Brewing Activity March 2016

I brewed my second batch last night. In an amazing moment of stupidity, I cut the yeast packet open right above my carboy and the top part of the packet fell in. I didn't know what to do. I tried to fish it out but failed. So I poured it into a clean bucket, snagged the top of the packet, and then poured it back into the carboy.

So what's done is done, but what should I have done here? Would it have been fine to just leave the little top of the packet in there?

 

That's what I probably would have done. But as long as the bucket you used was sanitized, you didn't hurt anything.

 

Picked up ingredients today for a Best Bitter. Also, I finally got myself a small chest freezer that will serve as fermentation chamber! Which means later this month I should be able to brew my 1st lager! Also, it'll be nice to be able to make a saison in January... If I want.

 

Kegged and barreled my Imperial Stout 3 weeks ago. First time going into a barrel like this. Assumed the beer was finished after 3 weeks primary... WRONG! Ke gis fully carbonated sitting in the garage with no gas, and guess what else is fully carbed? My f'ing barrel! Used the solid bung that came with it.



Lost about a pint? Letting it degas then a new airlock starting tomorrow. Will top off from the keg. You live, you learn, and then you get Luvs! Maybe they will soak up that mess...

 

Starting solera #2 this month!

 

Currently moving all my brewing supplies to the kitchen to start my DIPA today... Malt bill is 2-row and red wheat with a touch of crystal 40L. Nearly a pound of Columbus, Centennial, Simcoe and Citra... Expected 8.3% ABV and 100 IBU.

 

Just started boiling the wort for a 10 gallon batch of pale ale. 70% pale ale malt with 20% Vienna and 10% UK C60. 44 calculated ibus of crystal, centennial, and hersbrucker hops. WLP001. A modification on a tried and true recipe for me.

Tried out a PH meter for the first time today. A cheaper one I found on amazon. I've never had conversion problems but thought it might help me dial in my process. 5.4 ph without making any adjustments to the recipe, so not bad.

 

Today I am brewing up 10 gallons of Bo-Pills. I am going to make sure to have a good stockpile of summer beers this year!

 

I bottled a Tripel last night which I was convinced was ruined. Brewday was a disaster due to my water source freezing and I couldn't use my wort chiller. I had also dropped my hop spider into the wort twice and forgotten Irish Moss. When attempting to cool in a snow pile, the lid blew across the yard. I didn't pitch until 3am and I estimated the Wort was 80-85. Since the slurry harvested from the previous Dubbel had been sitting out, it as fully active in less than 12hr.

I was so convinced it was ruined, that I bought the ingredients to brew it again today. I assumed that once I took a gravity reading and tasted it, that I would pour it. Yet it tasted fine.

So a Mulligan. But this time with WLP530 instead of WLP500.

 

Yes, sometimes the beer gods will smile upon you.

 

Today or tomorrow I'll get stage 3 of my yeast starter going. Using WLP838 (So. German Lager) in my Munich Helles recipe, which can be found in the BA recipes section here. I hope to brew this next Friday.

Cheers!

 

A buddy dropped off some London ale III slurry, so, hauling the gear back to the foundry to brew another dipa.

 

Yesterday, I kegged my Milk Stout with .5lbs of toasted coconut and 2T of vanilla extract (3 varieties of bean, and aged rum).

Looking forward to sampling on Mon.

 

Procrastinating the need to get a new freezer for my kegs, I decided to make Invert Sugar #2 using the unholymess instructions (the stove top approach, not the dilution). English pale ale is looming somewhere in the near future.

 

My actual brewing may slack a bit as I have 3 beers either fermenting or conditioning at the moment. One is a beer that I'm calling Red Maple, since it's an Irish Red brewed with dark amber maple syrup at flameout. I have an attempt at a NE IPA that should be approaching FG within the next few days. Looking forward to getting that one in the keg and dryhopped with Enigma, Amarillo, and Citra. And lastly, the RIS I brewed about a month ago was transferred to secondary for a month or so of bulk aging, even though it's pretty damn delicious already.

I also have some sour dregs that I plan on making starters for and stepping up at some point this month since I finally purchased a stir plate. No idea what they'll eventually go into but that will probably end up being a long term project. Lastly, I'm working on the process/recipe for a German Pilsner that will be my next brew.

 

Just kegged up my yellow rose clone. The remains of the 3oz of Mosaic I dry hopped this bad lady with



And the yeast I'm harvesting

 

looking forward to brew a saison this month. however, im having trouble choosing hops. any ideas?

right now, im thinking about using rakau or maybe azacca. anyone tried these ones? i like fruity, tropical aroma/taste, but not resin or pine ditos.

 

Do you want to brew a more traditional saison? If so, stick with noble hops. If not, use whatever hops you like. I haven't tried azacca, but based on some azacca beers I've had, I think it could be interesting in a 3724 saison.

ETA: Meant to add "or EKG or Styrian Goldings" to the noble hops for a more traditional saison.

 

Just finishing up brewing "Gimli's Battle Axe"...a NE IPA done with all dwarf hops (Azacca/Jarrylo/Summit) and WY1318.

 

Transferred my IPA out of primary to the keg. After 10 days it went from 1.067 to 1.013 with WL1318 and no sugar. Happy with that. Two big dry hop doses of Mosaic and Citra along the way have it smelling awesome. Hydro sample looked like pineapple juice in a nice and turbid kind of way. The next 2 weeks are going to be tough to be patient and not pull that tap handle.