BeerBorg

I'm f***ing around with "Sumerian Beer".

I have a 1/2 gallon batch going for a week now that had a crudely mashed wort from about 2 lbs of 2 row (OG about 1.074) that had a short boil with 3/4 oz of thyme added in the last 5 min which (when cooled) was poured over a lacto starter made from equal parts raw and malted barley in a light (1 tsp to 2 cups H20) brine which had fermented for a week. The gravity has gone down to about 1.042 which would be about 4.25 ABV but I am not sure that gravity shows any difference between lactic acid or alcohol produced from the sugar.

Today I started another starter. This time attempting to get yeast going from raw honey. I just need to pick up a clay cooker which I can use to "bake" "bread" made from 2 row at about 155. That would be "beer bread" "fermented with honey". (Right?)

Bottled 5 gallons of Blue Moon - my son did it (his batch) and I supervised. He's may call it Grad School Moon.

Beer-lord wrote:

BlackDuck wrote:

Inkleg wrote:Remember to plan your beer brewing ahead for the upcoming seasons.

It's always IPA season isn't it? Actually, my next one will be an American Brown Ale...ready in time to watch Johnny and the Browns.

But do you have an outfit to go with that?

The kilt goes with all seasons. Floor vents are WONDERFUL!

Brewed up a batch of Double Black IPA today.

The_Professor wrote:I am not sure that gravity shows any difference between lactic acid or alcohol produced from the sugar.

Lactic acid increases specific gravity of water. IE a commercial 88% lactic acid solution in water has a specific gravity of something along the lines of 1.2ish, not 1.0 or <. So it is not the same as alcohol, which would have a lower SG then water and would be under 1.0 if that strong. IE it would be 0.79ish if it was pure alcohol.

Hopefully that helps?

Anyways, I bottled my Belgian Session IPA, but I think it would be more accurately described as somewhat intense "Session Grand Cru" if there is such a thing based on how the sample tasted.

mashani wrote:

The_Professor wrote:I am not sure that gravity shows any difference between lactic acid or alcohol produced from the sugar.

Lactic acid increases specific gravity of water. IE a commercial 88% lactic acid solution in water has a specific gravity of something along the lines of 1.2ish, not 1.0 or <. So it is not the same as alcohol, which would have a lower SG then water and would be under 1.0 if that strong. IE it would be 0.79ish if it was pure alcohol.

Hopefully that helps?

Anyways, I bottled my Belgian Session IPA, but I think it would be more accurately described as somewhat intense "Session Grand Cru" if there is such a thing based on how the sample tasted.

Heh, heh, heh...
I posted the calculated gravities just because that's what everyone is most used to, but the actual readings were with my refractometer. Now the refractometer measures sugar content although any secondary readings are adjusted for alcohol. So I guess I'm still not sure What I am calling my original brix (17.75) was of the wort before pouring it through the lactic starter. I did not remeasure it after adding the starter. A week later the brix was 13.5. Something is happening.

Kegged a batch of Belgo ale; a clone of the defunct New Belgium Belgian IPA that was distributed a few years ago. I added a second dose of dry hop to this one; the sample I tasted (while checking the gravity) was really outstanding, with the centennial hops really showing up prominently. I decided to kick it up one more notch, so I threw in some more Amarillo hops & began to force carbonate.

Brewing up a Weizen today that I'm calling "Weizen Up!"

Mosty Wheat with a pound of Pilsen and quarter pound of CaraFoam.

Using Wyeast 3068 and Hallertau Mittlefrau for hops.

Should come in at about 5.0 ABV with about 18 IBU's.

Yum!

Bottled up my Tripel last night. OG 1.084 FG 1.015. It came out to exactly 9%. It's sweet, lots of citrus. It also tastes very green and a bit hot. I think 3-4 months bottle conditioning will mellow this out nicely just in time for winter.

Bottled a case of South Ferry Steam Beer this morning. Gonna brew a simple extract on Sunday that I'm calling Saison D'etre. Temps in my basement have hit the mid-70s with the recent gawdawful heat wave we've had, so I figured a saison would be a good choice. A little light DME, a little wheat DME, a little Saaz, a little crushed coriander seed. Should be a nice, late-summer refresher.

Brewed a batch of Amarillo Pale Ale today, a bit of hops for bittering, a bit for flavor, and a mountain of Amarillo whole leaf hops for the zero minute addition! One of my brewing co-workers gifted me me with a bunch more hops a couple of days ago.
Took a walk by the river after brewing, then off to a BBQ event this evening... Cheers!

Going to take a stab at Persephone's Tears D34THSPAWN's recipe, that blackberry wheat sounds good.

I am in the middle of the hop boil of Fedora Dave's 100 Years War IPA. The recipe was so simple I couldn't resist trying it. Also any beer Dave likes has to be good.

Kegged 5.5 gallon DAWG LB PALE ALE, with a dry hop of half oz Amarillo on Thursday.

Stuck to my schedule! Collected wort from a 5 gallon sour mash Saturday. This is the longest part of the whole process so the hard part is done for that batch. Sunday I brewed another berliner which is currently in the pot under a heat lamp. This will be souring until Saturday, it's one more day than I'd like to sour it but collecting wort on a Friday after work isn't going to happen without some serious motivation.
I plan on collecting the wort and transferring it onto the yeast cake left from the batch currently fermenting as it will be finished and time to rack that to the secondary for fruiting.
Then Sunday I'm brewing a whole new batch.