Brewing Activities (2019)

Kegged/bottled my BBA barleywine on Saturday. Hooooooly shit it's good.

Posted a new brew log re: my Jovaru raw ale.

Building a couple barrel racks this evening to prevent mold on the bottom of my barrels (had been storing them in plastic storage totes) and make them easier to move around.

Will fill the emptied barleywine barrel with my Oslo-fermented hoppy brown ale probably as soon as the racks are done (it's got half a handle of Henry McKenna sloshing around in it right now).

 

You have rack design? I do the same thing with the plastic totes and was bouncing around with a few ideas...but would have to be wood-based since I'm not a welder...

awesome to hear about the barleywine. Nothing better than finding what you were after in the barrel...

 

Yeah, I'm going with the design in the OP here: https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/building-a-stand-for-an-oak-barrel-any-advice.325431/

Seems simple to build and perfect for my needs.

A friend in my homebrew club did a similar thing but used inverted, non-swivel casters (with brakes) in place of the angled wood blocks so he could roll his barrel on the stand, which was pretty neat.

 

A pre-made rack/cradle/stand for a 20L barrel ships from Manassas, VA to NC for less than $20. Seems likely shipping to VT to be comparable. DIY satisfaction not included.
https://1000oaksbarrel.com/oak-barrel-stands/wood-oak-barrel-cradle-stand/

 

Well, turns out Home Depot won't do angled cuts and I don't have a saw, so I'm checking out those Virginia barrel racks now.

Put the brown ale in the barrel tonight and bottled a 12pk of plain brown that was leftover. Should be a fun comparison in 4-6 months.

 

Brewing a Belgian Rye Ale. Following fermentation will have various strains of Brett added to the keg. Then after the Brett does it’s thing, I’ll dry hop with Amarillo and/or Citra. Love me some dry hopped Brett beers.

 

Have not brewed one in a few months, so going to knock out a new NE IPA this Friday or Saturday. Trying some new techniques, changing up my yeast and going with a new water profile compared to usual.

CTZ for bittering, Citra/Galaxy as finishing and dry hops.

Plan to have it on tap in about 10 days, the 28th/29th.

 

I just had Vicinity from Trillium this past weekend, which uses Columbus, Citra and Galaxy. I have presumed it was the CTZ for bittering and the Citra and Galaxy for everything else. Boy is that beer delicious. I want to do something like this now too.

 

3724 saison going into the keg. 1.054-1.006 @ 4 weeks, ~80F fermentation start to finish.

 

After work brew today - all grain, small batch (11 litres), all done in under 3.5 hours.

It's going to be an interesting one, too - at least an order of magnitude sillier than anything I've brewed previously. I'm aiming for a lightly oaked sour cherry brut IPA with lemondrop, which is meant to come out as a "cherry champagne" that we're then going to try to layer on top of a thick-ish chocolate stout in a "Black Forest Black Velvet" for the homebrew clubs collaboration-themed session...

I think I might have to brew a dark mild next, to reset my karma.

 

All prepped for tomorrow's brew...a gluten free IPA with Chinook & Simcoe. This beer will have 20% malted buckwheat. Next week I'll brew basically the same grist, but with 20% UNmalted buckwheat. Hops in that will be El Dorado in whirlpool and dry hopped with Citra/Amarillo cryo.

It will be interesting to see if there will be a notable difference between malted & unmalted buckwheat.

 

Are you using anything to seal the top of your speidel where you have the co2 in? I’ve just been sticking the hose in the airlock bung and have been looking for a better way.

 

Vicinity is awesome! Yeah, I have done a few Citra/Galaxy/CTZ IPA's before and always liked the result. I figured it was a good baseline to compare some of the new processes I will be trying with this one.

I did decide to switch out the Citra though for Nelson instead... Yum.

 

Another good switch is centenial for Galaxy.

 

Not sure if this has changed but Trillium’s old SOP was actually nothing but Columbus hotside and save the expensive hops for the dry hopping. If the recipe lists CTZ or Columbus this is usually the case. JC had always said when they were doing recipe development that they couldn’t tell the difference between a beer that had the sexy hops added to the whirlpool and one they just used CTZ in the WP. They used to add a bit of CTZ to the dry hop as well.

Always made me wonder how important the WP additions are when you’re using specific yeast strains and dry hopping a beer heavily.

 

Agreed, I seem to get more out of DH than whirlpool. Really don't WP anymore

 

I'm taste-testing my hydrometer sample. FG is 1.012, so this came in at 6.8%, well off the mark. This was mostly, or perhaps completely my miscalculation.

I was not off-base when I previously suggested the TF Brown Malt was like no other brown malt I have had, and I feel that the beer outcome is consistent with my concerns that a raisiny crystal malt was accidentally sent. The yeast provided some interesting esters and complements the dark fruit I am getting. If this were a "guess this style" game, I bet most style geeks would put this in a Belgian dubbel category, based on booze and raisin.

 

I use a ball lock gas in connect, similar to the NorCal offering.

https://www.norcalbrewingsolutions....l-Lock-Gas-In-with-Pressure-Relief-Valve.html

 

Yeah, that sounds like Special B (or something very similar like Patagonia Especial or Briess Extra Special). Cheers!

 

Decided to postpone my IPA brewing for a week (or few) due to my pipeline being full. Was going to squeeze it in, but decided to just hold up so I didn't have to push other beers off to get it on.

Just tapped my brand new Oktoberfest today for samples (ahem!) before our annual Oktoberfest party tomorrow with friends. Tap list for tomorrow includes the new Oktoberfest, Rauchbier Marzen, Pils and Doppelbock. Half liter mugs, decor in the brewery, a large mix of sausages, kraut, potato dumplings, soft pretzels and beer cheese all ready to go!

This Oktoberfestbier may just be my best one yet! The malt flavor is just so rich and full of depth, but it falls inbetween the Fest/Marzen ends of the spectrum. Just how I like it. This year, the recipe contains 17% Avangard Dark Munich and 13% Vienna with the remaining balance of Barke Pils. Hopped with Tradition (bittering), with Tettnanger and Hersbrucker as my later additions, at 30min and 15min respectively. 5.4% ABV and 20 IBU. Fermented with WLP830 and lagered for six weeks at 30F after spunding.

Also took a small sample of my red ale that is currently in lagering/conditioning. Quite delicious! Very crisp, spicy/pine hop notes from the Willamette and Crystal. Tasty malt notes of bready caramel/melanoidins and a whisper of roast. Looking forward to tapping in a week or two... This one finished at 5.2% and approx. 40 IBU.