I was just thinking of this because I finally went ahead the other day and dove into the process of making a sour beer. Just curious to see what other big picture ideas people have on their minds. Whether it is brewing that crazy strong/fruity/bitter/whatever beer they’ve dreamed up or getting started on a DIY project or just learning something new. What’s still on your checklist?
I’m looking forward to doing an RIS or a barleywine and gyling it. Not sure what I’ll get, I imagine a brown ale and a bitter, but I really want to do this.
I’ve got a lot to learn yet of the basics and getting the process down. I tend to want to jump in to things to quickly.
But I would like to:
Do a nice stout for the fall
Find a good holiday brew to make for gifts for a few people this year.
Try lagering something this winter. (I would have to find a good stable cold place, no fridge for me.)
Make the jump to all-grain.
I’ve thought about it for a while. I know it’s a bit more time consuming, but I really haven’t found the balls to make that switch.
Someday… Someday… Once I figure out the process and what is involved!
Last year I really focused on easier, more simple recipes and really learning to control yeast pitching amounts and controlling fermentation temps. I feel I’ve got a good system down and have been very happy with most of my beer, especially with my lagers.
Now I’m wanting to play around with warmer fermenting beers. Belgians, Saisons, etc.
I generally like to ferment my beers at the lower end of the yeasts temp range, but have learned that’s not always the best practice when it comes to Belgian strains. So, I have a Belgian IPA and French Saison on the docket and am looking into pitching warmer (mid to high 70’s) and trying to keep the fermentor warmer the first few days. How do others do this? Would it be as easy as a warm closet in the house, wrapped in a sleeping bag? I have fridges to cold condition, but am not sure on how to keep a fermentor warm.
I’m with you on the sour beer. I made my first Berliner Weisse last year as a gateway beer and it turned out pretty good. I have a second batch with some process tweaks aging now. Now I’m looking at the Flanders styles as something to try this year.
Last year was also my first attempt at entering some local competitions. I did pretty well and took home a collection of ribbons. I really liked the feedback and enjoyed the competition aspect. What I’d really like now is a Best of Show award somewhere. So that’s my new competition goal… to brew something worthy of winning a Best of Show award.
Ditto Tooth. Made a berlinerweisse and plan to brew up the Flanders red within the next couple weeks.
I have been getting into yeast cultivation. I intend to build a yeast library and be able to blend intelligently.
Also want to learn to weld. I would like to move to a sculpture but have a very DIY approach when it comes to brewing.
- I want to try a no-chill batch, have the container but haven’t made the time.
- I’m going to focus on session beers this summer. Harder to brew than one might think.
- I want to brew a good Ofest and bock. I finally got my lager process down with helles so I want to expand the lager repertoire now.
You guys considering sours, go for it. They aren’t hard at all to make, it just takes a long time for them to really get good. Which means its even more important not to waste too much time thinking about it and brew one. I’ve found that recipes kind of take a back seat to the character of the yeast/bacteria.
I havent made an all grain CDA yet. I want to model one after Deschutes BRewery’s Hop in The Dark. Its just a matter of gguessing amounts. They have the grain and hop types on their website
The sour I did came from a BYO recipe by Jeff Sparrow who also wrote the book Wild Brews. It’s a West Flander’s Red. I’m pretty excited about it and have a year to do more reading/research about whether or not I want to blend it with some other stuff. We’ll see.
But now that that is off the list I would like to jump into a few competitions this year just to see what other people think of my beers. I have an ESB recipe I’ve written to style that I greatly enjoyed and may brew again for this summer to enter.
I’m still pretty new to homebrewing, but the big things on my short term radar are making some mead and making the jump to all-grain (BIAB).
All grain.
But first I really want to get the “nuts and bolts” of Grains, hops, yeast and water numbers. I only have a half dozen Extract batches under my belt and I’d like a firm understanding of everything before I just start dumping things together.
Planning on attempting a Stein Bier sometime this year. But, have been having a hard time tracking down large enough chucks of granite in my area. Think I’ve got a promising source now and may be heating rocks by the end of summer or early fall.
figure out step & decoction mashing, my efficiency, and make more wine styles. the other thing I wanted to try is fermenting now: a sour Imperial Stout. I used Roeselare.
My big idea is to make a coolship. I was thinking of using a stainless steel sink and building a housing unit over it out of wood with a tile ceiling. My only fear is putting a lot of time into something and getting undrinkable beer out of it. Only bug I’m sure I have around is acetobacter. After reading the Brett article in this month’s Zymurgy and hearing the Crooked Stave brewer (same guy for both), I think I’m going to start with an all Brett beer.
I think I’ll leave some wort out on it’s own and see if I can get some wild yeast before I build the coolship.
[quote=“breslinp”]My big idea is to make a coolship. I was thinking of using a stainless steel sink and building a housing unit over it out of wood with a tile ceiling. My only fear is putting a lot of time into something and getting undrinkable beer out of it. Only bug I’m sure I have around is acetobacter. After reading the Brett article in this month’s Zymurgy and hearing the Crooked Stave brewer (same guy for both), I think I’m going to start with an all Brett beer.
I think I’ll leave some wort out on it’s own and see if I can get some wild yeast before I build the coolship.[/quote]
I think the majority of “wild bugs” in a wooden Beligan coolship are coming from whats growing in the wood itself. They may have been seeded from the air originally, but mostly I think it carries over batch to batch.
Sounds interesting, I think some guys in Rolla did that last year. I’d like to see it done some day.
For the past few years I’ve been trying to brew with each of the yeast strains available to homebrewers. I’ve got no interest in some (the more obscure wit and german wheat yeasts), but of the remaining 40 or 50 strains I’ve now tried all but 5 or 6. My goal is to try these remaining stains in the next year or so.
Keg. I wanna keg.
1: Oak Aged (will be doing this soon)
2: Water Chemistry (I want to install an RO filter and start using water salts)
3: Sours (Going to need more secondaries before this happens)
Brew a Saison. I have a lot I need to get right (esp. consistency) before I try, though.
