What are you doing with homebrew today?

[Sandy Feet]

I kicked the keg
I was going to clean it, but it was raining like hell. I'll clean it tomorrow after work.
I guess I need to plan a brew day before I start working 6 days without someone to help me with chores anymore.

 

[Zambi]

My keg(s) are empty as well.
Gotta check on grains & hop....

 

[Brew Cat]

Probably set up to weight out grain for my Bohemian pilsner. I have to rack the same to keg. This one will use Czech floor malted pilsner. I would like to have them both on tap to do a real side by side instead of by memory.

 

[Josh Hughes]

Brew day!

 

[Sandy Feet]

Last night I emptied the cleaner out of the keg and filled it with Star San. I am going to leave it in there, and I will wait on a later date for Sunfire's "I told you so".
I ordered the recipe for my next beer today which I will pick up this weekend. I actually am excited about the concept of this beer. It is something I found online that I modified a little bit. They were calling it a Dortmunder Helles Export, but my software doesn't quite put it there. 74% Pils, 18% Vienna, 8% Munich I. I am using Hallertau with three 1 oz additions at 60, 30, and 10, but that may change based on alphas. My software currently has me at 32.5 IBUs. Going to use 34/70 and pitch big. It is planned at 5.8%. I like the idea of a 30ish IBU beer in a German lager style around that alcohol level, so we shall see. Hell, for $48 plus water, I will drink it. I also need to get propane and Co2 next week, yikes!
I did go for the Floor Malted Pils.

 

[Brew Cat]

yes well yesterday transferred my Czech Pilsner made with standard Weyeyerman Pilsner Malt to make room for my next one with Weyerman floor malted Pilsner. Both used a decoction mash and adjusted to reach the same OG. May have gotten a touch more efficiency out of the FM Pilsner. Brewing in my basement so watching some college football. Good way to start the 1st dayof the year brewing. Have a few construction projects coming up so need to get a jump and build up stock. Happy New BrewYear everyone

 

[Over The Cliff Brewing]

Halfway through the mash on my Dark Mild.

 

[Herm brews]

Half way through the mash on my first brew of the year, Vienna Garage Lager A.D., an homage to my late father. The brew day has gone well so far. For a change, I am keeping the kettle on the stove with the usual fleece wraps, and the heat turned to its lowest setting in an attempt to avoid the 5-6 degree F heat loss that usually occurs. After 40 minutes, the temp has dropped only 1.3F, and S.G. (by refractometer) appears slightly elevated above projection.

 

[Over The Cliff Brewing]

Half way through the mash on my first brew of the year, Vienna Garage Lager A.D., an homage to my late father. The brew day has gone well so far. For a change, I am keeping the kettle on the stove with the usual fleece wraps, and the heat turned to its lowest setting in an attempt to avoid the 5-6 degree F heat loss that usually occurs. After 40 minutes, the temp has dropped only 1.3F, and S.G. (by refractometer) appears slightly elevated above projection.View attachment 31124

I use 3 heavy towels wrapped around the kettle without the fire on. It holds the temp within - 1 degree.

 

[Herm brews]

Half way through the mash on my first brew of the year, Vienna Garage Lager A.D., an homage to my late father. The brew day has gone well so far. For a change, I am keeping the kettle on the stove with the usual fleece wraps, and the heat turned to its lowest setting in an attempt to avoid the 5-6 degree F heat loss that usually occurs. After 40 minutes, the temp has dropped only 1.3F, and S.G. (by refractometer) appears slightly elevated above projection.View attachment 31124

Well, my lack of practice revealed itself in an error. If I had just taken the time to actually look at my targets, I would have realized that my mash complete was really not complete. Thinking my pre boil gravity was supposed to be 1.030, when I saw 1.033 I shut down the mash, drained the bag, collected my sample and started the boil. Only when I recorded the brew step and saw the low conversion rate did I realize I was 3 points low, not 3 points high. Oh well, I just need more practice, and I have grains and hops and yeast for another batch of my dry hopped IPA - just kicked the keg on the last batch of that beer. More rain is in our forecast, and rainy days make good brew days.