BeerBorg

I am going to throw some Amarillo in to dry hop today while I am bottling a Pilsner IPA. Back from Colorado, and was trying to set up a new table in garage to keep LBKs and other things up off the floor. Tragedy (and gravity) happened and an LBK full of a Porter were a total loss.

I will give ours a couple of days of dry hopping before bottling early next week, cant wait to see how this one comes out Now off to slap together a Stout recipe to add some bourbon too This may end up being a ritual end opf summer brew process to put on the calendar. Wheatoberfest, leading to Bourbon Barrel Stout/Porter Especially getting to 5 gallon batches.

Should be fairly stationary for a few months (except for maybe some overnights to Annapolis or Baltimore) until February in Daytona and April in New Orleans (Ironman 70.3, her again, not me - although I want to try some as soon as my elbow clears up).

Cheers
jeff

This may end up being a ritual end opf summer brew process to put on the calendar.

I hope you mean the beer you brew not building wobbly tables.

Sorry to hear of the loss of your LBK full of Porter, hope no was there to see you cry.

Several of our furry roommates witnessed my emotional outburst, but on the bright side - tomorrow I get to bottle the WheatToberfest recipe. Was going to be today but we had a veterenary emergency that took precedence. So tomorrow in addition to trying to get some errands run I am going to try to bottle AND brew - not sure how well that will go, may have to keep them seperated. Get the brew into the bottles first so I can begin the countdown to taste testing I do have a couple of 5 gallon all grain kits from Midwest that will keep the MRS in IPAs for a while once I get them going. Did manage to get a stout going that I was going to add bourbon and oak to, but really missed on OG, it may be a bit weak or light for adding this too. Not sure which way to go on that one, make another one, add a few drops of liquid per bottle, up to several different strengths etc.

Waiting to hgear from PHIL about his continuing taste testing, how does this one age? Change over time? I know it hasnt been that long since you bottled, but I wanna know how quickly I can start tasting at this end lol.

jeff

I tasted the first one a week after bottling and it was great. I am in Michigan right now until Wednesday so I haven't been home to try mores and see how the flavor has evolved with time. Honestly, with yours, Jeff, since it's a wheat beer and it's more hoppy, the sooner you try one, the better.

Quick question for Phil or anyone who has done some wheat beers. What would you carb this to? I have had a gusher or two since moving to MD and not having a basement. I am going to start putting in 75F as the temp in the screwy brewer calculator instead of even 70F as things have been in the garage. That should account for some of it.

I should be getting a temp controller and an older full sized fridge soon (Christmas?) to help with this, just not the same having a nice cool constant basement for fermenting, but we adapt. Plus the benefits of living here (SWMBO) far outweight the inconvenience of a gusher or two lol


jeff

I wish I had put this recipe into the cloud so I could tell you. I'll check when I get home tomorrow but I think I did around 2.7 volumes CO2. 2.5 is where most my wheat beers get carved to but I think for the sake of style, I bumped it up a little.

I ended up at 1.012 or so, for a nice middle of the road 5.0% ABV. One thing I noticed, usually when tasting the FG sample, it is like "ehh, whatever" whereas I see some people saying their sample tasted great, just uncarbed. This one ACTUALLY tasted (and smelled, the Amarillo was heavenly) good. I am looking very forward to trying these babies out. In one week, they begin to find their way to the fridge for a few days at a time.

If this ends up being anything like what I think it can be after the taste test this will be a rebrew. I will try to get the red wheat for that one.

jeff

I'm curious to see how it differs using white wheat versus red wheat. I anticipate a lighter wheat flavor. That's about the only way I can describe it. Did yours turn out more fruity or malty?

Hard to say as I just had a quick pull on the hydrometer sample. It definitely had the aroma from dry hopping, could taste some hops in sample but definitely tasted some malt as opposed to the regular old "meh" that I get in that stage. I think this one may end up being one of the best I have made - so for that I thank you sir, and the Hat for putting it together.

As I type this I am sipping on a stout gone awry. I hadnt accounted for the changes in temps out here and also had a few mishaps getting used to the new place. This is not stout, it is thin, and a bit bitter but not malty background. Jyst gotta empty out some bottles for future use lol.

Hopefully in a week or so I can give a better description of how things turn out
Cheers
jeff

Well I gave it a week or so and put one in the fridge. Holy Grapefruitness lol. The hop aroma and taste had the missus saying that it was almost like grapefruit beer. Very hoopy but not real bitter if that makes sense? I am waiting to try another one after the destruction/construction of the man cave/brew room is finished as right now a lot of the beers are covered with a tarp. I need to get to some of them to bottle, wish I had been able to move them before everything started, but a few days wont hurt and I don't think they are getting dust inside the fermenters.

I am waiting to see the malts come forward a little bit, which I hope happens as it will be a great balanced beer. I do like these Amarillo hops tho and will be using them more in upcoming beers, especially IPAs.

Cheers
jeff

Them Amarillo hops are no joke eh? I'm curious to try yours. Mine is a lot more malt forward, where yours went in the other direction. But I totally dig it!

After a couple more weeks of aging, this brew is still very tasty, SWMBO still says it tastes like grapefruit juice, but she likes it and so do i. It is going fast and will have to be rebrewed once we get garage finished. I may try Phil's version this time and see what the difference is but all in all this is a nice IPA-ish eclectic beer that can be sipped or guzzled

Alright, that sounds great, Jeff! My version sounds a far cry from what you produced! It's definitely more malty like a Marzen, but you can certainly distinguish it as wheat, and not barley. Granted, the one I made is definitely delicious, and has been very difficult to keep from drinking it all. I've promised some of it to some folks, and I'm definitely shipping one out to you when I get the chance. If you ship me one of yours, I'll be doing a side by side comparison!

Good thing I saw this before I finished them all off (I hope) as I will pull one aside THings are still chaos around here, didnt end well with "handyman" so I am having to do a little bit of finishing work myself before we can even put carpet down and move things into future man cave and brew room. I have brews and ingredients stashed in attic, closets etc

One good thing, I used some amazon store credit on a Johnson Controller. I plan to eventually build a fermenting chamber fcor several carboy/pail/lbks - was actually hoping to have dan the handyman crank one out with me, and the bar build but dont think that is going to happen so I will be borrowing some tools from my grandfather and doing it myself Then I will have much greater control over temps which out here has been quite an issue. Not having a basement with constant temps has definitely affected things, as well as not having a dedicated area and routine. Can't wait to get back to that At least I will have a finished garage to do it in now.

I will pull aside the Wheatoberfest version and figure out a good way to ship it. Shouldnt be an issue this time of year when everyone is shipping everything
Cheers
Jeff