Brewing Activities (2019)

I used mahlab in a huge quad once. I like what it brings, a little almond, a little cinnamon along with the cherry

 

Brewed my annual stout last night. Maris Otter / Chocolate / Coffee / Flaked Oats, with a little Columbus and US-05. I added lactose to this year's edition and will add vanilla tincture before bottling. Naturally cooled overnight and pitched early this morning.

 

I can definitely see mahlab showcasing well in a quad.

 

Have my apricot/mango Berliner now chilling, as it is now complete chomping through all the sugars from the fruit additions in the keg. Had to blow it off at first because it got so vigorous, so I didn't catch the spund on time and it only got a little bit of natural carb. So got it on some gas the next few days to perk it up before tapping.

This weekend I will be brewing a new pale, west coast style (yay!). About 5.1% ABV with Warrior, Comet, Rakau and Simcoe. Going with good ol' US-05 on this one. Expecting around 30-40 IBU. Only a single boil addition of the Warrior (about 25 IBU worth), the rest of the hops are whirlpool below 180F and dry hop.

 

Finished packaging an ESB, all the numbers came in correct.
Cheers all

 

Just kegged/dry hopped GF Enigma Pale & Cascade Pale ale. Same yeast, but slightly different grain bills for comparison.

 

Brewing my new pale at the moment, currently cooling the wort. OG of 1.051, bittered with about 30 IBU of Warrior and whirlpool hopped with Rakau and Comet (under 180F). Will have a single, 4oz dry hop near FG with 1oz each of Comet, Simcoe, Galaxy and Rakau. Pitching Cali Ale.

Looking forward to a nice, crisp west coast pale. The comet I have smells unreal, if that drives along with the Simcoe/Galaxy in there, should be in for a treat. The Rakau seems pretty mild, aroma wise. So not sure how much influence that will have. Originally planned 2oz of Rakau in dry hop, but once I smelled the hops, subbed an ounce for Galaxy.

 

Just crushed grain for Second Breakfast, an oatmeal stout, of course. Low gravity, because it's not Elevensies yet.

 

Brewed a Pale Ale on Friday.
Golden Promise
1lb Malted Wheat
1lb Munich I
3ml hopshot at 60
Citra, Cashmere, touch of Loral WP
Citric acid for pH adjustments
Vermont Ale yeast
1.052

Brewed a more WC inspired IPA yesterday.
Golden Promise
1lb Carapils
2% Honey Malt
5ml hopshot at 60
.5oz Zeus @ 45
Citra/Strata/Simcoe Cryo at WP
TYB Midwest Ale yeast
1.066
Upped the Ca levels on this one.

Managed to score an 11lb (was actually 12.4?) bag of hand selected Citra from one of west coasts better hop focused breweries. Totally different than any Citra I’ve ever been able to get that’s for sure. Lot of Citra beers in my future this summer.

 

Hey y'all!

So I just entered the Warren Michigan big brew festival this weekend. I picked up a lot of tricks and I saw how the bigger operations did it. I have been finding simplicity in some of my beers and the flavors I was able to blend together while utilizing a bucket and a brew kettle, that's it! When it comes to boiling and fermenting I add it all in without muslin bags or strainers, I strain everything out at the end of my batch after I get done with it. I also learned a ton about bottling and what not to do! So what do you guys like to do and what are some techniques you all utilize?

Thank you.

 

Well,,,,,, I. Brew all grain, so I use a mash tun and go thru the usual 1 hour mash cycle at a temp of 148-156 depending on the beer being made. Then sparge with 170 water, boil for 1 hour adding hops as I want for the beer. Cool the beer with a immersion chiller to 60-70 , add yeast and away we go. Add dry hops after ferment is done for 3-5 days then bottle. Pretty standard.

I am interested if you are boiling with the grains in the kettle, or are u using extract?

 

Pretty standard indeed. The hops and the mash cycle are all techniques I picked up watching others. I can always do that and utilize the standard techniques, when it comes to the finished product it is going to be strained anyway. So I looked up the ways the European and English used to do it, low tech always ends up creating beer that will have a lot of flavors.

I am boiling with both grains, extract and any other ingredient that might work with the flavors. I then usually add hope pellets as a fermentable and then any other flavor I might think would work before pitching. Then I usually add a good amount of dry yeast to let it work through all of those flavors.

Having a family that I tend to be the only IPA drinker, I tend to stay away from styles I want to create and I just try to stay with mellow crowd pleasing flavors, which tended to work over this past weekend.

So when it comes to standard processes, what do you like to do differently?

 

Hopefully you're not actually boiling grains. But if you are, don't. And have a look at www.howtobrew.com

Hops are not fermentable. Well, at least not in the normal sense. I'm getting the impression you're fairly inexperienced or don't yet have the vocabulary to communicate exactly what you're doing. Either way, reading www.howtobrew.com would be helpful.

 

The water gets hot enough I turn it off and mix it with the malt extract, to take advantage of the temperature. You could always cook the grains and get a wort out of those too. I was just short cutting it and putting some potency to the batch. Which is why I am using yeast, I am not inexperienced, just lacking equipment and giving it some flare. I will check out that site for sure. So far this has been the best thread on BA. I ferment the hop pellets, I used the wrong term there, I know they should add aroma to the batch but in interest of preservation, this keeps well in a bucket.

I picked up a lot of tricks of the trade and I now know how to create a standard beer with a hop schedule and the proper way to create mash and wort. This is all well and good but there is a point where all that is just too standard. Now it is time for me to sort some things out with my previous batches, but as far as crowd pleasers go, that goal was accomplished!

 

Anything can be fermentable, anything can be dry hopped or preserved in the flavor profile and anything can be infused. It just takes creativity and some timing.

 

No. Many, many things cannot. In terms of Sacch c. yeast strains, sugars are fermentable. (And not even all sugars, at that.) That's it. Nothing else is fermentable.

But again, I suspect you do not have the vocabulary to have these kinds of discussions without frustration. ( www.howtobrew.com )

 

Dry yeast is pretty sturdy stuff, I have fermented six batches with this technique and all have yielded alcohol from it. If it does not ferment then it dissolves adding to the potency of the batch. Like I said, I picked up a ton of tips and tricks, but picking up the dry yeast from the store helps everything. I might have to try bakers yeast at one of these times, I am pushing the boundaries instead of staying in check boxes or traditions.

 

What are you getting out of the comet?

 

Yesterday evening, I racked my Witbier from fermenter (SS Brew Bucket) to keg under closed transfer. I decided to use a little pressure this time (~1 PSI) with my new regulator, but I forgot to turn the PSI down before opening the valve. I wrongly assumed that a new regulator would have the dial set at zero on purchase. Two seconds of 10 PSI was enough to blow the lid and point out my stupidity. Fortunately, I think I only need to replace three lid clamps and the everything should be OK.