Brewing Activities (2020)

Hopefully today I will transfer 3 gallons of the 3rd version of the brown ales I have been playing with to the keg for cold crashing today. Will be the first time I’ve done pressure/sealed transfer. I also used a spundning valve for the first time to during fermentation. Took a gravity reading and it’s 1.011FG SG 1.051 loved the taste and it’s already “lightly” carbed. Not happy with the SRM though. Used Sabro hops this time and I like them a lot in this brown. Yeah I bought them Fermzilla and the online measurements said it would fit in my freezer. Well that doesn’t account for a blowoff so I had to ferment at room temp 70 hence the ice packs to keep cool .

 

I just picked up some Oslo Kveik from Bootleg Biology in Nashville. I have never used this yeast before and I can’t decide what to make with it. I have my wife’s GF brown ale to make next anyway. Again thanks for the help on that recipe!!

 

I'll be trying Voss Kveik yeast tomorrow in a session pale... What temp do you ferment at and how have the results been?

 

I've only done 1 batch. Underpitched and fermented at 90° to try to pull those orange esters. Fermented very clean. Not getting much that stands out.

- Went to brew my NEIPA and found I was missing an important malt. So, brewing my Porter instead.

 

No problem. I brewed that beer a few days ago. Can't wait to see how it turns out!

 

I’ll post in here when I actually brew it. With this Covid-19 stuff I wasn’t sure if I’d be put in furlow at work so I haven’t spend the mula yet to but the stuff. Maybe in April I’ll get to it.

 

4th batch of this recipe, I change it up and use Lalvin D-47 and add staggered Fermaid/nutrient at 12-24-48 hrs. I am also doing a 5gal. batch.

Following the original recipe is great even the crappy bread yeast turns out an amazing mead but it takes many months to mellow out.


Original recipe:
Ancient Orange Mead (by Joe Mattioli)
1 gallon batch

3 1/2 lbs Clover or your choice honey or blend (will finish sweet)
1 Large orange (later cut in eights or smaller rind and all)
1 small handful of raisins (25 if you count but more or less ok)
1 stick of cinnamon
1 whole clove ( or 2 if you like - these are potent critters)
optional (a pinch of nutmeg and allspice )( very small )
1 teaspoon of Fleishmann’s bread yeast ( now don't get holy on me--- after all this is an ancient mead and that's all we had back then)
Balance water to one gallon

 

It's been a long while since I've checked in with the group here. Getting married last September was where I put most of my time and focus since my last brew last April, and since then I just didn't feel the motivation to get back into it. Made the decision in February that it was time I jump back on the horse and I put together some recipes and planned all my brew weekends through June....and then that kinda fell out the window as soon as covid-19 swept into NYC.

Settled into home life pretty quickly, work settled down after a flurry of activity the first week home, and I have a great LHBS that's doing shipping and curbside pickup through all this, so today I finally got back on the horse. Brewing a saison, 62% pils, 21% wheat, 5% rye, 3% acid malt, with the rest made up of dextrose (didn't want to use the home supply of sugar -- that's for baking/eating right now!). Saaz early and late in the boil to reach 30 IBUs, fermenting with Omega's Belgian Saison II, starting at 70 for pitch and letting it rise on its own for a day or two and then I'll add some heat to get it around 77-80.

It's also my first batch with a new SSbrewtech brew kettle I received for Christmas (as usual, my wife could see my renewed homebrew motivation ramping up before I could) as well as a thermowell on my brew bucket that I added myself. Not sure how much either will make a difference, but the brew kettle made transfer a whole lot easier than my old pour-through-a-strainer-into-the-fermenter tactic -- whole brew day took 30-45 minutes less than usual. Hit OG, volume was a little low, and I need to work on my whirlpool technique to make best use of the trub dam in the brew kettle, but overall a great first brew back.

 

I thought I had missed the boat with my LHBS in DE two weeks ago before the stay at home order, but they were able to move to pick-up only, so I placed my grain order yesterday and picked it up. Going to brew a Schneider Weisse clone and decided to try WLP 351 instead of mu usual WLP-300. I prefer the phenolics over the banana anyway, so I'm hoping this is the ticket.

Trying to come up with some names, like Nacho Corona Weizen. My wife thought of Covidwiezen. A small batch, yields only 19 bottles instead of a full case... (groan).

 

Starting week #2 of isolation implemented by work, not sickness,
Sooooooo, ,,,,,, Once again making the stout liquire, bottling a coco brown, dryhopping a whole hop IPA and brewing a smoked Belgian stout.

 

Made a strong (~6%) Kolsch yesterday; figured I might as well use up the sack of pils rather than have 1 or 2 pounds hanging around. Unfortunately, we had a big wind and rain storm during the boil. I brew on the porch and it was difficult to keep a good boil going at times, so now worried about DMS issues. At least fermentation is already vigorous.

 

Go jerry, brew away da virus. That's what I'm tryin, lol.

 

Working on a Corona clone to innoculate myself, as soon as the skunks come out of hibernation up here.

 

Hahahahahahah, skunk ers already here

 

Same in WNC.....skunk rut has come and gone.

 

Brewed up my session pale today with Kveik Voss. Fermenting at 85F, OG was 1.045. Hopped with Citra, Mosaic, Experimental Stone Fruit and El Dorado.

 

I don't know what temp you were mashing at before, but FWIW Kai Troester found that the sweet spot for attenuation (with pilsner malt) is at 151F. But if you look at his data, you can sort of see where the old "lower mash temp --> higher attenuation" saying comes from. At temps lower than 151F, the attenuation curve falls off gradually. At temps higher than 151F, the attenuation curve falls off much faster.