tasted the hard seltzer I made on Saturday; think I nailed it this time. No nasty sulfur as in my previous tries, but it does have acetaldehyde so I'm letting it clean up for another couple of days. Came down from 1.035 to 1.001. Husband's best friend is coming for the weekend from Vegas, I want it ready for him to try.

 

[aharri1]

Dumped the 8 oz dry hop from my conical to get ready to cold crash! West coast DIPA with comet, azacca, and El Dorado

 

[seatazzz]

Not really FOR beer, but for my beer enabler (aka husband); his best friend is flying in from Vegas tonight, as he and my husband will be attending the memorial for their other best friend's dad on Saturday. Did the flight of the bumblebee cleaning the house, since he will be staying with us, and planning an epic dinner for Sunday. Fortunately plenty of homebrew on tap to get me through it; Vegas friend doesn't drink beer, but we've got plenty of the hard stuff in the liquor cabinet to keep him happy. 20 years ago when I met his best friend for the first time, on a trip to Vegas, he grabbed me in a great big hug before he even greeted my husband and therefore became one of my own best friends; I call him the little brother I never wanted, said with love of course. And my most amazing boss is letting me work from home tomorrow so I can spend some time with him as well. I won't be attending the memorial as I didn't know other best friend's dad, and I want the three amigos to have some quality time together. So I get to brew in an empty house. Winning all round.