Brewing Activity February 2016

please don't message me.....ever

 

1) Brown ale sitting on 6# of raspberries to be bottled this weekend.

2) IPA for a baby shower (l'enfant terrible) to be dryhopped this weekend. 1.060; 60ibu; columbus/amarillo/galaxy; Vermont ale yeast

In line: IIPA with oats using cake from #2. Hops TBD.

 

Martin House Brewing Company is holding their 3rd annual Riverside Shootout Homebrew Competition on April 24, 2016. I have already purchased a ticket to enter this competition. This will be my first competition ever, after about 1 year and a few months of brewing. I am very excited at the opportunity to possibly have my beer showcased throughout the DFW area in the fall. I am going to try my best to make a great beer and be "different". Which is what they encourage. I plan on making some experimental batches in the following months to find out what it is that I want to do. Follow the link for the competition rules!

http://martinhousebrewing.com/Events/riverside-shootout-homebrew-competition/

 

Tonight is one of those nights where everything just seemed to come together to do some beer shit.
My two packets of oak came in the mail today so I can start soaking some french oak in Syrah for my sour quad that is sitting on figs/raisins/tart cherries right now. The bourbon chunks (actually chunks from tart of darkness barrels) will be soaked in rye whiskey for a rye sour stout I'm going to brew shortly.

The hops (1oz each of citra, mosaic, nelson sauvin) will be thrown into my sour blonde that has been aging on cabernet sauv. french oak for the last 2 years for a week long dry hop before I bottle next week.

Lastly, I sampled my mango lambic last night and even though its only 6 months young it's delightfully sour with an insanely great mango face-punch of flavor, so that will get bottled tonight. Sampled my peach lambic as well, and while it's ready, too, I'll bottle that next month.

 

I will be brewing my table beer this weekend. 60% wheat, 40% pils. 1.055 fermented with recycled us05. Perle at 60 to 15 ibus and amarillo at 1 minute. I'll also be brewing an ipa, a gose, and a saison. I will be bottling a gose from last month, a saison from last month, and a kentucky common that i brewed on the 30th of january

 

Just pulled a sample of the 2yo cab sour blonde. There's something to be said about the natural clarity of a lambic you've had the patience to age this long. Very similar to cantillon classic gueuze, with more funk and added vinous notes. Can't wait to see what the hops add to it next week. Now to go bottle that mango lambic...
.

 

last night bottles a IPA that i used Windsor Ale yeast to ferment, first time adding galaxy dust to the bucket for more hop punch. sampled ipa aging on cherry. Seems to have a woody sweetness, letting it sit another week.
Tonight, bottleing session ipa and washing fermenters. Friday coffee stout, gonna age it on hard maple for a month.

 

Yesterday night I finally worked out how to bottle from my kegs without any issue... Prior, I had bad foam issues that prevented the bottle from ever filling up... But based on info I found on the interwebs, put my bottles in the freezer for a while before filling... Along with my 650 flow control faucets and growler filler attachment, no issue one bit! Was able to fill to the brim with hardly any foam and capped without any head space... It will be nice to pass out bottles again for those who can't make it over! And help me get through the kegs quicker so I can brew more...

 

Bottling my Racer 5 clone tonight - it's been dry hopping for 5 days, toyed with the idea of throwing some Columbus in for a 3-day dry hop but I want to get this in bottles. My 3 gallon What the Heck IPA is 5 days in and looking (and tasting) better every day - going to leave it in primary for another week then slam it with Columbus and Citra. Planning out a porter for the hubby, he wants something close to Irish Death but not so heavy. I found a fairly close clone on HBT (Black Death), looks interesting.

 

Waxed the mango lambic bottles...so pretty.

 

Bottling day is near. Time for the oxyclean soak. Just shy of 5 cases.

 

I'm a new homebrewer. I've brewed 3 one gallon batches so far. I bottled my first batch (Brooklyn brew shop Rye PA) last week. I dry hopped my Nelson saison tonight. I also have a Maris Otter/Galaxy SMaSH that's fermenting as well. I've yet to taste something I've brewed but I'm having so much fun brewing. I'll be sure to report back if any of my beers come out worth a damn.

 

Sounds familiar. IIRC, I had my second batch fermenting before my first was carbonated.

Report back even if they suck. There are people here who can help.

 

I'll open my first bottle on February 19th. That marks 3 weeks in the bottle and my birthday weekend. I'll report back regardless. Cheers!

 

Let the fun begin!!!

 

This is not "fun."

 

Planned out my first Pilsner... 100% Pils malt, WLP800 yeast and will by my first (double) decoction... Ordered more hops from Yakima for it (and other beers), so some fresh Saaz is on the way along with German Magnum for this one. Will also be building the water up from straight distilled to match the pilsen water profile which is a new one for me as well. Need to stop by the LHBS to pick up the yeast so I can start the step starter this weekend and grow some yeasties all week to reach my 400B cell count required.

Will be the most complex beer I have brewed to date, but I look forward to it! Should be ready around April 1st.

 

Yea.... That was sacasm of my part. Lol.

 

Yeast starter going for ESB brew tomorrow!

 

Tasted the Brett Blonde w/ Peaches yesterday. Still undercarbed but getting there (it hasn't even been two weeks) but it is shaping up to be a winner! Tropical funk on the nose, it's a little thin, unfortunately, but it's taste is peach forward followed by some funk and slight acidity. It's still pretty young so I'm excited to see how it develops over time. I think in a month it should be in its prime.

Also took a sample of the RIS I brewed. Roasty chocolate, with some fruity esters (most likely from the WLP002). It's sitting at 1.035 right now and should drop to 1.020 in the next couple weeks. This one is going to be good. I'm going to save a gallon and possibly age it on some bourbon soaked oak chips.