Who's brewing 08-08-08 RIS? Post your notes here!

[Trencher]

I just mashed in my 08-08-08 partial mash. My new instant-read digital meat thermometer is tons easier to read than the crappy dial one I got with my turkey fryer, but brings up some questions. It registers temps of 157-159 along the sides of my 5-gallon MLT but more like 140 in the center. What gives? Is my mash temp too low? I've only used the MLT 3 times before so I don't know exactly what to expect from it...

 

[BierMuncher]

Only doing a five gallon batch, but starting with 8.5 gallons pre-boil.
A few last minute tweaks to the recipe.


Gotta love the roasty smell.


This is enough base grain for a 10-gallon batch of one of my normal beers.


Pulled out a huge Irish Ale yeast harvest from last weekend to pitch.


One thick@ss mash going here.

 

[Chriso]

I just mashed in my 08-08-08 partial mash. My new instant-read digital meat thermometer is tons easier to read than the crappy dial one I got with my turkey fryer, but brings up some questions. It registers temps of 157-159 along the sides of my 5-gallon MLT but more like 140 in the center. What gives? Is my mash temp too low? I've only used the MLT 3 times before so I don't know exactly what to expect from it...

RDWHAHB. Close the lid and let it sit for 15 minutes. Those temps will stabilize. Stir a little if need be. You're probably at about 152 once it averages out, which is dandy.

Glad you like the digital, I sure do too.

 

[BierMuncher]

A few more pics:
First vorlauf.


Finally starting the drain. Thick as oil and sweet.


Going to shoot for a 9 gallon preboil.


My brew-buddy always likes this part...when the wort starts spilling on the floor.


Preboil gravity of just about 9 gallons.

 

[Brewsmith]

I'm heating up the strike water now. This is my third brew in three days! :rockin:

 

[BierMuncher]

Just a few more:
Getting my hops schedule lined up. Nugget for bittering and some late additions...then Fuggles for finishing.


I was admiring EdWort's mash when I had a major boil over behind me....

Thanks Ed.

 

[Chriso]

Way to keep at it, Brewsmith! I wanted to go for 20 gallons over holiday instead of 15, but ran out of fermenters.

That's a heck of a nice yeast starter, BM, but why's your liquid so dark? What'd you use for starter wort? It looks like you cleaned up your keggle for us too! I see much less sharp, stabby death on it these days! (Nice Latitude by the way. )

Thanks, everyone, for posting lots of pics, this makes my New Years Day a lot more fun! I love watching everyone get all set up and rolling on their own rigs! This is great!!

 

[BierMuncher]

...That's a heck of a nice yeast starter, BM, but why's your liquid so dark? What'd you use for starter wort? It looks like you cleaned up your keggle for us too! I see much less sharp, stabby death on it these days! (Nice Latitude by the way. )
...

That wasn't a starter. It was a full 10-gallon harvest from a stout I racked last weekend. I kept plenty of wort on top to keep it fresh.

 

[Chriso]

Bloody genius. That makes a lot more sense. I get the "Duh" flag today.

Carry on. I'm gonna go reboot my brain so I don't have to keep saying dumb-a$$ things.

Your buddy's a Corgi, right? One of my coworkers has three and loves them. My brew assistant is feline in nature, so a lot less fun to hang out with.

 

[Trencher]

RDWHAHB. Close the lid and let it sit for 15 minutes. Those temps will stabilize. Stir a little if need be. You're probably at about 152 once it averages out, which is dandy.

Glad you like the digital, I sure do too.

Thanks for the advice. I wasn't too concerned and didn't want to keep opening the cooler to take readings. After an hour the temp was around 145 throughout though, so I guess I lost more heat than I expected. Maybe the MLT needs a blanket next time, or should just go indoors.

 

[EdWort]

Nice work BierMuncher! Mine is coming along. My new MLT works great. The aroma of this brew is awesome!

Here's the boil (Outside in the sunshine)

And today is the inaugural use of my new custom made hop bag contraption. The same guy who makes my Egg Accessories made this for me.

It's amazing how the 3 ounces of Cluster expanded. What a wonderful day with aromas from the brew kettle and the big green eggs.

 

[BierMuncher]

...Here's the boil (Outside in the sunshine)
...

Sunshine is over-rated...

Nice looking brew ya got there.

I may have to come up with an "ugly" version of a hop thingy...

Got the wort down to 68 in about 20 minutes.


Hit the 88 right on the money...but I'm ab out a half gallon short...hmmmm decisions...to top off or keep the batch a bit short.

I'm gonna bottle this batch so maybe I'll leave it short. I'm not a RIS gulper anyway.

 

[landhoney]

I just doughed in a recipe from last months Zymergy.
Here's my take on Rasty Old Tom American Imperial Stout

Are you brewing the 8-8-8 too?

 

[jds]

Just wrapped up my 08-08-08 as well. Lots of pics taken, but I promised my daughter a trip to the pet store, so a more detailed write-up is coming later.

 

[EdWort]

Are you brewing the 8-8-8 too?

Yep. Just pitched the yeast. 2 hydrated packs of Safale-05 into 78 degree wort as per the directions. OG turned out to be 1.085, so my efficiency is off with my new MLT.

This sucker ferments 1 day at 68, then 2 weeks at 60.

 

[Brewsmith]

I'm into the boil. My next beer equipment purchase has to be a keggle. Now that I have a 10 gallon mash tun, a full 5 gallons of just about any gravity beer is possible. But, now I've got 9 gallons of wort boiling in two pots to bring the volume down to about 7 before I can start the hop schedule. Keggle here I come...

 

[Chriso]

Same for me. Need keggle. Don't like paying $3/oz for Magnum bittering hops, just to have them all fall on the floor as soon as they're added (causing an instant, volcanic boilover).

My hop utilization = pwned.

 

[EdWort]

This was my most expensive beer ever. $55 for 5 gallons. Just over a buck a bottle. Then again, a beer like this in the store will go for $4+ a bottle.

 

[BierMuncher]

Pretty good day of brewing.

Goes against my nature though to think this beer will need to be completely ignored for the next few months:







Now I have my whole brew bench filled. But....I have two more empty buckets...hmmmm...what to do next?


My brew buddy hashad enough. Time for a nap and a nice hoppy ale out of the fridge.
What a great way to spend 01-01-08...

 

[landhoney]

Yep. Just pitched the yeast. 2 hydrated packs of Safale-05 into 78 degree wort as per the directions. OG turned out to be 1.085, so my efficiency is off with my new MLT.
This sucker ferments 1 day at 68, then 2 weeks at 60.

Two RIS's today. Bravo!

 

[Brewsmith]

I just got all cleaned up with mine. 5.5 gallons in the fermenter at 1.084.

 

[jds]

Here's that more detailed write-up. I brewed the PM version of the recipe. With 3+ lb of grain in the steeping bag, this was a big partial mash:

I cranked the oven down to 170F, then shut it off a few minutes before striking the PM at 162 F. It stabilized at 154, and held steady in the warm oven at 154-150 for the next 45 minutes or so while I ran around and got my gear together...

Since the LHBS was out of "good" (e.g. Dry) extract, I had to use LME. I remember now why I don't like to work with it. I made a sticky mess of everything, even after soaking the extract containers in really hot water before mixing them in my kettle.

Here's the goodness, just after adding the bittering hops:

and here's the result:

I topped it off to make up to 5 gallons. I think I'm getting HUGE boil-off amounts, due to the dry weather, cold temperature, and large pot diameter. according to BeerSmith, I'm getting 20+% or so per hour losses.

This batch has taught me that I definitely need to go AG. Between fighting with the extract, and spending 45 minutes "mashing" the 2-row and specialty grains, I don't think I'm saving much time with extract. Time to buy a cooler.

 

[Poppy360]

I brewed my extract batch up today. I did some adjusting and adding to try to reach an OG of .088. The ingredients as they came from NB were short on the anticipated OG so I added some DME and ended up with .086, not too shabby.



Edit: I just checked the airlock and it's already bubbling away. Sweet.

 

[Chriso]

This was my most expensive beer ever. $55 for 5 gallons.

Mine was only $35. I had bulk Goldings in stock though.

Still around 75c a bottle though.

 

[EdWort]

Mine is bubbling now too. Amazing what 2 packets of hydrated Safale-05 will do to a 1.085 OG wort.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Mine is bubbling now too. Amazing what 2 packets of hydrated Safale-05 will do to a 1.085 OG wort.

Yup! I pitched the equivalent of a packet and a half, and mine was bubbling within 6 hours (could've been sooner, I just didn't check on it until then). Gotta love that rehydrated dry yeast.

 

[Warped04]

Brewed my 08/08/08 Extract today as well.

Day started off great. Got the "chores" done with 20 minutes to spare before I needed to start my brewing. Battery was dead in the thermometer, so I used the backup. No big deal. Shake it off. Grab a beer and decided to level my burner with an actual level so I didn't have to be as worried about boil overs.

Beautiful brew day. Warm day (60 degrees) and clear.

Tied my normal loose knot in the steeping bag and started steeping. Pulled the bags out to find one empty. The whole bag spilled out in the pot. So I had to strain to the bottling bucket, then back to the kettle. Shake it off too.

Start the boil. I guess I didn't tighten the nuts well enough because the burner slipped out, making me not level. Fixed with a little wood...No big deal.

Relaxin, having a Sequoia Red from the Brewpub in town. I didn't take many pictures today.

Hooked up my chiller as the sun went down, temperature starting to drop. Perfect for the water temperature for the chiller.

Bammo, Chiller starts leaking at the compression fitting. Relax...shake it off. Just run with less water pressure, prop the thing up with a chair. Problem solved.

Top off with a gallon of water (big boil off), 2 gallons for a 80 minute boil. Take a hyrdo reading 1.067! So, I've got the weakest 888 around.

 

[BierMuncher]

Expect a good blow off on this batch.

This is after only 6 hours.

 

[Poppy360]

Krausen hasn't hit the blowoff tube yet, but she sure is bubblin'!

 

[Evets]

Expect a good blow off on this batch.

This is after only 6 hours.

View attachment 3905

Hmmmmmmm......................Maybe I should reconsider pitching onto a whole "05" cake.