September - Homebrewing Happenings

Yesterday was the first pull from my attempt at the "Hoppy Things" recipe from Tree House's Nate. Darker than I like. I think it's the honey malt. I decided to drink it with a Trillium Melcher IPA (very different beers but wanted something to compare it with). Doing so made it easy to understand how much the honey malt affected my beer. Very malty and tastes a bit like......honey. I am also a bit surprised at how little hop aroma I get from mine. I'll need to practice more.


Vikeman's Averagely Perfect NE IPA was transferred to its serving keg yesterday and I'll probably start carbing it tonight. Will be great to see how that turns out and to compare it with this Hoppy Things concoction. I'm more excited for the Vikeman IPA as it used oats and mostly late hop additions. Also, I didn't attempt "fermentation" hopping with Hoppy Things. I did with Vikeman's. Can't wait to compare!

 

After career considerations caused me to put active brewing on the shelf for a few months, I was able to keg my 3724 saison today. It got down to 1.002 while I was busy ignoring it for these past 7 weeks or so. Tasty. Now I need to consider when I can bottle a bunch of sours that have been waiting in the wings for a while. Also need to figure out if this is the week I get back to the mash paddle and churn out a predominantly galaxy-hopped pale ale.

 

Decided to brew last minute today. Went with a NEIPA with a heavy focus on Amarillo and Mandarina Bavaria. Going for something orange focused here; we'll see how things turn out. My only other IPA keg is about to kick (working on it as I type), so time to replace it with something similar.

 

Nice brew day with my buddy today. We kegged a Galaxy/Citra IPA and then brewed a Hefe using built up Kellerweis dregs. She mainly offered moral support.

 

Been having to attend to my barleywine all day because my blow off tubes keep clogging and blowing off the fermenter. I ending up bringing the temp down to 60-62 to try and tame it a bit.

 

I brewed up a RIS this afternoon. Was shooting for an OG of 1.132. For the first time I totally missed the mark and OG was measured at 1.110. Turns out instead of 3 gal into the fermenter I got 3.5, plus there was still about a half gal left in the kettle. Doing the math, this is the reason I was so off. With my system I usually boil off 0.75 gal per hour, but I'm guessing with a beer with this high of a gravity the boil was less intense and led to a less than planned boil off rate, hence my lower OG. Still, the hydrometer sample was delicious.

 

That brings up a great point. I've missed my OG numbers a few times lately but the beer has tasted great. Should I care if I miss my numbers? I'm starting to think that as long as it tastes good...who cares!

 

Kegged my home brew for the first time this past weekend. This particular brew came out phenomenally and I am very proud!

 

I'm thinking of brewing something similar. What spices did you use?

 

Sour beer tasting tonight. 5 different sours sampled.
None are winners, yet, but not willing to admit defeat.

 

I brewed an APA yesterday, for the first time in almost a year. I'm pretty excited to see how it turnes out. It was my 6th revision to the recipe... I think I got it this time (probably not though). Next weekend I plan on brewing something along the lines of a Velvet Merlin Stout. That is by far one of my favorite Stouts on the market.

Chris

 

Kegged this beauty today. NE style DIPA. 9.4% and 6 different hops. Tastes and smells of nectarines

 

7 gallon batch. I used .25oz cinnamon, .25oz crushed coriander seed, 1/8oz grains of paradise and the zest of two oranges. The spicing is very subtle, complimenting the fruity nature of the 1214 yeast.

 

Those look delicious

 

2 weeks ago I brewed 10 gallons of high gravity hefeweizen(1.072-1.014). It was hopped with Hersbrucker, but now I'm going to dry hop 5 gallons of it. Normally I would use Amarillo, but when I unsealed the vacuum bag the hops smell off. I can use them for bittering, but not for dry hopping. What are some suggestions for other dry hops that would work with this beer.

 

Haven't been able to brew in about 2 months, going to brew a RIS on Sunday, that will receive bourbon, oak, vanilla bean, and cacao nibs in the keg.

Brewed before, will be good.

 

Planning the same exact beer.... funny

Let us know how it goes. Heard it's easy to overpower MB. What's your hopping schedule look like?

 

Brewed a Northeast IPA three weeks ago with 2-row, C60, carapils, and melanoidin and kegged this weekend. Used 15 ounces of hops. Double dry hopped with Amarillo, Nelson Sauvin, and CTZ. A small bittering addition of CTZ for 60 minutes and the rest whirlpooled. This beer came out super murky and juicy. Will post pics when carbonated.

 

I have an amber ale that should be ready to bottle in a day or two. Then it's on to the next beer: probably an IPA with a bunch of Eureka, Centennial, and Simcoe hops that have been sitting in my freezer and need using.