What's Brewing November Edition!

Yeah, my buddy turned me on to this. We used it in a “Double-double” we brewed together. Tastes amazing already. It might be a new go-to for me.

 

So, I picked up this guy yesterday. Good starting point. Ph is 4.3 and terminal gravity is 1.7°. At 10%, I’m looking at 20° sg and 92% apparent attenuation. Fun...

The spices were present but subtle. Hard to put a finger on. I’m leaning towards orange peel, coriander, clove, and cardamom, but it’s really hard to distinguish.

 

Hydro reading on my Dunkel six days into primary... At 1.014 (target 1.010) so I bumped the temp up from 50F to 55F to push it to the finish line over the next week or so.

Secondly, got 1 of 2 hop buys for my 2018 beers ordered. Trying some new varieties this year I have yet to use before in my stuff. Picked up 1/2lb bags vs. the 1# ones I typically go for. Trying out Medusa, Comet, Warrior and Amarillo. Also picked up more of the staples like CTZ, Nugget, Mosaic and Citra. Excited about the Comet hops actually, had that in a single hop Troegs scratch beer at one point and it was phenomenal. Plan to throw that in with Medusa in an IPL soon.

Next hop buy will be when they get in all the 2017 German import hops in a few months or whatever. Last year I did all whole leaf, but this year going to pellet to see which I prefer for my delicate hop needs.

 

Just did the same thing... ordered waaaay too many hops from YVH the other day. I have to remember not to go Hop shopping online after too many beers.

Also scored some Riwaka, Enigma, and Styrian Wolf recently. Just did the final DH addition on a Riwaka only Pale. Man it’s just as diesely as Nelson right now. I wonder if this attribute changes year to year with these NZ hops. Due to climate or harvest time or whatever. Heard some really cool things about some of the new Styrian hops, Wolf and Cardinal. Hopefully they come close to their descriptors.

 

Just started the boil on this. Not sure what to call it. I don’t think it is to any particular style but I expect it to be yummy.
Final recipe
8lb 2-row
3lb dark Munich
1/2lb Chateau special B
1/2lb crystal 120
1/2lb Chateau Aromatic
1/2oz magnum @60
2oz Hallertau Mittelfru @ flameout
Yeast WLP013

 

EU Imperial ESB.

 

RIS. Pretty much the same recipe as last year's. But I'll add cacao nibs and swap in Maris Otter in place of the 2-row. Should come in about 9%

 

Made a starter last night of 3522 Belgian Ardennes. Going to use it tomorrow for a hoppy blondish beer, maybe it would qualify as a Belgian IPA. Crazy starter -- could have used a blow off. A little internet sleuthing revealed some other threads where people describe similarly viogorous starters. IIRC, I have used it 2x before, but I don't recall having to clean up my counter top and stir plate in the previous batches. Currently cold crashing.

Also pitched Mangrove Jack cider yeast into some unfiltered apple juice with chopped cranberries.and cranberry juice.

 

Bottled my Mocha Porter today. Golden Promise, brown and two kinds of chocolate malt in the mash. Lactose in the boil. Hopped with Northern Brewer and added 6oz cold brew coffee and 1Tbsp of chocolate extract before bottling. Finished right on target at 1.021.

 

Second brew of the month today for me as well. Taking a crack at a bohemian pils, my first lager.

Focused a lot on water, only to forget to add my phosphoric acid to my mash ! I added the acid directly to the mash about 20 minutes in, which probably didn't mix well, and probably did nothing... I did have 7% acid malt in the grain bill too, so I still should have hit 5.3 or so - I don't have an actual reading as my pH meter is kaput. Otherwise used RO, 3g of CaCl, because having only a few ppm of Ca freaks me out.

Feeling confident however, as I pitched over 2.0 million / ml, and my ice cold Canadian surface water had me chilled to 50* in 20 minutes.

 

This morning bottled the old school IPA, racked a big OPA and brewed a 10 gallon batch of the citra express which is 2 oz citra at 60, 30, 15, 5 and FO, on. Top of 22 lbs of best ale malt 2 lbflaked oats and 1 lb of L20.

 

Must be special requests are a Sunday thing,,,,, cause I gotta make the Irish stout but this time oak it with Jameson soaked medium toast oak sticks.

I'll never get a break

 

U brew more than anyone I know. U must fly through sacks of malt

 

I just kegged yet another batch of the AP NE IPA. This has sort of become my house beer, I love it. And I kegged another NE IPA a couple weeks ago, the AP NE IPA grain bill with Amarillo, Centennial, and Galaxy, and Danstar Nottingham.

Has anyone else noticed that 1318 tends to finish a little high? A similar grain bill with US-05 or Nottingham would finish around 1.011-1.012, but with 1318 it's 1.014-1.015. Not that I'm complaining, the mouth feel is great.

I also kicked a keg of strawberry milkshake IPA recently. I went back and forth with that beer. At first the strawberry was too week, then it was too strong, but by the end, Goldilocks, it was just right. The strawberry puree was a bit of a mess and a pain to deal with, but even so, I hope to brew it again.

 

Bottled an all Hop Head Farms Michigan Centennial IPA today. Grist was 10# GP, 1# flaked wheat, 2oz each light carastan and honey malt. Fermented with HotHead. Super floral, a fair amount of that Centennial "Juicy Fruit", light grapefruit from the hops and a good amount of orange from the yeast. Most honey like aroma and flavor I've gotten in a beer yet, and I'm putting that on the yeast, as I've used this malt bill a couple of times before.
Really digging HotHead yeast, gonna try messing around with it in styles outside of IPAs.

 

Right now I do, but when spring comes, sugaring and farm work take center stage.

But till then now my daughter wants a chocolate cinnamon vanilla stout for Christmas, lol. I'm floating some hot pepper in half of it, FOR ME!

 

According to Greg Doss' data, 1318 is actually slightly more attenuative than 1056. But he did not compare to US-05 per se.

 

Brewed a easy pale ale yesterday with @Dragginballs76 . Nothing too fancy....really just an excuse for garage beer drinking. And some drinking we did...

 

I suspect that if I somehow drank 1/2 of the qty of beers in your photo, I'd be comatose.