Homebrewers - Whats Fermenting?

[smokinghole]

Mill a small amount of grain and grab yourself a small mesh bag like you would use for hops or steeping grains and add the water around 158F. Then the trick is to keep it at the correct temp which you can do in a water bath on the stove or I sometimes use a small drink cooler. Once 30 min or so is up I press the wort give it a quick boil and do what I want with the wort. I only suggest a higher mash temp because it will likely be such a small amount of wort that the sugar profile won't have a noticeable effect on the beer, and the higher mash temp means mo' fast conversion.

 

[mthhurley]

How does the mini mash help prevent oxidation? Ya lost me.

 

[smokinghole]

The small amount of oxygen ingress from a transfer to something like my small barrel will get either get used in yeast metabolism or scrubbed out by the CO2 for the most part. It's a big reason why Sierra Nevada slightly bottle conditions most if not all of their beers. Don't they also dry hop before fermentation is finished according to the Mitch Steele book?

 

[mthhurley]

The small amount of oxygen ingress from a transfer to something like my small barrel will get either get used in yeast metabolism or scrubbed out by the CO2 for the most part. It's a big reason why Sierra Nevada slightly bottle conditions most if not all of their beers. Don't they also dry hop before fermentation is finished according to the Mitch Steele book?

So...the mini wort will just ferment and use the O2 introduced in the transfer. Interesting...

I've just been using CO2. Shoot a blanket of it into either the secondary or a barrel or keg. Since it's heavier than air, that blanket just sits there during the transfer.

Adam to your question on Mitch, I do believe he said that. In fact, I'm reading more and more clone recipes that are doing dry hops late in primary.

 

[twenty5]

I do almost all of my dry hopping late in primary. For this beer I want it to sit on port soaked oak for a few months like I was telling you about Mike. Then I wanted to put some on vanilla bean and some on coffee... Due to the different transfers, I want to make sure I am not introducing any O2. Adding a small amount of fresh wort to ferment after the first transfer sounds like it will be better than nothing.

 

[smokinghole]

A little oxidation isn't terrible for an imperial stout. The dark malts have anti-oxidant properties. Plus I stopped putting anything but a butt load of bittering hops in my imperial stout boil. Aroma/flavor hops contribute a lot of oxygen rich hop compounds which is why IPAs just don't last long on the shelf. So the thing you're trying to get so badly in an IPA is partly what makes the flavor and aroma fade because the aromatic oils are oxygen rich. Plus for me I age my stouts a long time and I've found that the late addition hops have very little to no discernable flavor by the time I'm drinking them. Other little trick I use for intensifying the roastiness of the imperial stout for the long haul is add a few grams ground up to a powder in my spice grinder, and add it directly to the kettle.

So my brewday went awesome on Friday. I nailed my gravity and ended up with a nice 13gal volume of wort. This is the lowest gravity wort I've ever intentionally brewed to date, 1.037. I figure with the lambic culture I pitched in the wort it will ferment nearly to nearly 100% apparent attenuation and that will net me somewhere near 4.4% abv. Plus I'm hoping the lower gravity will allow the beer to ferment slightly faster, but then again I'm at the mercy of unknown bacteria and yeast in the culture.

 

[AussieMitch]

A pale ale today with Centennial, Ahtanum and Nelson Sauvin flowers in the hop rocket.

 

[twenty5]

What do you think of the hop rocket? It has been something I have looked into in the past but never bought one.

 

[smokinghole]

After 3 days of lag here we are. A funky cheesy smelling snotty
fermentation. Aged hops have a way of making the brew smell a bit off each time I use them.
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[AussieMitch]

What do you think of the hop rocket? It has been something I have looked into in the past but never bought one.

It performed great. The proof will obviously be in the final beer, but I ran the hot wort through the hop rocket, straight through the plate chiller and into the fermenter. The smell coming out of the fermenter was amazing.

 

[smokinghole]

I get the point of the hop rocket but I feel I mimic the hop rocket effect without anything but a second drain valve on my brew kettle. I start my whirlpool using a pump and circulate it through my chiller back into the pot after a few minutes of hot circulation. Then I bring the temp down to like 185F and drop in my hops let it cool some more recirculating with the hop addition. I will then either let it finish cooling in this manner or run directly through the chiller to the fermentor. Normally I just let it finish cooling in the kettle while its whirlpooling and then draw off my secondary kettle drain valve. Seems to work for me and didn't cost much. I do like gadgets though and think it'd be cool to have.

I think I'm about to start a big ass bottling run of homebrew back log. I have in the neighborhood of 24 gallons that very well may get placed in bottles today. Thank god I have lots of empty bottles!

 

[mjmac85]

This is the reason why I wish I had just gone with a keg system from the start. Plus it is part of the reason why brewing is on hold. I have the cooler set up just need the kegging system. Shipping it to Hawaii is way too expensive. Hopefully back in the states soon and can get it shipped cheaply.

 

[smokinghole]

I see the draw for kegging. Anymore I just make sours or big ass high abv beers and I don't want kegs of either. Well I would kill kegs of sour but they take so long to make I've been trying to build a back stock of bottles. I have a pretty good selection now and just want to grow it at this point. I think next I'm brewing a tripel (been a while) then I have at least two more sours on deck with ingredients on hand. One will be 16 gal of a sour stout going in my oak barrel following my imperial stout that I've had in there a couple months now.

 

[smokinghole]

Check out this beauty I found on top of my saison. Its starting to smell good finally.


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[smokinghole]

I drank one of the sour saisons fermented with the lambic yeast today. I bottled it about three weeks ago and it has already built most of the carb. It's got a nice bright acidity with a musty mineraly flavor. I think the mustly flavor will age out and lead to a more citrus like flavor.

 

[trails & ales]

I have an IPA currently fermenting with Magnum, Citra, Calypso, Centennial and Simcoe hops. The majority of the hops were late additions. I like my beers to have a strong floral aroma.

 

[smokinghole]

Once I finish some moulding work at my house I have some pent up homebrew to unleash. I need to rebrew my take on orval, brew my quad again, and brew up a triple. Then I need to do up another Flanders type sour because the one I made over a year ago is finally finding its stride. Luckily I bottled near 11 gal total. Some went into a 6L bottle though. I think thats gonna wait for a party next year, big bottles age way slower.

I think a hoppy Belgian blonde is in order too.

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[Chief StrongLeaf]

I have an IPA currently fermenting with Magnum, Citra, Calypso, Centennial and Simcoe hops. The majority of the hops were late additions. I like my beers to have a strong floral aroma.

View attachment 32542

you and me both brother!
what's on deck after the ipa?

 

[kenstogie]

Hi everyone my name is Ken and I am a homebrew er. I just bottled a hefe and it turned out great. I am known as the beer guy amongst my cigar buddies. One of them even wanted to start a brewpub/resteraunt but ihave a job and not sure about brewing a t that level so I am sticking to my day job

 

[kenstogie]

... forgot to ask other than air conditioing is there anynway to keep the temps down so I can brew now?