I didn’t measure the gravity but I wasn’t dry by any means.
What are you doing with homebrew today?
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OG on apple juice is 10.8 brix 1.043 I measured.
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Moved 2 bottles hazy cheapskate to the fridge. They are not representative though. 1 is half full, the other is full, but about half of that is sludge.
I'll try them after the weekend. Or maybe tomorrow evening
I'll try them after the weekend. Or maybe tomorrow evening
I measured my local farm produced cider at 1.042 using hydrometer, and 10.4*Brix/1.042 using refractometer. Looking back at previous batches, pure pasteurized juice from Whole Foods measured 1.055, while Martinelli’s came in at 1.053. So quite a difference between filtered, pasteurized juice purchased from a market vs unfiltered cider purchased from a farm
Lots of gravity variations in different store-bought apple juices. From my notes, last time I used the Aldi cider, OG was 1.047. I've also used the Walmart house brand, which was 1.052, and Mott's, at 1.048. Different varieties of apples, different levels of sweetness, apparently.
Kegged my first best bitter today. Twang flavor is long gone as the yeast dropped. Beer is clear. Now I just need to stay out of it for a month while it rests
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Yeah, tested today and mine is just below 12 brix
I was thinking about bottling today, but I haven't cold-crashed the batch yet, and my bottling partner will be in absentia at the granddaughter's birthday party. I love kids, but I hit my limit pretty quickly when there's 10-15 seven and unders running around screaming and creating general mayhem in an enclosed space like a house. A high school gymnasium isn't large enough for two of them, let alone 10.
Instead, I may just bump the temperature up another couple degrees to the upper limit for the yeast (S05) and then cold-crash it in a couple days to fine it a bit more. Looks pretty clear now. I'll probably bottle it and put on a stout immediately after, if not the same day. Stay tuned, same bat time, same bat channel ....
Instead, I may just bump the temperature up another couple degrees to the upper limit for the yeast (S05) and then cold-crash it in a couple days to fine it a bit more. Looks pretty clear now. I'll probably bottle it and put on a stout immediately after, if not the same day. Stay tuned, same bat time, same bat channel ....
Since I used a fresh packet of US-05 on this batch, I’m saving a jar of the slurry for a future batch. Now that I have an empty fermenter, it’s time to make some beer - PNW IPA up next, likely tomorrow, using the starter I spun up a few days ago.
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Got water ready and grain measured. Starter going as well, just in case. Getting started in the morning.
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That looks like lots of work. That is why I use bombers to bottle
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Not too much work at all, though I wouldn’t want to do that every week. It puts me in a good place, especially when the process goes as smooth as it did.That looks like lots of work. That is why I use bombers to bottle
About ready to chill the wort. I did a second decoction.
Cold crashed the Solstice Pale Ale yesterday, and kegged it up. A bit of chill haze there. I added some gelatin to help it drop some of that out but it tastes good. Force carbed it and it's resting at 12 psi now. Should be ready for service Wednesday. It's supposed to be around zero (-18c) for the outdoor gathering.
Awesome Josh will be interesting to here what you think of the beer.
I finished the new temp controller for the ferm chamber. Two Inkbird ITC-1000s. The first unit will monitor and control one fermenter. The second Inkbird will be passive only--just to monitor the temps in the second fermenter when I have two batches fermenting simultaneously. I have always wondered what's happening in fermenter 2, temp-wise. Now I can monitor.
I did a bench test, works ok. One thing I noticed is that the compressor delay function in the Inkbirds is a little flaky. Sometimes the delay works, sometimes it doesn't and the cooling cycle just kicks in right away. When the delay does run, the timing isn't always quite right. To test, I set the delay for one minute. Sometimes the chill cycle starts in about 30 seconds. Other times it switches on in 1 minute.
Kind of a moot point for me as I usually don't use the delay anyway, as I set +/- 1F for hysteresis and the freezer doesn't cycle that much anyway. But it was interesting to run the Inkbird through its paces. I'll calibrate the probes in some ice water before I put it to use.
After I'm done with the batch that's fermenting now and bottle, I'll swap out the old controller for the new one.
I did a bench test, works ok. One thing I noticed is that the compressor delay function in the Inkbirds is a little flaky. Sometimes the delay works, sometimes it doesn't and the cooling cycle just kicks in right away. When the delay does run, the timing isn't always quite right. To test, I set the delay for one minute. Sometimes the chill cycle starts in about 30 seconds. Other times it switches on in 1 minute.
Kind of a moot point for me as I usually don't use the delay anyway, as I set +/- 1F for hysteresis and the freezer doesn't cycle that much anyway. But it was interesting to run the Inkbird through its paces. I'll calibrate the probes in some ice water before I put it to use.
After I'm done with the batch that's fermenting now and bottle, I'll swap out the old controller for the new one.
I finalized the recipe to brew my PNW IPA tomorrow, settling on a hop bursting regimen. After a modest 60 minute addition of Magnum, the wort will get some Chinook at 15, a larger dose of Centennial at 10, a still larger amount of Cascade at 5, and finally equal amounts of Cascade, Centennial and Chinook at knockout. The hops (all bagged) will hang in the wort for 20 minutes, then be removed.
Tonight, I filled the kettle with my fine tap water, and treated with brewing salts, seeking to accentuate hop character. My roller mill is at the ready to crush a bag of grains in the morning, and the rest of my gear is arranged and ready. It seems a long time since I have brewed an IPA, and I’m looking forward to the task.
Time to drink a beer.
Tonight, I filled the kettle with my fine tap water, and treated with brewing salts, seeking to accentuate hop character. My roller mill is at the ready to crush a bag of grains in the morning, and the rest of my gear is arranged and ready. It seems a long time since I have brewed an IPA, and I’m looking forward to the task.
Time to drink a beer.
Monitoring. My wort got down to 47F overnight. If temp doesn’t raise and more yeast action occur I’ll have to bring it inside to warm up a bit.
