Former runner
I don't recommend composting 150 lbs of spent grain in your back yard. 3 weeks later that stuff begins to smell pretty bad. Even after adding some leaves to the pile it still smells.
Ross
Good Bad & The Monkey
Yeah, it picks up a serious mold. You have to aerate it daily for a long time. That is why large breweries sell it as pig feed.
I'm running somewhere tomorrow. It's going to be beautiful. I can't wait.
Poor baby
I need to get out there with the pitch fork tomorrow to give it a good turn. I have plenty of leaves to add to it.
Prince of Fatness
Yeah, the trick if you have a lot of mass is to turn it frequently. I do the best that I can with my compost pile but I get lazy.
Not at it at all.
Brewed an Octoberfest Ale over the weekend. I wanted to ferment this a little cooler so I put a wet towel over the bucket. Turns out I didn't need to do this as it is unseasonably cool here and my basement was already at the right temperature. I hooked up a space heater to warm things up a bit and that seemed to work. Now with no space heater it is fermenting in the low-mid 60's. It's not that vigorous but it is cooler in the basement than it has been for other batches, plus I am using European Ale yeast which I heard likes to take its own sweet time. I'm in no hurry as I am looking to drink this around Thanksgiving.
This looks like it is turning into Decemberfest. I racked it to secondary last week and that seemed to have roused the yeast a bit, because I started getting airlock activity. A gravity reading showed that it wasn't done yet. It finally looks like the yeast is settling to the bottom, so it is getting there. I was going to bottle this week but I think that I will wait. The good news is that the sample tasted great.
I also brewed the milk stout last weekend. You could definitely smell the roasted barley in there. I think that this one is going to be good.
I just put a spider in my yeast starter. Apparently that's going to be the secret ingredient in my Helles. Don't ask how I managed that but I'm guessing alcohol was involved.
A spider? Let us know how that turns out.
I have next week off from work and am going to brew two batches of beer, a scotch ale and a smoked porter. That will be it for the year. I also have to bottle the milk stout that I brewed a few weeks ago.
You folks got me started with this hobby back in March and that will be 11 batches since then. Damn.
As you can see, the stout will now be aged on mud.
9 x 22oz bottles in the fridge. Monkey brew!
I have to get in the habit to age the beers more. That's something I'm going to do next year. Part of it is that I just started brewing and was experimenting.
I do have 2 22oz bottles from each batch that I have brewed, though.
I put 7.5 lbs of MI cherries on to a batch of Belgian Wit this week. 4.5 lbs of tart and 3 lbs of dark sweet. I can't wait to get that carbonated to see how it's going to turn out.
Brewing my first lager tomorrow. I picked up a temp controller so that I can maintain a constant temp in an unheated room in my house. Hopefully it will be cold enough the next few weeks to hold 50. So far the forecasts look good.
Wow. That stuff is tasty. Drinkable, but rich, sweet, heady and loaded with all the flavors that went into it. Black as night with a nearly-spongy chocolate mousse head and a load of ABV that you don't notice going down. I am very happy with this stuff.
As were the runner chicks.
rectumdamnnearkilledem
Wow. That stuff is tasty. Drinkable, but rich, sweet, heady and loaded with all the flavors that went into it. Black as night with a nearly-spongy chocolate mousse head and a load of ABV that you don't notice going down. I am very happy with this stuff. As were the runner chicks.
*like* Kinda puts a positive spin on the conditions that led to its creation, huh?
Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to
remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.
~ Sarah Kay
Mission complete. I have 10+ gallons of beer fermenting in the guest bedroom. This empty nest stuff rules.
That milk stout that I bottled tasted real good. I had some friends helping me and we all agreed that it was very similar to Lancaster Milk Stout, which is what I was hoping for.
Warming up my carboy for a diacetyl rest on my Helles lager tonight. I Pulled a sample and it's super malty. Hope to have it kegged this weekend and start lagering it. So far the spider doesn't seem to have affected the batch. My cherry wit should be ready to bottle/keg this weekend.
Grinder setup, with a load of grain to grind
How do you like this grain mill? I am thinking about getting a mill and it would be a corona type mill like you have or one with rollers. Supposedly the roller type gives you a better, more consistent crush. I've also heard that you have to tinker with the corona mills to get the crush right, and they tend to mangle the grains instead of crushing them. The price difference is significant, enough for a sack of grain and then some.