re: Homebrewing Thread: Volume II

I won't know until I taste it in a few months.

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I won't know until I taste it in a few months.

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You doing any measurements in the meantime?

a quick google search will give you a ton of options. I still have my 3rd keg up on the shelf. I dont want to use it for mashing until i set up a burner with the gas valves a probe to control temperature.

bargainfittings.com is the best and cheapest place to get bulkhead fittings, valves, site glasses, CAMlocks(which i recommend). As for drilling holes my stepped bit is shot after i have drilled a over 6 holes in mine and other peoples, so keep that in mind. if i drill anymore i need to buy another. That was the hardest part.

Looking for some recommendations for fruiting another 3 gallons of a golden sour base. This is the other half to the split batch. Tastes great so far. Funk aroma started off as burnt plastic for a few months, but developed into some nice funky brett flavors. Was thinking maybe doing plums, if i can find some. Would need about 4-5 lbs.

What are some fruits that are in season right now, outside of citrus?

Another question: My sister in laws' husband's aunt has 4 cask kegs hanging out behind her house. I was initially told "kegs" so i assumed sanky kegs, which i was going to convert to an brew system, but after seeing pictures, they are definitely casks. I'm sure they are pretty cruddy inside. Is there any way to repurpose them for brewing equipment? Or maybe clean them up and use them for homebrews?

They look like this, but are in poorer shape.

I'd dedicate one or two as soleras, keep one as a cask, and make a flower pot out of the 4th.

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That's a firkin (or maybe a pin, depending on size). They're great for serving real ales but the problem is that you have to have enough people to kill the whole thing at once -- or at least within a few days. Otherwise the beer will start getting oxidized.

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Yeah, did some reading on it a few minutes ago. Pretty much worthless for my purposes, unless i clean them up and sell them.

So a few homebrew happenings going on at the house.

1) I brewed a sach/brett saison back in June. Started out as a clean sach saison, then added some brett after primary. Then decided to add 4 lbs of fig puree'. Fig wasn't coming through so i said screw it, and blended in 1 gallon of my first mixed ferm sour that i had saved up. Somewhere along the line it was dry hopped with Nelson Sauvin. Bottled it about a month ago. It is drinking very nice right now. Noticeable brett. No fig. Slight acidity to keep it from being boring. It's a good easy drinker @ 6.4%.

2) Brewed a sour back in December of last year. It was a Golden sour base that i split into 2 - 3 gallon fermenters. Fermenter #1 had WLP566 belgian saison strain primaried. After 10 days i pitched Bootleg Biology Funk Weapon #3. After an additional 10 days, i pitched Bootleg Biology Sour Weapon #1 (pedio p.) and wicked weed dregs.
9/10/17 added a french oak spiral for 2-3 weeks.
10/15/17 added 8 lbs of puree'd raspberries.
And 2 weeks ago i bottled with EC1118 wine yeast. I'll be cracking open the first one this friday, but at bottling, it was tasting incredible.

3) The other half of that sour batch (above) was primaried with WY3724 Belgian Saison. After 10 days, added bootleg biology funk weapon #1. 10 days later, inoculated with Omega's Lacto blend and assorted dregs (wicked weed, almanac, grimm). This beer tasted and smelled like straight up burnt plastic from the 3-9 month mark. After that, the brett cleaned up and had nice funk notes to it. Same oak spiral was removed from the raspberry batch and added to this batch for 2-3 months.

12/2/17 - Initially wanted to use plums, but not in season so, bought some pears. Chopped up 4.5 lbs of Warren Pears (all they had at the store) and topped off with 1.5 lbs d'anjou pears. Warren pears, from my understanding, are only grown in Hattiesburg, MS at a single farm and is considered by many in the "pear community" (lol) as "The Warren pear is regarded as the most delicious American pear, that many don’t know exist." So after reading up on it in the grocery store, i knew i wanted it in my beer. These pears are incredibly sweet, almost candy-like. Considered to be a dessert pear.
12/3/17 - Added pears to fermenter and racked sour on top of pears. Prior to racking, FG = 1.006. That burnt plastic smell has appeared again. Not sure what is going on. Hoping the fruit and the tannins from the pear skins does something interesting with the Brett. Will bottle in a month.

4) 2 weeks ago i brewed up my "Coniferous" Spruce quick sour gose. Added about 3 oz. of spruce in the whirlpool @ 170 for 45 minutes. Noticed towards the end i forgot to add the salt and coriander. Added, brought the wort up to 200 degrees, then cooled to 98. quick soured with bootleg biology sour weapon pedio p. for 18-24 hours. pH dropped from 4.5 (pre-acidified with phosph. acid 75%) to 3.48. Didn't want it to be too sour and figured this was good enough. Pitched Gigayeast brett brux blend to ferment. Did a gravity reading Sunday, gravity = 1.010. 4.2% abv. Dry hopped with 3 oz. chinook. Tasted the sample. Minimal spruce, if any. I will have to do like last time, and make a tincture on the stove and add that at kegging this week.

5) and finally, brewing The Hopnotoad version 4.0, NEIPA. I'm growing weary of the heavy saturated on the tongue/spicy moouthfeel. This time i'm changing up a large portion of this beer.
Grain Bill - Changed the malt bill. Scrapped the vienna, lowered the 2 row, and aded some Golden Promise. Lowered the Oats from 12% to 5%, and added about 2% of carafoam.
Yeast - Using Bootleg Biology's Chardonnay yeast.

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Chardonnay is a clean fermenter but produces mild phenolics and a touch of citrusy & banana aroma at normal ale temperatures.

For Beer: Excellent for a unique take on New England Style IPAs using Local Yeast. This yeast greatly accentuates fruit-forward hops, creating a very complimentary ester profile. The lower flocculation characteristic visually matches this style and further enhances hop flavor. Beers with this culture will drop clear with enough time or use of finings.

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Hops - changing up from Citra, Amarillo, and Columbus to Citra, Galaxy, and Azacca. Will use about 14.5 oz. total hops in this batch.
Water - going to lower the chlorides and give it a slightly more balanced profile as opposed to heavy chlorides.

Before the year is out, plan to brew one more base sour for another long term sour. In addition, i have 2 - 3 gallon batches of a sour saison that was brewed in May. 1 fermenter contains Bootleg Biology Sour Solera Blend, and another contains bootleg biology Mad Fermentationist saison blend.

What's your brew world look like?

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what Brett variety produces the best pineapple ester? Clausenii?

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White Labs' clausenii has a more traditional barnyard funk, in my experience, at least done as a secondary strain. I haven't used the Wyeast's clausenii. Wyeast's lambicus throws tons of fruit in the several batches I've done with it as a secondary strain.

Sit-rep on my brews is that I have a pilsner, helles bock, and Mad Fermentationist sour on tap. I really like a 50/50 blend of the helles bock and sour. Reminds me so much of GI Matilda, which is one of my favorites.

I bought some Medusa hops recently and keep meaning to brew a simple pilsner SMaSH with it, but haven't gotten around to it. I'm hoping to do it this Friday if I'm not lazy enough to bundle up and brew on a cold night again.

My spontaneous beer appears fine, though I haven't tried it. I ended up pitching some ECY Bug Farm after the initial spontaneous krausen dropped in hopes that it would mimic barrel cultures. We'll see. I'm still not adventurous enough to try it yet. It smells weird, and I have a pretty high threshold for weird.

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Bootleg Biology's Chardonnay yeast

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Look forward to the results.