re: Homebrewing Thread: Volume II

Sorry, I entirely missed the Friday update a few weeks ago.

I have officially kicked my kegs in the keezer, and for the first time in a while I have nothing ready to take their spots... Disappointed for not brewing, but now I have 3 beers I need to brew!

Definitely doing a Hazy IPA for one. I have some hops in the freezer I need to use up. Thinking Citra, Galaxy, and Idaho-7. Thinking about doing no boil hops. I like some backbone in my NEIPAs, but I am brewing this for a friend who I think just wants it to be as juicy as possible. Has anyone done all whirlpool hops for bitterness? If so, how much and what time did you add them?

Other than that, I need ideas. Whats a good October/November beer? Never made a brown ale, so maybe something like that. Or an Oktoberfest, never too late for one.

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. Bought ingredients for 2 beers, an Oktoberfest (late for it, but LAs fall weather is also a few months late), and a DIPA. This will be my first double IPA. I think I am going to do a 90min boil, might be the only way I can achieve the efficiency I need.

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I need to slow down with my brewing. I've been trying to get beers on tap, and when brew day comes around, i'm trying to do too much when i brew, so i'm not paying attention to my numbers enough. I kegged my Oktoberfest yesterday. It finished higher than i wanted (1.018), but tastes pretty good. Brewed this about 2 months ago i think. It's been lagering for 3-4 weeks. First traditional lagering method. I've been "quick lagering" for my pilsners.

My next brew is a Pilsner Urquell clone, with Bootleg's unpasteurized czech lager yeast. I will be doing simple infusions instead of a decoction. Can't really figure out how to do a decoction on an infusion system. I've done turbid mash before for my lambics, and i think it's relatively close to the same method. I'll add some melanoiden malt to mimic the profile of a decoction mash.

Other than that, i need to start blending some sours and bottling. Probably spend most of October/November blending or brewing blender batches. My sour closet sits at 10 or so full carboys, so i need to free up some space.

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I need to slow down with my brewing.

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Brew day coming up Saturday.

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well you seemed to have failed....



i need to brew... i havent brewed in over a year.

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i don't get nearly enough dissolved oxygen in my wort from just shaking my fermenters.

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I've been oxygenating with a tank and a diffusion stone for a couple of years now and it has helped fermentation take off faster and haven't had any stalls even with saison yeast. I haven't oxygenated my starters other than manually shaking/swirling as I use a stir plate and that provides plenty of oxygen.

Just got back from lahomebrew. His only base malts were 2-row and pilsner. Asked him about and he said people aren't brewing anymore.

Anyone else see the home brew scene dieing?

Been a month since the last post, what's on the homebrew radar?

My czech pilsner is lagering at the moment. I used bootleg biology's Czech unpasteurized lager. After 4 days and only dropping by 8 points, i dumped 2 packs 34/70. Took another couple days before fermentation started back up again. Terminal gravity is around 1.013. Tastes pretty good. I used some melanoiden malt to mimic decoction mash flavors. Tastes pretty close to pilsner urquell, without the diacetyl. Probably have another 3 weeks or so of lagering before i keg.

It's also turbid mash lambic season, again. It's a bitch and i can never get some of my infusion temps as high as required. I'm assuming everything is coming out ok, seeing as i haven't really touched my prior batches since i started fermenting, outside of measuring once earlier this year. This will be the final batch of my 1, 2, and 3 year blend. Come December next year, i'll be able to blend my lambics for my first geuze and bottle.

Mornin' fellow homebrewers! Got an email over the weekend that i medaled on one of the 2 beers i submitted to the Tour de Brew competition. Came in 3rd under the sour/fruit/spice entry. Seems like sours are the only things i medal in lately. Anxious to see the scoresheets for that and my oktoberfest i submitted that didn't place. Wonder if i had the same carbonation issues on that one, when i bottled from the tap.

FWIW, i'm not sure mixing sours with fruit/spice beer in a category is applicable. Must have not been enough entries.

Brewing up an Ordinary Bitter Saturday morning. I've been buying a lot of classic style beers lately, but i haven't been able to find a bitter. I've been wanting to brew this style for awhile. Low ABV, moderate hops. Low Carbonation. Should be a very crushable beer. This will be homebrew batch #108 since i started about 11 years ago and my 14th batch of 2022 (avg. about 10 brews/year).

Plan to keg my czech pilsner this friday, also. I think i'm going to switch out the faucet heads to the stout faucet, and see if i can get some good foam in the pour. Which reminds me, i need to order a flow control nukatap faucet.

I also, plan to blend the biere de garde in the sour closet. the "clean/non sour" batch was brewed the beginning of september, fermented with sach and brett yeast. The sour batch was brewed a little over 2 years ago, just never got around to packaging it. The first blend was pretty good, but i'm trying to make some more room in the sour closet, so i may be bottling 10 gallons instead of 5, with differing ratios.

Also, i dry hopped my Jester King La Petite Prince clone with Saaz and added a neutral toast oak stave. Also added a stave to my brett beer that somehow became a mixed ferm sour.

The sour beer closet is getting a little out of hand, so i plan, over the next few months, to package up majority of what's in there. I have 12 or so 5 gallon fermenters in differing stages of ferment (4 are my lambic/geuze project). Want to reduce that amount to about 8 or so. Keep the lambic project going, the saison, brett/sour, and maybe the JK sours.

On Tap: I got an Oktoberfest that is almost done, and a mixed ferm blueberry saison that is drinking well right now.
In Bottles: L'internationale mixed ferm saison (gold medal winner), Bring on da Funk Brett/mixed ferm beer (bronze medal winner), Orval clone (not getting any brett character though), a cherry sour that i don't care for, and about 20-30 bottles or so, of really old sours that i brewed before i learned how to blend. These would be dumpers, but age makes sours better so i'll see how they progress.

And finally, ordered a new lambic book from Drie Fonteinen website. Should be coming in next week sometime. Supposedly, it challenges many of the established "myths" of lambic with legitimate sources. Apparently, lambic/faro isn't as old of a beer style as it was once claimed to be. I've been reading a lot into the history of beer styles lately. Just bought an older book on pilsner that i need to crack.

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ended up at 104%.

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I didn't know that was mathematically possible

It's Christmas time! What have you got, or are getting brewing/beer related?

My in-laws got me one of these.



Waiting on the CO2 cartridges to come in, but i should be able to fill this growler for christmas travels. The one i got was the 64 oz.

Also got one of these RTIC backback coolers.