Brewing Activities (May edition)

Here's a couple pics of my Kveik beers

Pale Ale- 2row, idaho7, el Dorado dry hop
8 days grain to glass

Kettle sour with papaya, guava, and mangos(all fresh fruit) 10 days grain to glass

 

Tomorrow I will be brewing 16.5 gallons of an imperial chocolate coffee stout (1.095). Since I don't have a 15 gallon system I will be running my 10gallon(electric) and 5 gallon(propane) systems side by side. I will be replacing the 16.5 gallons I just put down the drain.

 

The cost up front sucks for what it is (spent over $100 in fittings alone), but if it helps streamline the process even further to make brew days easier and more enjoyable, it's worth it!

 

I definitely agree with that! after dropping around $350-400 to build my control panel and a mashtun upgrade. I have been holding back on getting the fittings at the moment lol

 

I hear ya! In the past few weeks I just have been buying and buying it seems. New pump, tubing, fittings, grain sacks, etc… But I just have to remind myself at least it’s not as bad as (one of) my other hobbies, photography, where it is common to drop a few G on a single new lens… haha… But that is why we work, right? Need some way to fund all the fun stuff life as to offer!

 

That's right and usually its a "buy once cry once" thing, unless you are like me and constantly keep upgrading stuff while telling myself after each upgrade "ok this is my last upgrade for a long time" and thanks for reminding me that I bought pumps, tubing, valves, fittings, and whirpool attachments. LOL I almost forgot about that or just blocked it out haha

 

Ok, good to know. I'll let mine sit for at least a week before dry hopping and kegging then. I've read somewhere that this style can be ready sooner than 2 weeks, but I also don't want to keg it when it's too 'green'.

Mine's a take on a traditional kveik, but with more IBUs and no juniper. I went my own way on this recipe, but I am currently sampling mine 1-1/2 days into fermentation an I'm blown away by the aroma/flavor so far. Better than I expected. Orange, rum, vanilla, and possibly pineapple cake? maybe I'm getting ahead of myself, but lots going on for such a simple recipe. I went with this:

12 lbs Vienna

Mash at 160F for 1 hour

While mash is infusing, boil 2 gal of water with 1 lb DME, and 0.75 oz Warrior (mine were 16.2% AA). I boiled this for 30 min, and then used this as my sparge addition to the mash after collecting my first runnings into the fermenter. I pretty much ran my sparge addition straight through the mash tun and into the fermenter as well. Let this cool to around 90F overnight, and then pitched the Hornindal in the morning. I'm still trying to figure out what sort of dry hops will work well for this one. I have Denali, Huell Melon, Citra and Hallertau Blanc that would all be good candidates. Will probably lean towards Denali though

 

Sorry updated thread jack. Final recipe I’m doing tonight with a friend. Hope it turns out like Im imagining. Tell me what you think BA....

 

Heating strike water right now for my double brew day for 15 gallons of an imperial chocolate coffee stout.

 

Packaging spring Helles and brewing Saison with that Dupont strain
Cheers all

 

Just bottled two 2.5 gallon IPAs and a 1 gallon split batch failed Porter....let's call it a brown ale?
Looking forward to tasting them on Memorial Day.

I've found that the dark gluten free malts do not deliver the color or roastiness that is anticipated. I'll be attempting another Porter next week with a big boost in dark malts.

 

No brew this weekend. Got a back-log to drink up first. Bottled off the kegs close to kicking and added finings to @TheBeerery Hefe recipe which is now cold crashing.

Picked up a new to me kettle yesterday. 20 gallons, so no more splitting the boil between two smaller pots! Tested it this morning, just with cold water from the tap. Was worried I might have to add an element to it. But two portable induction hobs proved more than capable of boiling 60 Litres (15+ gallons) The unused element im going to add to my mash tun and use for preheating strike water.

 

I have a veeeery similar beer that just kegged. I should have a results post in a few days once carbed.

 

Brewing an American/German Pilsner of sorts.

Rahr 2 Row
Weyermann Pale (20%)
Carahell (2%)

All Cascade to 35ish IBUs

Blend of German Lager X/Hella Bock

Using some water from a friend with a spring at his house. Sent it to Ward Labs and other than the Bicarbonate around 86 everything else is sub 20. Psyched to see what it brings.

 

Brewed yestersay with the new steam basket, hit my target OG of 1.062 and the grains definitely had adequate water contact. I suppose it helps that I've revised my IPA recipe and dropped the oats and added dextrose to the boil.

Also spent way too much time trying to revamp my water profile. On the surface I enjoyed my last one of 150sulfate and 95 or so chloride, but I was using a decent amount of Epsom salt to boost sulfate without going too high on calcium, which of course throws the magnesium up a bit higher. I felt like all the additional magnesium really added to a perceived bitterness on my last 2 beers. Especially when I don't use boil hops and my most recently kegged beer had a deduction of hop oz per gallon in the whirlpool and dry hop.

Ended up with:
Mash pH 5.23
Calcium: 78
Magnesium: 10
Sodium: 49
Sulfate: 115
Chlodide: 160

And then pitched a combination of 1pkg imperial juice (1318) and 2grams of t-58. Fermenting away at 66F

 

I had a bunch of really unfortunate events happen to me while brewing a chocolate stout this weekend.

First, I had a backfire out of my burner because of a sudden gust of wind. YIKES. I thought I was going to explode.

Second, my mash ton clogged for the first time in the 20+ times I have used this one over the last few years. So I had to dump the mash into another vessel, take apart the ball valve and assembly and clean it all up then dump it back in.

Third, and this is just my own fault because at this point I wanted to curl into a ball and nap, but, I had an overflow. I've never seen 1 oz of Willamette react so violently.

Last and certainly not least, my hop spider has a nice new rip in it thanks to flipping hurricane force winds in northern Indiana for some random reason

BEEEEEERRRRR why.

On the bright side, I finally replaced my broken aerator. I forgot that yeast can be active in 12 hours instead of 36. The baby is chuggin along

 

Brewed a saison on Saturday for an easy drinking summer beer. I used dry Belle Saison yeast and I'm fermenting around 70F so I should get limited saison peppery flavor. Hopefully, I'll have just enough to make it interesting. The plan is to add passionfruit puree to the primary this evening.

 

Krausened a batch of Belgian Pale I made. However I krausened it with beer from a APA I was fermenting at the time. Belgian was pretty traditional with a small Mandarina Bavaria dry hop addition but the Pale was heavily hopped with Citra, Galaxy, Columbus in the kettle. Interested to see how much the 2.5 quarts of APA impacts the base beer. Krausened my first lager a month or so ago and really enjoyed the impact on the body/mouthfeel of the beer.

Added some cold brew to a keg of 5% milk stout as well as some sugar and a little CBC-1, letting it carbonate naturally in the keg for a week or so. Did 4 different test batches of Cold Brew from a few different local roasters. Some beans from Peru won out. Really excited to try this one. Used Chocolate Rye and Perla Negra for my roasted malts.

 

I was DEFINITELY inspired by the brews of New Zealand but more specifically the hop farms there. I was fortunate enough to meet up with a guy from New Zealand hops while I was in Nelson and spent a whole day and a half touring hop farms in Richmond, Nelson, Waimea Valley, and Motueka. It was an amazing experience.