Its going to be nice day today!

[LarryBrewer]

Finally, the clouds have lifted and it is supposed to get above 60F! I'm going to brew this afternoon!

 

[Nosybear]

Larry, where on the planet are you that the weather is so nice?

BTW, I'm brewing today as well - but although the clouds have lifted it will definitely NOT be above 60 in Denver! Classic American Lager using Hochkurz mashing, 90-min boil and Pilsner Urquell yeast. It ain't going to be a Coors despite the corn!

 

[LarryBrewer]

We're in Portland, Oregon. Normally, we don't get to see the sun much in February.

In the mile high city - do you have to adjust much for the altitude? I mean in terms of boiling temp or other brewing processes?

 

[LarryBrewer]

Mash is proceeding! It is 53F in the shed. I used a +5 temp offset, and hit the strike temperature spot on. When it is 40F in the shed, it works better to use something close to a +10 temp offset. I've been keeping records on this and when I have enough data I will incorporate that into the mash calculator tab of the brew session feature.

I'm doing an all Nugget pale ale. The nugget vine we have produces a lot, so I have too much nugget to begin with.

 

[LarryBrewer]

All right - got it all done, now its just down to clean up. Hit my gravity and volume spot on!

 

[Nosybear]

More proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy, Classic American Lager is in the 'fridge. Brewing here is interesting - I'm at 6,000' so the boiling point is about 199°. I don't make any adjustments for boil times despite the lower boiling point (but my Texas wife has a hell of a time cooking dried beans). Sometimes if I take my beer way up high, like to 10,000', I get spews from the pressure differential. All in all, it's a nice place to brew. I've heard but can't prove that the lower boiling point gives a softer bitterness.

And in celebration of both a near-miss and a direct hit from space today, watched "Armageddon" as I brewed. Fortunately it doesn't take a lot of attention.

 

[Nosybear]

Part of my hops - the Crystal - I got out in Palisade, CO from a grower next to the B&B we stay in there. I'll be damned if they don't have a distinct vanilla-orchid note! I used them exclusively in my "Weedwhacker" (brew this beer! It's probably the most perfect session beer I've done and it far exceeds the original) and the result is a very balanced, very aromatic beer - the banana-clove from the Hefeweizen yeast and the vanilla-orchid from the hops results in a wonderful nose and the beer itself is pure homemade wheat bread. Only drawback is I have no idea of the alpha-acid content. I just hope Dave has some more next August.

 

[Nosybear]

Oh, recipe and procedure for the Classic American....
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/r ... ican-lager
Primary fermentation at 53°
Diacetyl rest (2 days)
Lagering at 35° for at least four weeks.

 

[LarryBrewer]

And here was the result (correctly oriented, now that the EXIF Orientation bug is fixed in the upload photo logic). Had tried to upload this from my phone on brew day last Friday but it was coming in sideways. Another user also reported the issue that same week. Anyhow it is fixed, and the photos show up in the correct orientation now!

 

[Nosybear]

The Classic American Lager is on the left, the Schwarzbier on the right. With the snow coming to Denver tonight, I'm planning on bottling the Schwarz.... And below is my Palisade Organic Crystal hops, one of my secret weapons. Cheers, gents, and stay warm!

 

[LarryBrewer]

Did you forget to to click 'add the file'?

 

[Nosybear]

It's there now.... Was having both a rotation issue (the attachment feature appears to automatically rotate the image 90° clockwise) and a computer issue (this old box is trying its best to die). Hopefully I solved my own issues.

 

[LarryBrewer]

Huh, that is strange with the image rotation, we just released fix that deals with correction the rotation on pictures taken with smart phones and tablets. (Just confirmed I can upload pictures from my digital camera without any problems.)

What did you use to take the image?

Looking good btw! I like how much capacity you have in there. I can barely squeeze two fermentors into my chest freezer fermentation chamber.

 

[Nosybear]

I used a Samsung Galaxy S3 to take the pic.

If I were to squeeze them, I could get three five-gallon carboys in my fridge, provided the glass shelf would support the weight. It's a normal kitchen fridge, I picked it up used from a dealer here in town for $75. I'd like to have another so I could control ales in one and do lagers in the other. But the first order of business is to get the basement tricked out so I can brew 100% all-grain and do full boils. The Schwarzbier is now in bottles but the Classic American will go into diacetyl rest in the next day or so. But dang, the uncarbonated Schwarz is good! It's comparable to a Kostritzer, nice and dry, enough malt to make it interesting but light bodied enough to make it drinkable. My "lazy man's decoction" pushed up the malt nicely!

Cheers!