You know you're a home brewer when....

Yes, it was a busy home brew weekend.   We bottled 3 batches, brewed another, saved one, added amylase to 2 batches,, dry hopped one, combined a 1.5 gallon batch with 500 ml of Chardonnay, and cleaned everything... somethings multiple times... oh, and we had people over... and we went to church, a dinner date, and something else that I can't remember.  The beer on the sink window is a Saison/Wine Blend... it is amazing.  Ill post the recipe soon.  I make a 1.5 gallon batch of saison, and blend it with a 500 of Chardonnay. The alcohol from the wine means that carbonation can be a challenge. But this one is for a party on Saturday night.  So part of it will be bottled, and 1 gallon will be force carbonated in two 2 liter bottles... can't wait.

So this is the state of the Brewery/Kitchen/Homework station tonight. But, everything is clean... and will be ready for Thursday night, and Sunday afternoon... Ill be brewing 2 more batches of all grain for my other 2 Mr. Beer fermenters.  Both of them....LAGERS... that's right sports fans... LAGER in the LBK.

The LBK is perfect for small batch lagers.   It will actually fit in your fridge.  There are many, yes many, lager strains that primary ferment at ale temperatures.  Secondary cold... diacetyl rest for a couple of days... cold crash... package, drink.. repeat.  I like Wyeast Czech Pils, and White Labs 2308.  I follow this procedure with both of them. Ferment at 65 until primary ends, move LBK to the garage fridge (39F) and let it ride till final gravity is reached.  Out of the fridge for a few days for a diacetyl rest, then cold crash and bottle. Drink... Repeat.



By the way the beer in the photo on the left, is the batch I thought was ruined.  It was stuck at 1.024... It only started at 1.052.  It tasted like bad candy...  I added amylase enzyme, as of tonight it is down to 1.009.  Boom.  I also dry hopped it with .5 oz of Centennial.  Think it is actually going to be good.

   By the way, these photos don't even scratch the surface of my carboy/bucket/brewing gear obsession... how many fermenters do you have?  I currently have; 2 large glass, 6 small glass (1 gallon)  4 five gallon plastic, 3 Mr. Beer, 2 two point five plastic, 2 3 gallon plastic, and 1 15.5 wine fermenting carboy.   So... yes... I have been giving away some gear recently.   The glass carboys are dedicated now to sours.

That's all for today.  Soldier on.   Thanks for your support.  Keep the questions and comments coming.