Dark, hoppy porter pitched upon the yeast cake of Batch 107.
planning to add Cacao Nibs from Costa Rica at some point in fermentation
Recipe Type: All Grain Yeast: WLP090 Yeast Starter: Yeast cake from batch 107, split between two carboys Batch Size (Gallons): ~6.5 Original Gravity: 1.060 Final Gravity: 1.0?? IBU: ~55? Boiling Time (Minutes): 60 Color: BLACK LIKE THE NIGHT Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp):
10# Maris Otter 1# Roasted Barley 1# Special B 4oz C40 4oz Carapils
1oz Northern Brewer (6.9%) – FWH 0.5oz Nugget (11.7%) – 20 min 0.5oz Northern Brewer (6.9%) – 20 min 0.5oz Nugget (11.7%) – 10 min 0.5oz Northern Brewer (6.9%) – 10 min whirlfloc – 10 min
1/27/2024 – Brew day!! Beautiful mash-in at 153°, held steady down to 151° by the end of the 60 minute mash. ~8 gal of wort at the start of the boil, ~6.5 gal of wort at the end. yeast cake from 107 (all liquid after transfer to secondary, with left-over hops as well) split between two carboys, and the batch was split between the two carboys after being chilled to about 85°, weighing in at 1.060
1/28/2024 – following a number of online sources that suggest 4-8oz nibs/~5 gal batch, I began soaking 5oz of Cacao nibs from North Fields Cafe in La Fortuna, Costa Rica in enough everclear (and a little bit of budget vodka) to cover the nibs. Planning to add this to the fermenters tomorrow. Following (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/cocoa-nibs-in-robust-porter.459888/#post-5912781), I will suspend in the wort in a tied-off coffee filter (or hops bag?), like a bouquet garnis
After about a year and a half hiatus, we return on January 1st, 2024 to brew a Pliny the Elder clone. In homage to the end of the Roman philosopher during the cataclysmic and best-known eruption of the volcano, and to start the year resonating with powerful transformative energy, I dub thee Vesuvius. The electric system wasn’t back in service yet, so this was an outdoor brewing session. It was ~40°F and overcast outside.
This beer was roughly patterned after the following recipe:
Recipe Type: All Grain Yeast: WLP090 Yeast Starter: 2L starter (two 1L steps) from very old WLP090 Batch Size (Gallons): ~5 Original Gravity: 1.065 (including sucrose) Final Gravity: 1.0?? IBU: 100+ Boiling Time (Minutes): 90 Color: Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp):
11# 2-row 12oz Carapils 12oz C40 1# Sucrose (added to the end of the boil)
2 tsp Gypsum added with FWH
1.25oz Nugget (11.7%) – FWH 0.5oz Nugget (11.7%) – 45 min 0.5oz Simcoe (11.9%) – 30 min whirlfloc – 10 min 1# dextrose – 10 min 2oz Cascade (5.7%) – 0 min, whirlpooled between 160°-180° 1.5oz Simcoe (11.9%) – 0 min, whirlpooled between 160°-180° 1.5oz Nugget (11.7%) – 0 min, whirlpooled between 160°-180°
Mashed in 4g of strike water at ~175°, which landed us perfectly at 149°, mashed for 60 minutes
boiled for 60 minutes, chilled and whirlpooled at about 160° for about 15 minutes, then chilled in the counterflow and collected ~5 gallons, with lots of schmutz
pitched wort, transferred to basement, and the carboy is sitting around 65°
1/14/24 – need to dry hop 2 weeks after brewing: 2oz each of simcoe, nugget, cascade
1/27/24 – the basement was very cold, and the fermentation seemed to stall when the wort fell below ~62°. The wort got as cold as 60°. I brought the carboy upstairs, roused the yeast by swirling the carboy, and bought a carboy heater. I brought it up to 64, then 66, then 68°. It seems to have stalled at around 1.016, bringing us to above 6.7%.
I transferred to secondary on top of 2oz each of Cascade, Nugget, and Simcoe.
Yeast cake was split between 2 carboys for batch 108.
0.8 oz Nugget, 2.2 oz Northern Brewer (a bit old) mixed together, and split into additions every 10 minutes (1 oz at a time), beginning at 60 minutes (so 60, 50, and 40)
1.3 oz Simcoe, 1.3 oz Citra, 1.4 oz Cascade, mixed together and split between 4 additions (1 oz every 10 minutes) beginning at 30 minutes (so 30, 20, 10, and flameout)
22g S-05
1.045 OG
going to add 1.5# dextrose as the krausen begins to drop
dry hopped with 1oz each of simcoe, citra, cascade, and nugget on 8/20
kegged on 8/26, at 1.008, giving 6.4% abv (1.045 * 1.011 for sugar = 1.056). Gettin tasty, just need to carb!
Recipe Type: All Grain Yeast: WLP0066 Yeast Starter: 1.5L, stepped up from two old liquid cultures Batch Size (Gallons): 5.5 Starting Gravity: 1.036 Original Gravity: 1.053 Final Gravity: 1.0 IBU: 25 (ala BeerSmith3) Boiling Time (Minutes): 75 Color: 6 SRM (ala BeerSmith3) Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp):
10.5# Maris Otter 0.5# Honey Malt 12oz Flaked Oats 5 hefty scoops of rice hulls
1# Lactose (5 minutes)
2oz Citra – Flameout 2.0oz Motueka – Flameout
Strike water 175°, mashed in at 150° which kept the entire mash of 75 minutes. Lauter for 15min.
The starting gravity seems to be hanging around 1.036. I am wondering whether this is some factor of inefficient sparging (e.g. too fast), channeling (sparge water forcefully being fed to one corner of the mash), low sparge temps (water was just north of 140° before the controller died), crush (hasn’t changed, but could have slowly drifted to be too coarse?)
As I was heating the strike water, I smelled burning rubber. I turned everything off and located the problem: the black lead from the high-voltage contact feeding the heating element had overheated (only the black lead, not the red). I am wondering if this is a symptom of the heating element dying or otherwise shorting. I need to figure this out, but in the meantime I moved outside to the banjo burner. All’s well that ends well?
We can now recite the litany of unexpected situations. The splitter on the outside faucet was both broken in half and corroded in place, so I couldn’t remove it. Instead, we hooked up the stainless immersion chiller, Sarah stirred, and I did my best to hold the splitter together so that it would feed the chiller. We worked in spurts and cycles, and finally got the wort down below 120°, at which point I just let it sit until 100°, then transferred to the carboy, put the carboy in the water bath, and waited until it was sub-80° before pitching. Fingers crossed for a good outcome!
The milk stout was planned as something tasty with lactose to get us through next winter. It didn’t come out nearly as high gravity as I had hoped, so I might just put this on tap and save Obama’s Last Stand (coming in above 10% ABV) for next winter. There was plenty left in the grist to get a small bier out of this, so I went ahead and did that.
I think I may need to work on my sparge to get the first runnings more efficient – or I should have tried 1/3 for the big beer, 2/3 for the small beer.
Recipe Type: All Grain Yeast: S-04 Yeast Starter: Yeast cake from Batch 101, swirled and split: 2/3 in the big beer, 1/3 in the small beer Batch Size (Gallons): 5.5 (7.5 into kettle for big beer), 4.5 (~7 into kettle) for small beer ? Starting Gravity: 1.050 / 1.027 (5.5 gal?) Original Gravity: 1.064 / 1.034 (~4.5 gal?) Final Gravity: 1.0 / IBU: ?? Boiling Time (Minutes): 60 Color: ?? SRM (DARK for big, NOT SO DARK for small) Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp):
Mashed in hot, near 160°, added cold water that seemed to get it down to 152°, but at the end of the mash it looks like it crept back up. Lauter for 15min.
— BIG BEER —
3.0oz Northern Brewer (estimated 6.11% AA, given hop age and BeerSmith) – FWH 1.0oz Northern Brewer (est. 6.11% AA) – 20 min 1# Lactose (10 minutes) whirlfloc – 10 min
Boiled for 60 minutes, chilled, captured a full carboy (5 gallons), woot!
Boiled for 60 minutes, chilled, captured a fullish carboy (just under 5 gallons?), woot!
— PROGRESS —
Monday, 3/14, very nice krausen on the big beer, no evident yeast activity in the small beer. The last throes of winter have dropped the temps below freezing outside, and the carboys in their waterbath are both sitting at 59°F. If I don’t see any activity in the small beer by tomorrow afternoon, I may pitch some more yeast
The two lagers I’ve made so far have been killer. Since it’s brewing season here in February, and since I have a yeast starter worked up, and maybe to celebrate the pre-eminent sporting event of the year, the superlative basin
Recipe Type: All Grain Yeast: WLP840 Yeast Starter: Stepped up to 2L, chilled in 8.2021, stepped up with an additional 1L 1wk before brewday Batch Size (Gallons): 5.5 (8 into kettle, boiled for 90 minutes) Starting Gravity: 1.026 Original Gravity: 1.038 Final Gravity: 1.0 IBU: 11? Boiling Time (Minutes): 60 Color: 2.6 SRM Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp):
3.5# German Pilsner 3# flaked corn 2# flaked rice 1.5 tsp gypsum added to the mash 12 hefty scoops of rice hulls
1.0oz Hallertau Mittelfrüh (3.7% AA) – FWH 1.0oz Hallertau Mittelfrüh – 10 min whirlfloc – 10 min
Mashed in at almost exactly 150°, for 90 minutes, lauter for the last 15.
Boiled for 60 minutes, still wasn’t high enough gravity and too much liquid (6.5 gal), so I boiled for another 30 minutes, took us to 1.038, 5.5 gallons but I was able to recover almost all of this. I drew too much wort into the 5 gallon carboy, and the starter wouldn’t fit, so I transferred all to a 6.5gal carboy and everything fit. And the setup just barely fit within the lagering tank. But it worked!!!! Horraaaaay Beer!
Batch 73 turned out to be epic. 73 and 74 were the same wort (a Pliny clone base) fermented two ways, one in a traditional west-coast IPA style, and the other fermented like an NEIPA. The NEIPA (74) wasn’t bad, but the straight Pliny clone was killer. The next Pliny-like batch departed in grain bill and hops, so I’m returning now to the basic process and recipe for 73. Let’s give this a go, shall we?
I’m also (for the first time) using my second large 15gal kettle as a mash tun. I can’t do full HERMS today b/c my PID controller needs to be replaced, but suffice it to say, I’m gonna give this the old college try.
Recipe Type: All Grain Yeast: S-04 Yeast Starter: 24g dried Batch Size (Gallons): 5.0ish (began with 7 in the kettle) Starting Gravity: 1.051 (into the kettle) Original Gravity: 1.072 (before sucrose) Final Gravity: 1.012 (9.33% ABV) IBU: 100+ Boiling Time (Minutes): 60 Color: Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 64° in the water bath Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp):
3oz Nugget (12.4%) – FWH 1oz Nugget (12.4%) – 45 min 1oz Simcoe (13.9%) – 30 min whirlfloc – 15 min 2.5oz Simcoe (13.9%) – 0 min, whirpooled between 160°-180° 2.5oz Cascade – 0 min, whirlpooled between 160-180°
(1.5) tsp Gypsum added to mash
Mashed in 7.5g of strike water (4 gal above the false bottom) a little hot, added 1/2gal cold tap water, brought it to right about 150°, mashed for 90 minutes
boiled for 60 minutes, chilled and whirlpooled between 160°-180° for about 15 minutes, then chilled in the counterflow and collected ~5 gallons, with some schmutz
STARTED WITH 7gal IN THE BREW KETTLE, NEED TO UP TO 7.5gal NEXT TIME!!
2/4/22 – added 1# of table sugar
2/7/22 – gravity: 1.015, cloudy in the carboy, tasted markedly “sweet”
2/10/22 – gravity: 1.012, starting to fall clear, tastes more balanced – gonna transfer to 2ndary tomorrow and begin the dry hop
2/12/2022 – gravity: 1.012 racked to 2ndary and dry hopped with 1oz Simcoe, 1oz Nugget, 1.5oz Cascade
I swapped half of the MO with 2-row due to only having 6# of MO. Hops are OLD (some of them) so I bought BeerSmith to be able to use the hop age tool, which estimated that my northern brewer hops are less than half their original oomph – technically spoiled by some standards? but they still smell great so I’m gonna use em. SO – loading up on some things in the recipe, but for the original, see above
Recipe Type: All Grain Yeast: S-04 Yeast Starter: No (24g dry, pitched to the fermenter) Final Batch Size (Gallons): 3.75 Original Gravity: 1.092 Final Gravity: 1.020 (ABV: 10.3%) IBU: ~70? (estimated by BeerSmith) Boiling Time (Minutes): 90 Color: ~38 SRM? Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp):
6# Maris Otter 6# 2-row 1.5# Special B .75# Carafa II Special .5# C60
Mashed at 150° for 60 minutes, then sparged for 15 minutes, before collecting 7 gallons for the boil. In 90 minutes, it boiled down to just below 5 gallons. I couldn’t run the wort through the counter flow chiller (found out later one of the silicone hoses was clogged with sludge), so I transferred to the 5 gallon igloo cooler and cooled with the copper immersion. Recovered just under 4 gallons of wort, transferred and pitched at about 75°, then put into a water bath.
2/10/22 – gravity reading of 1.020. Tastes dark, smoky, toasty, possibly very heavily influenced by all of that Carafa II – I had my doubles putting all of that in, and now those doubts are coming home to roost. I think this’ll be fine drinkin once it carbs and settles, but it’s a bit too close to tasting burnt right now for my comfort
Inspired by a rye stout I enjoyed many years ago at Berryessa Brewing Co in Yolo County, CA. Focus added on coffee/chocolate flavor from the copious roasted grains.
Recipe Type: All-Grain Yeast: S-05 Yeast Starter: 24g from a big brick Batch Size (Gallons): 5 gallons Original Gravity: 1.075 Final Gravity: IBU: ~45? (estimated from brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/calculator) Boiling Time (Minutes): 60 Color: 32? Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp):
6# 2-row 6# M-O 0.5# Chocolate Rye 0.5# CaraRye 0.5# Brown Coffee Malt 0.5# Roasted Barley 2 oz Carafa III (special) 1# flaked barley 4 scoops of rice hulls
1 oz Northern Brewer (7.8 AAU) FWH 0.5 oz Norther Brewer (7.8 AAU) 15 min