I will be bottling my hefe today. Hoping to brew my ESB today or tomorrow. Next weekend I i'll be doing my first all grain batch a porter which I will add coffee and oak to about three weeks in. All grain here I come.
Homebrewers - Whats Fermenting?
- Thread starter BeerAdvocate
- Start date
Well do to unexpected efficiency I ended up with almost 7 gallons of 1.103 wort instead of 6 gallons of 1.095 wort. I saw a high efficiency so I just rolled with it. That's almost three full cases of beer once bottling rolls around. I do have a slight issue though. I want to long term age this for 4-6 months on oak cubes and my carboys are only 6 gallons. Hmmmm I will have to figure that out.
Split it. Add two different oaks and see the difference. Or do two same oak and add extract to one. Might want smaller carboys though huh?
This is where I am getting excited to do all grain. Splitting batches to see how they turn out.
My first all grain is this coming weekend.
This is where I am getting excited to do all grain. Splitting batches to see how they turn out.
My first all grain is this coming weekend.
What I might do is bottle what doesn't fit in the carboy for long term aging to see what no oak does. However I do like the idea of different oak. Or I'll find another suitable container made of glass and inoculate it with some Brettanomyces from my Old Ale that's bulk aging. Yes that's what I'll do. I will grab a 1 gallon glass jug from some where.
mthhurley
BoM December 2011
2 things on the agenda.
Got a english'ish brown ale for Friday if I can find the time.
And I've decided to try a barley wine, but only a 1/2 batch, so 2.5 gallons. I've got no interest in having 5 gallons of stuff aging for 3 months to find out I don't like it. So I'm gonna do a small batch and bottle it and tuck it away in the cellar rather than my usual kegging routine. I had to laugh when I found a recipe that I like that plugged it in for 5 gallons than scaled it down 50%...It's about a normal size grain bill for a normal 5 gallon batch but for only 2.5 gallons.
Got a english'ish brown ale for Friday if I can find the time.
And I've decided to try a barley wine, but only a 1/2 batch, so 2.5 gallons. I've got no interest in having 5 gallons of stuff aging for 3 months to find out I don't like it. So I'm gonna do a small batch and bottle it and tuck it away in the cellar rather than my usual kegging routine. I had to laugh when I found a recipe that I like that plugged it in for 5 gallons than scaled it down 50%...It's about a normal size grain bill for a normal 5 gallon batch but for only 2.5 gallons.
Barleywine isn't my thing when it's just malt and hops. The hops fade and the beer starts tasting too sweet for my preferences. Now a RIS that ages has the roast character to stand up to the sweetness if the hops die. My peat smoked barleywine has the smoke character and oak tannins to stand up to decreased hop character.
Nice to hear. I've been drinking one of my my recent bottlings. The tripel is awesome!
BeerAdvocate
BeerHunter
Brewed my first Belgian this weekend a Tripel, went well. I will wait 3-4 months before I try it
Awesome. So what yeast did you use? I did a nice bulk conditioning with my tripel before I bottled it. So mine was fermented and then bulk conditioned for 2-3 before I bottled. I think it made a difference in a very nice way.
BeerAdvocate
BeerHunter
Wyeast 3787 Trappist
Just bottled up my saison. The Wyeast 3711 brought the beer down from 1.064 all the way down to 1.004 (yep 94%aa the yeast is a beast). I gave half the batch a special treatment with Jolly Pumpkin bottle sediment. Jolly Pumpkin is said to have some of the strongest microbes in their bottles so I fed the little buggers by boiling up some DME and some maltodextrine. I took 7 - 750ml bottles and 10 - 375ml bottles which all got a dose of the JP souring microbes. In order to make sure the microbes had some complex carbohydrates and sugars to munch on I gave the half batch only 1.5oz of priming sugar and then 4 ounces of maltodextrine. I figure I'll check my first bottle dosed with the souring microbes in about four months.
The plain portion of the batch got enough priming sugar to give me about 3.6volumes of carbonation. The dosed portion of the batch could theoretically make it to 4 volumes but more realistically around 3.7-3.8 also.
Here's all the different bottles I used. Only one ceramic (non sour), seven champagne (soured), 10 of the smaller corked bottles (soured), and 30 of the capped normal bottles (non soured).
The plain portion of the batch got enough priming sugar to give me about 3.6volumes of carbonation. The dosed portion of the batch could theoretically make it to 4 volumes but more realistically around 3.7-3.8 also.
Here's all the different bottles I used. Only one ceramic (non sour), seven champagne (soured), 10 of the smaller corked bottles (soured), and 30 of the capped normal bottles (non soured).
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Bottled up my last batch for a couple weeks until I can get some more brewed. Thank god I have a short break coming up from school. I can probably get two beers in during the break.
I just bottled up my 13.8% Imperial Stout. I aged it with rum soaked oak for 5/6 months. I'm very pleased with the results. I did add a bit of bitterness at bottling via isohop because I felt it needed some more bitterness. Especially if it is to make it till Christmas. Next time I'm using hop extract to bitter. I used 6 oz of Magnum to bitter this behemoth but due to gravity I had shitty utilization. Hence why I bought some isohop to add IBUs at bottling. I have twelve bottles with a theoretical 20 ibus added. Then two cases worth with 40 ibus added. I just hope I mixed it well enough or some will be more bitter than the others.
I just bottled up my 13.8% Imperial Stout. I aged it with rum soaked oak for 5/6 months. I'm very pleased with the results. I did add a bit of bitterness at bottling via isohop because I felt it needed some more bitterness. Especially if it is to make it till Christmas. Next time I'm using hop extract to bitter. I used 6 oz of Magnum to bitter this behemoth but due to gravity I had shitty utilization. Hence why I bought some isohop to add IBUs at bottling. I have twelve bottles with a theoretical 20 ibus added. Then two cases worth with 40 ibus added. I just hope I mixed it well enough or some will be more bitter than the others.
7.5gallon batch of a Pliny the Elder recipe. This way I should have three full cases to bottle up. The smell of 6oz of columbus in the boil right now is intoxicating.
I pulled a bottle off the carboy of my Old Ale that I brewed up in November to do taste test with carbonation. I'm thinking this thing is ready for bottles and further aging/development. After my bottle carbonation taste test in about three weeks I will decide on whether or not to bottle the rest in the same fashion. I might get myself a soda keg and carbonate from there then bottle off the keg. That sounds like more work than I'm willing do to right now though. Plus I don't want to buy the keg/connectors and my C02 bottle is empty.
The 7ish gal of Pliney is dry hopped currently with the first dose of hops. The second dose will be added on the 23rd and bottling should happen on the 29th.
Today I am brewing up a Westvleteren 12 clone recipe. I unfortunately never had the beer so I don't know how good or bad my attempt will be. All I care is if it's even in the same realm and tastes good. I figure my six gal batch will give me some good beer to drink for a while.
Recipe:
8lbs of Belgian Pilsner
8lbs of Belgian Pale
3lbs of D2 Belgian candy syrup (1lb at beginning of boil, 1lb at end of boil, and 1lb in secondary)
1.5-2L starter culture (on stirplate/shaker) of WLP530
Decoction Mash, Double
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
10 min Protein Rest Add 32.00 qt of water at 137.5 F 132.0 F
30 min Saccharification Decoct 8.79 qt of mash and boil it 151.0 F
30 min Saccharification Decoct 4.85 qt of mash and boil it 159.0 F
Cool wort to 65ish and pitch yeast let self rise up to 80-85 over a few days and try to hold it there. Chill to about 65 after 5-7 days terminal gravity should be close to 1.012. Then transfer to secondary and condition at 50f for 5 weeks. (recipe and technique from Saq on homebrewtalk.com)
I'm in the middle of constructing a fermentation chamber using the guts from an old fridge. Hopefully I have that ready to go in about a weeks time.
Today I am brewing up a Westvleteren 12 clone recipe. I unfortunately never had the beer so I don't know how good or bad my attempt will be. All I care is if it's even in the same realm and tastes good. I figure my six gal batch will give me some good beer to drink for a while.
Recipe:
8lbs of Belgian Pilsner
8lbs of Belgian Pale
3lbs of D2 Belgian candy syrup (1lb at beginning of boil, 1lb at end of boil, and 1lb in secondary)
1.5-2L starter culture (on stirplate/shaker) of WLP530
Decoction Mash, Double
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
10 min Protein Rest Add 32.00 qt of water at 137.5 F 132.0 F
30 min Saccharification Decoct 8.79 qt of mash and boil it 151.0 F
30 min Saccharification Decoct 4.85 qt of mash and boil it 159.0 F
Cool wort to 65ish and pitch yeast let self rise up to 80-85 over a few days and try to hold it there. Chill to about 65 after 5-7 days terminal gravity should be close to 1.012. Then transfer to secondary and condition at 50f for 5 weeks. (recipe and technique from Saq on homebrewtalk.com)
I'm in the middle of constructing a fermentation chamber using the guts from an old fridge. Hopefully I have that ready to go in about a weeks time.
Wow sounds like a lot going into that. Hope all goes well.
I brewed up a red yesterday, should be fermenting away by now. Getting ready to bottle the black IPA and also the Pale Ale with Belgium yeast. I know the IPA will be good.
I brewed up a red yesterday, should be fermenting away by now. Getting ready to bottle the black IPA and also the Pale Ale with Belgium yeast. I know the IPA will be good.
Well I hit all the important gravity marks for the brew. I just hope I can control temps with the fridge guts I almost have available. I hope by the weekend to have the guts in a cabinet of sorts.
I get home on the 1st and I hope to be playing with my new equipment by the 2nd! I already have ingredient for a Persian Wit and a Saison lined up so as soon as I feel comfortable with my equipment I should be brewing within a couple days! Oh and to Adam, I'll work on getting you a Westy 12 this summer. In fact let this be a warning to a few brothers on here!