What's Brewing - April '17 Edition

I had a stressful brew day today.

I was very excited to do my second batch, and brewed an extract version of this pale ale.

Everything was fine until my thermometer quit working. It also took me way longer to chill the wort to pitching temps than last time, and of course I have no way of knowing what temperature I pitched at. I underestimated this and had my rehydrated yeast sitting for awhile.

I felt like there was a lot of opportunities for contamination and I don't know if my rehydrated yeast sat too long or if the wort was too warm at time of pitching.

I'm pretty bummed and discouraged.

Here's hoping it turns out okay

 

I alternate recipes every year, so the same recipe was used for years 1 and 3, different recipe for 2 (and now 4).

 

In a nutshell, I brew a base beer with an OG around 1.09-1.1, pitch a really large starter of a primary yeast and ferment down to 1.025ish, then pitch a large high gravity yeast starter (WLP099 in my case) and feed sugar to the beer every 12 hours or so until the fermentation starts to slow, while keeping the gravity in a 'healthy' range (1.022-1.035, for this beer and yeast, at least) and keeping the yeast healthy/happy. You dont' want to let the yeast ferment the beer too low, nor do you want to feed it too much at once. It's a balancing act and really just an exercise in yeast health/management. Eventually the yeast will say fuck it, and you have to try end your feedings before that point so you don't end up with a back-sweetened beer.

 

Bottled my Hefe-Weizen today



Not a moment too early

 

Gorgeous evening for brewing. The Tripel is underway.

 

Just doughed in. Making a milkshake-type IPA with Mandarina hops. Hoping for a tangerine-shake taste. Not going full-on Tired Hands, though: no flour or apples in the boil.

 

First brew day outside for the year. First all grain BIAB attempt as well, probably should of started with a different beer for my first go, but over all was a good day.

5 gal batch
RIS ( will be a "Scottish" Imperial Stout)
79% 2-row (15lbs)
8% flaked oats (1.5lb)
5% roasted barley (1lb)
4% chocolate malt (.75lb)
3% Carmel 80L (.5lb)
1% black malt (.125lb not sure it is needed but adding something to try and get what I was missing in my last stout)
1oz pilgrim at 60 min
1.5 EKG at 30 min
1.5 EKG at 10 min
.25 cup coffee grounds at 10 min
Pre boil SG was around 1.068
OG is 1.085 (about .005 low according to Brewcipher)
Wyeast 1028 London Ale was just pitched

Will get an small chunk of scotch soaked oak spiral in the secondary, along with some cold brewed coffee and a little cocoa powder. My take on the KBS kind of.

Will have to say I learned a lot. Need to remember next time to be ready for the thermometer probe in the brew kettle, I put two small holes in my bag... They are maybe the size of a grain of barley and kind of high on the bag so I think the bag is still good. Need to learn how much I need to squeeze the grain when done mashing, I think this is why I am low on OG but maybe not. Found out my burner was stuck while doing my tests and got a much better flame today. Boiled of more then the 1 gal expected from my tests, which lead to the next point being confusing to me. Post mash kettle volume said just shy of 6.5 gallons, post boil was dead on 5 gallons. Had to pour into my bucket and was just shy of (my roughly marked with sharpee) 5.2 gallon mark, so is the kettle off or is the bucket? Perhaps that is why when I only filled to the 5gal mark in the past I got fewer bottles in the end? Only other thing, I need to make sure I use hop bags from here on out, opened my valve to drain the kettle and had a slight trickle for about 3 minutes then it stopped as the hops and coffee plugged the gap at the dip tube or what ever it is called at the bottom there.

 

Thanks

I'm seeing a lot of airlock activity so I'm hoping everything is good

Cheers!

 

Racked 2.5 gallons of sour onto 13 oz of rhubarb and 3 lbs (less peels) kiwi.

 

A look at my new NE IPA, which I will cold crash starting Monday to keg by Wednesday. FG currently at 1.011 (target 1.010) so likely it is done, 83% attenuation. Sitting at ~6.8% ABV.

Tasting and smelling crazy! All that columbus and galaxy...yum.

 

Brewing all grain barleywine, for the coming winter.
Cheers all

 

I use 0.035", one time through. My mash efficiency is usually around 88%. Cheers.

 

Getting ready to mash in a American pale ale / session IPA. 50% 2row, 40% GoldPils Vienna, 5% Caravienne, 5% Carafoam. Need to check freezer for availability but think it will be 1oz each nugget, centennial, cascade, and 2 oz Waimea, spread out over 60, 10, Flameout, and Dry hop additions. US-05.

 

Brewing a take on @drewbage Springtime in Amarillo. Lowered the gravity and upped the wheat. Going to ferment with @OldSock Bootleg Biology strain. I'm going to ferment at 68 ambient this time around and see how the flavors develop.

Cheers

 

I managed to get 80% efficiency using this setting yesterday. Now to just dial-in the mash with my water and i should be good.