Brewing Activities (May edition)

I’m going to add some coffee to a Milk Stout I made with it tomorrow. I’ve never used it but from everything I’ve read it sounds like it much more milk chocolate than dark chocolate. Not going to pass any judgement for another few weeks though.

 

I might try that, thanks. My only thing is I have never been able to get notty to work right for me. I keep it like 60-62 and it seems great for like 3-5 days so I try to raise the temps and it just never works the way I want it to.

Did you use it in lieu of the chocolate malt or did you use that + chocolate rye? I am inspired because I want milk chocolate for the warmer temps outside.

 

Generally blend 001 and 007. Tried the same recipe with 1318 for funsies. funsies were not achieved. pass

 

Firstly, I bought a 55# sack of Rahr pilsner malt for upcoming lagers. I also placed a online order that included semi-bulk quantities of MO, Halcyon, flaked rye, and dark Munich. Lots of grain, so looks like I've got lots of brews to plan! Why do I do most of my brewing in the summer, only to waste our perfect-for-brewing winter weather?

Brewed up a festbier of sorts yesterday. It's a little lower OG than style guidelines state for sessionability. Also, I used domestic pilsner malt and hopped with a combination of Chinook and Centennial late in the boil. The Dark Munich, acid malt, and WY2308 are all German. I'm hoping this results in a relatively unique take on a beer that is still recognizable as a festbier. Either way, I imagine it'll be quite drinkable. I doubt I'll be able to keep my hands off of it until October.

Speaking of acid malt, this is my first time specifically addressing mash pH. I found my lagers lacking crispness, and I'm hoping that acidifying the mash will remedy that. I am flying a bit blind, though, relying on BrewCipher's calculations in lieu of an actual pH meter. Does a half pound of acid malt for a 5 gallon batch sound crazy for a pale beer made with 100% RO?

 

Just kegged my NE IPA brewed Friday, with a nice keg dry hop this time around. Will let sit and spund for the next day or two, chill and tap by Saturday. Hit the FG I targeted according to the FFT. Love these week turnarounds!

 

Kegged a Comet and Nelson Trois IPA this morning while mashing an all Citra Trois NE IPA (just stocked up with 4lbs of Citra for the summer from Label Peelers) that I added back on the cake...then I went for a bike ride, paddle, climb, hike and nap. First day of summer vacation ROCKS!

Should brew about 2-3 more times in the next week-10 days...Lemon Drop Kveik, a Kolsch I'm donating to a summer solstice festival and version of the house session Brett with pineapple instead of hops.

Cheers!

 

Brewed a dark rye mild on Saturday. Got 82% efficiency, which I wasn't counting on, so it's a little less mild than it ought to be. Pitched an entire packet of dry real ale yeast (Crossmyloof) into a 3gal batch and it was down from 1.040 to 1.015 in under 24 hours. Just 48 hours in and it's already stopped bubbling. Tasting good, too.

 

Got a 4.6% abv saison hopped with nelson bottle conditioning now. Brewed a big brown ale Sunday and it clogged the vents in fermenter and blew the lid off, gonna put Brett in the secondary

 

Just finishing the boil on an all Lemondrop Kveik that I'm adding onto the cake of an all Comet Kveik I kegged this morning.

 

Label Peelers has 1lb of 2017 Citra crop for $15.99 if anyone needs to stock up.

Brewing @GormBrewhouse stout this weekend. Figured I would switch it up. Going to sub the chocolate malt for the chocolate rye. I'm going all in. Chocolate tincture and some cold brew in the secondary.

 

Been sitting on my RIS in the secondary for about a month and a half. Gonna keg and cold condition it for the summer then bottle, if there’s any left after multiple sampling’s. Also if anyone has BRU-1 hops, use them for bittering. Made a Black IPA with them recently. Very mild and odd hop.

 

I've only done one pseudo-NEIPA before. Last night I sampled and kegged my first true NEIPA. Man did it look nice and tasted good, although still a little green from the large amount of DH. Hopefully will round into form in a couple weeks when I tap it. Also I finally worked out the kinks with pressurized transfers and avoiding clogs at the post despite the heavy DH (8 oz all commando).

 

Have you tried pushing out the sampling valve when using that much hops or would you waste too much beer.

 

I use the dump valve for trub after a couple days of fermentation. They recommend against dumping yeast and hops right before transfer, as then there's more beer in the bottom of the conical that won't be captured by the racking arm. You can rotate the racking arm on this, so in the up position it's above the level of trub/hops/yeast anyway.

 

I wrote up a recipe for a 3.9% ABV Session IPA with 2Row, MO, Carapils, Carastan, Simcoe, Citra, and Columbus, and hit of Galaxy on the DH. All WP. 30 minute mash, 10 minute boil, 25 min WP @ 185. Just need to find an evening to bolt home and brew it. No free weekends for awhile and no hop forward beer on tap.

 

Brewing a hoppy raw ale tonight. Will let Wort naturally cool overnight, then pitching Hornindal kveik yeast in the morning. Dry hopping with Denali and citra for a couple days before kegging!

 

Nice. What kveik strain(s) have you used, and how do you like them? I’m looking forward to trying mine out in a few days, but I have never used kveik before. It tore through my 1.5L starter - I’m thinking this is going to be a very active fermentation with a heat wrap!