Who's brewing this fine weekend? 10/17

Brewing up a relatively simple American brown ale. My mash and sparge temps were all over the place, but this is the first go with the new software and I have made a couple mistakes. Oh well, at the end of the day I learned a few things and should have a decent beer.

 

I just put a chocolate milk stout down to ferment.

 

Browns are super forgiving. I have a really nice brown ale I brew a couple times a year, and just for fun, I'll mash one at 149, and next time, 158.

Browns are forgiving for a thicker body, or thinner really. I've had them in all ranges.

 

Well- I didn't brew, although kids were feeling better.

Instead I did the dreaded keezer clean out. Pulled ALL the kegs, and bottles, and junk that has accumulated in there. Cleaned all the lines, all the gas lines. Got all the water/beer/mildew/mold from the bottom. Cleaned all the kegs off, and have it shiney and smelling good.

Moved the bourbon barrel RIS out of the keezer, and swapped the BeerAdvocate Average American Stout I still had left back in there.

Kegged my Extra Pale, and my IPA, which ironically, came out tasting really similar, minus the bitterness. So 10 gallons of IPA. hah! Got both kegged, and transferred with co2. Completely closed system. Beer has way way more aroma than I've gotten in the past, but also first batches with my hop rocket.

I'm running some hot water through my bourbon barrel now getting the staves and heads sealed back up, about to put my Brown Ale in the barrel this evening and let it sleep for a month.

 

No brewing specifically for me, but I did take a reading on the Winter ale that I brewed last weekend. Dropped from 1.064 to 1.010 in eight days. I'll check it again in a few to see if it drops any further.

 

Good to know. I was a little worried for a bit, but i figured it would still make a good beer and at the very least it was a good learning experience.