What's Brewing?

[ness]

Yeah, pros and cons to everything.  Bottling is a pain, but cheap. I bought some champagne-sized wire-bale bottles, which are slightly better. Conelius keg would be nice, but you need a dedicated fridge. 

[WHARFRAT]

Don't get me wrong, I love bottles.  Convenient, easy to share, mobile.  It's just bottling day is almost as long as brew day.  You got to clean the bottles, sanitize them, fill them, cap them, then leave them sit for 2-3 weeks to condition.   Kegging, if you force carb, you can pretty much be drinking in a few hours, though its better if you wait a couple of days.

I'll probably keep bottling, but like you said, you have to have a kegerator, and when I move down to the lake full time, space is going to be a premium.  I don't really know where I'm going with my brew equip, and I really don't have that much. (well, according to me). 

[WHARFRAT]

Sad news.  The Double IPA was a pour out.  Everything looked great, was going to be a little high on ABV, but still should have been fine.  It was like there was absolutely no hops added, and I think there was at least 3 oz of hops added during the boil alone.  

Oh well, first pour out in 2 yrs, but it still hurts to see it all go down the drain!

[ness]

50 minutes ago, WHARFRAT said:

Sad news.  The Double IPA was a pour out.  Everything looked great, was going to be a little high on ABV, but still should have been fine.  It was like there was absolutely no hops added, and I think there was at least 3 oz of hops added during the boil alone.  

Oh well, first pour out in 2 yrs, but it still hurts to see it all go down the drain!

Ouch. 

[ness]

I started brewing probably 25 to 30 years ago. A couple college buddies of mine did it too. We worked our way up to full grain brewing using a bunch of cobbled together stuff. We didn't have all the equipment choices that are out there now, and wouldn't have had the money anyway. Never got that good at it and then kids came along and we gave it (and a lot of other stuff) up.

Saw them at a party a couple weeks ago and one of them has picked it back up. Brought a couple mini kegs for us to try and it was very, very good. Surprisingly good actually. Better than the stuff from Brew Lab I told about above.

Last time we got together he brought some wine he'd made from grapes imported from California, and it was very good too. 

Kinda get the itch every now and then, but I get a lot of itches. Never seem to have the time. 

[WHARFRAT]

Time is a big word!  I haven't had much of it lately.  My last brew date was middle of May.  

To me the worst part is bottling day.  You got to wash the bottles, sanitize the bottles, fill the bottles, cap the bottles, then let them condition for 2-3 weeks.  Bottling day is as long as brew day but not as fun.

Brew day really isn't too bad, approx 3 - 3 1/2 hrs for partial grain/extract kits and thats with clean up.  All grain is closer to 5-6 hours.  I like that part, but you do have to set aside time for the process.

I hope next Saturday to brew.  Had one grandchild end of May, and my next one is probably due around the 20th of this month.  So by the time this is ready, my daughter in law will be ready for a treat.  She likes lighter beer, so I'm thinking of a all grain Kolsch.  But she does like Cream Ale and she wasn't able to enjoy the one I made earlier this year, so who knows.

TIME!

[WHARFRAT]

Good summer Kolsch is doing its thing in the Fermenter.  In fact, so active, had to take out the airlock and put in a blowoff tube.

10lbs of German Pilsner, 1lb of Maris Otter, 8oz of Vienna.  Combined 3 oz of Czech Saaz hops, used a technique of First Wort Hopping, which if I did it correctly, added the hops to the wort as it came out of my mash tun, and heated up to a boil.  First time I did this, normally I add at intervals of the boil.  60 minute boil,  the only hiccup was my chiller could only chill it down to 82.  Wound up running to the store to get ice for an ice bath.  Finally got it below 70 and pitched Wyeast 1007, and within 3 hrs, it was eating the sugars.

Cheers!

[WHARFRAT]

New Brew.    What am I?

Malts

10lb Golden Promise - 1lb of Honey Malt - 1lb of Oats

Hops

.5 oz Magnum @ 30min - 1oz Eldorado @ 10 min - 1oz Eldorado @ 5 min - 1oz Fuggles Dry hop for last 3 - 4 days

Yeast

1056 American ale

 

OG 1.062        FG 1.014          ABV 6.5%

[WHARFRAT]

IBU will be only 44

[ness]

I think it's beer.