Random retirement brew

[bpgreen]

I haven't brewed in a really long time, but I'm retired now and catching up on my todo list, so I'm going to try do do a brew soon. I almost wrote this weekend, but I'm retired, so it's always the weekend.

I've got a bunch of wundegrains and wunderhops. So I'm thinking of doing a really random brew.

But it's been so long that seat of the pants brewing is tough.

I'm thinking a grain bill of 15 lbs (3 5lb bags). But I'm struggling with the hop schedule. I'm looking for something APA or IPA ish.

I've usually done 60/20/7 boils based on some chart I saw a long time ago. I'm not wedded to that, but it's easiest since my preset kitchen timer has that.

I've got lots of random hops so I can adjust.

[John Sand]

Really depends on what you have on hand, and what you like. I refer to Brewing Classic Styles and Modern Homebrew Recipes, also Designing Great Beers.

[mashani]

When I used the Wundergrains, I didn't decide what it would become until after I opened the bag, smelled it, tasted random bits of grains, then mashed it. Because I had no idea what the wort would taste or look like until after I did all that. The smell and taste gave me starter clues, so I could ponder options after the mash. I'd boil it down or dilute it to get it to "spec" for whatever I decided it would become.

I made 5 really good beers with that stuff, but they were all very different things.

I never tried the wunderhops.

[bpgreen]

I can't really tell from smelling or tasting grains, so I have to wait until the mash. But the way I brew, by that time, it's pretty much too late to change my hop bill (I guess I could, but I'm old and set in my ways).

The wunderhops are different from the wundergrains. With the wundergrains, you get a bag of grains that have a mixture of base and specialty malts and you have no idea when you order or when you get them what they might contain.

With the wunderhops, it's more like a grab bag. You don't know what you're going to get when you order, but they come in 2 oz packets labelled with the variety and AA%.

I should probably fire up Beersmith to come up with the hop schedule and just leave the malt bill to chance. Or maybe partly to chance. Maybe I'll use 5 lb of wunder and 10 lb of 2 row (or vice versa)..

On a side note, I don't think the powerpod is very accurate on hilly courses. I've seen really low numbers going uphill and working hard and ridiculously high numbers after going downhill and just trying to keep up with pedaling. That's basically the opposite of what I saw with my Garmin Vector (currently in the shop).

[mashani]

It sounds like your powerpod isn't calibrated right, if you shifted the angle of it at all on your bike since it was then it's reading the "gradient" incorrectly. It should work ok.

[bpgreen]

It sounds like your powerpod isn't calibrated right, if you shifted the angle of it at all on your bike since it was then it's reading the "gradient" incorrectly. It should work ok.

It's possible or even probable that the angle shifted. I'm not always careful when I put it back on after charging.

I should probably recalibrate and pay attention. But I may be inside on the trainer for a while. S'mores have started. I don't mind riding in the cold, but snow and ice are not a good idea. I think my doctors would yell at me.

[mashani]

Yeah the velocomp works like an aircraft speed/power sensor, if the position shifts then the angle is wrong so it can't properly consider gravity, the wind entering the sensor is coming in a different angle which affects pressure readings for speed/acceleration. All that can make it completely whack depending on gradient and speed.

[bpgreen]

The malt bill is set. 10 lbs wundergrains, 5 lbs cooking pale malt.

I might add some raw wheat just because I get it super cheap.

I'll look at the hops on hand and figure something out.

[bpgreen]

Two bulk bags in the kitchen freezer. Grabbed two random 2oz wunderhop bags from the chest freezer.

Looks like

~2oz jarrylo 60 minutes. I'm never sure why I buy this hop and I'm never sure what to do with it.
2 oz simcoe 60 minutes
2 oz ahtanum 20 minutes
2 oz callista 7 minutes

I kind of hope it sucks. If it's good, I'll never recreate it.

[bpgreen]

Oh.

The yeast is Mangrove Jack M44. I got a bunch on sale. I'll overpitch because it'll be cool.

[mashani]

Jarrylo for me is nice in wheat beers, saisons. Something that you want some very mild fruit vibe (and it's very mild). If you use a yeast that makes banana esters, it especially works well.

It probably would work ok as a hop in a fruit forward hazy IPA, but it would have to be mixed with other stuff, it's too mild on its own, and if you used enough of it to counter that, you'd end up with unwanted herbal elements.

[bpgreen]

I'm finally mashing this. I'm doing an overnight mash.

It's already pretty dark. I guess it's going to be a hoppy stout instead of an IPA or APA.

But I'm ok with that.

[bpgreen]

When I went to get the yeast, I found some Nottingham yeast.

A long time ago, I had a whole bunch of Nottingham because of a pricing error. I forget where it was, but 100 packs were priced lower than 25. Not less per pack, which would be expected, but less total. So I think it cost me about $1 a packet.

That's long gone, but apparenly, I bought more last year in anticipation of winter brewing that never ended up happening.

Since I keep my thermostat at 59 during the winter and ferment in the basement (and on the floor), Nottinghanm is a better choice,

I also kind of messed uo the hop schedule. I wasn't paying attention and used a couple of ounces of a 2% AA hop for the bittering. I noticed it 15 ninutes later and added the right hop.

Oh. And it has been so long since I've brewedd that I forgot to take a gravity reading.

But it will be beer in a few weeks.

Now I need to start thinking about my next beer. I think I have more wundergrains, so that will probably be a starting point.

[bpgreen]

I forgot what a beast Nottingham is.

Even though the temperature is below 60, I should have used a blow off tube.

I replaced the first s tube with another and now have a three piece airlock. Maybe that will work.

Or maybe I'll need a blowoff.

[mashani]

Dude, if you think Notty is nuts, if you ever use Verdant, you will have fun times. I've still got 2" of krausen on my Braggot and it's been 12 days now.