What's your next brew

Craigerrr said:
For me it is not so much "what" is my next brew, more "when" is my next brew. With weekends at the trailer, or weddings to go to, I don't think that I will have a chance to brew again until fall. Unless I do a midweek evening brew. Not sure I have the motivation to do that...
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Hear ya on that. My last brew was planned for 3 Fridays in a row before it got done, lol
 
The wife might let me do it a week from Saturday, She was asking if I was going to the HB store this weekend. That is a good sign:)
Going to click that non-fermentable button again with the flaked corn per the discussion on the other thread and continue the experiment.
Now that Josh and others have introduced me to 34/70, and I have found a way to pitch it at a good temperature thanks to some online engineering calculators, I am going to be playing with a couple of different things coming up.
 
Josh Hughes said:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1070922/munich-dunkel-
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1340954/holschuh-dunkel-5
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1271611/dunkel-5-gallon
These are the last few iterations I’ve brewed.
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I’m trying to read on my puny little Iphone 7 screen without my readers, so nearly went blind going over all the details of the first recipe. That reply is getting a bookmark so I can look at it on the pc.

That’s an awesome looking beer. Can I assume the big drop in the fermentation temperature is where the yeast‘finished’ and you switched to lagering? Did you hold the temperature up during the heaviest fermentation or just wrap it and let ‘er rip? Do you normally ferment these under pressure (spunding) or just vented? Any significant improvement in quality with vented versus spunding? I can see the benefits of spunding by making sure no critters can get in the batch, but I’m more curious if you’ve noticed a “huge” change in flavor/quality. My FF7.9 does a pretty good job, but it’s only marginally better than bucket fermentation. It lets me do a pseudo secondary fermentation by removing some of the trub, but I’m sort of the opinion that if anything in the trub was gonna hurt the beer, I’m not gonna stop it after it settles. Maybe a little more clarity in the final product, but any flocculant will do the same.

Some of your brews give me a goal to keep striving for. I’m gonna be a bit of a pest until I can replicate some of your stuff. We seem to have similar taste in beer, and I need to learn from someone that has all his stuff in one sock. Maybe a road trip one day to swap samples if I make something worthy.
 
Zambezi Special said:
I work from home ;)
That definitely helps with the brewing
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Me too. I never knew retirement would make me work so hard, but the good part is I’m working for ME on MY schedule.

Spring and autumn bite into brewing time, because we can open windows and doors without impacting the power bill, meaning time for indoor activities, and outdoor stuff can be done without melting or freezing. I have to plan brewing a little more carefully then, but if I keep renovations going, the missus doesn’t mind a little more expensive beer tab at the grocery store. Store bought brews are my reward for keeping the honey-do list shorter.
 
RoadRoach said:
I’m trying to read on my puny little Iphone 7 screen without my readers, so nearly went blind going over all the details of the first recipe. That reply is getting a bookmark so I can look at it on the pc.

That’s an awesome looking beer. Can I assume the big drop in the fermentation temperature is where the yeast‘finished’ and you switched to lagering? Did you hold the temperature up during the heaviest fermentation or just wrap it and let ‘er rip? Do you normally ferment these under pressure (spunding) or just vented? Any significant improvement in quality with vented versus spunding? I can see the benefits of spunding by making sure no critters can get in the batch, but I’m more curious if you’ve noticed a “huge” change in flavor/quality. My FF7.9 does a pretty good job, but it’s only marginally better than bucket fermentation. It lets me do a pseudo secondary fermentation by removing some of the trub, but I’m sort of the opinion that if anything in the trub was gonna hurt the beer, I’m not gonna stop it after it settles. Maybe a little more clarity in the final product, but any flocculant will do the same.

Some of your brews give me a goal to keep striving for. I’m gonna be a bit of a pest until I can replicate some of your stuff. We seem to have similar taste in beer, and I need to learn from someone that has all his stuff in one sock. Maybe a road trip one day to swap samples if I make something worthy.
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I'm going to do a couple of 34/70 beers coming up. The first one worked really well. Lagers have their own schedule. Pitch around 62, ferment at 55, when krausen drops, do your D-rest around 62 for 3 days, then drop temps 5 degrees at a time until you get into the low 50s. Let if finish in the low 50s, keg, crash into the 30s.If you let temps drop too fast, your sanitizer gets sucked back through the airlock, thus 5 degrees at a time.
My way to pitch that low with Florida water is to put 5 gallons of wort in a 48-degree refrigerator for 3 hours. Go out, drink a couple of beers, return, pitch.
 
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Sandy Feet said:
I'm going to do a couple of 34/70 beers coming up. The first one worked really well. Lagers have their own schedule. Pitch around 62, ferment at 55, when krausen drops, do your D-rest around 62 for 3 days, then drop temps 5 degrees at a time until you get into the low 50s. Let if finish in the low 50s, keg, crash into the 30s.If you let temps drop too fast, your sanitizer gets sucked back through the airlock, thus 5 degrees at a time.
My way to pitch that low with Florida water is to put 5 gallons of wort in a 48-degree refrigerator for 3 hours. Go out, drink a couple of beers, return, pitch.
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You can fix the suck back with a balloon
 
RoadRoach said:
I’m trying to read on my puny little Iphone 7 screen without my readers, so nearly went blind going over all the details of the first recipe. That reply is getting a bookmark so I can look at it on the pc.

That’s an awesome looking beer. Can I assume the big drop in the fermentation temperature is where the yeast‘finished’ and you switched to lagering? Did you hold the temperature up during the heaviest fermentation or just wrap it and let ‘er rip? Do you normally ferment these under pressure (spunding) or just vented? Any significant improvement in quality with vented versus spunding? I can see the benefits of spunding by making sure no critters can get in the batch, but I’m more curious if you’ve noticed a “huge” change in flavor/quality. My FF7.9 does a pretty good job, but it’s only marginally better than bucket fermentation. It lets me do a pseudo secondary fermentation by removing some of the trub, but I’m sort of the opinion that if anything in the trub was gonna hurt the beer, I’m not gonna stop it after it settles. Maybe a little more clarity in the final product, but any flocculant will do the same.

Some of your brews give me a goal to keep striving for. I’m gonna be a bit of a pest until I can replicate some of your stuff. We seem to have similar taste in beer, and I need to learn from someone that has all his stuff in one sock. Maybe a road trip one day to swap samples if I make something worthy.
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I spund every beer. I guess every lager of mine will be under some pressure whether I’m fermenting cold or hot. In winter I’ll use my garage since it will be a good temp to ferment cold. Rest of the time I ferment warm under pressure. If the temp data is below 50 then I left the tilt in the keg while it either crashed or lagering.

if I’m fermenting an ale I leave the sounding valve open or use an air lock until yeast is 50 attenuated. I don’t want to suppress esters on those.

one I hit 50% I let it rip no matter what I’m fermenting
 
Josh Hughes said:
I spund every beer. I guess every lager of mine will be under some pressure whether I’m fermenting cold or hot. In winter I’ll use my garage since it will be a good temp to ferment cold. Rest of the time I ferment warm under pressure. If the temp data is below 50 then I left the tilt in the keg while it either crashed or lagering.

if I’m fermenting an ale I leave the sounding valve open or use an air lock until yeast is 50 attenuated. I don’t want to suppress esters on those.

one I hit 50% I let it rip no matter what I’m fermenting
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A million ways to do things and get good results:) Mine fermented fairly quickly for a lager as I pitched the living hell out of it.
This beer will be a little more expensive to buy with the additional darker malts, but I am going to use the same technique as the Pre-Pro Lager. The last Saison experiment worked with blueberries. I hope this experiment works as well.
 
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Next up is my once-a-year Farmhouse/Saison, mashed with a couple of cut-up Lemons. I'll open-ferment* for a few days, then set the airlock and warm it up to the mid 70's or so.

*Not a true "open fermentation", just the blow-off allowed to drain freely into a sink. I'd love to just put a piece of foil over the lid, but I don't have enough head space in the Speidel. That would be a mess. :eek:
 
Sandy Feet said:
A million ways to do things and get good results:) Mine fermented fairly quickly for a lager as I pitched the living hell out of it.
This beer will be a little more expensive to buy with the additional darker malts, but I am going to use the same technique as the Pre-Pro Lager. The last Saison experiment worked with blueberries. I hope this experiment works as well.
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Oh yeah all kinds of different ways. Hell my ways change based on the time of year due to ground water and if I can get a room cool enough.
 
Megary said:
Next up is my once-a-year Farmhouse/Saison, mashed with a couple of cut-up Lemons. I'll open-ferment* for a few days, then set the airlock and warm it up to the mid 70's or so.

*Not a true "open fermentation", just the blow-off allowed to drain freely into a sink. I'd love to just put a piece of foil over the lid, but I don't have enough head space in the Speidel. That would be a mess. :eek:
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Are you just using the skins, lemon zest, or all of it? This interests the hell out of me as I have a lemon tree in the back yard. I have toyed with the idea, but I haven't tried any more than just a little zest. The problem is that I don't get fruit until the fall. If were early October, it would still be hot enough to do a Saison. Later, I couldn't hold in the 80s as much as I would like.
 
Sandy Feet said:
Are you just using the skins, lemon zest, or all of it? This interests the hell out of me as I have a lemon tree in the back yard. I have toyed with the idea, but I haven't tried any more than just a little zest. The problem is that I don't get fruit until the fall. If were early October, it would still be hot enough to do a Saison. Later, I couldn't hold in the 80s as much as I would like.
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Yep, the whole lemon. I quarter the lemons (usually just 2 for my size batch) and let them ride it out with the grains in the mash, then remove. I know, I know...I'm supposed to do this and then that to the lemons first, but I don't. I'm also supposed to check what the lemon juice is doing to my mash pH, but I don't do that either. Go ahead, judge. :)

I got the idea from John Rowley of Rowley Farmhouse Ales. I heard him on a podcast somewhere (Brewing Network??) and thought it was a great idea. I don't get a ton of lemon flavor doing it this way, but some definitely makes it through to the end.

Here's an old post...
https://www.brewersfriend.com/forum...-drinking-right-now.2751/page-232#post-111581
 
Nice! Are you going French or Belgian yeast?
 
Sandy Feet said:
Nice! Are you going French or Belgian yeast?
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Lallemand Farmhouse, similar to Belle, non-diastatic. Doesn't ferment quite as complete/dry as Belle, so I'll add a bit of sugar this time.

Used it once before and really liked it. Hard to describe. but I felt the Saison flavors were a bit more organic, not quite as mechanical as Belle/3711.
 
Megary said:
Yep, the whole lemon. I quarter the lemons (usually just 2 for my size batch) and let them ride it out with the grains in the mash, then remove. I know, I know...I'm supposed to do this and then that to the lemons first, but I don't. I'm also supposed to check what the lemon juice is doing to my mash pH, but I don't do that either. Go ahead, judge. :)

I got the idea from John Rowley of Rowley Farmhouse Ales. I heard him on a podcast somewhere (Brewing Network??) and thought it was a great idea. I don't get a ton of lemon flavor doing it this way, but some definitely makes it through to the end.

Here's an old post...
https://www.brewersfriend.com/forum...-drinking-right-now.2751/page-232#post-111581
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I do the zest of a whole orange in a Blue Moon Belgian wheat knockoff with an ABV below 5.0. I use a carrot peeler to take off the zest, and drop it in the bag with crushed corriander for the aroma/flavor stage. I don't bother with all the sanitizing/washing/sterilizing of the orange because I'm going to subject it to a minimum of 15 minutes of boiling wort. Pretty sure nothing's gonna live through boiling and ruin a beer. Hasn't yet. Sometimes, I use a mix of a lemon and the orange just to get that extra little citrus boost. Makes for a nice back-porch sippin' beer in the summer.
 
Megary said:
Lallemand Farmhouse, similar to Belle, non-diastatic. Doesn't ferment quite as complete/dry as Belle, so I'll add a bit of sugar this time.

Used it once before and really liked it. Hard to describe. but I felt the Saison flavors were a bit more organic, not quite as mechanical as Belle/3711.
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My experience has been limited to the Wyeast French - it ate everything and the White Labs Belgian which ate a lot, but not everything. At some point in time, I think doing the French yeast with lemon in a Grisette would be awesome.
 
I reworked my Azacca Wheat recipe, increasing the wheat, adding some Pilsner at the expense of some 2-row, and increasing the honey malt. This recipe lost Azacca hops altogether, in favor of Mandarina Bavaria - I’m going after an aroma and flavor of tangerine without the hassle of zesting.
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/edit/1402898
 
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