Brewing Activities? (March Edition)

Not technically "brewing" but this morning I went down to the basement to check on my Nelson-hopped tart saison this morning (brewed 12/2/17) and was surprised and somewhat confused to see that it is still actively fermenting! As in there is still visible bubbling in the carboy... I mean I knew brett-centric cultures can take a while to ferment out, but three months in and STILL visible fermentation? That's a new one for me... Past iterations would have been ready by now. I was hoping to bottle it sometime this month, but it seems like the beer has other plans...

 

Honestly I haven't even checked. With the CO2 still off-gassing, I don't imagine I'd get too accurate of a reading with my hydrometer. Maybe I'm wrong? Not to mention it was only a 3 gallon batch, so I try to save as much of that precious liquid as possible... I usually don't think about taking a reading until I'm pretty sure fermentation is reaching a close

 

Got a late start yesterday, so the brew started in February and ended in March.

Oatmeal stout for St. Paddy’s day.

.5bbl that’s going to be split into a firkin, nitro keg, and cans.


Finally get to use this guy!

The plan is to have some friends and family over late morning of St. Paddy’s, fry up the full breakfast, tap cask, drink the whole thing (plus other beers and surely some whiskey) before 8, then head to the Metro for the annual Tossers (shit)show. If I don’t survive to see the lord’s day, it was fun, boys!

 

I’m hoping to brew a Michigan IPA tomorrow, composed entirely of MI sourced ingredients. Malt from Pilot Malt House, Michigan grown hops (Chinook, Centennial, and Galaxy), and an indigenous Michigan yeast strain from Craft Cultures (CCYL130).

 

The galaxy are just Michigan bought.

 

Well, shit... I guess I should have known better. Not sure what I was thinking. So, I guess I’m making an almost Michigan IPA. Cheers!

 

Just drop 'em. Chinook and Centennial will make a tasty IPA.

 

Got my second step of my yeast starter going for my Festbier Saturday. Got the recipe complete, water profile done and all is printed and set to go for brewday. Will weigh out grains and prep equipment tomorrow night for an early Sat start.

 

3-1-18 60/40 spelt/Pilsner hefe...I’m referring to it as a hefedinkel, otherwise it’s a straightforward Hefeweizen

3-11-18 raspberry NEIPA (all exp stone Fruit hops)

3-18-18 Turn on the Dark 2.0 (BA Vanilla Coffee baltic porter) for the Boardroom Beach Craftathon beer fest in Florida.

 

Yeah, that’s actually what I’ll think I’ll do.

 

Getting a healthy starter going of Brett brux trois vrai for a hoppy kettle sour.

 

Tomorrow bottleing the Belgian blueberry and e maple stout.

 

Bottled a small 2-gallon batch of imperial stout which has been sitting on oak cubes for about 5 weeks. I'm kind of wishing I hadn't oaked it. I think it tasted better pre-oak than post-oak.

 

Just started pouring my sessionish stout. I have 15 gallons of beer fermenting, which is a lot for me all at once. Five gallons of imperial stout and 10 gallons of citra/summit pale ale. Everything will wait another week or two before it goes into kegs. The stout will sit in the basement until at least October.

 

Early morning brewing sessions (scheduled around family obligations) set for this weekend:

- Saturday morning - Oatmeal IPA with Amarillo / Mandarina Bavaria / Columbus
- Sunday morning - 5% session stout

... and I have to figure out what's wrong with my chest freezer fermentation chamber. I'll be managing temps with frozen bottles for these batches.

 

Bottling my Strawberry Milkshake IPA tomorrow. My first try at it and may have needed more dry hops but we'll see how it is with some carbonation. Either way its an easy drinker. Then brewing up a Chocolate Raspberry Porter on Sunday. Guess I've been on quite the fruit kick lately!

 

I had a fun Friday night brewing the hoppy Belgian pale that I was talking about in another thread. All seems to have gone smoothly, plus I got to cool the wort in an ice-bath using snow from outside the front door.