Brewing Activities (2020)

I have the M&B 7.5. My biggest issue is the amount of grain that makes it through the basket. I need to stock up on 5 gallon paint strainer bags and just drop them in the basket. Make cleanup a lot easier.

 

That’s what I did, a huge strainer bag on the outside of the grain basket. It helps with hops too. I use a hop spider as well and I put one of those mesh bazooka screens on the out spigot. I get pretty clear wort that way

 

Massive brew day yesterday. 11 gallons of no sparge tripel.

18lb Pilsner
5 pds marris otter
5lb table sugar
Glacier hops at 60
Fermented with Be-256

Took old mash and added water and 5 more pounds of marris otter and 2 lb of flakes oats. Mashed again for 30 minutes and boiled for 30 minutes with summit at FWH and flameout. Pitched London Ale 3 and will be dry hopping with even more summit. FG of the second beer came out at 1.050 so I was pretty happy with that.

 

Brewing another Dark Mild today, same recipe I have been using - no tweaks which is really rare for me. First time trying out my new DIY 3 tier rig, I really like how much more compact this is so far!

 

Brewed a coconut porter this morning. Being from KC and all, my first thought was to smoke the unsweetened coconut chips instead of toasting them. My concern was that they wouldn't take on enough smoke in the 10 or so minutes they were on at ~325F, but I was quite wrong. They were super smoky, giving them a savory, bacon like vibe. Which jived with what little I could find on smoked coconut on the Web which was vegetarians doing something similar as a bacon substitute.

Started with 1lb, swirling for 20 minutes at flameout. Was anticipating adding more during a secondary but going to play it by ear. Post-boil hydro sample was exactly how I was hoping the finished beer would taste and could see it getting overdone by adding more.

 

Bottling a galaxy/mosaic IPA today. Finally got a beer over 7% (given my rookie technique and my ever-improving equipment limitations, this is no small feat). It hit 7.6, and though the nose is not there yet, it has big pineapple and mango flavors. I followed the schedule suggested by others in another forum, which was Mosaic at 60, 15 and 5, but I also wanted to add some Galaxy to the boil so I chucked in an ounce at 5 as well. One ounce Mosaic and 3 ounces Galaxy for the dry hop. It has a nice hazy yellow color - I tried to keep the grain bill simple and used just pale, Maris Otter and flaked oats.

Also brewing a cranberry saison today using powdered freeze-dried cranberries. I will report back on how using powdered fruit goes.

All this action will be accompanied by a pumpkin ale and my last Idaho 7/Motueka IPA.

Have good one!

 

I like this idea. I’ve just toasted and added to secondary. I like big coconut flavor and nose in dark beers too.

 

It definitely took on more of a smoky, savory aroma than coconut beers I've had in the past (never brewed one myself) so YMMV. I was originally thinking of adding cocoa nibs in secondary but now feel it wouldn't be appropriate. Thinking maybe going a breakfast porter route on future iterations (coffee, maple, etc).

 

Brewing message recieved ipa today
Marris otter
L20
Belgian buisket malt
Cascade and citra hops
Notty yeast

Bottled Xmas stout yeasterday

 

Brewing another gf NEIPA (I can't wait until the 2020 American hops are available).

Biscuit 4L
Crystal Millet
Oats
Quinoa
Bravo @ 60 & 10
Bravo & Sabro whirlpool
Galaxy & Sabro dry hop

I haven't been a big fan of Sabro and have been kind of underwhelmed with Bravo, but gonna give them another chance (plus I'm using up 2019 hops).

 

Care to share your recipe? Thanks

 

Yeah of course!

7lbs Crisp Maris Otter
1/2lb Crisp Amber Malt
1/2lb Baird's Carastan
1/2lb Crisp Pale Chocolate

1/2oz each of UK Fuggle and EKG at 60 and at 10

OYL-011 (Wyeast 1318 equivalent)

Mash for 60 mins at 155
1.040 OG
1.010 FG
23ibus per Brewcipher

 

Pitched a Rauchbier on my Munich Dunkel Cal Lager cake on Saturday. Came in low for the OG 1.045, not sure why tho. Oh well, should still taste really good when it is done. Chugging away at 55*F.

 

Brewed up a Vanilla Porter this weekend. 75% Maris Otter, 7% UK Pale Choc, 7% Flaked Oats, 4% UK Light Crystal, 4% Carafa 1, 3% Black Malt with Willamette & US-05. SG of 1.061 and is already down to 1.020 so plan to add Vanilla beans in the next couple days and let it sit for a couple weeks. Will have some vanilla extract ready at bottling as well.

It's been very different brewing outside but so far its gone pretty well. Probably won't brew again this year and will have to figure out some things now that winter is upon us (or find a house to buy so I can brew inside!).

 

A bitter brewed today. I recently got a pump and switched to 2V instead of 3V, getting a bigger mashtun in the process and so ditching my old faithful tea urn that I used as a HLT for many years. This was my first time using it and it went rather well.

70% crisp extra pale
24% crisp best pale
6% crisp medium crystal

35 IBU challenger@ 60mins
10IBU (guestimate, probably less) homegrown hallertau mittelfruh @15mins

OG 1.044
Verdant IPA yeast - Quite looking forward to using this yeast, although I probably won't ever use it in a NEIPA !

 

Decided to brew a juicy/hazy IPA this weekend. Idaho 7 + Vic Secret hot-side, then Vic Secret + Citra cryo on the dry hop. 52% pils, 19% malted oats, 10% each flaked oats, white wheat malt, and unmalted wheat. London III.

Going for quite a large dry hop. Honestly just trying to use up some of my stockpile so I can justify using this 10% off coupon YVH gave me.

 

I haven’t seen someone use malted oats and flaked oats in a grain bill before. Is there a reason for this? I only ask cause I’m planning out my first hazy soon.