What are you doing with homebrew today?

[Sunfire96]

Was going to brew up my holiday beer, but I looked at the calendar and realized Thanksgiving is in 2.5 weeks! So I'm going to brew my brown ale instead with the syrup boil down technique from the Q4 brew. The goal is a clone/taste-alike of Lost Coast's Downtown Brown. I've got the yeast starter going, will hopefully pitch tomorrow. And I'll be transferring the cold IPA to a keg and I can't wait to taste it!

 

[Josh Hughes]

My plan is to keg my Dunkel. Probably leave it at room temp a few days though in the keg before I put it in my refrigerator to lager.

I will also transfer some of my Bitter to a smaller keg to make dispensing easier. We are still in the upper 60s to low 70s so my garage isn’t ready for serving temps until this weekend.

This weekend temps finally hit lager fermentation temperatures and will stay there for a bit. So it will be perfect for my next brew, Munich Lagerbier 1870 per a book recipe.

 

[jmcnamara]

Just bottled the brown. I used some jaggery for the priming sugar, hopefully that will impart some new flavors

 

[Box of Rocks]

Drying out the multi-purpose insulated box and contemplating enhancements. Pondering bigger cleanup of fermenting space / storage. Too much thinking and not action, maybe. Let me think about that.

 

[Ward Chillington]

Just bottled the brown. I used some jaggery for the priming sugar, hopefully that will impart some new flavors

Jaggery? Interesting...did you do a control with some plain old table sugar?

 

[Tim Bulin]

Going over the numbers from yesterday's brew, will make need to do something different next time I do this one. At around 40% corn(grits), think I should have done a cereal mash and(or?) used 6-row instead of pilsner malt. Conversion was down pretty noticeably, even with a 90 minute mash. Pretty sure it will still be beer and the airlock is bubbling happily, so I'll call it an overall win.

 

[jmcnamara]

Jaggery? Interesting...did you do a control with some plain old table sugar?

I did some cursory googling and it seems it's close enough to table sugar points wise. I only calculated for 2 volumes, so not expecting any bombs

 

[Herm brews]

I just made some minor changes to my Smooth Stout recipe, switching base grain to Rahr Pale Ale Malt, changing the water to reflect my new source, updating hops AA units to reflect what I have on hand, and changing the yeast to US-05. I was hoping to brew tomorrow, but the city will have our water turned off to complete the switch to our new water main. So I’ll brew when I can this week.

 

[Josh Hughes]

Bitter is transferred. Still debating on the dunkel. Won’t hurt to leave it.

 

[RoadRoach]

Going over the numbers from yesterday's brew, will make need to do something different next time I do this one. At around 40% corn(grits), think I should have done a cereal mash and(or?) used 6-row instead of pilsner malt. Conversion was down pretty noticeably, even with a 90 minute mash. Pretty sure it will still be beer and the airlock is bubbling happily, so I'll call it an overall win.

Wow, 40% corn? Sounds like it’s gonna be Beerskey more than beer. Just need some oak barrel conditioning. The 6-row might have helped with the corn conversion. That’s what it’s supposed to be good for.

 

[RoadRoach]

I did some cursory googling and it seems it's close enough to table sugar points wise. I only calculated for 2 volumes, so not expecting any bombs

And here I thought jaggery meant something like finagling.

 

[MaxStout]

Just bottled the brown. I used some jaggery for the priming sugar, hopefully that will impart some new flavors

I'm very curious to hear how jaggery works for you for priming, and if you get some unique flavors from it.

I bought some to brew a tropical stout (Lion Stout clone) this winter. Got 2 lbs. on Amazon, so more than I need for the stout. I haven't used any yet. My understanding is jaggery is made from cane juice plus some palm sugar. I think it's close to table sugar, points-wise, similar to turbinado/demerara. I read somewhere 44 points/lb./gallon. I think the color is around 10 SRM.

I just got a couple pounds of dark muscovado from Amazon, a pound of which will go into a dubbel next month. I'm interested in experimenting with different sugars.

 

[Josh Hughes]

Dunkel transferred, let the laggering begin

 

[Brewdomestix]

Bottled 5 gallons of French Malbec.

Then tested my first ever mini-keg (Norfolk Golden Ale) which has turned out great even though it is only 7 weeks old. Had two from that batch so will compare what they are like in a few months or so. Just have to see how my carbonation lasts compared to the stuff that came with the kegs (4-5 days). This makes up some way for my plastic disasters earlier this year.

 

[Josh Hughes]

Explain this Norfolk golden ale awesome avatar @CelticTwilight

 

[Brewdomestix]

Explain this Norfolk golden ale awesome avatar @CelticTwilight

Thanking you kindly sir.

I aren't yet versed in full descriptions but will have a go. Bure Gold (4.3% ABV) from Woodforde's brewery in Norfolk, England. They do a range of extract kits (produced for them by Muntons) based on the recipes of beers they sell commercially. You can chuck the whole lot in or just do half as they are split into two tins with two packs of yeast - no sugar to add (as the malt is already done - lazy to a purist I know) although I am sure you could add some of your own if you so wished. Some as with this one have hop pellets to add around day 4. I have tried a few of their range and the kits are virtually the same end product - it is the carbonation of the kits which I prefer. I watered this and it came to 3.5% ABV. I like having something lighter to go to now and again. I don't have means to upload photos and am also partially colour blind (which provides its fun moments) but would say this is a lighter golden colour with a pale and consistent straw head. Not bitter at all so that is a first for me for a hoppy beer although I only put about half the hops in. It is slightly floral, the original commercial version being more complex. It did strike me that the two tins may contain different extracts but nothing stated to indicate such. I imagine it would make a great session ale. I will make it stronger next time to compare results as I did a second keg from the same batch.

 

[Josh Hughes]

Sounds cool. Nothing wrong with extract or extract kits etc. hell if I could get some of those types of things here I’d be fermenting them!

 

[Brewdomestix]

Yeah it is great for me and my small space. Forgot to add that it is chilled as I did it in a mini-keg. Not sure if they work at normal room temp but I leave em out for at least 10 minutes or so as they were just too cold straight from the fridge - plus winter is just starting here.

 

[MaxStout]

Sounds like a delicious beer. I might have to read up on the style and work up an AG version.

Edit: just found a kit for Bure Gold. Kind of light on details, but maybe we can read between the lines here. They mention notes of "passionfruit and orange" and American and Slovenian hops. Maybe some fruity/citrusy US hop (Galaxy and/or Citra?) and Styrian Gold?

"Pale and lightly roasted malts." So UK pale malt and perhaps something to give nice biscuity notes.

Looks like a local spin on a bitter. Love to know what else sets it apart.

I have a bunch of Maris Otter, just looking for a place to go.

 

[Tim Bulin]

Well snatched defeat from the jaws of victory once again today. Local(ish) comp has a special "Stein" award for best Czech or German style beer, had a keg of one of the best batches of Shady Boh I've made on tap...so sanitize bottles my PITA counter pressure filler...and blow the keg before I get a single bottle filled...