re: Homebrewing Thread: Volume II

That’s pretty awesome. It takes me a good 12-15 minutes with my counterflow chiller. I’m brewing a Mexican Lager with the Kveik. They are telling me it can be kegged next weekend. I don’t need it fast and I can control my fermenting temperature. I’m not sure why I’m even using Kveik but I’m up for trying something new.

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So 2 oz citra now and then 2 oz citra, 1 oz summit, and 1 oz Amarillo when fermentation ends for three days?

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Too late now, but I hope you did just that cause that schedule seems perfect. Just be quick about your additions to minimize oxygen intrusion.

Picked up a pound of Citra hops yesterday from Yakima Valley Hops, cause they had a flash sale. Also added 8oz of Vic Secret and Mosaic to my order... Think I'm going to start having a Single-Hop APA on tap at pretty much all times. I can try to get familiar with what each hop brings to the table, and figure out which ones I like most. It's so easy/cheap to brew, makes a very drinkable beer, and almost everyone likes them.

ETA: I got my stout fixed, by basically doing nothing. I just kept pouring them and eventually it started coming out clear and perfectly carbonated... I will say, this beer is just not that good. Almost has a Tootsie roll type flavor that I am not very fond of. Very little roasty-ness or vanilla, it just has a dull chocolate flavor. Feel like I probably had some oxygen intrusion during fermentation that has kind of lead to a not terrible but just not very good beer.

Well I will be damned. My neipa stalled at 1.026 when it's supposed to finish at 1.012. My fermentation temp was a bit low so I raised the temp significantly in the room and no change in gravity. Im starting to think there's something in my mash process that is yielding unfermentable sugars.

For this batch I did a 30 minute preheat of my mash tun and an infusion calculator. After a few minutes I've been checking with my thermapen and finding that I'm having a temp drop so Ive been adding more hot water to bring the temp up to my desired temp. I'm thinking that the temps I am getting nearer to the surface are not accurate to the temps deeper in the grain bed and that infusing more hot water is increasing my alpha amylase activity for the duration of the mash. I think I'm going to get one of those 12 inch analog thermometers and leave it in the mash tun and trust my infusion calculator more.

Either way I will pitch a pack of s04 just to confirm that cell count wasn't the problem and then add the ultraferm to see if I can finish this one up. Thoughts on my mash temp theory?

Yeah thats what I'm thinking. While I agree the S04 is probably not the answer I was trying to rule out yeast as the problem. Technically I underpitched even though I used a 1.5L starter because of the age of the yeast and OG. Also, while the ultraferm fixed my stout with the same issue there's no way to know how much it will convert. It could finish up perfect, still be too sweet, or dry out too much. It's kind of the nuclear/last ditch option.

ETA although you could argue that adding the ultraferm sooner will give the yeast a better chance of still being active and cut down on infection. Going back to the fermentation temp, it was definitely on the low side of the temp range but it's been in a warm environment for 36 hours or more without a lot of change in airlock activity and no change in gravity so I feel like we have ruled that out.

I had a post on this a page back. I did use a calculator which advised to do two 1.5l starters to make enough cells because my liquid yeast was only about 42 bil cells because it was old. The calculation is based on building up a yeast culture from tired yeast that was previously pitched so I wondered if the truth of the matter was somewhere in the middle. Bug thought a single 1.5l starter was good enough and he's brewed way way more than me. The starter was lively and fermentation started quickly and was very vigorous for several days despite my fermentation room being below the yeast optimal temperature. Had I done the second starter then I wouldn't need to pitch any more to rule out underpitching as the problem. What makes me think the problem lies in my mash process is that two consecutive beers have been underattenuated and in both I infused more hot water in the tun. Of course on both beers I technically underpitched but the more recent one should've attenuated more considering the starter.

Thanks for the mashing tips. Clearly I need some process improvement in that area, regardless of the outcome of this batch.

So rehashing my earlier post a few pages back, i'm updating my brew plan based on the yeast i have left.

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Beer #1
- TYB Amalgamation 2
I plan to brew a 6 gallon batch and pitch this yeast with a sach strain and let it ride for a month or so, then replenish what i bottle from the solera batch.

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I brewed this beer over the weekend. Suffered from not updating my equipment profile before the brew, and ended up wrecking my efficiency (ended up around 50%). Anyway, it's still fermenting along. Ended up copitching with White labs Belgian Ale sach yeast with Amalg. 2. The next phase for this beer is:

Pull 3 gallons of Solera and blend with 2 gallons of this batch and bottle with a wine yeast. The empty 3 gallons in the fermenter will be replaced with the remaining 3 gallons of this batch and will continue aging. Probably will make the next Solera pull in another 6-9 months.

The solera batch is a golden sour recipe using Bootleg Biology Funklandia mega blend. Brewed originally on September 11, 2018 with Jester King, Crooked Stave, and Jolly Pumpkin dregs.

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Beer #2
- 8 oz. spruce tips
- 1 oz. juniper berries
- Bootleg Sour Weapon P - Quick souring pedio
Will make my annual batch of grinch juice. Which is a quick soured gose with spruce tips, juniper berries, and dry hopped with citra. May need an additional keg.

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I still have 2 full kegs so this beer will be pushed back in the brew schedule until i float one of the 2 kegs.

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Beer #3
- Bootleg Saison Parfait Sach yeast
- TYB Amalgamation 1
L'internationale pt. 1 - I'm down to 2 bottles left of the first iteration of the l'internationale saison recipe. Grain bill is the same as in the link, yeast/hops/etc... varies. My last batch was fantastic! This will be blended with 1 gallon of a sour and will sit about 3-4 months before bottling.

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This batch will be moved up to my next brew session. This beer will be blended with 1 gallon of a sour i have sitting in a 1 gallon demijohn and will sit for 1-2 months before bottling.

The rest of the brew plan i posted earlier is still pending for later dates. This post

So in terms of dates for available bottles...

1) Beer #1 (5 gallons) will be bottled in roughly 1 month. Solera will be getting some French oak tonight.
2) Beer #3 will be bottled in roughly 2-3 months.
3) Then the next bottled beer will be Generation 3 (about 3 years old) of a batch initially brewed with built up dregs from various Wicked Weed sours. I have it sitting in a 3 gallon fermenter and will be a year old in March. Will probably rack into a larger fermenter with some fruit and topped off with some fresh beer before bottling.
4) Then i have 6 gallons of a biere de garde that was brewed last June that will be either bottled as is, or split and blended with new beer (depending on acidity). Half of it will probably bottled straight, the other half fruited. Was thinking to fruit it with plums or Muscadines if available.

And then I have 1 more 3 gallon batch and a handful of demijohns that will either be used for blending or propagation.

Also, i really want to try fermenting some acorns and using that. The Homebrewer's Almanac from the guys at Scratch brewing has a recipe using fermented acorns i may use.

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What makes me think the problem lies in my mash process is that two consecutive beers have been underattenuated and in both I infused more hot water in the tun.

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This seems likely the culprit after reading your other posts and seeing Frat's response. What temperature was reading out on your mash tun? Do you have a secondary thermometer you can use to verify your mash temps?

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Clearly I need some process improvement in that area, regardless of the outcome of this batch.

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We only get better by making mistakes. And even then, you still have drinkable beer. Messing up is part of the fun, though it does seem nerve wracking at the time.

I recently calibrated my refractometer with distilled water and my thermometer is a thermapen. I don't think it's a calibration issue

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What temperature was reading out on your mash tun? Do you have a secondary thermometer you can use to verify your mash temps?

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My target mash temp was 148. I can't remember exactly what my infusion calculator said, but I added the requisite water to bring ambient temp (45) 12 lbs of grain to 148 after preheating the tun for half an hour with 160 plus water. After 5 minutes or so I checked the temp with my thermapen a inch or two below the wort surface but not in the grain. It was low 140s so I added a half gallon of hotter water until my temp measurement at the same spot was 148. It stayed damn close to that for the one hour mash. I sparged with 168 degree water. I didn't have a second thermometer because I at the time I thought the temp an inch below the surface was the same as in the grain. I'm theorizing that the temp in the grain might have been higher or lower. I remember thinking at the time that this was a surprising drop despite using an infusion calculator. My gravity out of the tun was 1.045 when it should've been 1.049. After an hour boil my og matched the target og. I am thinking about getting a long analog thermometer to leave in the mash tun as well as stir the mash after initially infusing to get a more accurate idea of where the temp is. What are yalls thoughts?

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My gravity out of the tun was 1.045 when it should've been 1.049

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That's probably a result of adding more water to your mash to get the right temp.

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After an hour boil my og matched the target og.

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Are you letting your wort sample cool before you measure or are you measuring while it's hot. There is a hydrometer adjustment calculator in beersmith i use if i pull too hot or too cold of a sample, but i try to brign the sample to room temps prior to measuring.

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I am thinking about getting a long analog thermometer to leave in the mash tun as well as stir the mash after initially infusing to get a more accurate idea of where the temp is. What are yalls thoughts?

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I typically add half the grain to the water, stir. Add half of remaining grain, stir. Add rest of the grain and stir. Then let it sit for about 5 minutes. Then i stir it up again to make sure it's well mixed and no dough balls, then i let it sit. And i'll periodically check my temps along the way with both my lavaworks thermapen and the digital thermometer on my mash tun.