December Homebrewing

Sounds improbable lol but thanks !

 

Adding sugar to the fermenter isn't unusual. but usually it's done much earlier, e.g. at high krausen, while the yeast are still very active. Also, for (just) half a pound of sugar, assuming this is a 5 gallon batch, I don't know that I'd bother with adding it late at all, i.e. I'd add it to the boil.

But to me the real head scratcher is adding the packet of dry yeast. Generally, I wouldn't advise adding yeast unless the old yeast has quit working. And sending 230M yeast cells (assuming an 11.5 gram packet) or 100M yeast cells (5 gram packet) after 1/2 lb of sugar is way overkill.

I've heard some funny things from LHBS employees before. This is one of them.

Having said all that, I doubt the LHBS advice actually hurt anything.

 

FYI, I did add 1lb Candi Sugar and 1lb of Cane Sugar during the boil.

 

Brewed a dunkelweizen last weekend - going to brew a weizenbock this weekend and rack it on top of the yeast cake once I transfer the dunkelweizen to a keg.

Later this month I'm starting my sour "pipeline" by brewing 10 gallons of lambic-inspired wort, split into two carboys (one fermented with ECY20 Bug County, the other with Yeast Bay's Mélange).

 

Brewing another batch of NE IPA tomorrow. Different hops and hop schedule than last time and trying out wlp008 this time instead of sacch trois. First time was amarillo, nelson, and colombus. This time cascade, centennial, citra, and mosaic.

 

No brewing this weekend, but did order 4 pounds of fresh 2016 import hops from Hop Direct today... German Tradition, Tettnanger, Saaz and Hallertauer Mittelfrueh. Have a killer pilsner coming up, all whole leaf-hoppage. So excited.

But first, I have a NE Pale being brewed next weekend... Conan yeast of course, Galaxy, Citra and Columbus... And a new Schwarzbier going on in the next few days as soon as my harvest IPA kicks.

 

I bottled my "starer" half batch of hefeweisen and brewed up a weisenbock to pitch on the yeast cake. Bottling and brewing in the same day made for a long brew day though.

 

Brewed a S-189 lager yesterday with a medley of homegrown Santiam, Mt. Hood, and Cascade hops.

 

Munich II and Mosaic SMaSH, with Wyeast 1968 today.

 

Dry hopped my NEIPA with 4 oz!!! Can't wait to keg this sucker next weekend.

 

NEIPAs today...
1) Motueka & Galaxy
2) Azacca, Wakatu, Citra & Amarillo

 

Brewing another Yeti clone today! HLT is about at temp!

Doing a step mash because why not, anyone have any input on temp to hold at?

 

Mash is "only" at 1.065 after 145 rest. Ramping to 150 and holding for a while

 

• Bottled my Columbus/Equinox IPA and it's drinking quite nicely!
• Brewed a dark saison last week with 3031 and Funk Weapon #2
• Brewing a bitter today with all aramis hops. Grist is 9# maris otter, 7oz UK crystal60. 3rd generation 1968. I'll be brewing an old ale to rack on this cake in a couple weeks.

 

Finally got a brew day scheduled in. I brewed my rum oak barleywine, hit 30bx. @stealth any luck getting 1056 to chew through that kind of wort?
Also brewed up an extract saison while the abominable barleywine was mashing. Nothing fancy, just 50/50 wheat and pils dme, columbus gor bittering, and saaz late.

 

Kegged my rye saison. It's been cold and on the gas for a few days now.. time to hook up that beer line and start drinkin'!

Getting ready to bottle a dark saison that's been sitting on currants/oak for 9 months. There's about 2 lbs of them just floating on the surface with a nasty looking white film over the top. They're just asking to be clogging up my auto-siphon when racking though.... any one have any tips/advice for racking a beer off currants, raisins, small chunks of fruit, etc.? I'm thinking of wrapping a piece of cheese cloth completely over the end of the auto-siphon before racking to keep them from being pulled in.

 

I tie a drawstring nylon bag to the end of my auto shiphon. It's not perfect, but it works most of the time.

 

Plus 1

 

Just put my barley wine in the kegerator and hooked up the gas!! Can't wait to be drinking this bad ass beer. Sample was freaking great 3 months ago. I've had it in a closet and I didn't want to wait any longer to be consuming it.

 

Finalized recipe for SMASH Local Yokel Cream Ale using almost all local ingredients (except for the yeast...S-04)