Brewing Activities (2019)

Transferred that last hoppy beer I brewed into the keg full of leaf hops that I purged with Fermentation... leaving on a road trip tomorrow hopefully back in a week to a fully carbonated very aromatic hoppy beer.. we’ll see. Pretty sure I was very close to terminal, expecting a bit of hop creep but who knows.

 

With designs on the fermenter, I dumped a sour I had held on to for too long and ever quite seemed drinkable. No tears.

 

Kicked my Jovaru farmhouse finally, so I put the BBA Britfoot Barleywine back on. Getting some lovely oxidative raisny stuff in that one. I can't wait to see how it further ages over time.

Planning to do a pilsner soon, trying to decide between a true lager strain or Oslo kveik. Both would be low to upper 60s during fermentation, generally.

 

What are your thoughts on the Jovaru strain? Planning to brew with it soon.

 

I made a very weird beer with it (raw ale w/ a decent chunk of Opal 44 malt and Sorachi Ace hops) and the other elements kind of overpowered the yeast character. That said, I think it'd be fine in pretty much any kind of wheat beer.

 

Got a starter going for a Chinook/ Citra IPA. Style wise, it’ll be an East coast/ West coast mashup. Also, using Kolsch yeast (WY2565), since I had it on hand and needed to use it up.

 

AP Dubbel racking FG sample.

 

I just received a 5 gallon apple brandy barrel and 5 gallon rye whiskey barrel. So much for taking a break from barrel aging! Not that I ever really believed I could contain myself from buying more.

Brewed an Imperial Stout for the apple brandy and a Wee Heavy for the Rye whiskey last week. Wasn't the smoothest brew sessions (running off wort on the kitchen floor is not ideal) but both came out just fine and will go in the barrels when fermentation is complete. Excited to see how these beers come out!

 

I'd think the apple brandy barrel beer would be quite good

 

Where'd you get the apple brandy barrel?

 

Got the barrel through Barrels Direct as they were a little cheaper than Adventures in Homebrewing. Can't remember which distillery its from but the barrel looks in great shape and still has some liquor left in it which smells awesome. I'll have to take a taste before I put the imperial stout in there this weekend.

 

Transferring 10 gal of LODO Pilsner w/ Loral hops to spund in kegs tonight - honestly pretty surprised at how little the lodo method added to my overall brew day. Maybe wont do it for every beer, but it was kind of fun honestly

Harvested CO2 from fermentation to kegs, so simple ! Can’t believe I haven’t tried this before, will do this for all beers going forward

 

Brewed a toasted rice pseudo-lager with Oslo kveik and Chinese hops last night.

For a 3.5 gal batch:
4.5# Pelton (75%)
1# Hand-Toasted Flaked Rice (17%)
0.5# Metolius (8%)

1oz Qingdao Flower [6.5% AA] @ 25 min
1oz Qingdao Flower @ 5 min

1.046 OG, 35 IBU

Pitched slurry from my Oslo brown ale into 1 cup of wort drawn off halfway through the mash and it was already volcanically active before the boil even started. Pitched that into the wort after chilling to 95F and it's going bonkers this morning. Fermenting at room temp, around 75F.

 

Fall farm work is done and the celler is thin,,, so,,
Today brown ale
Sunday bottleing nut brown.
Monday Burton ale / light and smoked magik
Tuesday citra express ipa

 

Hopefully two brews tomorrow...

Pale Ale with some 2019 South African Hops

Helles

Gonna be a big day. Hopefully I can get it all done.

 

Been a busy year, but have been steadily brewing when I could. Today's funtivites included, bottling a quad, racking an IS into my bourbon barrel, and brewing my first "farmhouse/Funky" beer: a Norwegian Amber ale using Kveik Hovden.

 

Last night I brewed a "farmhouse ale" to try out Omega's Jovaru Lithuanian farmhouse strain. I went with an amber saison base that included belgian Munich, pale wheat, and a touch of midnight wheat - was looking for a nice amber color (something like St. Feuillien Saison) and more depth of malt character. Hopped with saaz and hallertau. Interested to see how it turns out.

 

Brewed 6+ gallons of base beer for a sour using Bootleg Biology's MTF Funk Island blend.

7# Pelton (Pilsner)
1# Shaniko (White Wheat)
1# Rye
1# Flaked Rye
20g Saaz @ 30

1.048 OG. Direct pitched the mixed culture along with 1 tbsp of Oslo kveik slurry. It's going nuts right now, predictably.

 

Kegged the imperial coffee cream ale after 24hrs on 1oz whole bean and 0.5oz coarse grounds. Awesome flavor and aroma.

 

Yeah, harvesting CO2 to purge keg is the ONLY way to go. So simple and more efficient.