Brewing activities January 2016

Boiling down the first runnings of my coffee stout as I sparge.

 

Just kegged a Galaxy/Columbus dry hopped APA.

 

Kegged up my porter today. Clocked in at 6.1%. Smells like chocolate and coffee. Looking forward to maybe having all four taps going at once for the first time in a long time.



Got an Imperial Stout, an ESB, a Simcoe IPA from a local brewery and soon a Porter on tap.

 

Robust Porter is pouring well and so tasty!!!

 

I brewed a scotch ale and my first ever IPA over the weekend. The scotch ale is for a homebrew competition in March. Did a 10 gallon batch we're splitting. 5 gallons will stay the way it is and 5 gallons will get some whiskey soaked oak chips.

For the IPA I bittered with Simcoe, and used a bunch of Citra and mandarina Bavaria later in the boil. I'm going to dry hop with a couple ounces of each of them later

 

Bottled my 100% Brett Blonde w/ Peaches early Saturday. Smells phenomenal but tastes a little off, hopefully conditioning in the bottle will change this.

Also brewed a Russian Imperial Stout "One with the Shadows," hit my OG on the nose and it's currently fermenting away.

Also brewed a Berliner Weiss, going to let it sit for 2 months, sample, and then possibly transfer to 5 individual 1 gallon carboys.

 

Over the weekend, brewed my 2nd all-grain IPA that I've tentatively named "Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts" IPA...hopped with Galaxy, Galena, Glacier, and Green Bullet & using WY1318 yeast.

Second time that I've used a starter...I made it on Wed, hoping to brew on Thurs...but plans changed...so the starter cold-crashed for about 48h. I warmed it to RT before pitching the slurry...but no activity thru airlock for ~ 18h...got a little worried...but vigorous bubbling was present when I checked it yesterday AM...so I'm hoping this was just a bit of a slow start related to "rough handling" of the starter & that it doesn't affect the overall fermentation too badly...

 

Great to hear about Azacca...I have never used it but got 1# of it b/c price was ridonkulous ($0.80/oz)...now I'm excited to throw it in my upcoming IPA batches!

 

It is fantastic! I used it for first wort hopping, a 60min bittering addition (on top of the FWH), 10min, 45min hop stand at 160-170F and then dry hop... So I used it everywhere for "complexity".

In the future I would probably use it alongside some other hops, but it is delicious on it's own... I think it would be killer with some simcoe and columbus for example.

 

bottleing chocolate coconut stout aged on hard maple. Racking ipa onto cherry wood.

 

Busy brew month, mentioned previously for my Jan. 3 brewed nut brown. I willl be dry hopping tonight the first 5 gallons of this pale ale recipe brewed, Jan. 13. First ever attempt to use Jarrylo hops, a free-bee from my Christmas hop order...

Pale Ale (10 gal batch)

Grain
15 Avangard Pale
2 Avangard Vienna
1.5 UK C60

Hops
2 oz GR Opal 6.3AA 60 min
2 oz Hop Blend 7.16AA 10 min
3 oz Hop Blend 7.16AA 5 min
3 oz Hop Blend 7.16AA whirlpool
2 oz Hop Blend 7.16AA dry hop

Hop Blend
5 oz Crystal 3.0AA
3 oz Centennial 9.0AA
2 oz Jarrylo 14.8AA
Average 7.16AA

Yeast
WLP001 California Ale

Last Saturday I also brewed this barleywine. Trying to sneak some barleywines into my usual rotation for aging until next winter (hence the busy brew month).

Barleywine (5 gal batch)

Grain
10 Avangard Pale
5 Avangard Vienna
1 Carabrown
1 UK Crystal 60
.5 UK Pale Chocolate
1.5 Quick Oats

Hops
1.5 oz GR Opal 6.3AA 60 min
3 oz GR Hersbrucker 2.8AA 10 min

Yeast
WLP023 Burton Ale

 

Brewing up 8 gallons of Imperial Stout with a 3 hour boil to go into a whiskey barrel I have on the way. This is pretty much a rebrew of the same beer I brewed a few months ago, just raising the mash temp, and this one gets a barrel instead of oak cubes.

 

I brewed 5 gallons of Barley wine for my LHBS, they have a bourbon barrel and selected 10 brewers to brew the barley wine then age it in the barrel for a couple months. I had temp issues, ended up adding about a half pound of dark brown sugar at the last minute to my boil and ended up nailing my OG of 1.098. I am so excited to try this, but have not even put it in the barrel yet!

 

I tried my first barleywine recently (Summit Old Blaggard), and now I'm trying to put together a recipe to match as closely as possible. Their barleywine aroma was all malt, and no hop aroma. The hop flavor was very subdued allowing the malts to dominate, which I loved. Some of the ingredients they used aren't as readily available, so I'll have to use some substitutions. I'll use as much Maris Otter as I can fit in my kettle using BIAB for my mash, then I'll use Maris Otter LME to top up to my target OG of 1.105. In lieu of Endeavor hops, I'll probably use Cascade. Haven't decided on a yeast yet.

 

just got off the clock repairing a busted mainline, so , seeing I got some OT, converted to Comp time, I'll be making a glennies IPA tomorrow. @ jbakajust1 that would be a IPA with 6 oz of Amarillo which is want glennie wants!! Don,t think I'll ever get over yer comment about unknown beers I was posting

 

Pulled the vanilla beans and coffee from a milk stout and an imperial blonde. Should be serving in about a week!!! Just in time for the super bowl.

 

Getting everything lined up for my keezer build.

 

Cool glass where you get that?

 

Kegs arrive in good condition?

 

pulled the first sample of a big sour quad I'm working on. Pitched ECY20 along with a bunch of tart cherries, raisins, and mission figs a few months ago. Great dark fruit/fig/raisin/cherry flavor going on right now, and the sourness is starting to show up. Sitting at around 14.3%abv right now, making it nice and boozy for a sour. Trying to decide what oak+spirit treatment I want to hit it with right now.