What's Brewing In March?

I bottled my cherry hefe the other day. Tasted good from the hydrometer flask. Now the waiting for carbonation begins.

 

I think I'm going to pick up some El Dorado hops tonight to dry hop the watermelon berliner weisse.

Also going to get a starter of WY1318 going tonight to prepare for brewing the Averagely Perfect NE IPA tomorrow. I only had 6.5 lbs of 2-row on hand, and didn't want to buy more at the moment, so I'm subbing in 3.5 lbs Pilsen for the base malts. Otherwise, I plan to follow the recipe closely. I've never actually had an NE IPA, so I'm looking forward to it. I'm told Toppling Goliath's King Sue is close to the NE IPA style, so if it tastes anything like that, the beer won't be around long.

 

Have faith that it will be even better after being carbed.

 

This Saturday I am brewing an American Barley Wine. Late hopped with Citra, Mosiac, and Cascade. Will be shooting for around 10%

 

Tomorrow I am brewing my RIS recipe I brewed last March (and just finished), which was aged on vanilla beans, charred oak and bourbon. This time though, just the base beer with no adders.

I did make a few small tweaks to the recipe, but overall it should be pretty close. I used chocolate rye (in addition to flaked rye) in the original, but chocolate rye is unavailable to me at this time so I subbed for pale chocolate and added more flaked rye. Otherwise, pretty much the same.

Expecting about 10% ABV, depending on what type of attenuation I get. I have a huge step starter of WY1056 ready to pitch and will double-O2 8hrs apart (last time I did two rehydrated packs of US-05).

I will tap this one around October.

 

What size starter for this? And is this a 5 gal batch? And how long do you aerate each time?

 

87% efficiency

 

Yes, a 5-gallon batch. I did a 1.25L to 2.75L starter from WY1056 I harvested from my last batch. So I estimate around ~500B cells (about ~400B once I steal a vial from my starter for future batches). Around 300B required according to the estimators for this beer (OG of 1.094).

I aerate about 60-90 sec with pure O2 before pitching yeast and another 60sec about 8hrs later.

 

Last week I kegged a decoction Helles that was split between WY2308 and Dry 34/70. Both finished at 1.010. Early results are 2308 has much better flavor and head. 34/70 is crisper and more bitter.

In the fermenters is a Dubbel the majority of which will go into our club bourbon barrel.

 

Just mashed in on a beer inspired by @JohnSnowNW 's Boone's Farm Saison recipe. Unfortunately the LHBS nearest me has been going downhill and wasn't that great to begin with. The other is an hour+ round trip and didn't have time to make it this week. They don't carry Wyeast, so I'm giving Danstar Belle Saison a shot, and they were also out of Nelson and Huell Melon. Grabbed some Motueka and some Mandarina Bavaria to sub in, so I'll probably need a different name for it now.

 

Brewed up my Imperial Stout last night... Was quite the brew day thanks to the stuck mash (there was 1.5# flaked rye and 1# chocolate wheat), but I didn't think that would be enough to jam it all up. Thankfully had rice hulls on hand, but it still added a good hour to my brewday (on top of the 90min mash and 2hr boil). So that was a bit frustrating!

That being said, hit my OG right on the dot of 1.094... Color seems a hair lighter than expected (SRM of about 45), but not a big deal. Mash pH came in at 5.58 which is right where I wanted in (5.5-5.6).

Expecting FG of about 1.015 if the psycho WY1056 I used hits it's attenuation based on past beers for an ABV in the range of 10.0-10.8% or so. Probably drier than I expected given my last variant of this recipe (which had an expected FG of 1.024 but came in at 1.031) with US-05. But that may actually help it out be more drinkable in larger amounts, so we shall see come late summer!

Next up after our vacation will be a new NE DIPA with Azacca, Mandarina Bavaria, Belma and Columbus... Then my first attempt at a Berliner! Lots of goodies planned.

 

Well, good luck...I would say that 3711 isn't necessarily what makes this beer...though it is probably a cleaner profile. Those two hops are delicious, so I'm sure it'll be tasty.

 

Finally got my fermentation chamber set up, just waiting on the heat belt so I can plug it all in.

Fridge was perfect size for the 6.5 gal bucket plus airlock. Finally found one on Craigslist with no freezer compartment. Using the inkbird temp controller with a heat belt.

Also purchased a stir plate and got my water chemistry report back from Ward. Looking forward to the next brew day!

 

You may as well flush the mandarina, it's going to be buried under the rest.

 

We shall see. Columbus use is minimal, just the bittering charge. Azacca is second in quantity, split between bittering and late. Belma and then Mandarina will be used most. I am not too concerned, even if it doesn't stand out it will play a part in the layering of the flavor profile on that one.

 

I used it in an APA with Amarillo and it was hidden at 2:1 MB:Amarillo

 

That's good to note. I'll still have a few ounces leftover that I could use in a future beer with more delicate hopping, perhaps by itself. Maybe a tweak on a Pilsner or something perhaps, with MB as the dry hop.

 

I got to try some of my ESB. The carbonation is low for my pallet, but it's a good beer. And I'm happy with that. This is my second all grain batch. And probably my last one to make before I move. I'm really glad this batch turned out good because I've just had off and on luck with brewing and it's good to go on hiatus on a good note

 

I've been considering this combo. I'm looking for a lot of orange flavor. What did you think of it?

 

Bottled my Domain Dupage clone today. Came out just fine (actually a point low) despite my worries about the yeast quantity. Flavor could use some smoothing out but hopefully should be ready for Easter.