What’s Brewing December Edition

Kegged my NE Pale this morning, tasting really nice! Picture of transfer and sample below (beer color shows a bit darker/green due to hop debris!). Finished at 4.7% ABV (FG 1.011).

 

Just kegged an English brown, and brewed a sticke alt.

 

Thanks for posting that first pic, I’ve never seen a closed transfer with a plastic bucket and airlock like that. I need to try it.

Do you have any issue with too much yeast cake and hop debris getting into keg through the spigot? Usually with the amount of dry hopping with these beers, the trub is pretty thick for me

 

No problem! I figured it wasn't too common, but it's been how I have been positively pressurizing for cold crashing, purging head space after dry hops and whatnot the past half dozen batches or so and it work's very well! Once the beer hits FG I remove the air lock and put this rig into place at something like 1-2 psi for crashing. The lid doesn't leak if sealed properly and the pressure isn't too high... Only if too much pressure you will hear hissing around the lid seal, so keeping it low is key.

No issue with the yeast cake/hop debris... And I dry hop very IPA's very heavy (this beer was nearly a pound of loose pellet, for example, between two dry hops). When I did rack this one, if you don't open the spigot all the way, the flow may slow but it usually immediately pushes the clog out and get's flowing. No issue if you have the spigot open all the way, like if racking to a keg.

I never had a clog in the spigot, though, that required any "fixing". Before I transfer into the keg or take hydro readings or whatever, I just purge out the first few ounces loaded up with yeast/hops and then it flows as it normally would. Since the spigot is 1-1/2" or 2" up or so from the bottom, the yeast cake and hops generally stay below that level.

Works extremely well for me! The spigot makes everything much easier for racking the beer around.

 

Any concerns with your keg open to atmosphere like that? Ever try a direct connection to the liquid out post and seal it all up for even less O2. I sometimes have to swap out a few connectors due to clogging but it's still closed up tight and works great even with big dry hop doses.

 

Thought about it, but have not done it yet due to the potential clogging and stuff. Im sure id clog it for sure. How do you know the level as you fill the keg? Usually I fill up just below the gas inlet tube.

I suppose I never had issue with aroma loss or not being potent enough, so I have not "fixed" that part of my process. It's worth trying I suppose, got to look into the best ways to do it to avoid transfer issues.

 

I usually get about 2-3 clogs per transfer. That's without a cold crash and day 5 second dose. I transfer on day 7 or 8.

I know about how much I'll yield based on the trub level. Not typically more than 5 gal yield so never been an issue for me. Some guys weigh the keg too which will get you close. Just curious if you tried it yet or not.

 

@Jesse14

Yeah, not yet! Perhaps on a future lager or something where I don’t have any dry hop matter in the fermenter. Weighing the keg for fill volume is good idea and is something I thought of, because that is the method I use now actually for my mash and sparge volumes.

In the meantime, my filling method has been typically:

Sanitize keg with a few gallons of Starsan and purge the headspace 2-3 times, then continue to push sanitizer out with CO2… Purge another time for good measure and then carefully rack to the bottom of the keg to avoid splashing. Once filled gently, seal immediately with 30psi of CO2 to seat the o-ring and then purge the headspace another few times (5-10 times depending how much excitement I am after) before putting away for cold storage or force carbonation.

I look at my NE IPA’s as my measurement for my oxygen pickup, which typically last 2-3 months on tap before gone. Aside from yeast dropping out over time, the color doesn’t darken and the hop aroma/flavor holds up very well to the point I usually don’t notice a drop off of any sort. Current one on just hit just over two months in the keg and it’s better than it’s ever been, in all seriousness. So regardless of what my oxidation level is with my current methods, it doesn’t affect the quality that I notice in the time it takes me to drink them. I have had quite a few people comment how intense my hop aroma is and how they could smell it “from all the way over here!”, even with two months or more on them. So my process must be pretty sound for the most part. I don’t “keg hop” or anything like that either, just whatever goes into the fermenter.


I just shudder at the thought of dealing with clogged poppets and complicating the filling process (which is easy as can be now)!

 

Just put away a fermentor of something like I've never done before, a Key lime pie beer. I got the recipe from Adam at Baldy's, discussed it with him. I'm hopeful!

5.5g
OG 1.08? 1.09?
FG No clue

8lbs pale 2-row
2lbs biscuit

2.5lbs maltodextrine @15
1lb lactose @15
3lb wheat DME @15
1lb Ginger Snaps cookies @15, in a mesh bag(still was a mess!)

1oz Apollo @60
1oz Motueka @15, 1oz @0

WY 1010 'Merican wheat


Day before:Juiced and chopped 18 Key limes, plus the juice and peels(no pith) of 6 more, soaked in a bottle of good vodka. Made yeast starter.

Mashed in @155 for 1 hour
1hr boil
Chilled to 80F, about as cold as I can get it here and pitched starter.
My gravity sample was filled with shit, reading shifted from 1.08-1.09.

Add 1 more pound of Ginger Snaps & lime tincure(whole thing, iincluding vodka) after about a week.

No clue what the FG will be, there's a ton of non-fermentables.

 

Kegged my scottish 70/- today. It finished a little lower than I had anticipated, even with a 154º mash temp and 5% crystal. I'll probably bump the crystal up next time. It tastes a lot like an english bitter to me! Saving the cake for a Wee Heavy I'm brewing on friday.

 

After the big $6.99 a pound Centennial sale not too long ago, I decided to brew up a couple of versions of Two Hearted to help get rid of the too many pounds I bought. Yesterday I kegged a Black IPA that was basically a Two Hearted Clone with 3/4 lb midnight wheat added to the grain bill. I then kegged 4 gallons of a 6 gallon batch of a Sacc trois version of Two Hearted and added 2.75 gallons of water and 3 pounds of local wildflower honey to the bucket with the cake and other 2 gallons of beer to make a Sacc trois Two Hearted Braggot.

Cheers!

 

The Dr. Is operating, awsum

 

Finally got my hops on deck from HHF, pale ale and what looks to be shaping up into a raspberry wheat wine this sunday. I'm stoked.

 

I use a stainless steel racking cane to do a closed transfer. So pop out your air lock and insert racking cane. I'm uploading a short video to youtube to show you. Once its done ill post the link

 

Figured I would share this just to show you how my setup works. Not implying that you do it this way, just sharing. Cheers!

 

Acquiring a 15g bourbon barrel so brewing up 15g imperial stout 5g at a time starting tomorrow night. This may be the last push I need to upgrade for 10g batches.

 

I’m mashing in on a Wee Heavy right now. 20# Golden Promise, 4.5oz Briess roasted barley. Going to boil the first runnings down to a syrup.

 

Bottled the Christmas vanilla cinnamon chocolate stout with maple wood, tastes super

 

Transferred my KBS to bourbon marinated oak chips





this will dial in at around 10%

 

I got some new Weyermann malts to play with:

Weyermann® Brewing Malt (Type Cologne):
For ales, lagers, and German-style ales ("Kölsch"). It imparts malty-sweet notes to finished beer. Also gentle notes of honey come through when using this malt. Weyermann® Brewing Malt (Type Cologne) is a kilned lager-style malt made from quality, two-row, German spring barley. It creates medium-full bodied, golden colored, smooth clean tasting beers. The Weyermann® Brewing Malt (Type Cologne) shows excellent characteristics for ales, lagers, and German-style ales ("Kölsch"). It imparts malty-sweet notes to finished beer. Also gentle notes of honey come through when using this malt.




Weyermann® Eraclea Pilsner Malt:
Eraclea Pilsner Malt creates excellent medium-bodied Mediterranean-style pale lagers and ales with perfect stable foam. This terroir malt is produced from premium Eraclea barley grown near the Adriatic Sea northeast of Venice. It has a noticeable malty-sweet aroma with notes of honey. Eraclea Pilsner Malt creates excellent medium-bodied Mediterranean-style pale lagers and ales with perfect stable foam.
The origin of Eraclea Malt; Saatgut Breun developed Eraclea Malt in Bavaria Germany through selective breeding in the 1970’s. Eraclea is 2-row winter barley that does not do well in the humid growing conditions typical of Bavaria. This barley variety prefers arid conditions and has the important ability of being able to store humidity to sustain growth during the emergence phase. The terroir of Italy’s Adriatic coast offers perfect conditions for Eraclea Pilsner Malt to flourish, with long sunny days and dry conditions encouraging its growth.


So I am doing a Kolsch with Cologne, and a Pils today.