What are you brewing?

[smellysell]

Got a five gallon batch of Oatmeal Coffee Stout sitting in secondary right now. Just threw in some Doi Changg Peaberry last night and will let it sit until I bottle on Sunday.

I didn't get the efficiency I was shooting for on my first all grain batch by not adding enough water for mashing. Looks like it's going to come in just under 6% when the estimated was around 9.5%.

You'll find the higher gravity, they lower efficiency, unless you over sparge and do a long boil.

 

[LilBastage]

Going to brew up a batch of Edwort's Haus Pale Ale this weekend...

Just killed a keg of this keg yesterday. It was great. I'm going to try to keep a keg of this on tap all the time after I get a couple of experiments out of the way.

My Christmas Ale tastes like incense. I'm going to let it sit for awhile and hope that eases a bit. If not, a blendin' I will go...

Nice, good to know someone here has brewed and enjoyed that beer. Thanks for the heads up, Alan. . How fast did yours ferment?

I'd have to double check my notes, but it was very fast. It was so fast it caused me great concern at the time, but the beer was great.

 

[DePasta]

Broke out the brew rig today.....Brewing a Bourbon Chocolate Ale.....sitting in the primary with a 1.72 OG, the wort tasted like hoppy beer Yoohoo.... will secondary on a vanilla bean and charred oak Bourbon barrel chips...

 

[jfields]

Got a five gallon batch of Oatmeal Coffee Stout sitting in secondary right now. Just threw in some Doi Changg Peaberry last night and will let it sit until I bottle on Sunday.

I didn't get the efficiency I was shooting for on my first all grain batch by not adding enough water for mashing. Looks like it's going to come in just under 6% when the estimated was around 9.5%.

You'll find the higher gravity, they lower efficiency, unless you over sparge and do a long boil.

Yes, it was one of those inexperienced "why didn't I think of that" moments later on. I sparged with room temp water and only enough to bring it to five gallons before the boil. I then added more water to the wort for the boil.

Will know better next time.

Bottled yesterday, and the FG calculation showed through BeerSmith that the ABV is at 4.77%. Even the wife said it tasted pretty damn good though. Will be a bit more watery than I hoped for, but not a total loss.

 

[MX]

Setting a goal to get in to brew days this month, but life always seems to show up and bitch slap me.

Going to get the gear cleaned up a bit, as it has been in suspended animation.

Come to think of it, i have a IRA to bottle....crap

Tim

 

[smellysell]

Brewed 15 gallons of English Mild (5 gallons for me) at my buddy's on his new system this morning. We're going to use a different yeast for all 3 batches.

Came home and am almost done mashing an all Palisade APA.

 

[smellysell]

Brewed 15 gallons of English Mild (5 gallons for me) at my buddy's on his new system this morning. We're going to use a different yeast for all 3 batches.

Came home and am almost done mashing an all Palisade APA.

20 gallons in 13 hours... Done! :thumbs:

 

[MX]

Pale Ale tomorrow

Equal parts Pale, Munich and Vienna to make about 5%

Target and Amarillo to about 30 IBU

Going to be my test batch for the new Rig

Tomorrow's test run will be:

3.3 LB Belgian Pale
3.3 LB Munich
3.3 LB Vienna

.4 oz Target@11.5 - 60 min
.3 oz Target@11.5 - 30 min
.6 oz Amarillo@8.5 - 10 min

London ESB yeast

Bunch of old/left over stuff figured a good way to get rid of it and test the system.

Laters

Tim

Tim

 

[MX]

Let this run its course while I was away on vacation...

Forgot to airate the wort, so after 48 ours of nothing, I stirred it up, and sholud have left it there, but I pitched some 04 on it and the next day it was rocking.... (pitiched London ESB to start)
Finished up at .008, well below the .015 i was looking for. Hydro sample is in the cooler, gonna chill it down and give it a taste.

Also for got to add the whirlflock, so I am toying with the idea of finnings...will look at the sample from the fridge and make the call.
If it looks good after a cold crash, I may just let it ride.

 

[smellysell]

Let this run its course while I was away on vacation...

Forgot to airate the wort, so after 48 ours of nothing, I stirred it up, and sholud have left it there, but I pitched some 04 on it and the next day it was rocking.... (pitiched London ESB to start)
Finished up at .008, well below the .015 i was looking for. Hydro sample is in the cooler, gonna chill it down and give it a taste.

Also for got to add the whirlflock, so I am toying with the idea of finnings...will look at the sample from the fridge and make the call.
If it looks good after a cold crash, I may just let it ride.

Gelatin works great

 

[MX]

yeah, gonna transfer this off the cake in the next week or so, then add the gelatine to clear it, unless I decide not to rack my Chocolate porter onto the London ESB / Safale 04 yeast cake.
I have some London Ale III I want to try out, will give me a chance to make my first strip plate starter.

So the Chocolate Porter is up next
followed by Irish Red
Then maybe my Amber or Brown.


Tim

 

[smellysell]

I'm brewing a huge Burton ale today. All the members in my club are brewing it and we're all going to secondary in the bourbon barrel that we just drained the Imp Vanilla porter out of.

 

[MX]

by huge yo mean like 5 inches......lol my wife thinks that is huge

Tim

 

[Kingantz]

Did my first brew last weekend! Irish Stout/half grain. I think the yeast didn't do so well as it bubbled for about 24 hrs and hasn't made a move since. I opened it up this weekend and the hydrometer dropped pretty much to the bottom of the barrel. Ah well, it's my first time brewing so what the hey. Gonna let it sit for one more week and then bottle next weekend. I don't think it'll have much if any alcohol, but maybe it'll at least taste decent enough. We shall see!

 

[MX]

lack of activity means nothing...

get a hydro sample tube, and trust your gravity reading.

Post up some info about your grain bill, yeast and process, and we might be able to figure out if there is anything that could be improved on.

That is how I learned, I just posted every detail I could, that let the info wash over me

Tim

 

[Kingantz]

lack of activity means nothing...

get a hydro sample tube, and trust your gravity reading.

Post up some info about your grain bill, yeast and process, and we might be able to figure out if there is anything that could be improved on.

That is how I learned, I just posted every detail I could, that let the info wash over me

Tim

I bought brewing kit from Midwest Supplies (nice deal on it) that came with ingredients kit:
6 lb. Dark liquid malt extract, 4 oz. Chocolate Malt, 4 oz. Caramel 10L, 4 oz. Roasted Barley, 4 oz. Flaked Barley specialty grain, 1 tsp. Gypsum, 1/2 oz. Nugget, 1 oz. Willamette pellet hops, yeast, priming sugar and a grain bag.

I steeped the grains at 155F for a half hour, then turned up to simmer/boil for 60 mts, adding the Nugget hops at the beginning, then the Willamette at 58 minute mark (man that stuff smelled gooda). Took it off the simmer/boil and cooled it down by adding a couple trays of ice (instructions said I could do this) and then let it sit in cold water until the temp was down. Poured the wort into the primary and topped off to just a tad bit over 5 gallons with cold filtered tap water, which brought the temp down to right at 80F. Put warm tap water in measuring cup and added yeast, stirred it immediately (instructions said to let it sit first for about 15 mts, but didn't so that may have done some damage there...duh). Poured the yeast in and closed 'er up. Airlock started jumping shortly after and kept bobbing for the next 24 hrs, but then stopped dead cold. I opened it up after several days, stirred it up carefully, closed it back up, and put the bucket in the sink w/hot water to see if warming it up would get it going again. Air lock moved every so slightly for only a short bit and then stopped. Took the bucket and sit it in a dark corner where it's been since. The hydrometer that came with the kit was broken, so received a replacement free of charge a couple days later, and as mentioned I dropped it in the brew where it basically sank to the bottom, only the tip sticking out. My plan is to siphon the beer into the bottling bucket with priming sugar already in it (has speaket at bottom) through a screen to hopefully catch sediment, and then bottle. Have 48 used beer bottles I plan to let sit in boiling water, dry, and use for bottling.

That's about it so far.

 

[smellysell]

If the hydrometer sunk that low, it probably is fermented out because that means the gravity is low, but like Tim said, gut yourself a hydro sample jar and a turkey baster.

I'd steer clear of the screen when transferring because that just sounds like a recipe for oxidation. I've found that even with the priming solution in the bucket before transferring, it still needs a gentle stir with a sanitized spoon before bottling to get even carbonation.

I highly recommend reading "How to Brew" if you haven't, you can read it for free on his website, and if you ever have any questions just shoot me a PM.


Tim > "huge" = 1.120

 

[T2P]

Wow it has been quite some time since I posted here at all let alone in this thread. So much beer has happened since then.

Brewed up:

Amarillo IPA
Dortmunder Lager morphed using ale yeast (really interesting)
Hennepin Ommegang clone (first failed batch)
Nukey Brown Ale
Red Hook ESB clone
Minneapolis Town Hall 1800 clone

Another cool thing is that my brew buddy got a new job recently and is looking for a house. He has already factored in All Grain equipment so we will be switching to that soon and cannot wait!

 

[T2P]

lack of activity means nothing...

get a hydro sample tube, and trust your gravity reading.

Post up some info about your grain bill, yeast and process, and we might be able to figure out if there is anything that could be improved on.

That is how I learned, I just posted every detail I could, that let the info wash over me

Tim

I bought brewing kit from Midwest Supplies (nice deal on it) that came with ingredients kit:
6 lb. Dark liquid malt extract, 4 oz. Chocolate Malt, 4 oz. Caramel 10L, 4 oz. Roasted Barley, 4 oz. Flaked Barley specialty grain, 1 tsp. Gypsum, 1/2 oz. Nugget, 1 oz. Willamette pellet hops, yeast, priming sugar and a grain bag.

I steeped the grains at 155F for a half hour, then turned up to simmer/boil for 60 mts, adding the Nugget hops at the beginning, then the Willamette at 58 minute mark (man that stuff smelled gooda). Took it off the simmer/boil and cooled it down by adding a couple trays of ice (instructions said I could do this) and then let it sit in cold water until the temp was down. Poured the wort into the primary and topped off to just a tad bit over 5 gallons with cold filtered tap water, which brought the temp down to right at 80F. Put warm tap water in measuring cup and added yeast, stirred it immediately (instructions said to let it sit first for about 15 mts, but didn't so that may have done some damage there...duh). Poured the yeast in and closed 'er up. Airlock started jumping shortly after and kept bobbing for the next 24 hrs, but then stopped dead cold. I opened it up after several days, stirred it up carefully, closed it back up, and put the bucket in the sink w/hot water to see if warming it up would get it going again. Air lock moved every so slightly for only a short bit and then stopped. Took the bucket and sit it in a dark corner where it's been since. The hydrometer that came with the kit was broken, so received a replacement free of charge a couple days later, and as mentioned I dropped it in the brew where it basically sank to the bottom, only the tip sticking out. My plan is to siphon the beer into the bottling bucket with priming sugar already in it (has speaket at bottom) through a screen to hopefully catch sediment, and then bottle. Have 48 used beer bottles I plan to let sit in boiling water, dry, and use for bottling.

That's about it so far.

One thing I did not see you mention was what your hydro reading was before pitching the yeast. One of the best ways to see how much the beer has fermented out is to take a reading before pitching and another one a week or two after pitching (7 days is usually good for the fermentation to finish). Another thing is that if you look at the hydrometer itself you can see that the measurements are in the long skinny part of the tool. In fact, when you get a beer that is in a lower range (less than 1.010), then very little of the hydrometer will be showing at all. To see how it should work, get a tube like people recommended and use water to run a calibration test. I should read 1.000. Personally, I like using a wine thief for the tests with the hydrometer placed inside.

 

[Smokin'Sims]

Brewed NorthernBrewers Black IPA this week. I'm trying to get back into homebrewing after a very long hiatus. I'm not getting the yeasty smell coming out of the primary though, like I normally did, I'm getting something better hop aroma. Hoping to get it in the secondary before next weekend. I did start with a 32hr starter culture.