BeerBorg

Nice. I just love the anticipation of trying something new that I made. Yesterday I kegged my altbier and had enough left over after filling the keg to fill 3 bottles. So I will get to sample some next week

Airlock activity peaked Monday night/Tuesday morning. All is quiet in the bubbler now. I know S-04 is a fast yeast but, sheesh. Going to let 'er sit for a full 2 weeks before taking a gravity reading. Still need to clean my "new" kegs...

I like using WLP004 for that one

Took a gravity reading tonight. 1.015. After adjusting my mash temp in BeerSmith my target FG was 1.014, so not too far off. Will take another reading on Sunday. If it's the same she's going in the keg.

Color looked really good in the hydrometer test jar, crystal clear, and smelled great! Had to sample that sample, and it was very good. Nice balance between the malt and hops. I have committed to the set it and forget it method for this first keg, so waiting will once again be very difficult. Almost wanted to drink it right out of the bucket!

Beersmith and other programs also have options for how things like IBU are calculated, along with Beersmith's options for equipment and brewing procedure that can affect the results. Who knows what the actual IBU is! I wish I knew a way to measure the actual IBU other than paying money to a lab, since the hydrometer can read the actual OG and a color strip can compare the SRM.

Cleaned the kegs this weekend and had a successful (afaik) first time kegging tonight! Why did it take me so long to keg instead of bottle? So much easier/faster I'm kicking myself. Hopefully I didn't do anything stupid and hate myself later...

This finished at 1.015 and was extremely clear when racking. I'm still amazed every time I see an 04 yeast cake. So dense and compact that it hardly moves at all even when tipping the bucket to get the last bit of beer into the auto-siphon. Sealed the keg. Purged the O2 a few times, and put it to about 26PSI. No leaks! Going to sit at ferm temps for 3 weeks at that setting before chilling (if I can wait that long to test...). That should put it at about 2.3 volumes (will purge and set to about 8 when I chill).

Let me know if you see anything wrong with this. I realize it will take longer to carb at ferm temps, but I want it to condition for a bit before chilling. Hopefully that amount of time will give it a good head start when it goes in the fridge.

Sounds like this is comming together well. I love S-04 for a lot of different beers it always attentuates well and clears rapidly. I see nothing wrong with what you did with the keg but I always went straight to cold conditioning instead of warm conditioning. Almost like a mini lager period before hitting it with gas is what I do. Either way a beer seems best after carbing and conditioning for 2-3 weeks. Wether that time is warm or cold it probably doesnt matter. I would like to see a pour pic...I think a Irish Red is in the works soon.

Curiosity got the best of me. So I pulled a little tester off the keg last night since it has been almost 3 weeks. Great googly moogly this may be my best one yet!

Just a tad young, so going to let it sit one more week before popping it in the fridge. I will NOT do another test until then. Will do an official first pour pic at that point.

Keg is in the fridge as of last night. I have it sitting at 8psi, and plan to pull a tester off it tonight.

Can't wait to see it. Hope it's OK, but I stole your grain bill use for a red IPA.!!!

No problem BD! That's what it's there for. Love to see how you modified it for your Red IPA!

I would be happy to share. I'll start a new thread in Advanced Recipes so as not to hijack this one.

EDIT...Actually, I already did start it. It's called Red Stag IPA. I've adjusted the recipe a little so I'll post the updated recipe.

First pull off the keg tonight!




Hopefully the next one will be a bit clearer. Tastes great though! Going to have to pace myself to see how it changes over the next couple of weeks. Hopefully I can figure out how to take good beer pics with my camera by then...

This was so easy it's ridiculous.