Brewing Activities (2022)

Knocked out a helles last night.
2bar of pressure, 48f


Off to a good start...



Also Protip...

https://fb.watch/dY4yeHf1qx/

Traces DO in the bottom right of the first picture is the inline DO on the last keg, monitoring the fermentation keg purge.

 

I seriously forget to do that every time. I end purging my keg with my paid for CO2 and wasting water that gets pushed.

 

Follow up on the little 4.5% beer we brewed attempting to maximize Thiol expression in the finished beer.

It’s very interesting and perplexing at the same time. It had more tropical fruit aroma than maybe any hoppy beer I’ve ever had/brewed. The aroma made you think you were going to be drinking a heavily fruited sour. Flavor was very passion fruit/guava with some grapefruit and maybe even wine grape character.

We served it at the brewery to see what people’s reactions would be and donated all the sales to a good cause. It was received very well but people were more confused than anything else. The most common question was “what is this beer?” or “what would you call this?”.

It was very interesting to learn what maximum Thiol expression was all about but it was a little too much for such a little beer. Next batch will be all the same but with significantly less Phantasm.

 

Farmhouse Quad today. GP and D240 syrup, Ariana all the way, BE-134 + house brett blend, probably going to age on some rum-soaked oak, maybe a light Ariana dry hop

 

I got a fresh lb of Ariana last week and I'm stoked on it. I've used it only for dry hop yet and look forward to using it more.

 

Homemade Candi Sugar

 

I used to do that. Then I read that straight sucrose works just as well. So I don't do that now. The Belgian beers that I brew taste the same - to me. But it was fun. I never was able to make it clear though. My candy sugar looked just like your pics.

 

To each their own...
but tell that to the Belgians.

It was clear before I cooked it longer. It was clear for a while, then got darker and darker, and that's what it's supposed to do. The darker the candi sugar, the more depth of flavor it will add.
If you wanted it to be clear and with less flavor, why didn't you remove it from heat before it browned?
Also, did you add yours after the major fermentation stage?

 

Added to boil when 20 mins left. I never got any flavor from it. I have used honey in the fermenter without boiling, but also never noticed any flavor from that either. It must be my taste. I just use plain table sugar and I am satisfied.

 

Honey's #1 flavor is sweetness, and most of the carbs in honey ferment out, leaving behind fairly subtle honey flavors. They generally require large-ish amounts of honey for them to really come though.

 

All right well sucrose is definitely more time- and cost-effective!
I made a 11% beer a while ago with almost one-third honey. At first it was, "wow, that is crazy," as in strong and totally flavorful but almost too much.
After a year, it was complex and amazing.
You got me thinking, why don't I just try that one again...

 

Festbier

https://fb.watch/e9kZGTScYp/

 

That's what I call economy of posting

 

As a follow-up
Three weeks later, reached FG @ 1.011, exactly as predicted by BrewCipher. Here's an image of the hydrometer sample:


Beautiful color! Nice bready aroma, malty with good mouthfeel and with notes of toffee on the back end. VERY happy with this and improved over last year. It's going to go down for a nap soon, see you end of September!

 

Today I'm brewing up a gf Pale Ale. I'm going for a more robust malt character so I'll be using light roasted millet for the first time and bumping up the caramillet. I hope this will add some more depth without over doing it. Time will tell.

4L Rice
Ivory Teff
Light Roasted Millet
Caramillet

Idaho 7, Motueka & Mandarina Bavaria

Verdant

 

Was hot as hell and afternoon rain called for, so got up earliest I ever did at 6 am for 2 batches.
Tried my first shot at a Kolsch. Using Safale K97 sprinkled on wort. Bubbling away nicely today.
Then a west coast DIPA big on bittering and lots of flavor/aroma hops. 7 different hops.
Smells beautiful with Juice yeast.
Beat the rain!

 

Ended up going a different direction with the Pale Ale posted above. Based on the color and flavor of the wort, I decided to go with Simcoe, Strata & Eclipse for a more dank citrus & pine vibe.

Today, I'm gonna brew up a quick Blonde Ale using the Motueka & Mandarina along with some malts I have on hand....

4L Rice
Corn Malt
Quinoa
Caramel Millet 5L
Dextrose

Motueka & Mandarina Bavaria

BRY-97

 

Brewed up a 3 gallon batch of Saison last week. Pils, wheat, spelt. Hallertauer and Pacifica hops. Blaugies yeast. This weeks weather is perfect timing for a high temp free rise. I found Red Velvet Apricots for the first time at the store last month and froze 2lbs of whole fruit to add to 1 gallon. I’m always excited to try out new varieties of stone fruit! Planning to do a light dry hop of Pacifica on the other two gallons and bottle with a mixed culture.

 

Brewed up a Saison with Bootleg Biology’s ferMentors series yeast. This is Yazoo’ s house culture.
10# Avenguard Pilsner
1# Rye malt
1# oat malt
I had about 3#s of fresh peaches I cut and put in the freezer. I took them out to early and they started browning. So, I added them to the boil about 5 minutes before flame out.
1oz Cascade hops at 60min.
1oz German Huell melon at 170° whirlpool for 20 minutes.
Proud dad day as my son wanted to learn how to brew and was interested the whole time .