Brew Night

Cookinbob

My wife had book club tonight, so I foraged some left overs and brewed an IPA.   Temp is in the teens, so I opened the garage door just a couple of feet and moved the kettle out close.  

9 lbs of malt extract plus 7 oz total of 5 different hops.  Most of the hops are at flameout or dry hopped in the secondary, so I should have lots of interesting flavors and aromas.  I'll leave it about 2 weeks in the primary, 4-5 days secondary with the dry hops, then into the keg.  Should be ready to drink mid March.  Tapping a new keg of home brew is always something I look forward to!

BREWnQ

Nice getting down to pitching temp should be no problem.

Skiddymarker

What yeast are you pitching and care to share any info on your hops? 

Being an IPA assume the secondary is warm, this is a great time of year to be making lagers. 

MaskedMarvel

Nine pounds? Is that a five gallon batch?

Griffin

What size pot are you using? The spoon sticking out looks like the same one I have. You just remeinded me I need to check the gravity on my bourbon barrel porter when I get home. Should be just about time to move it into the secondary and then pitch in the bourbon and the oak chips that have been soaking in the bourbon.

 

 

JohnInCarolina

Griffin said:

What size pot are you using? The spoon sticking out looks like the same one I have. You just remeinded me I need to check the gravity on my bourbon barrel porter when I get home. Should be just about time to move it into the secondary and then pitch in the bourbon and the oak chips that have been soaking in the bourbon.

 

 

Bourbon Barrel Porter you say?  What's your address again?

rtt121

Very nice.

I did 15 gallons of hefeweizen on Sunday.

Gonna do 15 of Bohemian Pilsner this Sunday.  Triple Decoction.. will most likely be a longgg brew day.

NervousDad

I have 4 beers to brew by March 15 for the NHC, but it's been so crappy that I'm slacking. I need to turn these beers around fast.

CANMAN1976

I'm happy to see some home-brewers on here....I just ordered a SS bulkhead and bazooka screen to convert my coleman cooler into a mashtun and next I gotta order a brewpot and wortchiller. My wife is going to kill me for getting into another $$ hobby but If I can brew some beer she likes I might be able to get away with it...lol

Cheers:0

BREWnQ

9lb of extract sounds about right should give you a 1.050 or so.  Any steeping grains or single malt?

I made a cream ale about 3 weeks ago and only had a few hours so did it with just extract and corn sugar.  Haven't kegged it yet but samples taste great.  Good luck with your IPA and feel free to send a sample.

@CANMAN1976 I pray that when I die my wife never sells my homebrew gear for what I tell her I bought it for.

rtt121

Skip buying a brew pot and find an old SS keg and cut the top out.

Also a process tip I converted to almost 100% of the time is No Chill brewing.  Basically seal up my boiling hot wort at flameout.  When the wort is at pitching temp (next day) I aerate and pitch.  Of course you can't do this if your fermenting in plastic or glass (without using some tertiary vessel).  Another thing to note if you try this method is that hop addition times must be adjusted as the hops are in contact with hot wort for longer. 

I'd prolly sell my chillers at this point.

Greeno55

Awesome stuff.  I just jumped into the art of home brew.  Got my equipment around Christmas, and finally got down to brewing late January.  My first batch, a Belgian Wit is currently conditioning in the bottle.  My second, a brown porter, is currently on day 4 in primary.  I'll soon be racking it over some vanilla extract made from a couple Madagascar vanilla beans that will spend some time in secondary before hitting the keg.  Loving it so far, but dying to finally taste the fruits of my labors. 

Cookinbob

When I went to bed last night there were no comments.  Lots of questions here, I am attaching a PDF of the recipe so you can see the hop amounts and schedule as well as the OG and FG on the brew, yeast, etc.  Much of this recipe was to use up a bunch of hops I had on hand which I am doing.  The Nugget hops were a replacement for Apollo which the local shop did not have.  I also intended to use Wyeast 1098 British Ale which was also out of stock, so used old reliable US-05.

I am an extract brewer.  Have done all grain with my son who has the mash tun, but it just takes too long.  I can be brewed and cleaned up in 3 hours.  When we do all-grain it is 5-6 at least.  I make what I consider awesome beers for me and anyone who comes by - mission accomplished!

My brewpot is a polarware 30 Qt.  It replaced an aluminum pot that was originally a turkey fryer. The polarware is a great high quality pot with a heavy clad bottom, very even heating, and will last a lifetime.

@greeno55, I have a Vanilla porter on tap right now, it is my cold weather standard.  A few years ago I gave up on vanilla beans, just add 2 oz of store bought vanilla extract to 5 gallons at kegging time, and it is perfect for my taste.  Good luck with yours!

@RTT121, I never heard of your no chill approach.  I have an immersion chiller and I pour the cooled wort into the primary through a big strainer which aerates it nicely.  I would not want my wort sitting on all that hot and cold break protein, and the hops that are mostly spent.  I know it would totally change the chemistry and flavor profile to the point that it was hard to predict the result!

I use a software package called Beer Tools Pro that is super for building/recording your recipe, and predicting the OG, FG, ABV, Bitterness, Color, etc.  Also makes it easy to duplicate if you have a real winner!  If you are interested, just do a web search, you will find it.

Cookinbob

Oops, here's the recipe

rtt121

I used beer tools pro. But switched to beersmith. The hops are very predictable still and hot break is great for yeast, spent hoops as well... actually one of the advantages imo.

end up with very clear beer after a cold crash.

for me it's easier and results great but I ferment in conical ss so I can dump whatever I choose not to ferment.

Cookinbob

Makes a difference.  I ferment in a 5 gallon plastic fermenter.  My basement has no running water or drain, so a conical is just not practical.  If I ever move,  a brew kitchen will be in the plan.

rtt121

Ditto on a future dedicated kitchen. Most likely will never happen. Fun to dream!

MaskedMarvel

I have several five gallon fermenters (buckets and glass carboys)...

You more experienced brewers can help me - What's the shelf life if I've refridgerated my hops, yeasts, and whole grains?  I have a lot in the fridge but don't want to waste my time...

My guess is the hops and yeast is probably toast.

Griffin

I have a newbie question that maybe @Cookinbob or somebody else can answer. The last batch I brewed, I remembered I had a turkey pot that had never been used. Aluminum. After brewing in it, a friend told me that you shouldn't berw in aluminum That is could produce off flavors. I did a little research online and it seemed like people were split on it. Kinda like the placesetter legs up/legs down when doing pizza. So is it ok to use aluminum? Do I need to upgrade to staniless steel?

Cookinbob

MaskedMarvel said:

What's the shelf life if I've refridgerated my hops, yeasts, and whole grains?  I have a lot in the fridge but don't want to waste my time...

My guess is the hops and yeast is probably toast.

Yeast will be stamped with a date.  Go by that.  If you are a little past the date, you can make a yeast starter a couple of days ahead to increase the cell count.  Dry yeast has a much longer shelf life than liquid.

Store Hops in the freezer instead of the refrigerator.  If they are in the original package, they should be good for at least a year.  I have bought bulk (1/2 lb for instance) and divided up into food saver bags, and stored for a year.  Over time they will degrade a bit, and it will take more to achieve the same bittering or aroma, but you can't measure it and probably can't taste it.  This last brew has Columbus leaf hops that have been in a food saver bag in the freezer for 18 months (had a great deal on a full pound).   Bear in mind, that Hops are harvested once a year, so the hops you buy are being stored for some period of time already.  As long as no light or oxygen, you should be good.  Normally I only stock up on hops that are seasonal or hard to get (Amarillo, Galaxy).   

As for grain, I don't think there is any advantage to refrigerating it.  Specialty malts like crystal, cara, etc, should keep for a long time.  Base malts if you are brewing all grain probably have a bit less of a shelf life, but should be good for 6-12 months.  Hopefully you don't have a rodent problem, as they love whole grain!

chays99

Griffin said:

I have a newbie question that maybe @Cookinbob or somebody else can answer. The last batch I brewed, I remembered I had a turkey pot that had never been used. Aluminum. After brewing in it, a friend told me that you shouldn't berw in aluminum That is could produce off flavors. I did a little research online and it seemed like people were split on it. Kinda like the placesetter legs up/legs down when doing pizza. So is it ok to use aluminum? Do I need to upgrade to staniless steel?

Aluminum is perfectly fine.  When I did extract brews, everything was done in aluminum.  Now that I do all grain, I heat my water in the same aluminum pot and boil in a keggle.

Check out this link for aluminum info:  http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/faq-aluminum-pots-boil-kettles-49449/

Griffin

Thanks for the link @chays99 . That is one of the ones I stumbled on in my research. Thanks for confirming that aluminum is ok. Maybe one day I'll get a SS pot, but for now I'll keep using the aluminum. This was only my 4th batch of beer so far (Hefewizen, Cerbveza, Dark ale and now this bourbon barrel porter). Been real fun so far and enjolying the results and learning new stuff along the way.

rtt121

Aluminum is OK.. If it's new make sure to boil water in it before doing anything else with beer.  This builds a layer of oxide that would protect it.

I wouldn't personally use aluminum though.

rtt121

You more experienced brewers can help me - What's the shelf life if I've refridgerated my hops, yeasts, and whole grains?  I have a lot in the fridge but don't want to waste my time...

My guess is the hops and yeast is probably toast.

Hops frozen and grain sealed I would go about a year.

Yeast is almost always able to made viable again.  For instance dogfishhead did a brew a few years back where they had found Saccharomyces cerevisiae on old clay pots from I forget where.  They were able to bring it back and they fermented a commercially produced beer with it. Edit: it's called "Midas Touch"

If you are using purchased yeast cookinbob is correct.. use the date.  Then take it over to Mr. Malty's Pitching rate calculator   and enter the details of your yeast and intended brew.   If it is really old it would probably require too much DME for it to be worth bringing it back.

Griffin

rtt121 said:

Aluminum is OK.. If it's new make sure to boil water in it before doing anything else with beer.  This builds a layer of oxide that would protect it.

I wouldn't personally use aluminum though.

I found that out a little too late. Oh well. Too much time invested. Will keep going and see how it turns out anyway. Fingers crossed.

rtt121

It will be beer

gmac

As long as you don't scrub the aluminum shiny first you will be fine and I think you will be fine anyway. I'm brewing this afternoon. I will try to grab some pictures. I do a minimum15 gals now. 30 gal pot, all grain, setting up 3 conical a but still working with carboys today. I've been brewing for 20 years off and on but really on for the last 5.

Griffin

Yes it will and it will have the desired effect even it there is an off taste which I hope there isn't. I'm moving to to a secondary this weekend where it will sit for another month. My plan is to let it bottle condition until Thanksgiving at least. I hear the longer this one sits the better. Somebody even took it out to 3 years. I don't have that kind of patience, though.

rtt121

I have a few sitting for 3 plus years.  Sours.

In my first brews I had off flavors but that was because of underpitching which is easy to do as homebrew shops don't tell you that unless you are using dry yeast that you need starter or probably 3-5 liquid yeast packs/vials depending on viability.

Come a long way the last 8 years.

SpanishMoon

Hey brew guys, I've got a question.  When I bought my house this summer, I got a beginner kit and brewed an Irish Red Ale back at the end of July.  Well since then we have had all kinds of weekend out of town guests wanting to come see the house, work got crazy busy with our busy time in the fall and my company acquired another company, I got my egg for my birthday and have been teaching myself to cook, honey do lists of projects swmbo wants me to do around the house, and a new puppy.  Bottling the beer got put on the back burner and it is still sitting in the carboy.  It has been in a closet that has nothing but my beer stuff in it, so it hasn't seen any light.  Is it worth it to bottle it and see how it turns out or should I dump it and call it a lost cause?

BREWnQ

Bob looks like a great recipe.