Brewing Activities (2020)

Wanted to keep it lighter than a Marzen and even a Vienna Lager, went with a something that straddles 4A and 4B of the BJCP guidelines. Closer to the high end of the gravity of a Helles but a bit more bitter and slightly darker in the realm of a Festbier. If the color was a bit darker then Vienna Lager would probably be most accurate.

 

Ah. I totally forgot about the 2015 4B.

 

Too many extremely similar beer styles hah. It really is splitting hairs with some of these styles. I wanted to make an easy drinking lager that is balanced with good malt flavor.

 

Final hydro sample from the Amber Ale posted --> here. So far, so very good. Looking forward to it being carbed up.

 

Knock on wood, hoping to get a brew in on Sunday, if weather holds from the forecast and I get the ducks in a row. Hoppy Saison

OG ~1.050
98% TFGP
2% GNO

El Dorado used lightly throughout the boil (FWH, 30, 10, WP; probably 1/4-1/2oz for everything except whirlpool) around 40 IBUs. Haven't run the numbers yet. Whatever is leftover will be used in DH. (Killing the 1# bag; I figure I've probably got around 4-6oz left)

BE-134 primary
Imperial Suburban Brett at bottling

Fingers crossed.

 

My replacement Grainfather just arrived, so I can finally get back to brewing!

Tomorrow will be a Gluten free NEIPA:

Biscuit Rice 4L
Munich Millet
Flaked Quinoa
Flaked Oats

Bravo & Idaho 7 in the kettle
El Dorado & Mosaic dry hop
Lalbrew Verdant IPA yeast

 

I have my lager fermenting away in my fermentation chamber so I'll just be monitoring that and consuming my current kegs. I need to finish off one or two since I already have 2 about ready to put on tap!

 

Crashed the Voss/Nelson IPA on day 3 and sampled it today. Really nice, almost fully carbed already, and the CBDS floating dip tube is giving me clean pours right away despite an aggressive, loose dry-hop in the keg.

 

Request beer

Chocolate maple stout
Marris
Flaked barley
Bairds chocolate
British crystal 50/60
Brown malt
Willamette
6 oz sugar maple in secondary for 2 months.
Bottleing with. Dark syrup

 

I recently picked up a couple floating dip tubes. So you’re dry hopping loose in said keg and leaving them for the duration with no issues? How much hops? I’ve been thinking of trying this, but was hesitate because of running into issues with loose hops.

 

I've done this a bunch and never had a clog. However, the losses due to hop matter is another issue....

 

I do free hops with a floating dip tub in a keg as my 2nd DH. I do 24 hours at room temp and then 3 days in the garage fridge to cold crash. I then transfer to a serving keg.

Something about leaving hops in the serving keg doesn’t sound right to me... but I’m sure it would work

 

This is my first attempt with a dry-hopped beer, so I can't say one way or another whether it will ultimately be a success, but so far so good. As I said, I made this beer with Voss and fermented and am serving in the same keg. Because of how quickly Voss works I dry-hopped 12 hours after pitching yeast (with 112g/4oz of pellets). I crashed the finished beer the evening of day 3 and took my first carbed sample on day 4. I don't expect it to last more than a few weeks, so I don't think either yeast autolysis or "grassiness" from the hops will be an issue. (Lots of people like to DH in the serving keg and report no issues, anyway.) Fingers crossed!

The big upside to this technique is that the beer has had zero oxygen exposure since 12 hours post-pitch, which could be huge for NEIPAs and lagers.

I should also add that I got the CBDS with the optional filter screen expressly so I could DH without issues. Seems to be working so far.

 

I use the CBDS with filter screen in my primary fermenter and have brewed a fair amount of NEIPAs with no issues. This thing flat out works. I transfer under pressure from my primary to a keg for serving so there are 2 sets of poppets to worry about.

 

Will bottling, coffee brown ale, this afternoon.
Hit all the numbers, now just get the bottle carbing correct, and wait a few weeks.
Cheers

 

Checked in on the mango ginger sour with a hydrometer and tasting sample. Not so good. Ginger level seemed fine before I added mango but it clashes in a distracting way. May be my first dumper in a while. Rinsing my mouth out with framboise.

 

@deadwolfbones @OddNotion @Supergenious Ive been using the CBDS for over 2 years specifically to keg hop without fear of clogs, etc. Works great. I haven’t noticed any vegetal notes for up to 6 weeks at keezer temps with up to 5 oz per Corny keg. I have gone back to more DH in primary during active fermentation though, just for perceived better overall results for my beers. I’d like to do a combo with active ferm DH and keg hop but I worry about suboptimal keg purging of O2.

 

I gotta fill some kegs after being out of commission for a bit.

SMaSH Pale Ale:
Biscuit Rice 4L
Chinook
Voss Kveik

 

Not sure if you bottle or keg, but I’d package the beer and let it rest a bit. I’ve had multiple batches of beer with adjuncts that seemed out of balance before bottling, and after a few months managed to meld and come out great. Better than dumping after all the time you put in.

 

Long bottling day yesterday. Blended a larger batch of wild fermented Quad aged with dried fruit and bourbon/port spirals, and a split batch of saison aged between black plums and blackberries/citrus zest/juniper berries.