Brewing Activities (2021)

Good info, thanks. I have 1.5 lbs of the Wyermann beech smoked and was trying to get a feel for how much to use for just a hint of smoke. Will probably go with around a 0.5 lb in a 10lb (non-imperial) grain bill.

 

I agree.

 

Kegging up my second attempt at NEIPA in conical. Fingers crossed this one isn't oxidized. I added the DH with about 10% of fermentation left to go. This is my first kviek beer.

I didn't drain the trub and yeast though so I've already kind of written this one off. It's going to take years to get this right.

 

Won a raffle for 1kg of hops which is nice, now need to plan beers to use them with. A nice big west coast IPA is in my near future though, not made one in far too long.

 

Brewing up 10 gallons of IPA.
2 row
Carafoam
Munich
Summit at 60 min.
Cascade and centennial throughout boil and whirlpooled.
Cascade and centennial dry hop.
Fermented with Espe Kviek slurry I made a starter for.

 

Bought enough supplies to hopefully last me through the fall. Prepped oak spirals, toasted various flaked grains, and built a big starter of Brett C and Suburban Brett to split up for co-pitches down the line.

Bottled the Sansho and Orange Zest Saison. Smell reminds me a lot of Grains of Paradise- earthy pepper and a little bit of ginger, along with some floral/citrus notes. Flavor is mildly spicy with floral and citrus notes. Will be interesting to see how it is after bottle conditioning.

 

Well, it's ruined. It's just bad, not even good. No hop flavor, but the aroma is okay. It's brown, muddy, and not bright at all. It's a complete failure.

I'm not sure what I'm doing SO wrong. I've got to be missing something major. I think it's just too much O2 getting in when I dry hop, and I'm sure sitting on the yeast and trub didn't help. But this is just BAD. I have 5 gallons I just want to pour down the drain.

Feeling frustrated.

 

Sorry to hear that. What was your grain bill again? Do you think it’s possible your fermentor is leaking? Will it hold any pressure for a period of time? Was it brown before kegging or after?

 

2row
11% oats
11% white wheat
3% honey malt

Yes, it's possible. When I was pressure transferring at 3 PSI I noticed there was leaking coming from where the barb connected to the domed lid, so I stopped it. I thought maybe it was the 3 PSI (only supposed to do 2 PSI) but that might be the issue.

I never poured more than a half ounce at most (for gravity testing w/ refractometer) so I wasn't aware that it was brown, but it definitely was not *bright* or orange.

 

Kegged my smoked hellish today so I'll let you know in a week if 2lbs of mesquite smoked dark munich was good enough. So far it's a mild smell.

 

Before transferring did you purge the keg?

It seems that just between sampling and dry hopping it shouldn't get ruined so bad so quickly. When dry hopping do you avoid splashing as best as possible? Close up the fermenter quickly and purge headspace?

 

I purged the keg. I didn't purge the headspace after dry hopping, though. You mean hook it up to CO2 like I was gonna pressure transfer and then pump CO2 in with the PRV open?

 

Send a pic of the brown beer.

 

I've done it once, and the smoke flavor in the final beer was really good. I used hickory, but would probably use about half the amount next time since Hickory is such a strong wood. I agree though – it takes time. About 2 hours to smoke, and then I let the malt dry out in a paper bag for about a week before crushing and brewing with it. Just another step in the process...

I think if I ever do this again, I should put a brisket in there as well if I've already got the smoker up and running. Brisket-infused malt could be interesting! ha

 

Looks a bit better the next day, in the sunshine. Still not where I want it to be. In anything but direct sunlight it looks pretty brown (see second photo)

 

Yeah, I agree that looks like oxidation. Bummer.

 

Ya definitely oxidation. Good news is that can be fixed somewhere in your process. I used to close transfer from buckets and didn’t really have the color loss I’m seeing in your beers.

 

I'm just not sure *where* exactly it's all getting in. I'm purging kegs, lines, doing closed transfers.. But obviously I'm overlooking something pretty major.

Oh well, once I figure it out, my process will be all the better for improving everything that *wasn't* the problem, too!

 

To purge keg are you filling with starsan/water to the brim and purging, or just adding CO2 to an empty keg and purging thru the air release?

From your other post your dry hopping may be the culprit as you're opening it up to air to dry hop.

What fermenter are you using?