What's Brewing - November Edition!

First off I did miss the banter and I’m glad you’re back. But what’s with the karma I agree it doesn’t make sense. I’m on here all the time and I’ve been an initiate a few times. I feel like I’ve been punished. I even answer dumb noob questions

 

I work my own personal style of karma seems to be accepted, try it, you'll like it.

 

The longer I stay, the lower my karma points go.

 

I remember the under boob sweat comment about some beer or ingredient. still laugh about it, others in vt land do as well.

Congrats on your new addition

 

Brewed an English BW for my 40th birthday on Jan. 5th. Bottled last Friday, with a calculated 12.3 ABV once priming sugars are fermented. I took far and above the most process and tasting notes I've every done. It is nothing short of a nasterpiece, perhaps the best of show I've been seeking - we shall see as it will be entered into competition. However, almost regardless of winning, with such great notes, I will be very well positioned to refine with judges feedback.

 

round 2 of dry hopping the ipa this time citra and columbus

 

Starting up some Imperial Dry Hop blend (Barbarian + Citrus). Will be brewing a sour with some Good Belly and dry hops Huell Melon and Mandarina Bavarian

 

Wow, this starter was high krausen in 7 hours. Had to turn the stir plate off.

And my kitchen balance battery crapped out as I was weighing grains. Just put new ones in last brew day, so I'm thinking something is wrong with the balance and not the batteries. And I have no spares. Since my laptop with the beersmith recipes crapped out too (sent in last week for warranty service), I was winging the recipe anyhow. 1 handful of oats for every three handfuls of 2-row sounds about right, and after 13 years of all-grain brewing, my eyeballs know 6 lbs of grain when they see it.

 

Mashed in to my new IPA, hopped with CTZ, Citra and Nelson. Grist of 2 row, flaked wheat and a touch of 60L for color. Will be fermented with WLP007, expected ABV of 6.6%.

 

Brewing my annual Christmas Weizenbock tomorrow... can't wait! Some subtle changes from my usual recipe due to availability... dark wheat instead of pale wheat, Simpson's dark crystal instead on Munton's dark. Color-wise, they are very similar in BrewCipher (16 SRM vs 14) in the final recipe, and am interested in how this affects the final product. Biggest change is the yeast. The LHBS was out of the WLP 300 I regularly use, so I went with WLP-351. We'll see how this turns out.

 

Been a few years since I brewed a weizen, but I recall preferring 351 over 300. Seemed like there was a bit more to offer than just straight up banana. I think I went 380>351>300 on the White labs strains.

 

Beer came in with OG of 1.048, within 4 points of where I wanted it to be. Not too shabby for not actually weighing grains. Airlock action within 6 hours of pitching.

 

We'll see how this turns out... last time I made this with 300, I under-pitched, but kept the temp at 68 F. There were some banana notes, but they were fairly restrained, which was OK by me because I prefer the phenolics anyway. Overall, it was a big hit with friends & family...

 

Bottled my 3 one gallon batches of smash pale ales (Sabro, Bella, Idaho gem). They were still a bit green though I did get some coconut from from the Sabro. Idaho was my favorite at bottling but will be interesting to see how they are when carbonated and less green.

Also brewed up my first black ipa. Was trying to use up some hops in the freezer so went with Centennial and El Dorado hops. Will double dry hop with both as well. Meant to cold steep the dark grain but forgot so had to throw them in at vorlauf. Guess I can try that next time and compare.

 

How was the Idaho Gem? YVH junkie....touché

 

Can't make an official review yet but Idaho was very tasty at bottling. Did get the coconut in the Sabro but none of the tangerine they talk about. Will report back in a couple weeks with an official review when they should be fully carbonated and ready to drink

 

Company is coming,,, again,,, but their not ipa type folks,,, so English bitter and a porter should fit the bill. If not there will b another wave of humans

 

Must have a lot of body.

 

Using this blood orange in a pale ale. Stuff smells good so i'll add it at the end of fermentation.