Brewing Activities April 2016

Happened to see a discussion around this on MTF this morning (guessing you were involved) and I'm having a similar problem right now. Decided to brew a few gallons of 0 IBU Berliner and split my current batch into 2. We'll see if anything happens over the next few days.

 

This is the sequence I use.
1) Mash your choice of grains.
2) Lauter and boil (no hops) to kill off anything already on mash grains.
3) Cool to 95 or so and pitch Lacto Plantarum, cover surface with plastic, put lid on and leave for 24 - 48 hrs.
4) When pH around 3.2, add hops of your choice/qty and boil. Doesn't matter if Lacto is sensitive or not, they ded.
5) Cool and pitch your choice of Sac (I used WLP 565 and S-05) and ferment as usual.
This is a simple but delicious Berliner, not meant to be complex but you can add fruit in secondary like raspberries, delicious.

 

This is what I had done in the past. This time around, I decided to do a no boil version to try something different. I added some hops mid-way through the mash; it's tough to calculate IBUs doing it this way and I obviously underestimated. Then I brought it up to 210 F, followed by chilling to ~ 90 F before adding lacto. I had then planned to pitch US-05 and Brett C after I was comfortable with where the acidity was heading, but it never started dropping.

 

Just planted some centennial, Columbus and cascade!!

 

That's what I suspected after seeing Nancy's mentioned. Good luck - hope yours starts moving. Have my chamber set at 90 F and just hoping the overall IBUs are now low enough after blending.

 

Belgium Quadrupel went almost perfect. Mash temps and OG (1.090) were almost dead on. Hopefully it finishes the same.

 

Babysitting and constant feeding of the latest batch of None More Black has begun. Fun times.

Probably brew up some more lambic base on Wed, turbid mash style for the fuck of it.

 

Brewed up a stout that I'll be adding nibs and coffee to later.

Living on the edge! Maxing out my brew kettle.



I love my new spigot! Makes life so much easier. First time I've brewed twice in 2 weeks that my primary fermenter is in use. Glad I got these extra buckets.

 

My Wit Bier has been kegged and is now carbonating. Still tastes great, just waiting on the bubbles!

 

Kegged my first beer over the weekend... and clearly still have more to learn .

Also set up new temperature controllers for the ferm chamber and for the (new to me) keezer. I'm using the Inkbird ITC-308. The controllers were incredibly easy to setup and quite inexpensive compared to some of the other options. Happy with them so far.

Now I've just got to learn more on kegging the beer

 

Made a Good Belly starter, and after 24ish hours down to 3.6 pH. I'll pitch that, but (NOOB QUESTION ALERT) will I need to pitch sacc strain after the souring? Pitch together? does Lacto plantarum ferment wort?
Also, what was your apparent IBU? Mine is under 7...

 

Brewed up two this Sunday. Overshot both. My Amarillo/Simcoe PA turned into an IPA. But that's ok, that one should come out ok with the hops.
My Hoppy RIS came in a tad high too. That's 1.140, my first time past the blue section. I don't suspect this will finish where I want it too. I will wait to see what I get, but I might be blending it with some IPA to get it where I want . I worried about coming home to an explosion of krausen tonight.

 

Took a sample of my Berliner, it's sitting at 1.006 right now (better than the expected 1.008) and it smells nice and sour but it isn't quite there taste wise yet. It's only been 2 months, so I'm going to let it ride a little more. Anyone have experience with the Yeast Bay's Melange?

Also brewed up a quick Golden Promise Pale. GP/Flaked Oats/C10 with Cascade, Centennial, and HBC-438. The HBC hops smell amazing, I can't wait to try the finished product. Also using Funktown Pale Ale from the Yeast Bay for this (it was going to expire).

 

Just finished my third feeding of the current batch of NMB. Hungry bastard right now. Feeding it more aggressively to see how the yeast responds and just had to put in 1.5lbs of sugar (biggest sugar addition I've ever had to do) because the gravity was dropping too low already despite the two 16-oz feedings to start things off (usually start with 8-12oz and ramp up).

It's looking pretty tasty

 

Somehow managed to get a bunch of motivation last night after being down and out with the flu over the weekend.

Kegged a German pils and saison. The Pils is still a touch hazy, hoping this will clear up some while lagering. The Saison was kegged with wlp650 brett B, going to let that ride out at 68-70 ambient for a couple months. Cold crashed a starter of expired wlp036 that I picked up for free. Looking to brew a Altbier with 90% Munich soonish.

Racked a 5+ gallons of a cherry and blueberry sour on top of 5 additional pounds of cherries and some RR oak I stumbled upon while cleaning. Racked a "all but lost sour" on top of the spent blueberries and cherries, because why not probably going to get dumped eventually. This failed batch I tried to move across town when moving houses.

Also cleaned and organized by ingredient storage area.

Would be fantastic if I could be this motivated once a month rather than twice a year!

Cheers

 

What's off about the failed batch?