What are you doing with homebrew today?

Herm brews said:
I’m going to KLCC Brewfest 2023 tonight. There will be over 200 craft beers to sample, live music, swag, and who knows what else. Hoping to see some good brewing demos, and rub elbows with some great brewers.
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Enjoy sounds like a great time exploring other craft beers and hopefully schooling up on the latest trends and information in regards to homebrewing
 
Well the beer and music were good. We saw some friends from around town, and got to sample something that wasn’t on the official menu. However, I came away just a little disappointed, as there wasn’t anything “homebrew” with the exception of the homebrew competition. The manager of the lhbs (Home Fermenter) was present, and actually an award winner in that competition. He invited me to sample some of that award winning beer the next time I’m in the shop:cool:
 
Zambezi Special said:
I'm just wondering if you are going to sample all of those beers :p
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Samples were poured in little glasses with a 3 ounce marking, but were generally overfilled by a little bit. My wife and I both tasted 8 samples, so not even close to everything available. She had an excellent Belgian Dubbel, and some ciders. I liked a couple stouts, and one IPA in particular.
 
Now, I’m gearing up to brew my Smooth Stout. Yesterday I spun up a starter using slurry from the previous batch of stout. While the grains mash, I am going to make some syrup from some leftover wort from that last batch, then add that syrup to the boil to give today’s wort a little bump. I’ll find out how much of a bump when I make OG measurements.
 
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Mash is done, bag is drained and kettle is on its way to boiling. In the foreground, my leftover wort from previous batch is slowly boiling down to a syrup, and it sure tastes good. So far, I am hitting my numbers.
 
Herm brews said:
View attachment 24183 Mash is done, bag is drained and kettle is on its way to boiling. In the foreground, my leftover wort from previous batch is slowly boiling down to a syrup, and it sure tastes good. So far, I am hitting my numbers.
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What you just keep that wort in the fridge till brew day today herm?

Bit of downtowncharlie @jmcnamara inspiration there maybe? :)
 
Trialben said:
What you just keep that wort in the fridge till brew day today herm?

Bit of downtowncharlie @jmcnamara inspiration there maybe? :)
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No, I froze that leftover wort (about 24 ounces, or 3 cups), then brought it out today and boiled it down to syrup. Let me tell you, that syrup was delish! It would be awesome on vanilla ice cream.
 
Checked the gravity on the Bunyip, and tasted the sample.
Gravity was 1008, tasted real thin, real low ABV.
I have a feeling that I mis-measured the DME and OG on brew day.
Oh well, it tastes nice, might just have to call this Bunny instead of Bunyip as it is not scary at all!
The important thing is that I MADE BEER for the first time since July of 2021, yay me!
 
Messing around with some recipes. This Friday brewing an Irish stout but upping the base malt a bit so instead of 1.038 Guinness draught style it will be more on the range of the Extra Stout. Of course served on gas the “draught” tastes more like the extra anyway.

after that I’ll stay in the British isles until mid summer with the exception of @Trialben quarterly brew. Everything will be lower abv. I’d like to have more to sip on this spring and summer and just brew more
 
Craigerrr said:
Checked the gravity on the Bunyip, and tasted the sample.
Gravity was 1008, tasted real thin, real low ABV.
I have a feeling that I mis-measured the DME and OG on brew day.
Oh well, it tastes nice, might just have to call this Bunny instead of Bunyip as it is not scary at all!
The important thing is that I MADE BEER for the first time since July of 2021, yay me!
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Awesome Stuff Craig.

Bit of carbonation will help hey;).
Hops can disguise alot of things but nothing can disguise that malt flavour:rolleyes:

I still poke my nose into my pilsner barley malt bag and just breath deeply on those good old malt aromas :p.
Reminiscent of the good old days lol!
 
Josh Hughes said:
Messing around with some recipes. This Friday brewing an Irish stout but upping the base malt a bit so instead of 1.038 Guinness draught style it will be more on the range of the Extra Stout. Of course served on gas the “draught” tastes more like the extra anyway.

after that I’ll stay in the British isles until mid summer with the exception of @Trialben quarterly brew. Everything will be lower abv. I’d like to have more to sip on this spring and summer and just brew more
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My luck has not been in with kegging stout so just bottling it for the time being (it was the kegs not the beer).

Most recent stout; I only tweaked the standard malt from 1.25 pounds up to 1.5 pounds; kept the extra dark at 1 pound (2.5 lbs total). Because I had loads of them saved through using Munton's Gold in other all malt brews - didn't like the brew the one time I tried that yeast in stout although it has been great in everything else so far - I doubled the basic yeast that comes with these extract kits from one to two full packs for virtually the same 3.5 gallon size brew.

OG shifted from 1.042 to 1.054. ABV shifted from 4.07 to 5.25% before priming but it fermented two days quicker.

Taste on this latest stout is fine to me, not noticeably affected by the extra yeast although nobody else has tried it yet LOL. Sediment not shifting much at all when pouring. Definitely more like Guinness than Murphy's I have also gotten close to before. It is the head which is still thin out the bottle at 6 weeks. I really need to give this one a bit longer accordingly. Another five weeks comes to mind for some reason ;)
 
Spent some time in the brew room this weekend and tonight, I now have drawers and doors on the cabinets, added the pulls tonight. I also did some organizing to make the next brew day go more smoothly. I think I might just brew again this weekend!
 
Started my sweet cider. One gallon Reserve which I am planning to leave still; is separate in a demijohn with higher ratio of apple and dextrose like I did tail end of 2021. I got my numbers mixed up on just about everything today.:oops: The airlock on the dj was moving within an hour but is still going fairly slow (15-20 second intervals) several hours later. OG's: 1.045/1.050 respectively - slightly lower than expected on both counts.

First bottled up the last litre that was in the demijohn from previous and it didn't smell too great (a little vinegary). It isn't cloudy in the bottle though.
 
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