What are you doing with homebrew today?
- Thread starter BOB357
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The only thing I see is an empty bottle of Maker’s Mark, mister.
My wife enjoys a glass now and then, it just so happens she finished the bottle last night. She is on a vanilla extract kick right now, so she bought that bottle for multiple purposes. Maybe a year from now I might be trying my hand at making a vanilla infused stout?The only thing I see is an empty bottle of Maker’s Mark, mister.
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I have had yeasts take their own sweet time (usually when fermenting below yeast's happy temp range) but, don't know I've had an active kreuzen at 10 days. But, I've not brewed with Belgian yeasts either, so they may behave differently. Just tell the yeast to hurry it up because you have a schedule to keep!
Water on to boil for Rapier Wit. Easy brew, quick to restock the shelves with drinkable home brew to avoid the BMC boredom. The missus gave me my Xmas Eve present. Two of 'em. Bottle of Jameson w/Coffee, and a bottle of Clyde May's Alabama Style bourbon. Got some good sippin juice now!
You like Oatmeal stout? I've got a recipe on here for Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout with Cacao nibs added to bump up the chocolate flavor and blend with the coffee flavor from the Crystal 60. Makes a VERY nice cappucino flavored beer. From what I hear, a touch of vanilla added to that makes it even better. If you like it more bitter (like Guiness) I guess you could double up on the bittering hops. It's a partial grain, very quick to brew. Boil is only 30 minutes. I might try the vanilla on the next brew. Already have the ingredients on hand and may brew it up on NYE. Trying to restock my reserves after giving my son a couple sixes of Workie Ticket for Xmas. He won't wanna be late for the party, LOL.
I would not know what to do with a partial grain recipe, as all I’ve ever brewed since my first batch is all grain. A stupid mantra of mine is work harder, not smarter. When I’m ready to brew a stout, I’ll look into a Samuel Smith homage - I do like that beer, a classic.
Added the spunding valve to the kolsch around 5 psi and the West Coast IPA that I brewed yesterday is already at 1.016 I'll dry hop it when we get back in town next week
I'll dry hop it when we get back in town next week
I've had one Belgian yeast make the krausen blow out, but that was probably my fault for overfilling the fermenter. Not a bad blowout, not even enough to run off the lid of the fermenter, but enough to make a thick gelatinous goo about a half inch thick on top of it. My one and only blow-out in at least 30 batches so far. My last batch was exactly the opposite. I think I'm way underpitched on it because it took nearly 4 days before any activity started. Only time will tell. Should be bottling it next week.I have had yeasts take their own sweet time (usually when fermenting below yeast's happy temp range) but, don't know I've had an active kreuzen at 10 days. But, I've not brewed with Belgian yeasts either, so they may behave differently. Just tell the yeast to hurry it up because you have a schedule to keep!
Start time 14:38, finish at 16:38, including cleanup. That's a quick brew.
Funny you say that. I converted it for all-grain today. Completely forgot I'd done that until you said "all grain". Only one substitution, the grain malt for the LME. I still selected Pils, you can pick your favorite brand. You might tweak it a little to raise the ABV or the bitters, but take care not to cover up it's objective, the oatmeal and coffee and chocolate flavors. Alcohol will hide coffee flavors pretty quickly. Strong hops will hide the chocolate. Vanilla SHOULD enhance the chocolate, though, if I can believer the things I've been reading. There's always that dread of the batch that turns out to be pig swill.
Glad I'm better at making beer than I am at walking tightropes. Gives me a good reason to stay off 'em.I'm going to agree that some of my all-grain batches have probably been far better than their extract look-alikes, but I also have to admit I've had the opposite results, too. My distributor is also a beer judge and tells me I'm wasting time with all-grain brewing but will happily sell all-grain to me if I tell him that's what I want. We have LOTS of 'discussions' about what I think I want to do. I'm firmly convinced I can't duplicate anything I do, no matter how well I document it, so why not try it a different way to see if I like it better? The partial extract method seems to get me close to the best of both worlds and is a lot less messy and time consuming than all-grain for the base malt. .The Rapier Wit I did today was 2 hours, start to finish. Hard to argue with the time cost when I've done the all-grain version and not found a noticable difference, The steep and sparge still take about the same amount of time for the flavors, but that's in a bag that can be snatched outta the strike that I just add the base malts and hops to in sequency. Then I drop the flavor grains in a colander, then pour sparge water over it. No mash tun needed, no hoses, no extra buckets. I take the bag out to the compost pile and feed the earthworms because there's not enough nutritional value in it to feed birds with. They fill up and still starve to death. According to bird people and some beer people. Armadillos love rooting around in it, for sure. Keeping the grist and the hops separated in muslin bags lets me easily separate the dog poison (hops) into the trash and away from neighbor's dogs. Since no hops ever actually touch the specialty grains, I don't worry about someone's dog ignoring leash laws and digging around in my compost pile (despite not ever putting any animal byproducts in it). NO dead dogs yet either.
I still do all-grain batches to see if I'm screwing up a good recipe with extracts. Typically, though, the only real problem I tend to notice is some darker coloration. I ain't making beer to win awards, other than the happy dance it makes my tongue do, so what do I care if it's a little too dark to win a contest?
not 10 days but after 4 it’s super thick still. Hit estimated FG so we’ll see. Last time it was still thick after 7-8 days.
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I am having trouble with the Foundry. Third brew and it the base is coming lose. also it took over an hour to hit mash temp.
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I have the 10.5 set to 240 volt, I also have a few gadgets like a steam condenser and pump with a ball valve that helps a bunch, the real issue I have is seeing water amounts, a site glass is really needed, and the temperature reading is erratic with out recirculation so cooling temps are wrong so don't rely on that
That’s always a shame when your technology fails to live up to its promise.
For the time being, I’m sticking with the tried and true, my 5.5 gallon SS Brewtech kettle, doing full volume single vessel BIAB batches.
In fact, grains are mashing now for my final batch of the year, HAPA II.
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I also use the 10.5 Anvil on 240, works great for me. I had troubles with the temps while cooling and added a line to keep the temp probe clear for better temp readings.
https://www.brewersfriend.com/forum...ile-for-anvil-foundry-10-5.15218/#post-151197
https://www.brewersfriend.com/forum...ile-for-anvil-foundry-10-5.15218/#post-151197
Monitoring fermentation on the IPA and the kolsch. The IPA is done, but I'm going to try cold dry hopping this time, so it's just hanging out for a while longer until the kolsch is done. The kolsch has been under 5 psi at 65' F for a few days now. I'll take a sample after 7 days to see where fermentation is at cheers!
cheers!
Going to go ahead and brew one more time in 2021, so planning a little. I’m also watching the Krausen hang around on my Yorkshire bitter.
