2021 Brewing Goals

@Jasonja1474 I used Heritage at 43% in this brew, mashed at 154*F for 75 minutes.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/brewing-activities-2020.630670/page-20#post-6987433
I didn't notice any grassy or hay type flavors/aromas.

How much Heritage did you use? Riverbend suggests no more than 60%:
https://riverbendmalt.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/RMH-CoA-Heritage.pdf

 

I’ll have to look at my notes later, I may have used a different malt for the base. Heritage just seem to stick out to me right now off the top of my head.

 

I loosely based my recipe off of the Oktoberfest from Brewing Classic Styles (highly recommend buying this book, it’s a great jumping off point to tackle brewing new-to-you styles). I used Wyeast 2633 Oktoberfest to ferment.

 

My goals for the year is to continue to add more beers to my mixed culture "program", specifically I want to brew more beers using spelt malt that I can use to blend back some of my more acidic beers.

I also want to start brewing lagers and utilize my new Lukr faucet for those. I don't know really where to start from a process standpoint, but I have a conical fermenter and glycol chiller which should make executing it obtainable. I'm looking to try an reverse engineer a pilsner in similar fashion to Suarez Palatine Pils... so if anyone has any tips or hints, I'm all ears.

 

One goal I forgot: more split batches for experimentation's sake.

 

My main goal is to find a new house so I can get back to a normal brew schedule. Selling my old house was easy but finding a new house in an extremely tight market has been tough.

Other goals:
Brew more 3-4 gallon batches as many others have mentioned. I love to brew but can't drink/give out enough to keep up so smaller batches seems like the best option. When you have to move you realize just how much beer you have!

Keep working on some low calorie/low abv beers. Made a nice Vic Secret Session IPA, Dark Mild, and Scottish Light so far.

Narrow down the beer styles I brew. I've always been an experimental brewer trying to brew all different kinds of beer but now that I've brewed over 150 batches I feel like I should start to pick a few I really like to brew and drink.

Find the perfect barrel aged stout recipe. I've made some decent ones but never achieved the perfect balance yet.

 

Brewing message recieved ipa with nugget cascade chinook and Columbus

 

Wrong thread gorm! But brew on!

 

Another goal will be to rather then brew smaller batches is to give away more beer. I need to move through stock faster without killing my liver!

 

Reach out to local distilleries, especially if they're very young. They often have 5-15 gal barrels they're happy to sell.

 

No matter how you cut it I’d be ready to invest 130-200 dollars for just A 5 gallon barrel.

 

I just bought one a few months ago from Midwest barrels. It was $130 for a 5 gallon. It’s a fresh barrel and luckily I have a friend who is a distiller so I got hooked up with 5 gallons of liquor to break it in. Can’t wait to put a Stout in that thing.

 

Yeah barrels are going to cost you some money unless you've got a good hookup (I was lucky to get a 10 gallon maple syrup bourbon for $80 once). Side note you typically can get 10 gallon barrels for cheaper than 5 because most homebrewers want those 5 gallon ones. You should be able to get a few brews out of a good barrel which makes it easier to swallow but it still stings when you don't quite get a recipe right in the barrel.

 

Like others have mentioned I’d really like to get a barrel this year to do a true barrel aged stout. I’ve used bourbon soaked oak chips in the past, and they work fine, but I think a barrel would just add the “right” character.

This is my second year as a HopBox subscriber from Yakima Valley. With only 2oz of each hop, I’m really trying to dial in a nice blonde ale recipe that I can sub in 2 new hops for each brew to showcase some new hops.

I’m wanting to try some more “thinking out of the box brewing” with flavors and ingredients. Next up is an Old Fashioned inspired beer with rye, bitter orange peel, aged on oak. In my research I found Wicked Weed did one a few years ago but went high alcohol content. I’m wanting to take a more session approach to it. We’ll see how it goes!

 

Thanks, musta made one too many trip to the celler, hahahahahahhaa

 

Follow-up on my first brewing goal... the keezer is coming along nicely. Just weighing down the collar and waiting on the temperature regulator, some beer lines, and one more tap handle. Perfect timing too, as I’m ready to fill 3 kegs with new beverages.



This will help me with my second goal, which is to finally brew a lager. Since I can turn my old kegerator into a fermentation chamber. I’m thinking Czech Pilsner...!

 

Getting back on the horse after a 2 years hiatus. Which means:
1. Getting to know my system again, so that I can reliably brew the same beer over and over again.
2. Figuring out how to bottle from my kegerator to save for storage.
3. Nailing a really good NEIPA!