December Homebrewing

Brewing up another batch of the AP NE IPA. I picked up a couple legs recently, this will be the first batch that I keg.



Question: that solid stuff coming to the surface, that's from the wheat, right? Is it just solid gluten or something?

 

Yhea, proteins coagulating

 

Melcher Street Clone - ish, Swapped out some Mosaic for Citra in the dry hops.

 

Added the cinnamon vanilla nibs 2 kinds of peppers toasted almonds and,,,,, a touch of ginger to the mole. I hit my gavity but still wanted a bit more so also added a lb of corn sugar, so it should be a rockin at 11.5 abv if all goes well.
Tommorrow brewing a standard centennial/ simco IPA.

Happy holidays to all!

 

Transferred light lager to keg, keghopped with Huell Melon. Rinsed yeast and will repitch into upcoming Baltic porter

 

Salaried. If I was hourly, the shop would have gone under already

 

Brewday Musings: Brewed a 20% Rye Winter Solstice Ale today...OG 1.062...knew I wouldn't need the 1/2# of sugar so left it out. Used Mangrove Jack's Liberty Bell M-36 and what really pisses me off is their sachets are only 10 grams...not the usual 11.5 grams. I'm contemplating adding a sachet of US-05 tomorrow, but I'm really wanting to see what the Liberty Bell will do by it's lonesome. Mozaic, Simcoe, and CTZ late, Chinook for 30 min. FWH.

 

Transferred a Munich and Mosaic SMaSH to a keg for (2nd) dry hopping, and got a data point on fermentation temp profiles in the process.

48 hours into fermentation, I had added fermentation dry hops to the conical, which required removing the thermowell fitting. So I added the hops and replaced the thermowell fitting.

Fast forward three days, when I noticed I had not replaced the temp controller probe in the thermowell when I had buttoned up the conical after adding the hops. During those three days, the heat wrap was on constantly, and the wort reached a temp of at least 79F, which is where it was when I noticed the problem. (It had been fermenting at 67F for the first two days.)

I figured I was either going to have an ester/fusel bomb, or the theory/fact that the stage (the driving conditions) for the final ester/fusel profile is set fairly early in the fermentation was going to get some evidence. The racking sample I tasted today did not seem to have particularly high esters for the yeast strain (Wyeast 1968) and I couldn't detect any fusels. I should add that I used a spunding valve instead of a blowoff/airlock on the fermenter, and there was more pressure in the fermenter (about 1 PSI gauge pressure) than is probably typical for airlocks/blowoffs. To what extent the extra pressure suppressed fusel (and thus ester) production, I don't know.

 

Kegged a Golden Promise + Amarillo/Citra Am pale ale and marveled at how easy it is to get off-flavors in a Pilsner from the last batch. Next up is either a Premium Bitter followed by FW Union Jack clone from CYBI with Wyeast 1968 or a Rye Pale Ale followed by American Stout with Wyeast 1272. Choices, choices....

 

I'm quoting VikeMan, but this question is really for anybody. Has anyone ever dry hopped at high temperatures (75°-80°) for an extended period of time? I have, one time and the results were really odd, harsh and not favorable.

Since we're talking about single data points I'm not saying that it is bad practice (I don't know) but the one time I did it the results were horrible and it made me change my fermentation/dryhop thought process for saisons ever since. Basically now, fermentations at high temps run their course first, then I lower the temps, then I dryhop.

Again, this is just a single data point, and this was years ago, so there may very well have been other parts of my brewing process that weren't perfect, but I figured I would pose the question to the greater community. Thoughts?

 

FWIW, the three day period at ~79F with my batch was with 2 ounces of Mosaic Pellet Hops. These were fermentation dry hops, which I mention because there was still probably some significant yeast activity happening, in contrast with traditional dry hops that would be added after fermentation winds down. No harsh flavors in my batch.

 

Gravity reading on my pale today (OG 1.043, currently at 1.012 and likely finishing out), approx 4% or so right now.

Galaxy and Citra, Conan yeast. Tasting incredible after DH#1 (2oz Citra). Will be getting DH#2 on Friday (4oz Galaxy, 2oz Citra). Then cold crash Sunday morning and keg Monday or Tuesday for tapping on NYE.

For the ABV, this beer is off the hook with flavor. Tastes much bigger than it is. May become a "house beer" base that I can rotate hops with. So darn good.

 

I've had some seriously high attenuation from 1968, especially on further generation pitches of it. I routinely see attenuation into the 90 percentile and have learned to mash higher on consecutive generation pitches.

 

Haven't posted in a bit, but I've been keeping busy. My imperial milk stout (Melted Faces & Boozy French Toast) is almost ready for kegging (next week). Brewed up a Madrugada Obscura clone last Saturday that I am fermenting with the ECY Bugfarm yeast I used in my big sour quad - which I just bottled last night with the new Blichmann bottling gun (awesome toy).

I will be brewing up another series of goses (prickly pear, black currant) shortly and I have a freshly emptied 15gal rye whiskey barrel coming tomorrow that I will fill with a 'light' version of None More Black (None More Sessionable?). Shooting for a 13-15% abv imperial stout using the same base as NMB, just no sugar additions while it's fermenting and ramping up the initial OG a bit. I'll age a year in the barrel then do various treatments.

 

http://scottjanish.com/esters-and-fusel-alcohols/
Check out this article if you have not already. I just read it the other day and it seems to support your experience.

 

Worked on the keezer build. Cut and sanded wood, put the frame together, and will stain it tonight. Started WLP500 with some pressure canned wort -- this will go towards a dubbel-esque braggot.

 

Recipe? Grain bill?

 

Conan yeast (Omega DIPA, 2nd Generation)
Batch size: 5 GAL (final, after hopping loss). Recipe is actually targeting 6 GAL to start, pre-hop loss.

Grist:

53% Golden Promise
12% Oats
9% 2-Row
7% White Wheat
6.5% Vienna
4% Crystal 10L
2.5% Corn Sugar
2% Carapils
1.5% Honey Malt
(Balance of rice hulls for ease of sparge)

Boil Additions:

0.3oz Columbus (FWH)
0.25oz Galaxy (20min)
0.25oz Citra (15min)
1.75oz Columbus (5min)
0.50oz Galaxy (5min)
0.25oz Citra (5min)

Post Boil: (Don't mind the weird amounts here, just avoiding opening up new bags of my frozen, vacuum sealed hops I have put away, so sometimes I end up with weird amounts... But this way I am not opening and exposing to oxygen again and again... Keep them hops fresher!).

1.6oz Galaxy (Whirlpool @ 165F, 30min)
0.8oz Citra (Whirlpool @ 165F, 30min)

Dry Hop:

2oz Citra (near FG, but still during active fermentation)
4oz Galaxy (2 days, then cold crash)
2.5oz Citra (2 days, then cold crash)


OG: 1.043
FG: (Currently at 1.012 as of yesterday, likely to drop closer to 1.010 for final ABV of 4.3%)... Checking tomorrow again before my second dry hop.

 

Kegged my Duvel clone yesterday. Sample tasted very nice. Today I'm brewing a Pale Ale.