Not sure about up north but in the 'Bus it’s supposed to be 58°.
I’ve got 20 gallons of a Founders KBS clone working right now. I’m at 11.3%abv and conditioning in secondaries on oak and vanilla beans as well as Jim Beam Black. I also have primaries filled with 20 gallons of Tröegs Perpetual IPA. I think I’m getting close to my 400 gallon limit for the year.
Sounds like some great recipes you guys are working on. My next move is to drill some holes in my fridge for some taps, done with tose picnic taps. I want to get those ones with black handles.
I guess I’ll go ahead and post some brewing updates since everyone else is.
Here are some of the more interesting things I’ve done this year:
- I finally brewed a batch up for a sour, pitched Roeselare and some dregs I can’t remember
- Brewed a golden ale that had more phenols than I like, so pitched some dregs. Planning to taste in about a month.
- Brewed my first barleywine last spring (English style, of course).
- Brewed an 8.2% English inspired stout that aged on medium toast French oak cubes for ~45 days
- Last weekend I brewed a strongish English ale and pitched Brett C.
- Since apparently homebrewers who brew classic styles are boring, I recently brewed up a beer inspired by my love for cinnamon rolls. Amber/brown base for a bready/biscuity layer with cinnamon sticks and vanilla been.
Indeed it does seem a bit dead on the forum these days. I troll every night while at work but don’t care to add my .02 that often. Like others have said, I’d rather give no advice than bad advice. Besides new and exciting things that some have done, I think the newbies can find plenty of answers throughout the forum and may be the reason for such quiet. The knowledge I have gained through lurking here is incredible and I thank all of you for that. I jumped into all-grain full speed, after reading countless threads and doing my homework, and have never looked back!
I’ve had a busy year with family stuff (son graduating USMC boot camp, daughter graduating high school and starting college amongst other really good stuff) but I’m itching to get back in brew mode. I just brewed our host’s Mosaic IPA kit on Saturday and it seems to have turned out well so far. Finally got the keezer maxed out (4 kegs) after flirting with just 2 and 3 kegs filled for nearly a year. Been drinking out more often than i should but we have numerous craft beer joints popping up all over and some very nice selections!
On tap right now
#1 - AMBER ALERT - This is a Troegs Nugget Nectar clone
#2 - KEEZER PLEASER 2.0 - Firestone Walker Union Jack clone (amazing)
#3 - WOUNDED WARRIOR - Midwest’s Simcoe Select recipe but I used Marris Otter instead of their base grain
#4 - DEVASTATION IPA - This is a Stone Ruination clone (also amazing)
Fermenting
Mosaic IPA
It’s been busy for me lately too. Still able to check this forum most days, but have been brewing less than I’d like. A couple business trips, some family obligations, and not enough time to drink what I already have in stock has make it hard to justify taking the time to brew - despite it being the best time of year for it. In that window between nice weather making me want to do other things outdoors, and the cold getting intense enough for me to need precautions so I won’t freeze the water in my chiller lines.
But hopefully I’ll be able to get going on my first lager of the winter in the next few weeks.
I’ve done less than half the brewing in 2014 than I did in 2013. My first 3-gal BIAB is ready for dry hopping, I’m going to transfer it to a secondary so I can reuse the yeast cake for my second 3-gal BIAB; all ingredients are in house. Thanks to going 3-gal I have No plans for outdoor brewing; y’all can have your polar vortex, I’m brewing small batches stovetop.
After Christmas I’m sure there will be an uptick in posts, of course a lot of them will be, “there was suddenly a thick scum on top of my beer so I dumped it; what went wrong?”
[quote=“JMcK”]I’ve done less than half the brewing in 2014 than I did in 2013. My first 3-gal BIAB is ready for dry hopping, I’m going to transfer it to a secondary so I can reuse the yeast cake for my second 3-gal BIAB; all ingredients are in house. Thanks to going 3-gal I have No plans for outdoor brewing; y’all can have your polar vortex, I’m brewing small batches stovetop.
After Christmas I’m sure there will be an uptick in posts, of course a lot of them will be, “there was suddenly a thick scum on top of my beer so I dumped it; what went wrong?”[/quote]
I too ventured out earlier this year on 3gal BIAB batches. I use them as test batches but also found that they make excellent starters with the added benefit of being able to drink it. And the best part is one smack pack is plenty witout needing a starter. So I’ll be joining ya in the warm house.
[quote=“Loopie Beer”][quote=“JMcK”]I’ve done less than half the brewing in 2014 than I did in 2013. My first 3-gal BIAB is ready for dry hopping, I’m going to transfer it to a secondary so I can reuse the yeast cake for my second 3-gal BIAB; all ingredients are in house. Thanks to going 3-gal I have No plans for outdoor brewing; y’all can have your polar vortex, I’m brewing small batches stovetop.
After Christmas I’m sure there will be an uptick in posts, of course a lot of them will be, “there was suddenly a thick scum on top of my beer so I dumped it; what went wrong?”[/quote]
I too ventured out earlier this year on 3gal BIAB batches. I use them as test batches but also found that they make excellent starters with the added benefit of being able to drink it. And the best part is one smack pack is plenty witout needing a starter. So I’ll be joining ya in the warm house.[/quote]
I’ve been thinking about BIAB for a three gallon brew. Would like to do NBs American amber ale, compare it to the extract version I do. My boil kettle is 5.5 gallons. Will the grain fit in a kettle this size?
I’ve got an 8 gal pot I used for 5 gal batches and I have plenty of room. I think 5.5 would be big enough.
You know what’s really funny? This thread about how dead the forum is lately seems to be the most active thread on the board. There are 2 pages of entries on this subject which blows away most other threads. Now that’s just irony.
What kind of water additions are you using? Extract twang can sometimes be metallic, but maybe not specifically “irony.”
:lol:
(sorry for the bad pun, had to be done)
I check in several times a week, most questions seemed to be answered by the time I get here so I just read the threads. I also rarely brew in the warm months so I’m just getting rolling for the winter brew season, too cold out to golf! The board will pick up after Christmas when all the people who got brew kits for gifts roll in.
I did build another immersion chiller this week. It’s a double coil set up with a total of 90’ of tubing. I’m gonna test it this weekend in 21 gallons of water, circulating with a pump. I think it should work, I could knock down 11 gallons with my 30’ chiller and pump in a reasonable amount of time.
[attachment=0]killer_chiller.jpg[/attachment]
That is funny. It’s interesting that nearly all of the posts in this thread are from guys who have been around for a while…or in some cases a very long while. Almost like a reunion thread.
[quote=“Glug Master”]I check in several times a week, most questions seemed to be answered by the time I get here so I just read the threads. I also rarely brew in the warm months so I’m just getting rolling for the winter brew season, too cold out to golf! The board will pick up after Christmas when all the people who got brew kits for gifts roll in.
I did build another immersion chiller this week. It’s a double coil set up with a total of 90’ of tubing. I’m gonna test it this weekend in 21 gallons of water, circulating with a pump. I think it should work, I could knock down 11 gallons with my 30’ chiller and pump in a reasonable amount of time.
[attachment=0]killer_chiller.jpg[/attachment][/quote]
That is a beast of a chiller. Is it more efficient than a two stage. Also what size pot do you have to dunk said beast in?
[quote=“Brew Cat”] Is it more efficient than a two stage. Also what size pot do you have to dunk said beast in?[/quote]I haven’t used it yet, just finished up last night, when the water gets warm I have a submersible pump that I can pump ice water through after I get the temperature down with tap water.
I made it mainly for my 30 gallon boiler but I also made it so that it would fit in my 15 gallon boiler too. The chiller itself is a little over 12.5" in diameter.
I agree. Deadsville. I wonder if it’s just seasonal? For me, this is one of the busiest times of my year. It all starts with the school year starting up, then the garden is ready to harvest, which is kind of a constant pressure. Then the apples are ripe and ready to pick, which leads to lots of time making cider and apple sauce. Then it’s time to hunt deer! I just finished wasting my time with that, and now I have my first free weekend in a really long time.
Some friends of mine just finished their 10-gallon pilot system to begin brewing test batches for a local brewpub they’re planning to open. I sold them my converted kegs when I scaled back to 3-gallon batches. So I’m sitting in a brew session tomorrow to see how their system works.
Then on Saturday I’m testing out one of the new Brewer’s Best BIAB Kits at my buddy’s LHBS/Restaurant Supply. I’ve been teaching beginning brewers’ classes there for the last couple years (extract beers) and now with the BIAB kits we have a good option to carry entry-level all-grain kits. I’m hoping this will encourage some of the local new brewers to shift toward AG, which would then allow my buddy to start stocking a wider variety of grains.
Seems kind of silly to spend all this time just helping other guys brew beer, so I’m also making a couple starters for brewing over the long weekend next week. I’m looking forward to brewing Palmer’s Elevenses and an Odell’s 90 Shilling Ale clone. Definitely craving some darker beers!
:cheers: from a relatively old forum member…
I agree that it is more slow than it used to be, but there is still a lot of good info. I come on every night but don’t post a lot. I haven’t been brewing to much lately I’ve been busy with life. Lucky for me I up graded to 10gal batches so I haven’t ran out of beer yet, in fact I just got all three of my taps flowing for the first time in months. I just tapped an amber ale that’s tasting pretty good, and I’m going to be brewing with a friend next weekend that has never brewed before. We’re gonna do the oatmeal stout from BCS, 1/2 batch is gonna get coffee the other half is gonna get poblano peppers.
Yes, I’ve noticed the lack of new posts here and I’ve also noticed an increase in posts getting pirated, telling us how we should try this video game or that 
)
Me I am still very green. 19 batches in and I’m still making recipe kits about 25% of the time. The others are recipes I come up with, still extract and PM. I’ve been disappointed in a couple, and a couple have turned out really nice. My own pumpkin amber recipe got some good reviews from friends/family. I just hope they tell the truth, and I ask them to or I won’t learn anything. My favorite so far was a honey wheat that I brewed and hopped it heavily with Amarillo. Very good beer IMHO.
I’ll take this opportunity to thank everybody as I’ve gained so much knowledge from this forum. Keep the knowledge (and beer) flowing. I’ve even been able to chime in a few times, and hopefully have helped a little.
:cheers:
Too bad there’s not a “like” button on the forum cuz I would have to like ubercultures take on “irony”.
