Will Crew for Beer
I'd drink that.
Rule number one of a gunfight, bring a gun. Rule number two of a gunfight, bring friends with guns.
Prince of Fatness
+1
Friday evening with the aid of a couple of helpers the Brown Ale got racked to secondary along with the Frangelico and oak cubes. A sample of the base beer tasted promising. This will be bottled in early July.
Not at it at all.
Upgraded: Sort of Broken
I have had good luck with Belgians. Mash low, 148 - 150 degrees. Once vigorous fermentation starts don't be afraid to ramp up the temperature into the 70's. Belgians are all about the yeast flavors.
start fermentation at lower temps and ramp up?
Chill, be mellow, and be in a mood for embracing the sun.
"ooohhh, what is the malted liquor, what gets you drunker quicker, what comes in bottles or in cans?BEER!"
Yeah I usually pitch around 60 degrees, maybe a little lower. Depends on how much I get distracted while it is in an ice bath. Never higher than low 60's. My "ramping" involves putting the bucket in a room where it will get in the 70's. I usually pitch late afternoon or evening so the temperature rises relatively slowly. I don't like the idea of pitching higher.
i couldn't get the saison much below 77 yesterday (ran out of time, and ice). so thats what i pitched it at. the yeast (white labs 550) claims to be good from 68-78. The house is air-conditioned at 75 right now.... Probably will get a lot of clove-like phenols, i hope.
i couldn't get the saison much below 77 yesterday (ran out of time, and ice).
I use plain water initially. Drain and fill a couple of times, then go to ice. It does not much change how long it takes, but it saves a lot of ice.
not sure why i never thoughtof that....
I have a freezer in the basement and still I had to buy ice. Have not bought ice since I went to water only first. Big difference. Put your hand in the water the first bath and you will understand why the ice melts in a matter of seconds.
Now that I can walk without crutches it is time to start thinking about my brew schedule.
Scotch Oaked Wee Heavy
This has been bulk aging since early March. Time to bottle. I still need to take it easy so I have recruited some helpers and created a mini event for this. My son, son in law, and son in law's friend help me brew when I do the big batches in the garage and I have asked them to come help me bottle this batch (usually I bottle myself). They are coming this weekend.
They usually get paid in home brew but this time I am doing something more special. This will be called Potato Head Brewery Employee Appreciation Day. They will help bottle and I will open some special bombers to share with them. One will be Cigar City Hunahpu's Imperial Stout. Have not decided on the others yet, need to look through my stock. I'll order a few pizzas as well. Should be fun.
Getting the urge to brew again. Thinking of doing it next Friday to kick off Memorial Day weekend. Probably a Vienna / Northern Brewer SMaSH, this time using a Belgian yeast.
'15 Forumite of the Year
hrmmm, I guess I should give an update on the SMaSH.
I don't have the recipe in front of me, but I think for the 3gal batch it was:
6.5 lb Pale malt
1oz Motueka at 60
.5oz Motueka at 15
.5oz Motueka at 1 (or maybe flame out...)
1oz Motueka in secondary for 1 week
I named it 'Motueka "Mo Problems. And it really lived up to its name. The hops were missing from the shipment and the yeast pack was alerady puffy, Tim and I ran out of time so I brewed alone (no big deal). On bottling day I got overly excited and put the bottle filler on the siphon tube before I racked into the bucket, I tried to pull it off, but it was stuck so I decided to just go with it. Well the trub and hops at the bottom were easily disturbed and I ended up plugging up and then breaking my bottle filler (where the hell did that tiny washer come from????). Without the bottle filler, bottling became a sticky, wet mess and of course my capper was acting up too.
I tried one last night (bottled for 5 days) and it is carbing up nicely, but I have allergies/cold so all I could taste was the 61 IBUs.
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What kind of flavor do you get from those hops? Citrusy, piney?
Went to the LHBS to pick up some supplies. Got the urge to try some different hops. Picked up some Apollo and El Dorado. Also got some Amarillo which I have made a SMaSH with before. Really like those and don't always see them on the shelf. Gonna busy busy with the SMaSH batches this year.
What kind of flavor do you get from those hops? Citrusy, piney? Went to the LHBS to pick up some supplies. Got the urge to try some different hops. Picked up some Apollo and El Dorado. Also got some Amarillo which I have made a SMaSH with before. Really like those and don't always see them on the shelf. Gonna busy busy with the SMaSH batches this year.
It is listed as lemon/lime. Which I didn't get sniffing the hops (they did smell New Zealand-y in the bag), but I could smell it during the boil. As for how they taste after brewing, all I have to say is "FU tree pollen!"
Oh, and I should let Tim speak about this...but....he hasn't...so.... The beer we brewed was a kit that sold out from Northern Brewer around his birthday, which he had mentioned. I took the recipe from their site, converted it to a mini-mash and ordered the hops directly from Hop Head Farms since NB was sold out. I also got him a pack of "regular" saaz to do a comparative sniff test. It was like they were different varieties, but I suck at descriptions.
If you used the Wyeast 3522 listed in that recipe I used it for the dubbel I brewed a few months back and was very happy with it.
We used a White Labs Belgian he picked up at his local bottle shop/ home brew store... I forget which strain, I am sure it is in Tim's notes, but we did make a starter a few days before brewing.
I found this a ways back. It is helpful if you are looking for an equivalent between White Labs and Wyeast.
http://www.jaysbrewing.com/2011/10/11/white-labs-to-wyeast-chart/