Brewing Activities April 2016

Stepped up my WLP007 starter for my next batch of None More Black tonight. Also pulled a sample of my 14% sour quad that's aging on tart cherries, figs, and raisins. Starting to sour up so I'm going to add the french oak I've been soaking in syrah for the last month shortly.

Once this starter is ready I'll crash it, most likely on Monday or Tuesday, then commence brewing the next NMB batch the 24-36 hours later. Have some little tweaks I'm going to make to try to push the limits a bit more on it. Half will be put on oak (from the last batch of NMB) that is soaking in High West Double Rye whiskey, and the other half will get cacao nibs and raspberries. And maybe some bourbon. Haven't decided yet.

Also going to create another 'batch' of None More Black Eis this weekend, doing the arduous freeze concentration shit.

Later in the month I will brew up some lambic base (turbid mash) and the third batch of spontaneously fermented lambic. Weather permitting. Also have to brew a batch of gose with extra salt + raspberries for a friend's birthday in May.

 

tripel coming up. pilsner, some wheat, and sugar. mt hood hops. thats it. hopefully ready for summer days...

 

Big plans for today...

Keg 8 beers.
Wash 4 yeasts.
Make 3 starters.
Dry hop/fruit 2 IPAs.

And if I have any beer energy left...

Recipe input.
Grain inventory.
Hit the LHBS.
Buy water, co2 and propane.

 

Greenhouse season an I recieved and potted 4 centennial rhizomes. Then brewed a session pale I will secondary on cheery, or I'll add the wood late in primary.

 

Finished brewing a new DIPA recipe around 9:00 PM yesterday. Eager to see how quickly the fermentation starts.

Bought a chest freezer that will become a new fermentation chamber... can't decide on what temperature controller to go with, though. I'm intrigued by BlackBox and BrewPi... but BlackBox is sold out and BrewPi looks intimidating.

Have another DIPA in the conical... 11 more days to go.

 

So I wasn't planning on brewing this weekend, but I decided I'd go ahead an throw a Czech Pils wort on top of the yeast cake from my Munich Helles (after I keg the Helles). Here's a shot of the first runnings. Prost!

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Just finished brewing a no-boil Berliner. Decided to try a decoction for the first time along with it. Figured what better time to give it a shot than on a day where I wouldn't be boiling. Pitched lacto and will give it a 36 - 48 hour head start before tossing some US-05 and Brett C in. Now enjoying a bottle of my last kettle-soured berliner while I wait for the ribs to finish.

 

Kegged a Belgian Dubbel (although a bit light in color...) a few days ago, and today I re-arranged the brewhouse, and made the Wife's Wheat beer. Fresh blood orange peel, and coriander make for awesome smells. She'll be able to drink it about a month from now, after she gives birth to our second.

 

Brewed a 15 gallon batch of DIPA yesterday alongside a rebrew of my mild for the second round of the NHC. Was planning on kegging 10-12 gallons of my "train wreck" sour, but ran out of time and energy.

 

Brewed 10 gallons of my blonde ale and it took only 5 hours. It took 5 minutes to cool to 70 degrees using the therminator and recirculating the wort back into the kettle. That was amazing!!

 

Brewed up a quad this evening to enjoy in the fall/winter. Going to age 1 gal of it on bourbon soaked oak cubes for the fun of it.

 

I bottled my first IPA of the season tonight. Have a little stout that just fermented for a week that might go into bottles in another week or two.

 

Second stage of dry hopping a Smuttynose FinestKind IPA clone and it will be ready for bottling on Wednesday. Yesterday, after a week in the 60's and 70's, it snowed, so I decided to brew. I started a Black IPA (American Dark Ale, or Cascadian Dark Ale -- I'm not one to quibble about names). I've never tried brewing that style, but I like it and don't see it often enough in stores. There are bubbles in the airlock, which makes a nice start to my day!

 

Man, screw inoculating with grain. Trying this out on my next B Weisse!

 

Enjoying my new ´Fermentation Chamber´, it is a wine electric cold store device without a compressor, it just consume 70 w
The only drwback is it cant not get lower than 54 F , it is clocked up from 54 F to 66 F, this way I can ferment ales and lagers all year round !!!!.

 

I ferment all my lagers at 54 degrees. Looks like you have a nice system! Take care.

 

Yesterday I kegged up 10 gallons of Bohiemian Pilsner. I will lager this for summer time drinking!