Busy Busy Busy Brew day...

So today, Jake and I set out to brew the "lost IPA" recipe.  The original version of August Hyppo. The version that was so amazing over the years.  The version that I adulterated over time, tweaking this and that,  until it was no longer the same recipe, and not at all the same amazingness.  Today, Jake and I would recapture August Hyppo and begin the process of bringing this recipe back. If you missed the previous post,  I used to brew a magical aIPA.   It really was the best aIPA I ever tasted.   But overtime I messed with it.  With each new version getting further and further from the original awesomeness.   Unfortunately, I didn't save my original recipe.  So I thought I was out of luck.  But the recipe was found in a brewery cleaning of epic proportions.

It is great brewing with a team.  Dividing the labor, and the costs is a great benefit to everyone.  It also means we can brew more often than most.  We are in mid March, the NCAA men's (and women's) basketball tournament is in full swing (ROCK CHALK!), and we have already brewed nine times this year. That gives us a great variety of beers.  If you showed up right now as I am writing this I could offer you anything from a dIPA to an light lager, anything from a Bretanomyces Sour beer to an amazing BSDA.   But sharing also means that you pretty much have to bottle your beer.  And bottling can be a real chore.

Organization is the key to a busy brew/bottling day.  I have a
"Put away" box on the left,  a brew day starter and a "clean box"
on the right.  The clean box has starsan solution in it. Any thing
that needs to stay sanitary goes into the clean bucket

Bottling takes time, so I started early, so early in fact that it was yesterday. Yesterday I loaded the dishwasher with bottles (yes I am a dishwasher sanitation guy)  This morning I unloaded the dishwasher, sprayed starsan into the bottles and put them in crates for bottling.  And then I did that exact process all over again. And then one more time.  Side Note.  If you are not using your dishwasher to sanitize bottles... why not?  It is by far the easiest way to clean and sanitize bottles.   Believe me I have tried them all.   We had 15 gallons to bottle this weekend.   This morning I got up early and got 10 gallons done before Jake arrived.  The Kolsch, the Cream Ale, and the  Belgian Raspberry Blond were all bottled today.  All samples tasted amazing.  But the Belgian blond with raspberries was truly, truly phenomenal.  This beer may make the permanent rotation.   The sample was a little sweet but, that should clear up in bottle conditioning.

Fine Crush = efficiency. 

Improvements were made to the counterbrew kitchen/brewery.   The Cajun Injector Electric Turkey Fryer was Insulated with high temperature ceramic foam, and a new valve was installed.  If you choose to use foam to insulate, make sure it has a week to 10 days to cure.  The insulation dramatically improved the boil,  but really didn't do much to improve mash temperature stability, which really surprised me.  that means I'm losing lots of heat through the top.  I will have to come up with a solution for that.  I may actually use a cooler mash tun in the future.  We're having such good luck with a brew bag in a cooler, that may become the standard for the counterbrew kitchen for all grain batches.  And, I have an extra mash tun so... yeah, think Ill clean it up and get it ready for action.   I think home brewing is changing.  I recently posed about the fact that more and more people are using brew bags as lauter filters.  I certainly have embraced this trend.  But for me the most important things are making great beer and having fun.   A fluctuating mash temperature is not fun for me, so the cooler may be put back in service.   And I have to admit, that using a bag and a mash tun has been more fun for me recently than a bag in the turkey fryer.

scoop the foop, it adds nothing to your beer.

The brew day was uneventful.  We had a good time talking beer, and basketball.   Jake was a college basketball player, so he has some great insights to the game.    We did a protein rest to help ensure break down of the proteins, and boy did we break them down.   The hot break and the cold break were amazing.  We scooped the foop. The easiest way to do this is with a small metal strainer.   The wort was amazingly clear.   We did recirculate our entire wort volume after mash out.  These two simple little steps will give you brilliantly clear beer.    We had to fight boil over constantly with the kettle now insulated.

Jaded Hydra is the very best chiller you can buy. 

Today was our first run with the Jaded Hydra.  Let me just say, that thing is amazing.  We went from 210 to 68 F in 6 Minutes, and we were not recirculating, and we were not at full blast.   Get a hydra, spend the money.  It will save you so much more than it will cost you in water savings alone.   And it is really fun to watch the dial drop.  Literally watch it drop.    I can not endorse this product highly enough.  Yes, it does cost more than other wort chillers.   So what?  If it will save you that much time and money.  It is worth it.  We will be posting a full review with videos on our up coming 10 gallon batch.  I'll say for now, we were out of isomerization temperatures in under 2 minutes.  That is amazing, and if you read the dIPA posts you know that is a key to making great hoppy beers.

At the end of the brew day we pitched US05 and set this bad boy in a dark cool place.  I'm currently reconstructing my fermentation chambers so a cool corner of the basement will have to do.  But with US05 and this ratio of hops to OG, I'm truly not worried about it.   I cant wait to try this beer.  I am hoping it is everything I remember.

Busy Beavers Brew day...

Sunday after church Mark and John came over for a brew day.  But it wasn't just a brew day.  We also had to bottle 10 gallons.  And the guys wanted to make some mead.   So that, sports fans, is a full day. 

We brewed a hoppy wheat that John designed.   Not super bitter but lots of late hops and dry hops.  Should be a fantastic spring / summer beer. 

We also sampled lots of the light ales we have been making.   When you learn the tricks, you can drop a clean ale out like a lager and make realistic clones of lagers with out the need for a lager fridge.  I must say the Stella clone is excellent. It would be as good as any beer we have made, but we also tasted the BDSA... more later.    

The brew day went smoothly.  The only thing that was forgotten, was the 5.2 pH stabilizer.  But I snuck in a pH check and the pH was 5.7 after 15 minutes, so I didn't worry about it.  

Man does wheat foam... it foams during the mash, it foams during the boil, it foams on Christmas, it is probably somewhere foaming now.  John and Mark worked hard to manage boil overs.   

Chilling beer with a single coil sucks.  I have gotten spoiled by the two coils.   It doesn't just take longer.  It takes way, way longer.   Temperature change is not a linear reaction.  That is why when you are chilling you go from 212 F to 110 F Fast and then fight for the remaining 40 degrees. 

I for one, will not be chilling a 5 gallon ever again with a single coil.   Two, 25 foot coils will chill a batch in about 12 minutes.  It took us 30... and that sucks.  And that wastes a lot of water.  One planet, one chance.  

We made a vitality starter again.  This time with good ol' US05.   This is great yeast.   And it is our favorite choice for a hoppy wheat.   Good attenuation,  mild fruity esters, decent flocculation.  Good stuff.   The krausen had begun forming with in hours.  As of this morning it was bubbling like mad.   You just Gotta love Fermentis.

I'll post more about the mead in another post, but let me just say.   You can easily make 1 gallon of cider, wine, or mead on your brew day.  They are all so much simpler than beer.   If you can make an extract batch of beer you can make mead.   The only down side of mead, is that it can take 6 months to a year to be really ready.   A great resource for mead is "storm the castle".  He is a trip.   And he has an entire page on mead.  But if you want to learn to make a catapult or a sword, he can teach you that too.  You should really check out his page... Let's just say if a zombie apocalypse ever happens... this guy is surviving.   Got Mead is also great stuff.

After the brew, we set to the arduous task of bottling 10 gallons of beer.   We brew together.  So bottling is the best solution for us.  Makes beer easier to share and divide.   We bottled a bohemian lager that tastes great, and dropped all the way to 1.007 from 1.050.  And we bottled a Belgian dark strong ale that we have been aging on French oak chips.  This is really the best beer I think we have ever brewed.  I'm confident that it would do well in any contest.   We may save enough to enter it in a few.  Bottling is a breeze with 3 guys who know what to do... we were done in 40 minutes. 

Next weekend we're brewing again.  Don't know what yet.  There are some exciting developments which may effect our choice of what to brew.  More on that later sports fans. 

Updates... lager at ale temp, Oktoberfest w/wyeast 2112, session ipa

Ok I got a lot done today,  more to do tomorrow.  5 gallons to bottle up tomorrow, and Ill probably brew a small all grain batch. 

I love the small all grain batches in the Mr beer fermenters.   You can brew them on your stove top and they are easy to move, and they are easy to bottle.   I just don't love the ingredients. I truly hope Coopers continues to make the LBK.   I even love the Mr. Beer bottles, and the carbonation tablets.  Although I ran out of those a long time ago and bought the Brewer's Best tablets.  The only problem is the location of the spigot means you will inevitably pick up some protein foop, and trub when you want to bottle.  But don't worry sports fans,  I have a $10 solution.  (update there is no problem bottling in PET)

I ran to the LHBS this morning.  Now, I am lucky I have 3 home brew stores in close proximity, where they know my name.  But I most frequently shop at one close to work called Bacchus and Barley corn.  I have been buying beer supplies at this store for 25 years.  The owners Big Al ( a petite woman named Alberta) and her husband Jackie are incredibly knowledgeable.  The store is plastered with ribbons from AHA competitions they have won. I purchased 4 lft of tubing, a 2 gallon bucket, a bottling spigot, and a voile hop bag.   

For all three batches I simply transferred from the Mr. Beer LBK to the new miniature bottling bucket.  I clipped the voile bag to the side of the mini bottling bucket, and inserted the tubing.   Boom, poor mans filtering.   The voile bag is an excellent filter.  I was able to bottle all three batches in under 1 hour.  All were filtered through the voile bag.  I got clean clear beer.   Easy. 

ROOM TEMPERATURE LAGER
Update on the "You can go all grain LAGER with the Mr. Beer"    I brewed this on Sept 5th.  It fermented for 10 days at room temperatures then, on the 15th it went into the fridge at 38 F.    I has been sitting there ever since.    You may recall our not so subtle friend "Tommy Knowitall" sent multiple messages assuring me it wouldn't work.  I bottled it in 2 liter bottles today.   Two of the bottles were forced carbonated with a CO2 gun.  The final bottle got 5 carbonation tablets.  The beer is freaking amazing.

 The beer is crystal clear, the beer has no off flavors or aromas.  There is the very slightest hint of DMS (appropriate and intended)  There is just a wee touch of Diacetyl (again intended). The beer is excellent.   On the left you can see the 1 gallon that I packaged up in 2, two liter bottles.    I have covered that topic before, but by all means feel free to ask questions about it.  It is really an easy way to package your beer. These will sit there under pressure for the week getting ready for John and Beth's wedding brunch.  When you force carb in 2 liter bottles you can try your beer in a couple of hours.  But to get it truly, fully carbed up, you have to let it sit for a couple of days,  occasionally shooting it with more CO2.

I also bottled up the Oktoberfest (made with Wyeast 2112) and the Session AIPA "by grace and banners fallen"  that was originally inspired by Drew Beechum's Pliny the Toddler.  The Oktoberfest is good, not great.  The carbonation might help the malt character come out more.  To me it just tastes like a basic, non hoppy, malty, amber beer.  So Im sure it will be a big hit with the muggles.  The AIPA is fantastic.  It always it.  It is a hop monster.  Hop perception is based on a ratio of hops to specific gravity.   This one delivers.  This batch in particular is very balanced.  About 66 IBUs and only 5% alcohol it is a tongue stinger.  It is a little darker than the last batch, I'm sure that is from the addition of the biscuit malt.   But the beer needed that balance, so I'll take it.

I also made counterbrew cider.   Cider is the easiest thing you'll ever make. Definitely give it a try.  Especially if your SWMBO or SO doesn't prefer beer.   I'll cover this in another post.   Today, Church, Chiefs, a Centennial Blonde, and bottling the Belgian Quad.

UPDATE I let the quad sit for another week.  It had a slight rubber note.  That is acetyl.   As of last night... that was gone... its ready to bottle.  The lesson?   BIG BEERS TAKE WHAT EVER TIME THEY TAKE.

132 bottles of beer on the floor. ..

I'll post about my all grain  Mr beer brew day tomorrow. 

For now know this. .. sometimes our hobby takes a lot of work.  I bottled 132 beers this weekend. 

• Belgian abbey. .. Freaking amazing.  
• Wimpole street brown.  A tried and true partial mash recipe that I've been making for years.  So very good.  
• Cool gales cream ale,  my partial mash version of cream of 3 crops.   I try to never run out of this beer.

I also brewed an all grain clone of Bell's two hearted ale.   Perfect brew day,  should be great. 

Update on miller the muggle, and the beer from way back,  the disastrous brew day, remember?  the one where my mash got way too hot?  I have added amylase enzyme to both now.  The miller the muggle on Saturday,  and the disaster ale last Tuesday.   Miller the muggle has formed a mini krausen and is bubbling 1 per ever 4 seconds, it was bubbling at 1 per second 12 hours after I added the amylase enzyme.   Can't wait to try it.  My beer that I screwed up with a mash that was to hot was stuck at 1.024 for a long time, it tasted like candy.  I tried all the tricks,  swirling,  warming,  yeast nutrient. .. nothing.   So I tried the amylase enzyme. ... it dropped to 1.012  so... very cool.  I have dry hopped it with .5 oz of centennial to help balance it even more.  Will be packaging soon.   Very cool to know that you can save almost any beer (sans infections and burnt beer)  

Keep brewing, and keep sending your questions and ideas... special thanks to Schlenkerla at homebrewtalk.com for his help.  Check out his recipies, he's a good guy who is happy to help, and he never acts like a Tommy Know it all.