What are you brewing/bottling/kegging?

[mashani]

I'm brewing a replacement for the south African hop / Vienna DME single that turned out crappy. Except 5 gallons of this because I know it's going to be good because I've done it before. (as 2.5 gallon batch on stove before)

So, "Rustic Patersbier" (rustic because of * marked malts to make it more Holy Roman Empire like, but I'm using hops not herbs so it's not a real Holy Roman style Belgian).

7# Pilsner (Viking Malts)

1.5# Flaked Oats * (Holy Roman Empire like Belgians might have been 50% or even 60% malted oats depending on what kind they were)

1# Oak Smoked Wheat (Viking Malts) * gives it a slight sweet smoke to simulate grains roasted in a kiln over a fire like back in the day. Note that I do not really LIKE smoked beers, but I like this stuff, the smoke is sweeter/mellower and not like "bacon".

8oz Acid malt for PH adjustment.

My water adjusted to be like Flanders water.

1.5oz Saaz FWH
0.5oz Saaz @10

Imperial Yeast Triple Dubbel (Westmalle yeast, same as 3787/WLP530).

Did it in the Mash & Boil, and yes, I sparged! Whoh!

It's boiling now.

I'll start at 68 and let it free rise up to as much as 80 if it wants to.

This is the first time I'm using Viking malts brand, so we will see, but the Oak Smoked wheat tasted similar to the other type I had before, maybe just a tiny bit stronger, but not a lot.

[Dawg LB Steve]

Finally got a full batch brew day in yesterday, semi automated, semi electric, no heavy lifting (still have 5 lb restriction from surgeon for 2 more months). German Kolsch 5.5 gallons, est gravity 1.043 and 5.3 gallons, hit 1.041 and 5.5 gallons. Close enough for me, great to get back to brewing. Half way to being able to go electric and brew inside in these warm NE Ohio winters. Have a Turbo 500 Boiler hooked it up to Inkbird controller got my strike water to temp in 15 minutes and held it. took a bit longer on the sparge to bring to temp with considerable more water. Just need to adapt the kettles for elements and get the other side of basement straightened up and set up.

[RandyG]

Hey All, brewed up a 5er of "Monster Mash" ingredients today. A quick brew with somewhat questionable results. I used a Munton's Cerveza kit along with a 3.3 Breiss light LME,and dumped in a packet of Belle Saison yeast. Topped her off at 5 gallon and its in the garage that has an ambient temp of maybe 75ish. This is an experiment to see if I can get drinkable beer using these type of ingredients. If it turns out good,YAY!. If it's questionable,but drinkable,I'll mix it with soda or some kind of juice. If its undrinkable, I'll pawn it off to the neighbor,telling him it's a new style Craft Beer. He's not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Anyone have any thoughts about what I may have created? Please.......

[mashani]

That in theory should make a perfectly fine Saison.

It is more going to be a question if you like bone dry Saisons fermented with French Saison yeast.

It will be slightly tart/lemony with some peppery spice and depending on temps some bubblegum or tropical flavors/aromas.

Just so you know, it should ferment out to something like 1.004 or < with that yeast. I mean it when I say bone dry. It might even go below 1.0. I've gone as low as 0.997 with that yeast in an all extract beer. It's not like other yeast. It's a domesticated version of a normally considered a "beer spoilage" organism called "saccharomyces cerevisiae var diastaticus". If you want to read up on that, just google that term.

[Dawg LB Steve]

Did an Apple Pie Wine, used a gallon of Apple fruit wine base a Brewers Best Spiced Cider kit mixed the two topped to 6 gallons and pitched EC-1118 to 1.092 must, after primary fermentation will add the liquid spice packet they supply with the kit.

[BlackDuck]

That sounds kind of interesting Steve. Pretty easy too, I assume.


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[Dawg LB Steve]

That sounds kind of interesting Steve. Pretty easy too, I assume.


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LHBS does an Apple wine that is awesome, I thought why not give this a go at kind of replicating it, if it comes out close in taste I will be happy, if not I have 30 bottles of Apple Wine. Actually was pretty easy, 3 gallons water into Fermonster, added the gallon of the Vintners Best apple fruit wine base (really concentrated and syrupy, but not as thick as LME) swished some water around to get all the juice, boiled a gallon of water and stirred in the Cider Juice bag added that to fermenter added the sweetener packet from the cider kit topped to 6 gallons and let cool to 72 and pitched two 5 gram packets of the EC1118 yeast. Two hours later it was munching away on the sugars.

[mashani]

I bottled 2.5 gallons of the 5 gallon dubbel I made in the Mash & Boiil.

I dumped the other 2.5 gallons of the same batch.

It was split between 2 of my 3 gallon fermenters. When the Westmalle yeast went nuts and leaked out took the lids partially off, apparently a bunch of fruit flies got into one of the fermenters. They apparently ignored the other one or the lid didn't pop up quite enough for them to figure out how to get into that one. I was aware there were fruit flies hanging out around the fermenters, so I'm not "shocked" that this happened.

The one I bottled tasted good, had a nice warming alcohol feeling.

The one where the fruit flies partied like it was 1999 had a mother forming, was very sour, and lacked the warm alcohol feeling.

So I'm certain it's acetobacter, and acetobacter never makes good beer, and hopped malt vinegar isn't really all that good either, let alone 2.5 gallons of it.

So... bye bye!

Both fermenters are being bleach bombed just in case, but I am pretty sure only the one got the bugs, literally and biologically.

So now I've dumped 5 gallons of beer in a week.

I don't think that's happened to me in a long while.

Bummer.

[mashani]

Brewed "Saison des Prunes", ultimately 5 gallons of Plum Saison. Normally I use Nelson Sauvin in this, but I have a ton of Hallertau Blanc, so I used that instead. Otherwise it's 3# Viking Pilsner Malt, 4# Viking Pale malt, 1# Flaked Oats, 8oz Acid malt for mash PH adjustment, and 1/3 of a gallon of this really intensely flavored Japanese plum juice from my local Asian food store will be added to each fermenter (brewed batch size accounts for this).

Normally I make this with French Saison/Bella Saison, but I have 2 packs of Imperial Yeast "Rustic", which is I think the yeast from La Brasserie de Blaugies. So it will be more Dupont like (less citrus, more bubblegum, still tart, but a bit less dry).

We will see how I like it that way.

I got 90% mash efficiency somehow again.

I also had a house fly fly right into my Mash & Boil 5 minutes into the boil, and before I could fish it out of the boiling wort it seems to have exploded into a million pieces. It got boiled for 85 more minutes, so hopefully it just provides some extra head retention or something.

[Beer-lord]

90% is just crazy and that fly will have no effect on your beer but maybe add a 1/2 pound just to see what it’s like.

[mashani]

90% is just crazy and that fly will have no effect on your beer but maybe add a 1/2 pound just to see what it’s like.

I might add a half pound of raisins. They look sorta like flies LOL.

Remember that the 90% was the mash efficiency, not brewhouse efficiency. By the time I factor in kettle loss and trub loss the brewhouse efficiency would be something in the 80s instead of the 70s where I normally end up. Still it was surprising. Second time it happened. I had one batch in the 60s, a couple in the 70s, most everything else 78-82 or there about once I figured out the mash ph adjustments and the process that works well for me in the M&B.

But twice now the 90, and I don't really know why.

Only thing special about either is that both were 5 gallon batches where I did a thin BIAB style mash, but with slightly less then full volume (because full volume wouldn't fit in the mash & boil with all the grain, or would be so close to the top I didn't want to take the chance), and then I sparged the grains with the last gallon or so of water top it up before the boil.

Why did I do it that way? Because I don't feel like heating up all the other water and hauling it for a more normal "thick" mash + larger sparge and then pouring it into the malt pipe which is elevated higher up then I like when in sparge position (which is why I would rather these things were shorter and fatter).

Also I did a dough-in at acid/protein rest temperatures, and then set the M&B to 1000 watts and the temperature set at my first sacc rest step temp and walked away, so sort of an easy mode short duration step mash, IE just push the button and walk away for an hour, then set it to my second sacc rest temp, and walk away for 15 minutes, then set it to mashout and do the same. So my mash was like ~90 minutes instead of 60, but that's not unusual when you do a rest/step mash. But I've done full more controlled step mashes in the thing and gotten in the 80s, so that doesn't really explain it. Although in this case it might be the Viking Pilsner and Pale malts I used vs. the Belgian Pilsner and Pale in the other which was probably less modified.

It could be a combo of those things, or maybe a thin BIAB like mash + sparge works really well, I don't know, I don't think I've heard of anyone doing it, I just did it because it was easier for me, and I know the BIAB like mash will get me into the 80s when I get the mash PH right, so I was OK with the idea and couldn't figure out any reason that it would hurt things or make bad beer.

I'd have to experiment and do it with a straight up 60 minute single infusion mash and see if it happens again.

[D_Rabbit]

Taking the new system and room for its inaugural brew day. Brewing up 11 gallons of a new pale ale recipe for my wife’s cousins wedding in September and 11 gallons of my Kolsch recipe. Crossing my fingers for minimal incidents Saturday.

[Beer-lord]

Best of luck Rabbit. Keep us posted. I'm sure it will be the 2nd favorite part of the wedding day.

[BlackDuck]

Hope all goes well.


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[TonyKZ1]

I brewed a Chinook IPA today, a 5G Extract w/steeping grains recipe from Northern Brewer.