re: Homebrewing Thread: Volume II

quote:

---

I brewed a 10 gallon batch today. 100% pilsner and Hallertau Mittelfruh. I'm fermenting both batches with Oslo. One batch will get brett B because why not?

---

I've been considering a kveik pilsner but...

quote:

---

There's no crispness like you get with a lager yeast at low temperatures.

---

This would be my issue. I like a good crisp pilsner with some noble hop bite. I also was thinking of an oktoberfest with this strain, but think i'll just do the quick lager method.

Huge if true

Probably still cold crash. idk, experimenting with it would be half the fun lol

quote:

---

Any suggestions?

---

Awesome. I started my first solera about 9 months ago, so I haven’t made my first pull yet. Just treat it like a normal sour. Only suggestions would be, try to primary in a separate fermenter. If you leave sours sitting on trub for multiple years, like a solera, then you’re see some negative off flavors. A year is fine, but a solera is basically a never ending sour.
2) Forget the rum barrel. The smaller 5 gallon barrels have smaller staves and allow too much oxygen ingress. If you were just going to age for 3 or 4 months, you’d be ok, but in a 5 gallon rum barrel, your beer may get acetic. Also, from what I’ve read, spirit barrels, aren’t taken very good care of. Bourbon barrels seem to be better than other spirits but rum and tequila are usually rough. Also, you have to make sure nothing is growing in the barrel. You’ll need to rehydrate it as well, and make sure the rings are secure.

In short, On the homebrew level, solera and spirit barrels aren’t great mates. Just stick with glass and add wood spirals soaked in rum, if you want the character. You could even fortify it with some rum if you want.

If you really want to use the barrel, you could age your solera pull in the barrel for a couple months, but unless you’re solera aging is a 7 gallon fermenter, you will have too much headspace in the 5 gallon barrel.

If it was me, I wouldn’t use the barrel for solera. If you’re set on using the barrel, just make a standard mixed ferm sour (or quick sour) and finish the beer in the barrel for a month or 2. Just beware of oxygen ingress.

quote:

---

. It would be a good yeast selection if you were planning on brett aging as there's a lot for the brett to work with. In

---

Sounds perfect. Not able to brew until next weekend but I need a blender batch. Sounds like a good candidate for a Brett/Sach copitch. Currently have 3 gallons of a mixed ferm beer that is getting some cherries, so this will be the target. Remainder of the batch will get the infamous Roselaire blend.

FWIW, I’m fairly certain I’ve used 568 before, but I’m sure it was in one of my long aged mixed ferm batches.

Beer Gun owners

If you have had problems with too much foam when bottling with a Beer Gun, I may have a cheap and simple hack to help reduce excesive foaming.

I bought a pack of #2 drilled stoppers on Amazon. I removed the tip of the Beer Gun and slid the stopper on to the shaft, and then replaced the tip. The stopper is slightly loose and can easily slide up and down the shaft.



When filling a bottle, just fill it as normal. Flush with CO2 with the stopper above the mouth of the bottle, and then push the stopper down into the bottle and fill. You don't want to jam it in too hard, just enough so that the stopper compresses around the shaft on forms a seal. As you fill, the stopper will keep a small amount of back pressure in the bottle that helps to reduce foaming. If too much pressure builds up, it will break through the seal between the stopper and the shaft, so I didn't have any concerns of a bottle exploding.

You can see in the picture below that I only had about a 1/2 inch of foam when filling a bomber. It isn't a perfect solution, but it worked pretty well and I had MUCH less foam than when I have bottled in the past.

Brewing tomorrow. Last brew day was in June. Brewing another blender saison batch. Fermenting with Belgian Saison II and Brett Brux. Hops are Strisselspalt, but mostly being used as a bittering hop.

2 gallons will be blended with 3 gallons of a year old mixed ferm saison. Souring components on the mixed ferm are a mixture of dregs and Bootleg Biology Mad Fermentationist saison blend, generation 2 or 3. This 50/50 sour/brett, sach. blend will be aged on about 3 lbs/gallon of rainier/dark sweet cherries. I hope to keep it on fruit for at least 2 or 3 months before bottling. That would put bottling of this batch in November/December.

Going to brew for the first time tomorrow. My brother is giving me all of his equipment.

Going to swing by LA Homebrew for some supplies today, any advice on the yeast to get for a Double IPA?

I kegged my simcoe dry-hopped APA 2 days ago. I was tired and lazy and chose to forgo a closed transfer on this one. I'm hoping that I won't regret that. Really excited to try this one, as I have hated drinking my NE-style Pale Ale. Honestly just tired of the hazy stuff, and looking for something drier and less filling. Loving the Kolsch I have on tap, but there isn't much left in the keg. Trying to plan out my next brew, preferably something that appeals to the masses like a blonde ale or a wheat ale.

My little birds have heard rumblings of a GeauxPack/Estimator Liverpool-themed collab in the works.

quote:

---

any advice on the yeast to get for a Double IPA?

---

What kind of double IPA? If you're going for a good ol' fashion American IIPA, then 1056. You can't ever go wrong with 1056. If you're going for a bastard NEIIPA, use what Bug said.