Homebrewers - Whats Fermenting?
- Thread starter BeerAdvocate
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It's chugging along happily. I added the first sugar addition yesterday and tonight I'll be adding WLP099 with the second sugar addition and a touch of O2 for the yeast. Then I'll just add sugar the next five days and wait till it's totally finished. I'm so glad I stuck this 6 gallon batch in a 10 gallon corny to ferment. The krausen took up between 2 and 2.5 gallons of space. I'll check the gravity in a month or so when it's settled down and I want to transfer it onto some oak.
Want the recipe? I think when I do this again next year I'll buy some hopshot from northern brewer rather than screwing with pellet hops.
Want the recipe? I think when I do this again next year I'll buy some hopshot from northern brewer rather than screwing with pellet hops.
I did a check today. It's slowed down a bit but I have my two large starters of WLP099 in there. Tomorrow morning I'm going to throw the fermenter heating belt on the beer to let it warm up a few degrees to make it easier for the yeast to finish up. It's past the half way point right now at approx 11%abv. I have one sugar addition left I believe. I also took a taste and the bitterness is coming out bigtime. This will certainly need at least six months of age.
Throwing together a spiced malted cider today.
4gallons of no vit C added not from concentrate Apple Juice from Costco
1gal of wort made from 1lb jaggery sugar, 4lbs pale malt, 1lb torrified wheat, and 12oz Crystal 60 (grains mashed at 158 for sweetness).
I'll be throwing 4 cinnamon sticks in the end of the boil and some nutmeg as well.
Fermenting with safale s04. Aiming for 8-9% with a OG around 1.074 and a FG around 1.010 but hopefully a touch higher.
Also as an experiment I'll be using brewers clarex in this batch. I have a friend that is gluten sensitive and plain ole cider is fine for her but with me adding malt and wheat that changes things. Oooh yeah and the brewers clarex is purported to remove proteins from beer that when measured the beers made with this clarex stuff qualify as gluten free.
4gallons of no vit C added not from concentrate Apple Juice from Costco
1gal of wort made from 1lb jaggery sugar, 4lbs pale malt, 1lb torrified wheat, and 12oz Crystal 60 (grains mashed at 158 for sweetness).
I'll be throwing 4 cinnamon sticks in the end of the boil and some nutmeg as well.
Fermenting with safale s04. Aiming for 8-9% with a OG around 1.074 and a FG around 1.010 but hopefully a touch higher.
Also as an experiment I'll be using brewers clarex in this batch. I have a friend that is gluten sensitive and plain ole cider is fine for her but with me adding malt and wheat that changes things. Oooh yeah and the brewers clarex is purported to remove proteins from beer that when measured the beers made with this clarex stuff qualify as gluten free.
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6gallons of Italian Pinot Grigio wine kit got yeast pitched Sunday night. This one is for the wife, I like red wine so an Amarone kit is coming soon.
BeerAdvocate
BeerHunter
Tonight I am brewing a clone of Deschutes Black Butte Porter
Friday I'm brewing up an English Old Ale with the Wyeast Old Ale blend w/ brettanomeyces.
Tsar Bomba Russian Imperial Stout update
I transferred this on monday night to a secondary fermenter. The question of why I was giving it so much oxygen was posed. The reason being is it needed it. I decided to forgo the 30 second oxygen burst when I added my wlp099 starters. I wish I had done it, but a beer this big is a learning experience. The beer had basically stalled out at 1.040 but from a slight oxygenation the beer has began fermenting again slowly. From my calcs and using my refractometer the beer is sitting at like 14.5%abv. If it doesn't drop down to around 1.020 on its own then I'll be adding a touch of amylase enzyme to see if I can get some of the complex sugars broken down due to the high amount of roasted grains. It's currently sitting with the oak cubes which are medium toast hungarian oak that I soaked in with a couple shots of aged rum. All of the mason jar contents rum and oak went into the fermenter. After everything really calms down and it's at a gravity I'm comfortable with I will likely pack it into a corney for long term aging.
I transferred this on monday night to a secondary fermenter. The question of why I was giving it so much oxygen was posed. The reason being is it needed it. I decided to forgo the 30 second oxygen burst when I added my wlp099 starters. I wish I had done it, but a beer this big is a learning experience. The beer had basically stalled out at 1.040 but from a slight oxygenation the beer has began fermenting again slowly. From my calcs and using my refractometer the beer is sitting at like 14.5%abv. If it doesn't drop down to around 1.020 on its own then I'll be adding a touch of amylase enzyme to see if I can get some of the complex sugars broken down due to the high amount of roasted grains. It's currently sitting with the oak cubes which are medium toast hungarian oak that I soaked in with a couple shots of aged rum. All of the mason jar contents rum and oak went into the fermenter. After everything really calms down and it's at a gravity I'm comfortable with I will likely pack it into a corney for long term aging.
Adam,
I thought Bret was just for things like lambics, what will it do in an English Ale?>
I thought Bret was just for things like lambics, what will it do in an English Ale?>
Over the long aging period it will provide a bit of sourness. I will be mashing this beer at 158 so the brett has something to eat but hopefully doesn't take too low.
Here are some pics of my last two brew days.
RIS being ran out into kettle during fly sparge. Not a whole lot to see here but you can see how dark it is coming out the spigot.
Here's the RIS during transfer I would describe it as scorched motor oil from a diesel that needed the oil changed three times over.
Also the color of the sugar I used to bump up the abv and add complexity to the beer. One is of it before dissolving and boil and the other is just after I broke it up because it comes packaged in solid half spheres.
Here's today's Old Stock Ale that I brewed up.
First the two gallon decoction that was boiled down to 1.5 qts of syrup for the kettle carmelization flavor.
Here's the color of the beer with my hydro floating at 1.087.
RIS being ran out into kettle during fly sparge. Not a whole lot to see here but you can see how dark it is coming out the spigot.
Here's the RIS during transfer I would describe it as scorched motor oil from a diesel that needed the oil changed three times over.
Also the color of the sugar I used to bump up the abv and add complexity to the beer. One is of it before dissolving and boil and the other is just after I broke it up because it comes packaged in solid half spheres.
Here's today's Old Stock Ale that I brewed up.
First the two gallon decoction that was boiled down to 1.5 qts of syrup for the kettle carmelization flavor.
Here's the color of the beer with my hydro floating at 1.087.
Well here's the English Old Ale just before transferring for a 3-6 month secondary fermentation. The Brettanomyces has already began doing its thing. I might have to add dextrin to this in a few months to bring the body back around. My gravity finished at 1.018ish with the regular Saccharomyces in the blend. When I cracked the keg to transfer I could smell the tart goodness of the acetic acid produced by the Brett. The sourness was present in the taste also. I added 1.5oz of medium toast oak cubes soaked in Ron Pampero Aniversario rum. The pellicle is already starting to reform after just 12 hours in the secondary.
OH yeah and my over the top stout is stalled at like 1.040ish. It's at like 12.5% right now and I'm going to brew up a stout in a couple weeks. Then I'll transfer this on top of the yeast from the fermentation. It will be fermented completely with wlp099 to have a large count of the necessary yeast to finish the job. These big beers are a lot of work!
OH yeah and my over the top stout is stalled at like 1.040ish. It's at like 12.5% right now and I'm going to brew up a stout in a couple weeks. Then I'll transfer this on top of the yeast from the fermentation. It will be fermented completely with wlp099 to have a large count of the necessary yeast to finish the job. These big beers are a lot of work!
I got a Mr. Beer kit for Christmas so I kicked it off today. I've never done this before so instead of putting a ton of money into it, I wanted to see if the time and effort were at all worth it. I actually had fun doing it but the waiting is going to suck! :glassesgr
Brewed a Kotbüsser up today from Radical Brewing. I subbed out the molasses for black treacle because I had some left. It's an old style German ale that was forgotten due to the purity laws in Germany because the beer has honey, molasses and oats in the mix. For yeast I'm using White Labs 036 and it was generously hopped with Tettnang, and Saaz.