What's Brewing & Doing - December Edition

Cadets3, watch out you'll have a line of girls 25 deep wearing ugs and North Faces waiting for your beer to be ready... lol

 

Finally back in the saddle brewing after a several week hiatus. My daughter was born 2 weeks ago and life is getting back to normal. Brewing up a 1.092 OG American barleywine today. Plan on splitting it into four 1 gal batches: 1 straight up, 1 aged on vanilla, 1 rum and oak aged, and 1 gets both vanilla and the rum/oak treatment.

 

Just finished up 11 gallons of IPA. Swapped out my Meridian I usually use for Amarillo. Figured out during my mash that I was too low on Chinook for the regular recipe so I subbed in Simcoe. Hoping this turns out to be way better than my previous batches. Changed my crush a little and missed a few points on the OG. One of my easiest brewdays in a while. The boys even joined me for a few to make their own "beer" to which they added most all of my spices to.

 

Brewed a cream ale today. My mash efficiency ended up being 81.2%, so I ended up three points higher than expected (1.051 vs 1.048). Brew day was extremely smooth, no hiccups. It will be my first of three beers to be kegged for my keezer that I am building now. No more bottles, yippee!

In less than two weeks I will be brewing a porter as the second out of three beers I plan to have on tap mid to late January.

 

Congrats on the new addition If your kid is anything like mine, the "normal" is not ever going to come back

I like the idea of a American barleywine with rum and oak, not sure about vanilla. What hops did you use that you think will work with vanilla?

 

Just tapped the beechwood smoked porter I brewed after Thanksgiving and brewed a Simcoe, Mosaic, Galaxy IPA yesterday that is bubbling away in the fermentation chamber behind me right now. The porter turned out fantastic and I'm sure will only get better after a couple weeks in the keg. Up next, likely in the new year, will be a mid-gravity american stout that will be split into 1 gallon secondaries for some experimentation with adjuncts.

 

Thanks! Yeah, the vanilla is an experiment a bit. Had an extra bean leftover. We'll see. Bittered with Columbus, later additions a blend of Columbus, Amarillo, Chinook, and Cascade. IBU calculated at 87.

 

Mashing an alt right now. Some US and UK ingredients found their way into the recipe as well

 

Just pitched step 1 of my starter (2124 Bohemian Lager). Brewing my first lager (a Bo Pils) next week. Looking forward to this.

 

Dude, center that stir-bar! JK. Good luck with the Bo-Pils. That was my first (and still favorite) lager style.

 

Thanks, Vike. And thanks for BrewCipher! It's been a great addition to my brewing process.

 

Brewed 11 gallons of wort earlier that got hit with a mixed culture I've been adding too over the last few months.

Finished the day by kegging an insanely hoppy NE style beer and a cherry rye sour. Looking forward to those over New Years.

 

Brewed the Averagely Perfect American Stout today. My first non-IPA since... last winter, I think. Also the first use of my plastic carboy. The foam is just from aeration, not krausen.

 

Dry hopped a Comet, Centennial, Pacifica beer with more of the same a few days ago. No dank from Comet in the boil. The raw hops smell dank, so maybe the dry hop will dankify this beer. The hydro sample was tasty pink grapefruit, orange and floral.

Planning to brew a Citra / ADHA-529 beer before the end of the month.

 

What were you testing...the "Pint is a Pound the world around" theory....sorry just screamed out at me.

 

Actually just trying to figure out how many grams of beer I consume in a kegging session.

Turns out the scale couldn't convert the measurement to "American Dad" units so I said fuck it and grabbed another beer.

 

Wanna know how I know your married or in a serious relationship?? Literally towels everywhere. Spill a drop and she will fucking kill you. I feel your pain Curt.

 

Just bottled a Belgian Pale with ECY Dirty Dozen.
Dunkelweizen in primary with a blowoff that might make my carboy explode.
Have 8 gallons of IPA to bottle tomorrow.
Brewing a Flanders this weekend.

 

Brewed Dead Ringer IPA last Friday and its still bubbling away. Bought the ingredients for a Robust Mocha Porter which will be brewed next week.

 

Picked up my grains for my first all grain stout that I am brewing this weekend. All that color sure is purrrrty!