Had a big brew weekend! 3 beers this weekend, and transferred one onto fruit in the secondary. From Kansas With Love, an IPA using the fresh hops I grew in my back yard, using Voss Kveik: Base beer for what will be Nordic Princess, our Raspberry Wheat, also fermed with Voss Kveik: Harvestfest, our Oktoberfest: Peach, Hun, our peach pilsner right after transferring from the primary: Our setup in the farm shop... the forklifts come in handy!
Brewed my Lil ale double batch brew yesterday evening. Didn't take much longer for double the volume. Racked off 23lt just before flame out into a cube laced with 20g of Brooklyn hops. Batch volume was down just a tad but gravity was 4 points higher at 1.050. I actually liked the extra volume for mashing it meant the bag was way clear of the elements. I've included a bit of mid brew day multi tasking clip showing the cool steam column up onto patio roof I thought it looked cool anyhow. Cheers
Brewed 10 gallons of my NEIPA today, had some struggles with my first brew on my new to me system, but got er dun
Whatcha run into Craigerr on the new to you system??? Also, how did you handle the pitching in the 2 carboys so to keep things uniform in the batch or are you going to mix them at racking time? I guess you could repurpose the boil kettle as a bottling bucket.
First runnings volume as a wee bit over, but gravity was way low, after batch sparge PB gravity was low at 1041 (1055), volume was over by a bit better than a half gallon. Once I got near end of boil volume (no boil hops, so not bittering concerns with the longer boil) gravity was still way low, I added DME to bring it up. Here comes the brain cramp, 8oz of hops, yeah, I'll just toss those in. Well, my pump clogged up so ended up whirlpooling with my drill and a paddle I made. Also, as the boil kettle is low to the ground, and I have to pump into FV. I could not use the pump, so I used an auto syphon for the first FV. I then lifted the kettle (my back is KILLING me now) up onto a table, used the spoon to raise the arm above the hop debris, and drained the balance into the second fermenter. You know you did it wrong when your back is KILLING you! Other than that, I was super pleased with the Keggle Mash Tun, it held temp well. I wrapped it with two layers of reflective, made a cover for the top with reflective and dense styrofoam insulation. I also threw a couple blankets over the top too.
Pitching this morning, going to stir up the starter real good, and pour half of it off into another graduated container (sanitized of course)
Talk about ironing out the kinks Craig looks like your back may need ironing out by a mesus! Don't know if it was whole cone hops that clogged the pump but a good wizz in the blender makes them more manageable I've found. But it was probably just the sheer volume of them. So much for a stuck sparge eh more like a stuck pump! Well it can only get better eh! Bet that brew turns out one of you best after all that!
The beer fairy didn't finish my Altbier while we were on our walk. So I guess I'll have to go do it. Kitchen fairy was on strike, too.
Brewed Ozarks Vienna Blonde this morning. 4 hours start to finish. That has to be my best time I've ever knocked one out. Cleaned, pitched, everything. I'm usually right around 6 hours all said and done.
Second time out on the Red Trolley clone and second time using the new rig...man I do love the color of that stuff. Getting things dialed in is fun. I think I need to spend a little more time rehearsing the steps it takes to smoothly go from the hot side to the cold side and playing with my tubing so to make things flow. It feels a bit awkward right now but we'll get there. A nice shot of the hot break....
Brewed another session IPA today. Bittered with Warrior, then threw in some Citra, Mosaic & Azacca. My OG was 1.047 instead of 1.050. Not a big deal. Maybe make it up with attenuation.
Gotta remember to get some Warrior with my next hop order, Been wanting to try them for some time now, but always forget.
