I brewed today!

Nice. Was the fermenter submerged in the ice water? I'm just doing ice packs inside the insulated bag. I thought the temp differential would be higher in a closed bag, but I wonder if submerging the whole carboy in an icebath would be better.
 
Sunfire96 said:
Nice. Was the fermenter submerged in the ice water? I'm just doing ice packs inside the insulated bag. I thought the temp differential would be higher in a closed bag, but I wonder if submerging the whole carboy in an icebath would be better.
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Yes, as much as I could get it in...about 3/4of it.....It's about surface area, more of it in the cool water will cool the rest. Granted, you are working with a 1 gallon jug and I was dealing with a 5 gallon carboy so your results will happen faster due to less mass that you are dealing with....IOW...putting the 1 gallon jug in a 10 gallon cooler with half the jug in the cold water will stay cool longer than putting that same gallon in a lunch box size cooler the same way an ice cube will melt faster than a big block of ice in the same temp.
 
Brewed another NEIPA today.
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I brewed today, and it was a weird brew day. First thing, like most brew days, I started by making a breakfast “mash” of oatmeal. After cleaning up, I began my brew day to make another batch of my IPA recipe that I first brewed in July. Although the recipe was the same, Brewer’s Friend brew steps actually called for 0.2 quarts more mash water this time around. When I began mashing in my grains, the grain bag disconnected from the lip of the brew kettle, spilling some of the grain outside of the bag - some cursing ensued, before I secured the bag around the kettle rim. After the mash, I strained all of the wort to remove about a half cup of wayward grain. My pre-boil volume was spot on, but pre-boil gravity was 7 points below projection. A good boil got me to the right post boil volume, but OG ended up 6 points below projection. In the middle of the boil, I had a sudden invasion of ants in the house, literally crawling out of electrical outlets and floor joints, dropping down from the ceiling - I hate ant invasions. So my brew day was a bit of an adventure, but there will be beer in a few weeks.
 
Not to hijack this thread, but not to long ago I finished a four month battle with an ant invasion. We have a problem with Argentine ants down south. Luckily, they mostly live in the walls and only send their scouts out. Patience is the key with these little bastards. You have to continuously bait them as Arg. ants have multiple queens and sprays don’t work. Some die and it just pisses off the rest. Now, back to brewing!
 
Argentine ants are always an issue here in Southern California. Around this time of year, they tend to move from their outside underground homes, to inside our homes. I try to control them outside (I don’t use pesticides!) by drawing them away from the house with sugar water. When they come to the house, I spray them liberally with Simple Green - kills them dead instantly, but they just keep coming. Today, in the middle of my brew session, they had me quite discombobulated.
And I successfully completed my brew day, so yes, back to brewing.
 
Not to string this out, but I make a solution of 1 1/2 tablespoons boric acid, 1/2 cup sugar and 1 1/2 cups warm water. I find out where they are coming in from outside and pour some solution in a very shallow container like a jar top and also spill some over the side. They take it back to their nests and after awhile - RIP. Like I mentioned, it took a couple of months. But, you can see the population dwindle fairly quickly. In that proportion, the solution should not be poisonous to animals.
 
Semper Sitientem said:
Not to hijack this thread, but not to long ago I finished a four month battle with an ant invasion. We have a problem with Argentine ants down south. Luckily, they mostly live in the walls and only send their scouts out. Patience is the key with these little bastards. You have to continuously bait them as Arg. ants have multiple queens and sprays don’t work. Some die and it just pisses off the rest. Now, back to brewing!
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Hot tip of the Year!
I'm in Florida and ants are a problem here also.
I fought these little bastards for a year and then I found Terro Liquid Ant Baits.
I guess they moved to Miami 'cause I ain't seen them since.
Word to the wise. It takes about three days to work, but then your ant problem is gone!
 
We've got about every type of ant you can think of here in the high desert. They usually prefer to stay outdoors, but it was different this Summer, possibly due to it being hotter than normal.
The wife has a )&$)_)*^%^_ING cat. I'd shoot the damn thing, but can't afford a divorce at this stage of life. She move the cat's food and water into the dining area, just a few feet from the back door a couple of months ago. (don't ask me why) Found a trail of little black ants from the back door to the feeder. She dumped the food and water, refilled and moved them back to their normal spot on the window seat in our master bedroom. I sprayed the area down and the problem solved. We'll be in this house for 18 years tomorrow and this was the first time I've seen any inside, other than the stray we tracked in.
I can remember my mom fighting the damn things nonstop when we lived on the farm, so feel sorry for anyone with ant problems,
 
I brewed up a batch of Herm’s 3 C’s IPA.
Recently, @thunderwagn posted a grainbill for Bell’s Two Hearted Ale, so I put that to use, scaled down to fit my process. I bittered with Chinook 11.2% AA, added Centennial 9.3% AA at 15 minutes, added Cascade 6% AA at 5 minutes, then dropped in equal amounts of all three at flameout. I let the hops bag hangin the wort for 20 minutes after flameout. When the temperature was cool enough, I poured in a slurry from my recent brew of Herm’s Amber Ale, which originally used US-05. My numbers came in low (again), but it looks and smells good. We’ll see what we get in a few weeks.
 
Herm_brews said:
I brewed up a batch of Herm’s 3 C’s IPA.
Recently, @thunderwagn posted a grainbill for Bell’s Two Hearted Ale, so I put that to use, scaled down to fit my process. I bittered with Chinook 11.2% AA, added Centennial 9.3% AA at 15 minutes, added Cascade 6% AA at 5 minutes, then dropped in equal amounts of all three at flameout. I let the hops bag hangin the wort for 20 minutes after flameout. When the temperature was cool enough, I poured in a slurry from my recent brew of Herm’s Amber Ale, which originally used US-05. My numbers came in low (again), but it looks and smells good. We’ll see what we get in a few weeks.
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I bet that will be tasty!
 
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