Homebrewers - Whats Fermenting?

[smokinghole]

I've used a submerged fermentor in a 25gal keg tub. Then I use an old copper submersible chiller wrapped around the fermentor. That is plumbed to a cooler with an in and out powered by a pond water pump. The pump is electronically controlled by a thermostat whichcycles the ice.water through the keg tub around the fermentor and back to the ice slurry sump which is the cooler. It will cycle until the temp drops enough and is actually fairly efficient. I wouldn't necessarily advise this method as a first attempt. I had to whip something up fast and I had all this craps laying around already. Its some kind of rigged unjacketed cooling system I guess. Ice was free at work which helped out a bunch.

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[MoldMan]

Currently fermenting a smoked marzen. Slowly dropping temp to drop the yeast before transferring to a bright tank for lagering. Going to be bottling 1gal batch of watermelon funk this weekend made from the leftovers of a batch of watermelon wheat and the dregs of Jolly Pumpkin and Fantome with some home made toasted cherry wood chips. The next batch to brew is a watermelon wheat. Keezer is empty and need something quick.

 

[SmokeAndMirrors]

wow. I have always loved homebrews. Did one myself a while back but never got to bottling. Your brews sound tasty Moldman, let us know how they turn out.

 

[Chief StrongLeaf]

^^^
Unique and damn good sounding; funkAAA

 

[MoldMan]

The Watermelon wheat is a very simple recipe. Just an american wheat that has a low hop presence with about 12# of fresh watermelon. The watermelon flavor hangs around for quite a while too. Ends up a good session beer. The secret is you have to find a watermelon with seeds. They taste the best. I shoot for a SG of 1.045 to 1.048 and a FG of 1.015 to 1.017 before adding the watermelon. After adding the melon it finishes out around 1.010 even. I figure the melon adds about a gallon of water and about a third of a pound of sugar. Yep a little long winded. Lol

 

[MoldMan]

The watermelon funk is very sour. Yum! Just need to wait for it to bottle condition. The smoked marzen's hydrometer sample tasted good, just a little on the light side for smoke flavor. I only used a pound of smoked malt for a 7 gallon batch to get a feel for the malt. Next time I'll try 3 Lbs. I love a good smoked beer.

 

[SmokeAndMirrors]

How long have you been brewing?

 

[MoldMan]

About 7 years.

 

[kenstogie]

THe temps up here in the NE have cool considerably ...... I am thinking of knocking out a Dunkelwiezen.

 

[smokinghole]

So other than watermelon what'd you use as a yeast culture to make the watermelon funk? Watermelon has a pH range that is higher than what is considered an ideal mash pH so it couldn't have been the watermelon that made your beer sour. I'm just curious because sours and various other brett beers are about 80% of what I brew.

 

[MoldMan]

The base was an american wheat beer using US-05. I then used the dregs of a few different sours. Mainly from Jolly Pumpkin and Fantome. Nothing serious. Just because I could and had a spare gallon for beer to play with. Didn't get much funk but I didn't expect to from the donor beers. I did end up with quite a bit of lactic and maybe a little acidic sourness. Getting a slight tannic astringency as well.

 

[smokinghole]

Jolly Pumpkin has some pretty strong lactobacillus in there.

I am on the fence about brewing Saturday. I want to finish working on my house, but I also want to brew. Maybe I will brew because the next month is pretty much blown. Then next thing I know its October and i still haven't brewed. I will try and brew up two 12 gal batches. One quick brett beer and the other a lowish gravity Flanders Brown.

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[Skitalets]

I have a small batch of summer wheat that is bottle conditioning right now. I brewed it using an all-grain kit from Brooklyn Brew Shop. Tasted pretty good going in to the bottles so hoping it works out!

 

[MoldMan]

To be honest, lagers are about as long as I want to wait for a beer. As much as I like a good Flanders red or an Oud Bruin, I just don't have the patients it takes to make a large batch yet. Recycling beer that doesn't fit in a keg I can do. I can sympathize with trying to find time to brew. I'm about 3 brews behind schedule. I should have had a bo pils, a smoked porter and a wheat beer done by now.

 

[smokinghole]

So with me bottling my brett and barrel aged imperial stout next month I decided to brew up two 9 gal batches of sour stout. I will ferment it with a Flanders type yeast culture.

I only brew sour and brett beers at home because I get a lot of free beer from work. Its enough that I have to work on my allowance or share with friends. Sure I can make a good IPA or pale ale at home but I don't want to put the effort when I can take home sixtels. Plus I doubt I could make a Keller pils as good at home as we do at victory. Sour is a passion, and damn they can be expensive.

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[SmokeAndMirrors]

I'm all about pumpkin brews. If anyone does one up please let me know

 

[smokinghole]

I have in the past with good results. I might try and brew one in August or September. I tend to go big on them and use fresh pumpkins from a nearby farm. As for spices I use whole cinnamon sticks and not much, along with some cracked whole nutmeg. I think most breweries make a pumpkin beer that tastes like eating a spoon of cinnamon and allspice.

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[SmokeAndMirrors]

you're kinda right with that Smoking. My favorite that I have found so far is Smashed Pumpkin from Shipyard. But when you do brew it, hit me up and maybe we can make a trade

 

[MoldMan]

So with me bottling my brett and barrel aged imperial stout next month I decided to brew up two 9 gal batches of sour stout. I will ferment it with a Flanders type yeast culture.

I only brew sour and brett beers at home because I get a lot of free beer from work. Its enough that I have to work on my allowance or share with friends. Sure I can make a good IPA or pale ale at home but I don't want to put the effort when I can take home sixtels. Plus I doubt I could make a Keller pils as good at home as we do at victory. Sour is a passion, and damn they can be expensive.

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That stout sounds gooood. That explains it. If I had a steady flow of really good beer I'd be brewing sours too. But man, I have trouble keeping a steady flow of beer in my keezer now with my work schedule.

 

[smokinghole]

The imperial stout with brett will have been sitting in a 15 gal barrel for 4 months by the time I bottle. This years batch might be a big ass sour version since I have 15 gal of a non-sour imperial stout to last me a few years. Plus I have past years of my stout in my homebrew inventory. So I'm thinking of hitting like 1.080-1.090 and see how it sours.