2021 Year in Review

I didn't have any goals for this year, but let me tell you, this has been one of my favorite years of beer.

- I passed 2500 reviews (and headed for 2600).

- I met several more BA members, and got to travel to some fun places, including the PNW.

- I tried one of my grails - Beer:Barrel:Time. And several other beers, including BA Abraxas, BA Sump, and BA Affogato.

- I tried several Top 250 beers, and collected several more for the future.

- I focused mostly on local work, enjoying the company and product of local brewers.

Best part is there is still a chance to try a couple more grail beers this year, and - potentially - meet another BA member or two.

 

Going to give myself a D for meeting my goals this year. The closest homebrew club meets on a night when I'm already busy, and building a keezer seemed like a poor use of money while I was out of work and incurred some medical debt. Did a pretty good job of moving through ingredients, though. Not as much as I had hoped, but I didn't brew as much as I had hoped, either.

 

Would you mind expanding on the categories where you had success? Did the judges for your Dark Mild know what they were talking about?

 

I had intended to give away more beer, I think I gave a way less (does that just mean I drank more?? Still gave away a bunch of growlers and bottled sours though)

My second goal was to brew a Pils that I am proud of - so far I have made 7 pilsners this year, and some were definitely better than others, but I still feel that I am a long way off from nailing this style. First attempt was a Bo Pils that was severely under bittered (wow you gotta crank up with hops when brewing with soft water!) that was 'so so ', ranging to a live-lagered Pils that once cleared, was pretty spectacular. I also dabbled in big hop stands, whole cone hops, dip hopping , all boil hopping. I recently procured some Saphir to try on the advice of Stan Hieronymus. I tried Mexican lager yeast, Diamond lager, Isar lager from escarpment, and WY2206. I think Escarpment's Isar Lager got me by best attempt this year.... Still nothing like a proper German or Czech example, but hey, Brewing wouldn't be fun if brewing really great beer wasn't sometimes VERY challenging

Third was to brew with intention and be less careless, or avoid trying to just throw a batch together because I felt like brewing - this I think I did , and although they still weren't all zingers, I enjoyed some beers that were tweaks on past successes, and ones that were more thought out. Not to say an improvised off the cuff beer can't be good , but last year I did that and then was kicking myslef trying to get through kegs of underwhelming beers. ONWARD!

 

What yeast(s) are you using? What malts? ABV? Hops? IBUs? FG? What is "perfect" to you?

 

@OddNotion might I suggest taking a portion of the unfermented wort, say 0.75-1.0 gallons, and pitching the dregs from a couple bottles of a preferred Wild you like (even from Tired Hands), letting it go for 2 weeks, then blend back into the Saison fermented main batch for packaging. I did that a few times with RR sours and really enjoyed the results. It was a nice tartness and mild funk, and the base Saison came through really nicely.

 

Looking back at the blog posts for those beers I went with 15-18 IBUs. Oddly enough, I would expect that level of IBUs to allow for more souring than I got. I had bottles of the Witbier in the cellar for like 5 years and it never got tarter or funkier. It will also depend on which beers you use for your dregs. The strains that they use in their beers and the IBUs they use will effect the tartness of your beer. Since you enjoy the ones from TH, I would go with a couple bottles worth of dregs from them into one gallon of unfermented and unpitched wort.

You could also shoot for the same IBUs that TH uses.

Another option is to pull off 0.75 gallons of the wort just as the boil starts, before you add the hops, chill, and pitch the bottles into that. Do the remainder as normal aiming for 5 IBUs higher than TH does. No hops in the small batch gives the lacto more sour power, and the higher IBUs in the main batch should stop the lacto after blending. If you pitch unhopped wort with Lacto plantarum and add it to the hopped batch it will definitely stop.

 

My goals are to simply continue to hone a handful of styles that I've been focusing on that will eventually become my house beers. My NEIPA, Amber, Brown, Imperial Stout & Milk Stout are really coming along nicely.

At some point this year, I'd also like to brew a proper lager.

The year turned out to be a bit of a meandering. I was dealing with an off flavor associated with rice malt. This pushed me to move to millet based beers that I generally don't like. So, this put a big pause on my goals. However, the off flavor was resolved and I've been able to carry on with using rice as a primary fermentable.

My American brown ale & milk stout are the biggest successes. They could be left as is, but I will probably tweak some tiny things here or there.

The amber is ok, but nowhere near where I want it (I think I have too many malts going on and things are muddy).

The Imperial Stout is decent but I've been keeping at 8%. I will be brewing a 10% version shortly, planning on bumping the roastiness and body.

The NEIPAs have been inconsistent. Some have been really good and others totally disappointing. I think my hopping schedules and O2 mitigation are strong, but I'm still dialing in the grain bill. It's tough to achieve the body and mouthfeel with these gluten free grains. I prefer the rice flavor, but it has an even lower protein content than millet. I cannot use wheat, spelt, flaked barely, etc, so it is a challenge. I've been using quinoa, but it's only a small protein boost and too much can bring out that grassy quinoa flavor.

Finally, I did brew a legit lager. It was not mind blowing, but it was fermented cool and properly lagered. It was clear, crisp and clean and did not last long in the keg.

 

Could you run with a healthy dose of Flaked Oats? More protein and stable haze.

 

Missed my wanna-do's except to stop buying malt w/o plans for using it before it gets tired.
With a few weeks left in 2021, maybe I'll get some more malt and run the table.

 

For sure, I use gf flaked oats, but the % has a tipping point on head retention and haze.

 

No idea if I had goals, but, highlights were learning to use some fruits better and why to avoid/not grow for beer.
Bought special roast for the first time which really makes my nut brown shine, and meeting a younger brewer wanna be that is super interested in brewing, helping me and becomes another brewer pal.

all in all another good season

 

Oooof, here was my post on that thread:

After my first year of brewing I've learned a fair deal and plan on learning a lot more.

In 2021 I would like to:
1. Improve knowledge and technique with watery chemistry and fining
2. Stop brewing NEIPAs until I can upgrade equipment. I will focus on West Coast IPAs that don't seem to oxidize on me
3. Find a way to better control sediment in the bottling process
4. Improve yeast knowledge and pitching technique

Not much progress...
1. Water chemistry 0, fining a bit, as I've started using Irish moss and Campden a little.
2. Stop brewing NEIPAs - no choice here. The quality IPA continues to gallop just beyond my reach. I went back and rebrewed my first-ever IPA and, while good, it missing a hit of pine up front that I was looking for. It's more like a hoppy amber, which is a style I like, so not too bad.
3. Sediment - Yes! I have this well under control and rarely have floaties these days.
4. Yeast - yes and no. My journal has more and more detailed notes and on the last beer I brewed I paid more attention than ever to adequate pitching rates and fermenting conditions/times.

The balance of 2021 is non-hoppy styles great, hoppy styles not so much. Many of you have pointed out that my equipment limits are a big reason behind this (BIAB and bottles). I just tried a cranberry sour and, humbly speaking, it is excellent given my setup. The bad thing was that due to a slow fermentation with Philly Sour and back problems that I am having, it was not ready for Thanksgiving (we drank one anyway, but it had only been in the bottle for 5 days).
It is somewhat comforting to read all your posts and that some of you wily vets still have some issues with getting the perfect version of the desired style.

I don't mean to sound sappy, but I really value the camaraderie and willingness to help on this site. I hate to admit it, but I feel a bit burnt out on brewing right now and am going to take a step back for a while. I am travelling to the states for Christmas and am really looking forward to diving into all the craft beer Seattle has to offer. I don't envision myself brewing again until spring/summer if... In any case, I plan to keep checking in from time to time and keep learning all I can.

Enjoy your holidays!

 

Happy Holidays, Bro. Hope u enjoy some down time.

FWIW - dealing with water chemistry will prob really help your IPA/NEIPA fight. It seems overwhelming at first, but after a brew or 2 it's second nature. Pretty cheap too, other than a decent pH meter.

 

My goal for 2021 was very simple. Get over my unexplainable reluctance to re-start brewing after a 3 year break. In 2018 we moved so all my gear got packed, unpacked and stashed. Then I developed some health issues that made beer pretty much off limits. But by early spring I had assembled the ingredients, by June I had all my equipment re assembled and cleaned. By August I had 4 different beers on tap from 2 10 gallon batches and they were all keepers, my wife helped kill a keg of Centennial/Columbus IPA in no time. By September 2 of the 4 kegs were empty and then we took off for a few months. But I'm stoked and when we get back in January or February I plan on refilling the pipeline.
Another issue was that now I'm brewing at 6200', I wasn't sure how that would affect brewing, and I'm not used to the water I brew with, These things and others made me doubt the beer would turn out drinkable so I kept putting off brewing and spent more time on my other hobbies

 

Well 2021 was the least amount of beer I've brewed so that was kind of a downer. I've now bought a house that I am fixing up and will be moved into early next year so 2022 I will be back to brewing more regularly!

I did meet my goal of brewing smaller batches which has dropped my quantity quite a bit. Also had good luck with some 4% session ipa's (especially liked the one I added some Rye malt to). Also used oak cubes in a stout for the first time and the first taste of that batch was quite good. I think the base recipe was one of my best so now that I have space again I will putting it into a true barrel sometime next spring.