Brewing Activity February 2016

Brown Malt pH Trials

 

Doge has Worms started fermenting again right away. Looks kind of creepy with worms floating around as if they were alive.

 

A little kegging action

 

Brewed a IPA today, things went pretty good. I missed my OG but overall I am pleased, love my new chugger pump

 

I brewed a RIS stout 3 weeks ago that I'll be racking to secondary for bulk aging sometime this week or next. Early indications on flavor are great, with a nice blend of roasted malt, coffee, and dark fruit (plum, raisin).

I've been trying to find the time to brew a simple Irish Red for the past week and am probably going to after work one day this week. I've got a keg that's going to kick and an Irish Red seems like a nice session beer for the spring months. Another IPA is in the works since Enigma hops have me really intrigued. I'm going after the Northeast/New England style with London III and some flaked oats in the mash. I'd also like to get German Pilsner fermenting in the next couple weeks. I've wanted to brew one for quite awhile and it will be nice technical challenge for myself to see how my sound technique is. Should be ready right about the time the Irish Red will kick if my brewing plans go as I hope. We'll see...

 

Doing a small batch, Northern Brewers Extract, Plinian Legacy.

 

brewin up the wil wheaton's vandaleyesPA kit from northern brewer

 

I'm very interested to see how these turn out.

 

• I just bottled 6 gallons of rye saison with 3031 and nelson throughout. And 4 gallons of a basic extract brown (pils dme and caramunich ii) with allagash dregs.
• I have a Brett IPA in primary right now with Bootlet Biology's Funk Weapon #2
• I am brewing a basic pils/wheat grist with a little vienna to be split between a hef yeast and WLP611 New Nordic on tuesday
• Starting a new solera project next weekend

 

Tried my hand at a little small batch work this weekend. Came in at almost 4 gallons, it was a lot easier than the normal routine of hauling out 2 tons of equipment

 

Brewed up the second batch of my sour stout, which will get the rye whiskey oak treatment eventually (first batch was bourbon oak). Smooth, efficient brew day.

 

Only my second brew so bear with me.

I want to do another pale ale, but put half of it on fruit. I'm going to do either grapefruit or papaya. So I have quite a few questions:
1) Does anyone have any estimates of how much fruit to use?
2) How long after starting fermentation do I rack half into the other fermentor (the one with fruit)?
3) How long would this secondary fermentation on fruit last?
4) Are there any resources on how to prepare or pasteurize the fruit before racking the beer onto it?

Appreciate any help.

 

1) I usually start at 1lb/gallon when experimenting with new fruits, etc,. You can always add more. There are resources available online that give rough guidelines for how much fruit to use for various fruits.
2) Let the fermentation finish; ie: give it 2-4 weeks where gravity readings are not only stable for a while, but the yeast has had time to clean things up.
3) I usually start at 2 weeks minimum for clean beers (ie: non-soured/no wild bacteria, etc). Sample and package when flavor meets what you are looking for.
4) Prepare the fruit so it is in the form you want to rack the beer onto it (ie: fruit is skinned, gutted, diced up, etc), freeze it, then thaw and add to your fermenter. Be wary of heating fruits to over ~160-degrees or youll create pectin, which will make your beer permanently hazy.

 

ESB has been kegged! Looking forward to taking a sample in a day or so.

 

Pulled another hydro sample on my Bohemian Pilsner that I pitched the yeast on 9 days ago... At 1.019 right now (1.017 target)... Just two days prior it was at 1.025. Tasting really, really awesome... Loving those C. Saaz hops!

Since I am at or near FG, I started a D-rest for the next few days, although WLP800 fermented very clean and no off-flavors or aroma at all. Pitched the yeast at around 50F and fermented at 50F all week. By Wed or so I will start to cold crash it to lager temps over a couple of days before transferring to a keg and starting the 4-6 week lager.

 

Hooked up a line and dispensed the milk stout IPA yesterday. The beer is ok. Flavors seem to have neutralized each other. There is an earth tone to the beer, but that's it. Since this is already carbonated and I want to dry hop, do I need to de-gas the keg and then dry hop?

 

Kegged my coffee stout after 2.5 days of dry-bean contact. This was the coffee stout that I used wort at the end of the boil to pour over 2 oz. coffee grounds. That didn't work too well as the sugary wort (1.092 O.G.) clogged the pour over base rather quickly. Still achieved some coffee flavor but not what I anticipated, so through in a little under 2 oz. course crushed beans and smell is so good (Coffee Bender like, which IMO has an amazing aroma) and taste is on point. I used a 2 week old 2L started of US-04 for this beer as an experiment when brewing schedules got asploded. Signs of fermentation within 3 hours of pitching, but only got down to 1.034/35 range. Recipe threw out a F.G. of 1.021 so a bit off. still tasty and my first stout kegged, we will see how it tastes fresh next weekend.

 

Are you doing rapid carb or set and forget? If set and forget you can probably add them without completely degassing assuming there's an inch or two of space at the top. If it's fully carbed, expect quite a bit of foaming when you add the hops.

 

Set and forget. It's been on gas for 2 weeks now.

 

Ah, I was thinking it's only been in the keg for 2 days. Yeah, you'll get significant foaming when you dry hop. I'll let others chime in with suggestions on how to best handle it. I haven't keg hopped a carb'ed beer myself.