[jonKranked]

white ale still isn't quite fully carbonated, even though its been bottled for 4 weeks now. I think I left it in secondary a little too long.


Bottling my double ipa and my tripel this weekend (if my corker shows up in time).

Ordered next 3 batches of ingredients (which will show up with the corker):

-blueberry wheat (will brew this weekend if it arrives)
-barleywine
-dark belgian strong ale

blueberry wheat will be ready for an awesome late summer beer. belgian dark will make a good fall beer.

looking ahead to winter, i'm thinking a spiced ale, a winter warmer, and an oatmeal stout. considering doing something for fall as well once the blueberry is done.

 

[-BB-]

Right now I have the following:

British Dark Brown Ale - Bottled (5 two liter bottles worth)
Arnold's Bastard (Cali light brow ale) - 5g in secondary and 1 case left in bottles
Belgian Peachy wheat - 5g in Secondary
Belgian Wheat (same as above but w/o peaches) - Secondary

My wheat was a 10g batch that I split into two buckets. One had about 5lbs of organic home-grown peaches added to secondary for about a week.

My wheat batch was pretty simple...
10lbs wheat
11lbs american 2-row
1lb honey

2oz Centennial- 60min
2oz Centennial - 15min


OG 1.065
10g batch

 

[pnj]

Ugh. that wheat beer I did had an OG of 1.036... W.T.F!?

 

[pnj]

I'm doing two, one gallon/pound of grain tests today.

One with my regular crushed grain and one with grain I turned into flour w/ the coffee grinder. I got a new thermometer too, I think I've been mashing/doughing in way too high.

 

[jonKranked]

bottled two batches on sunday:

-Double IPA: can't remember FG off the top of my head, but it's 9.2% abv
-Tripel: again' can't remember FG, but was 8.6% abv


both smell and taste delicious, considering they were warm and flat.

brewed up a wheat beer last night, OG was 1.048. Gonna get turned into a blueberry wheat beer.

 

[pnj]

Did another wheat beer yesterday. I got 62% efficiency. yuck.

 

[BadDNA]

I always have a hard time with wheat, my OG never seems to be able to match the calculated numbers.

 

[pnj]

I have a hard time in general hitting my OG. I really need to figure out why my efficiency is so bad.

 

[jonKranked]

Brewed a barleywine yesterday. Og 1.086. Holy smokes is this fermenting fast. Woke up around 5 am because the cats were causing a ruckus. Checked the beer, blew out the airlock. Had to swap it out for a blow off tube.

 

[BikeGeek]

Did another wheat beer yesterday. I got 62% efficiency. yuck.

I always have a hard time with wheat, my OG never seems to be able to match the calculated numbers.

Are you guys doing a step mash? Wheat malts never seem to be as well modified as barley so they benefit from a protein rest.

 

[jonKranked]

Brewed a barleywine yesterday. Og 1.086. Holy smokes is this fermenting fast. Woke up around 5 am because the cats were causing a ruckus. Checked the beer, blew out the airlock. Had to swap it out for a blow off tube.

fermentation has finally calmed/slowed down some, and I have resumed using a normal airlock.

anyone else here ever brew a barleywine?

 

[pnj]

Are you guys doing a step mash? Wheat malts never seem to be as well modified as barley so they benefit from a protein rest.

I am not. but even with my 'normal' ales I get really bad efficiency. I am buying a grain mill so I can control the crush and I'm starting to add stuff to my water so I can start trying to get better eff.

 

[-BB-]

If I had a second bathtub i'd give that a shot to try, but I think showering with two carboys in the tub could get tricky.

The home depot tub with water sounds like a good idea, but I think just having a freezer thrown somewhere would look better than a tupperware tub full of water (not that I really care). I figure for around $100 I can have a freezer and controller, keep things exactly how I want it all the time and not have to mess with a bunch of water splashing around. We'll see what happens.

haha... splashing... there is no splashing involved. Though I HAVE been tempted to take a bath in beer before. Maybe even bring my little rubber ducky in there with me.

The freezer IS more precise. Don't get me wrong. But the tupperware is maybe 1/10 the price and uses no electricity.

 

[-BB-]

I always have a hard time with wheat, my OG never seems to be able to match the calculated numbers.

\
What temp did you mash at? I did my most recent one at 165 and got a great efficiency... well decent at least. About 78%...

Maybe the wheat has more of the enzymes that are active at higher temps?

Edit: Or this of course...

Are you guys doing a step mash? Wheat malts never seem to be as well modified as barley so they benefit from a protein rest.

 

[BikeGeek]

Though I HAVE been tempted to take a bath in beer before. Maybe even bring my little rubber ducky in there with me.

Does a shower count? Definitely overrated.

 

[pnj]

Just brewed up a Blonde.

9# 2 row
1.5 ounces of Amarillo
Nottingham.

I measured my water with a two cup measuring cup for accuracy. I must have had more boil off then normal. Ended up with just over 4 gallons and 1.049 as an OG.

that's about 60% efficiency. WTF!

 

[pnj]

Where are all the brewers?

Brewed up another blonde/pale yesterday. Pretty much the same recipe as above. I used different hops though.

I crushed the grain into almost flour and still only got 63% efficiency. Not real happy with that but I'll have to live w/ it. I ended up w/ an OG of 1.054

 

[DaveW]

I put down another IPA in the weekend, LOL in my bedroom I can still smell the hops in the boil that I put in the compost heap in the backyard.

 

[-BB-]

I was up in Mammoth over the weekend and we stopped in at Mammoth Brewing Co for a few tastings.

I was asking some questions in an attempt to determine how to copy a few of their brews. At one point the guy I was asking went and referred to a "sheet" so I asked if I could see it. I then started to copy down some stuff on their "double nut brown" and he said, "Would it be easier if I just photocopied this for you?"

HECK YEAH!!

The grain bills were easy enough. Obviously they din't have weights (since their batches are way bigger than mine), but they did have %'s. For the hops though, they had the name and the time, and an overall IBU caculation, but they didn't note it for each individual one, so I don't know the ratios of the various hops. Still, I'm sure I could get them pretty close.

 

[dhmike]

Sam Adams boston lager .

 

[-BB-]

Sam Adams boston lager .

you are drinking it? Or fermenting/brewing it.


This is the BREWING thread. I make the same mistake qu8ite often.

 

[-BB-]

So BREWERS...
Tell me this, what % of the beer you drink (at home) is yours?
I brewed up 3 10g batches back in May/late April and I haven't had to buy any beer since. Really helped out the wallet, that is for sure.

IMO, if I have some version of each of the following on hand at all times I have something so suit every mood:
-Dark Brown ale/porter (not too hoppy, lots of coffee/chocolate malty taste about 5.5%)
-California style micro-brew (not quite an IPA in bitterness, but more like um... like an Arrogant Bastard but slightly less hops and slightly lower ABV (about 6.5% - 7%)
-Wheat/heffe (I like mine slightly stronger than a typical one... more in the 6% range)

It would be nice to add a Belgain Saison to the mix though.

 

[Pesqueeb]

Oatmeal Stout.
Getting ready for winter, wanted to do an imperial but I waited too long.

 

[pnj]

I dont buy beer for the house unless i pick up something special.

Currently i have a dry hopped blonde, a stout, an amber, an american wheat in kegs.

Today i cooked up a porter ish style beer.

 

[BikeGeek]

Getting ready to keg a split temp. yeast trial I did for the boss. He wants a dubbel that's got some pepper in the yeast character for his wedding. I picked up some Wyeast 3538-PC Leuven Pale Ale Yeast and fermented half the batch at 62 and the rest at 75. Both temps fermented well. OG was 16.5P (1.068). 62 finished at 2P (~1.008) and 75 finished at 1.7P (~1.007). 62 smelled fruity/sweet and had nice peppery notes and some bubblegum in the flavor. 75 smelled peppery and the flavor was almost all pepper. Next up is a recipe trial with the same yeast. I'll see what he thinks, but I'm all for the cooler fermentation. I'm thinking of going kind of traditional with the recipe: European pale malt, some aromatic or melanoidin malt, and dark candy syrup in the boil. I'll let you know how it turns out.

 

[TN]

'bout to brew my first batch in long time.
Man, this summer has been schitzo. About to move AGAIN....for the 3rd time this summer. Damn I have spent a **** ton on beer during the last 3 months....fk...I have needed every last drop.

 

[TN]

brewed a hodge podge of grains & hops yesterday. gonna be good i think.
we will see in 3 weeks.

 

[Pesqueeb]

Bottled my stout this weekend. Color was WAY lighter than it should have been.

 

[pnj]

five gallons of pale ale was cooked up yesterday. I need to drill a 7/8th inch hole in my keg so I can start doing 10 gallon batches...

 

[pnj]

Turns out the yeast I used was bunk. I tried two other packets of the same yeast (notty) and both were junk as well. So I pitched some Windsor. It was bubbling away the next moring....

I don't have high hops for this beer.

On the other hand...

 

[pnj]

Cooked up another pale. Next time i brew ill be doing ten gallons...

 

[skyst3alth]

Turkey burner and 30qt pot shipped today from Amazon. Looking around for a chest freezer on CL next week once I get back from Boston. Time to start brewin' again (All Grain), ran out of my IPA and Pale Ales

 

[TN]

shopping for a beer fridge right now. waiting on that before i keg my latest brew. Need to dry hop it soon though cuz i hope to keg by the weekend.

 

[pnj]

well, didn't get my ten gallon kettle ready so I did 4.5 gallons of Brown Ale today.

Kegged the pale that I mentioned brewing in my last post.

 

[UNHrider]

I just started some Apfelwein thats bubbling away. As my first "brew", looking forward to trying it out in a about a month.

Also got a kit and all the ingredients for an IPA (extract), hoping to brew this weekend. Any tips for a complete newb?

 

[-BB-]

Also got a kit and all the ingredients for an IPA (extract), hoping to brew this weekend. Any tips for a complete newb?

Sure... When things get wacky during brewing, just "Relax and have a homebrew".

 

[pnj]

noobs should go to homebrewtalk.com
while you're there, get into the chat and tell 'em you ride a bike (seriously).

*I live in chat most days on that site... *

 

[UNHrider]

I will have to try that. Didn't realize they even had a chat.

 

[Full Trucker]

Fermenting now: a Cascadian Dark Ale. Black IPA. Bought it as a kit from a local store here, and was under the impression that it was a recipe they created. Then I found a nearly IDENTICAL recipe for a clone of Widmer Brewing's W-10 Pitch Black IPA, which I think I've had and I think I liked, so I'm pumped about that but am looing forward to mayhaps personalizing the recipe a touch in the future. Brew went smooth, managed to NOT boil this one over. 2nd brew ever, just signed up for HomebrewTalk.com and will be checking that out a bit more.

 

[pnj]

Brewing again today..

8# 2-row
.5# Cherry Smoked Malt (this stuff smells AMAZING!)

maybe throw in some chocolate malt for color, not real sure.
BEER!