Brewing Activities (2020)

I retired from competitions a while back, but sometimes they happen accidentally. My homebrew club poured at the HibrewNation festival (York, PA) yesterday, and my beer (an Imperial Sweet Stout) finished third in peoples' choice voting.

 

Yikes! This beer will probably finish with a higher FG than the starting OG! Cheers!

 

Sweet! .....maybe I'll dose a few bottles with a hefty helping of maple extract and serve it over pancakes.
Honestly tho, the gravity sample wasn't nearly as sweet as I expected, but it's possible I'll be back in a few days for guidance on drying it out a bit.

 

Not for me, super sweet beer don't make it,,,,,,,,
Perhaps on pancakes, hahahahahaha

 

Just finished brewing 8 gallons of dry stout. Hit all my numbers, I have brewcipher parameters dialed in.

 

Upgraded some brew equipment in December/january. Father in law gifted me a chugged pump. I bought a new 15gal spike brew kettle and a 7gal conical fermenter with some fantasy football winnings. Brewed my 2nd batch (8% with coffee added at kegging). All is good!

 

Brewed up a Helles on Friday that is currently bubbling away.
82% Weyermann bohemian Pilz
14% dark Munich
4% acidulated
Mittelfruh to 18 IBU
3 packs of 34/70

will spund in serving keg

haven’t been able to drink for like 2 months due to a stomach issue, so figured I could brew something that I can lager for a good while while I heal up !

 

Today I kegged a mango kettle sour and a German Pilsner which will be in a local homebrew store competition. Both tasted very good. I have high hopes.

 

Bottleing whole hop #?? Today, bottleing coco down tommorrow

 

Worked great. Used 5 oz in the wp and was able to tilt the kettle and drain 5-1/2 gals quickly before the original clogged.
https://streamable.com/pro6c

 

Entered three different beers in the local comp: the Cowtown Yeast Wranglers 2020 Homebrew roundup - still can't drink so may as well give some beers away to some judges!

entered a 2 year aged sour beer made with local wildflower honey, an American stout and a pale ale (the latter being the two most popular categories, so probably don't stand much of a chance)

Bottled off the keg with a picnic tap, cut length of siphon and a small stopper - DIY counter pressure filler!

 

Nice. Good idea on the cooler-in-minifridge setup. I'm guessing the Inkbird probe is in a thermowell. Does the temp control work as well as you expected?

ETA: you did well in fantasy football, and you have a nice pa-in-law......

 

Yea - ink bird is in a thermowell. Temp control is perfect for fermentation in the 60-72 range. It’s not great for cold crashing. I can get it down to about 42, but I have to replace ice jugs in cooler every 4hrs to maintain 42F. It’s all good though, it ends up cold crashing to 35 in my serving fridge.

My FIL has a glycol chiller and has offered to put one together for me... just a matter of space and logistics

 

Tomorrow, I'm brewing another gluten free IPA with Galaxy, Amarillo & Columbus. Will ferment with Lalbrew New England. This will be my 2nd brew using Ondea Pro enzyme in the mash. I'll be adding 5% dextrose to help with the attenuation issues. Fingers crossed...

In other news, my taprite regulator knob stripped. I pulled it off and used an Allen wrench to adjust co2. However something broke a seal and started spitting out co2. I turned off the tank, but now have to fix this.

Will a new bonnet assembly do the trick?

 

^ @billandsuz

 

Thanks @VikeMan

I am not sure you can get the parts you are looking for. I checked our wholesaler catalog for Taprite parts and as suspected they only have the gasket and wear parts. They do not have the parts to assemble a body. For that you have to buy a new regulator. Which is pretty much I would do.

There is also the danger of accidentally emptying a few pounds of CO2 gas through a real tiny outlet hole, with no gasket to hold it back, at 800 psi. So I'd call it a total loss and move on.
Cheers

 

A total loss would really suck since I just passed my warranty period. I took off the bonnet assembly and this is how it looks.

https://imgur.com/a/Y52pyUM

I ordered this to replace the bonnet.
https://www.homebrewing.org/Taprite...Y7fdU_6_uYZV_IvEUnR_ZeZ4wG4Iq0GcaAqBeEALw_wcB

Thoughts? Thank you!

 

Wife is going to her sister's for a couple days. So, I'm gonna take the twins skiing for a few hours and then brew a beer.

Gluten free American Amber. I've been brewing a lot of higher abv beers lately. So, for this one I just want an easy drinking, slightly hoppy 5%er.

Centennial, Simcoe, Columbus
BRY-97

 

Looks good and should fit.
The only repair kits I have seen are what AIH has for sale at $16.99. But there you have it. A cheap fix and good to know.
Cheers

 

While not 100% finished, my keezer build is operational. First glass poured minutes ago!