Brewing Activities (2019)

Yesterday I served a keg of home brewed IPA at a wedding for the first time. @mattflippin and I used a jockey box from TailGate Beer and also served a keg of their Kellerbier. Damn that was fun.

 

Brew_Betty has been completely killing it for a long time. In particular, Brew_Betty has been cranking out world class IPAs that fall somewhere in between WC and NE styles waaaaay before NE was even a style. I buy pro beers for a reality check sometimes. They often disappoint me.

My most effective IPA modus operandi is to use about 1# of hops per 5-6gal of IPA @ 100ibu. They often taste like 50ibu. Avoid O2 on the cold side. I never brew the same beer twice, but consistently make better IPA than most beers I can buy.

One of the most impressive beers I made in the past 9 months contained zero cheater hops: Summit, Sterling, Chinook and Idaho 7.

Cheers?

 

I'm confused. Did you write a review about yourself?

 

Haha

 

Pretty traditional Helles Today

90% Barke Pils
10% Weyermannn Munich I
500ml Sauergut

Magnum @ 90
Spalt @ 40
Spalt @ 20

500ml sauergut at 10

German Lager X @ 47

 

Cream ale to left (future birthday party keg), imperial stout on the right. Stout is heading inside a recently dumped 30 gallon bourbon barrel shortly. Blending batches with 5 other brewers on the project.

 

FWIW, some people might consider Idaho 7 to be a "cheater hop." Scott Janish tweeted:

Don't tell anyone, but Idaho 7 is one of the greatest hot-side hops I've ever used. I don't know the science yet (maybe thiols or hop-derived esters), but the amount of tropical hop saturated flavor pre-dry hopping is unreal compared to other varieties.

But I think the whole concept of "cheater hops" is a little silly anyway.

 

Bottled another rye pale.

Planning another ipa with the idea of finishing my home grown hops Befor the new crop is in.

I forgot, one needs to bad and weight down whole hops when dry hopping, hahhaahahahaha

 

Have my Rauchbier in the keg and currently spunding/carbonating. My FFT came in at 1.012 which put this beer at 6%. The smoke flavor and intensity exceeded my expectations! It very much has a likeness of like Schlenkerla, with a more rich/bacony smoke flavor than when I did my Rauchbiers with the Weyermann malt or a mixture of Briess (Cherry, Mesquite, etc…). So far, so good.


I can’t wait to see how the finished product is after a few weeks of lagering time.

 

Kegged the Averagely Perfect Dubbel yesterday. OG 1.062 and FG 1.009... both a bit below target. Hoping to knock out a WCIPA early tomorrow morning before the worst of the heat arrives.

 

Tonight brewing another whole hop ipa. I'm gonna call it the Gorm 5 after the 5 hops I have left, cascade, chinook, centenial, Columbus and nugget.

 

Purchased a DO meter last week and tried it out on the Helles I brewed yesterday. I’ve always wondered if I’ve been getting the correct oxygen levels in the wort based on the recommendations for pure O2 at a certain flow rate with a specific micron stone. I would say based off what I read yesterday I’ve been way under-oxygenating my wort. Still need to test it out a bunch before I jump to any conclusions however.

 

I always try to set the flow rate so as not to cause too much "rolling" on the surface of the wort (think I read that somewhere on this forum a while back...), but this part of my brew day has always felt like guesswork. Very interested to hear what you discover long term.

 

So let's see, currently have 10 gallons of my birthday brown in barrel that needs to be kegged this weekend. Have 15 gallons of imperial stout, 10 going into the barrel, the rest going into keg with cherries and roasted cacao beans. Have 5 gallons of a kettle-soured gose about ready to go into keg. Need to have a party get through some beers on tap...too many IPAs right now on tap...continental light lager can stay though.

Next up on the brew docket though...IPA...always need to keep that pipeline filled. Think i wanna try the Imperial Dry Hop, I haven't tried this blend yet.

 

Single hop brews with some new hops today and tomorrow.

Today: Triumph
5% Pale, 45ish IBU
2Row
Carahell
Carafoam
Extract for bittering
Triumph at 20/0
Columbus leaf in Hopback
All Triumph Dry Hop
Hill Farmstead yeast

Tomorrow: Hopsteiner Exp 10416
Same Recipe
Bell’s Yeast

 

Today: Mashing and beginning souring wort for what will eventually be a "pastry gose."
Tomorrow: Pouring at a county brewfest. Forecast is for 98F. Yay.

 

Hope u. Can wear shorts

 

No brewing, but had to take a few SG readings today



(Triple, day 6, OG: 1.078)
think I drop extra sugar on this one




(Saison, Day 18, OG: 1.060)

Bottles today, become strangely clear just the last week and a little more apple than I was hoping for
but the sample glass went down easily

 

Currently brewing GF Mango Milkshake IIPA.

Tomorrow I'll keg a Citra, Galaxy, Mosaic NEIPA and dry hop the Milletwine. The NEIPA sample tastes amazing. I'm hoping this will be my best NEIPA yet.

 

Not posted in a while
This year I have only made three beers so far, a rhubarb saison that was excellent, an old school AIPA with a ton of centennial including some homegrown and I used some IREKS beech malt instead of the crystal which was pretty tasty. Yesterday I brewed a wheat beer

63.2% weyermann wheat malt
31.6% weyermann pilsner malt
5.2% weyermann carahell
22 ibus of homegrown hallertauer mittelfrueh (if its 4%.. could be anything from about 10ibu to 30ibu Ill be fine with it eitherway and I should learn a bit about what their AA is like)
1.046 OG - undershot a bit (aimed for 1.050) as I did a step mash for the first time in ages
Munich classic ale yeast
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