Brewing Activities (2021)

Brewed a coconut chocolate stout yesterday, now brewing a bad ass Burton ale this time with tettnang instead of goldings/fuggles
Half bottled straight half gets the oak soak.

 

Bottling a batch of Brett saison and brewing a new amber saison to go on the cake.

 

Just mashed in on a Multi-Grain Saison. Pils, buckwheat, spelt, rye and oats. Exclusively Perle hops in the boil and probably a light dry hop. WYeast 3726 Farmhouse and eventually a mixed culture at bottling.

 

Hazy IPA today with Idaho 7, Mosaic, and BRU-1 on the hot side, then Mosaic, BRU-1, and Galaxy on the DH.

 

I promised in the 2020 thread to report back on my wife's requested Coffee-Vanilla Belgian Tripel (post 1104).

Oddly (and unexpectedly...), if came out really well.
There is a bit of floral hoppiness to this, like chamomile or jasmine, but there is also a very evident vanilla-coffee note. Mouthfeel is what I was hoping for, slightly full but not really thick. The beer itself kind of melds together and gives an interesting profile. It just kind of works. It tastes a bit like a dark beer, with the heaviness of the vanilla-coffee and some sweet caramel notes, but the tripel aspect lightens it immensely and makes it very easy to drink. In the background is a nice, almost unifying, bready note. Honestly, not much to complain about with this. One of the better beers I have made. Must admit, I am quite surprised. The recipe and execution was a bit of a crap shoot. Definitely more luck than skill, but I'll take it! Regardless, the wife absolutely loves it, which wins me so many brownie points that it doesn't really matter whether I like it or not...

 

Saturday — Cleaned some kegs and transferred a BCS Robust Porter (unfortunately?) fermented with Safale S-04 (shame on me)

Sunday — Brewed a Munich helles to usher in lager brewing season in central VA. Hopefully can pump out 7-8 lagers before the weather turns too warm.

Cheers everyone.

 

Brewed up a Helles Rauchbier... 90% Weyermann Rauch, 6% Munich II and 4% Acidulated. 22 IBU's with Hallertau Magnum, fermenting with WLP830. I usually smoke my own malt, but was lazy this time, haha. This was brew #98 for me.

#99 will be an Irish Dry Stout (first time!) I will brew that up in about two weeks. Then will be followed up with milestone batch #100... Going with something new, as well, a Belgian Dubbel.Got all the stuff I need for both of those, so just gotta get them going when time allows.

Some fun stuff as of late. My Maibock is only a few weeks out from tapping, it has been lagering for a few weeks now. That one finished at 8.2% ABV and had the double decoction and all that fun stuff. Really excited for that one to hit soon!

 

Brewed another Irish stout.

 

Brewed a barleywine today, small batch (10L).

 

Anybody use SS brewbuckets and closed transfer? Been having issues lately with the spout leaking air. It loosens so much even when I just turn it 180 degrees.

Brewing a Czech Pale lager today. All Saaz, All Bohemian Pils malt, Imperial Urkel. Was kind of perplexed about what to do for water so just went with "balanced". We'll see in 6 weeks!

 

I don't know what balanced means in whichever tool you're using, but for a Czech Pils, I'd recommend a very soft profile. And very little/no sulfate.

 

Yeah I know what you mean. I have taken to just pointing the dip tube down and not rotating it at all. I usually cold crash under pressure, so even in the down position, the dip tube won't suck up any yeast / trub when I go to transfer.

If you do need to rotate it - plan ahead so that when it comes time to turn it, you only turn it clockwise - this will only tighten it, not loosen it. For example, if you like to rack with the dip tube turned to the side, start with it down, then turn it clockwise about 90 degrees to get it up off the yeast cake. You can't turn it back though without causing it to leak.

 

Added up all my brews so far and it turns out my next will be #90. Will be hitting #100 sometime this summer, most likely.

 

- Dry hopping a gf NEIPA w/ Galaxy & Amarillo

- Kegging American Strong Ale

- Brewing a gf NEIPA w/ Idaho 7, Amarillo & Bravo, verdant. This will be a millet based brew as opposed to my typical rice base. On my last brew I adjusted my process to root out an off flavor believed to be caused by hot side aeration precursors related to rice malt. Interested to see how that batch comes out. Today's brew is merely for comparison of rice vs millet base.

 

Congrats! doing anything special for #100? I just surpassed batch 100 myself

 

Not sure yet. Need to think on it.

 

Saison today, first one of the new year.

I figured out today that my order was shorted 1 pound of grain, not sure which one unfortunately. My guess would be the Munich? I added the oats last minute to make up for this. This does not lend itself to being very repeatable but I guess that's the beauty of Saison.

48% Barke Pils
19% Weyermann Pale Wheat (if Munich was left out then this is 29%)
19% Barke Vienna
10% Barke Munich (maybe? Could be 0%)
5% Oats

Should hit about 1.048 OG

Bittering with Magnum and flavor from Styrian Goldings at about 24 ibu

Omega Saisonstein

 

Decided to sneak in brew today. Another iteration of my gf American Amber recipe. It's very close to where I want it. Adding just a touch of chocolate roast and trying a different yeast for kicks.

Biscuit Rice 4l
Crystal Rice
Quinoa
Red Wing Millet
Caramel 120l Millet
James' Brown Rice

Columbus
Simcoe
Centennial

M44

 

Deuchars inspired brew today, building up yeast for an imperial stout with it.


Og 1.042

85% golden promise
10% invert no 2 or 3
5% torrified wheat

Slovenian goldings and Willamette, to about 30 ibu and a late hop stand.

Wyeast 1469 yeast,