re: Homebrewing Thread: Volume II

About to brew a batch this weekend and next. Trying to decide what to brew and when. The 2 beers will be another NEIPA and another long aged mixed fermentation sour.

The NEIPA will be like the last one, with whatever hops i have left in the fridge. Pretty sure i have sabro, citra, bru-1, and zappa in the fridge. Maybe some galaxy. And, i will hop like i did last time as i've found that method has given me the best results of all of my NEIPA's. All dry hops are dumped in the biotransformation addition. This eliminates any potential oxygen pickup from dry hopping later. The continual fermentation also pushes out any O2 within the hops further eliminating oxygen pickup. The rest of the "dry hopping" will be in the keg. The filter screens worked beautifully last time. The hop aromas and flavors lasted the entire length of the keg, last time, which the keg lasted about 1 1/2 months.


The mixed ferm will be 6 gallons of a belgian golden ale base, with maybe a little bit of caramel malt to produce a bit of an amber color and add some maltiness. I'll primary with a sach belgian or saison strain or maybe a hefe strain, then rack to 2 - 3 gallon fermenters. 2 gallons will be blended with 1 gallon of my first mixed ferm sour i've had in a demijohn, along with The Yeast Bay Brett Brux 184 and will age. The other 2 gallons will be blended with a 1 gallon demijohn of generation 4 of wicked weed dregs. The remaining 2 gallons from the fermenter will refill the demijohns to maintain the cultures inside.

Considering doing the mixed ferm first so i have time to get a shipment of new hops coming in.

Also need to krausen my pilsner in hopes of saving it. It's still got a bit of diacetyl in it, and hoping krausening does the trick.

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Brewing my first Munich Helles this weekend

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I had a Helles from All Relation over the weekend. It was really good. Nice "clean" flavor, but with more of a malt impact than a pilsner or traditional light lager.

Speaking of pilsner, i'm strongly considering adding Brett to the keg to clean up the diacetyl, and let it sit for a couple weeks. Had the idea to try a brett pilsner a while back, and since i have a butterbomb going on right now with my straight pilsner, and not 100% convinced krausening with another lager strain would work with an already kegged and carbonated pilsner...i may add some brett and some hops and let it sit for 2-3 weeks and see what happens. Worst case scenario is i have to dump it.

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Did you notice any negatives to adding to the keg? Any sort of off flavors towards the end? If not, I think I might start doing that as well.

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None at all. I didn't realize i was on my last pour until the keg started sputtering. I highly recommend the filter tubes, though. I utilize 2 for my NEIPA's. One in the fermenter when doing the O2 free transfer. The other in the keg, that the dip tube sits in. You can cut the mesh tubes with some good scissors to fit whatever container you're placing them in.

LINK



Below is how i position in my carboy, but i've cut off about 4" from the top so it fits inside the carboy, so i can place my carboy cap on top and slide the sterile siphon starter in. This is also helpful with my sour fruited beers when wanting to package.



And below is how i utilize my other filter in the keg. Works perfectly.

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I'm about 9 months into mine. Coming along nicely. Super funk.

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This would be more of a short turnaround for mine, to try and clear up some of the diacetyl. I dunno, still throwing around ideas.

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My opinion of brett is to make intentional. If it only gets a few weeks to work, then to me it would just taste like contaminated beer, imho.

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But i'd rather brett than diacetyl. I guess i'm wondering if a couple weeks is enough time for brett to work on an already stabilized FG of 1.012. I'm guessing it's not, and i'll probably end up krausening with a clean lager strain (probably saflager) and seeing what happens. And dump if it doesn't clear up.

Got my brew ingredients yesterday. Doing an NEIPA tomorrow and utilizing the remainder of the hops in the freezer, and keg hopping with some store bought cryo citra, cryo-cascade, and an additional 1 oz of citra. First time using cryo, but from what i've read, 1 oz of cryo hops is equivalent to a 2 oz. doseage.

Hops in this beer from the freezer will be Citra, Sabro, Galaxy, Bru-1, and Zappa.

Mango
Coconut/pineapple
Cucumber
Blueberry
Blackberry
Plums
Papaya

Actually found a recipe to make coconut cream that I may alter to add into a pina colada gose.

LINK

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Ingredients
400 ml Coconut Milk (full-fat)
375 g Sugar (roughly 1¾ cups)
12 g Coconut Powder (1 Tbsp) (optional)
½ g Salt (? teaspoon

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Maybe eliminate the salt, and lower the sugar. I’ve had issues with maintaining coconut flavors in beer from shredded coconut, so maybe this would work.

any of you use the RO systems at winn dixie (etc)? i usually buy gallons of distilled, but curious if i could assume the RO are a decently neutral starting point.

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any of you use the RO systems at winn dixie (etc)? i usually buy gallons of distilled, but curious if i could assume the RO are a decently neutral starting point

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I’ve done it twice. Supposed to be very neutral like distilled. However, I noticed no perceivable difference between RO and tap water with the appropriate salts. That being said, BR has excellent water for brewing, IMO.

Also, I did this early on I’m my brewing so I may or notice a difference today as my brewing has improved dramatically.

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However, I noticed no perceivable difference between RO and tap water with the appropriate salts

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I live outside Walker. My water is too hard to do anything with besides darker beers. If i brew anything less than SRM 10 i have to add too much acid which brings a tangy taste. If i don't add acid then I get a harsh taste like dry champagne.