What's Brewing? (August 2018)

I’m bottling an amber ale tomorrow. OG 1.058 FG 1.011. 4.5 gal. Pretty simple, 9 lbs 2-row and 1 lb carmel 60. Cascade, centennial and liberty hops. All grain BIAB. This is my first batch using my 3000 watt induction burner. It worked well, I made an 8ft extension cord with some romex and a plug that fits the 240 dryer plugin. It’s nice to be able to do this inside since the heat index has been 105 or more around here. I’m also using an inkbird temp controller I got off amazon for the first time. It’s super easy to use. I fermented at 67 for 14 days and it’s been in secondary for 7. The sample tasted nice with no strange flavors so looks good so far.

 

I did two amalyse additions. One as a temp mash at 135, and also added some with the active hop addition.

 

Currently mashing a IIPA for a non-profit gig in Oct...lots of Chinook, CTZ, Simcoe, Citra, and El Dorado.

 

Just ordered 1 lb chinook for $7 and 1 lb of comet for $8 on Yakima valley’s flash sale that went on - such a steal!

 

Well this sucks. Just came back from a week vacation to find 3 gallons of my Belgian Pale Ale soaked into the basement floor. It sat in that same fermonster for 2 weeks with no problem. Dunno what caused the spigot to leak all of a sudden. I'll try to bottle what's left of it. Big waste of time and $$$.

 

The "fermonster" must have loosened it or it succumbed to shitty construction ...I'd do a little investigating to find the root cause. Spigots are wonderful for homebrewers with just a little attention.

 

Depending on what free time looks like the next few days, either all grain West Coast/NEIPA hybrid with Denali, Azzaca, and Simcoe, HotHead yeast, or extract hoppy saison with Loral and BE-134 on Tuesday.

 

Made a blueberry lager this weekend. Similar recipe to the strawberry lager and everything went smoothly. Can't wait to drink this one as the strawberry turned out awesome

 

Blanched and bagged 5lbs of apricots I'll throw into the freezer for when I have an open keg to attempt a clone of Burnside breweries Sweet Heat.

 

This month I'll be brewing up my first Oktoberfest and then a yearly tradition...my pumpkin ale!

Earlier this summer I finished my 2 Vessel K-Rims system and was thinking of using pumpkin in the mash and utilizing rice hulls to aid in recirculation. I haven't used pumpkin in the making of it in the past couple of years because recirculating was a pain with it before but I didn't use rice hulls.

 

Got an attempt at a sour farmhouse thing brewed today - wheat, pilsner and Belgian pale ale malts, 1.045-ish, no hops, short boil and now it's going to sit on Imperial Yeast's Sour Batch Kidz (saison yeast + lacto + brett) for about a year.

Apart from being my first attempt at a proper slow sour, this is also the first time I've brewed with the 30L Burco Cygnet boiler that I've just acquired as a hand-me-down from my dad. I really shouldn't be surprised by this, but it's so much easier to brew 14 litre batches when you aren't trying to make do with a stock pot that can just about keep about 12 litres at a rolling boil on the stove top!

 

Brewed an ipa yesterday with pils mo and oat malt in roughly equal amounts. Hopped with simcoe Amarillo and comet late. Half has barbarian yeast and the other half has Nottingham. Going to Dryhop the barbarian with comet and Amarillo and Nottingham with simcoe and Amarillo. Immediately regretted brewing when I was watching it come to a boil in 100% humidity

 

Just finished brewing the Averagely Perfect Dubbel. Looking forward to this one!

 

I’m curious about everyone’s pitch rates using 3787 and other Belgian strains. I slightly underpitched at 0.6M/mL/*P and went easy on the O2. Curious not just about this beer but homebrewed Belgians in general.

 

Used the entire packet.
It was 3 months old
Did a 1 day starter
Used no 02
Open fermented.
Keezer had a nice smell.

 

Got an early start today (5am) to beat the extreme heat. Brewed the last beer for my friend's son's grad party and it was milkshake ipa. I added lactose to my normal neipa recipe and will secondary it on vanilla beans I've been soaking for 2 weeks, peaches, and mangos.

 

I was gifted a fermonster which worked great the first year. Just bought a new valve/spigot and gaskets cause the original leaked when I was cleaning it. Never did seal after that. Never had that problem with buckets.

 

So last night I bought some bags of shredded coconut and toasted them. I added them to my primary of my black IPA that has been fermenting for just over a week, is it going to be alright to let them soak for about 2 weeks?

 

Going with the extract saison. Even though it seems consensus on Loral seems to be that its an underwhelming hop, I think it will work well for a saison.