Homebrewers - Whats in the fermenter?

[earnold25]

Originally Posted by St. Lou Stu

My actual calcs were 1.0115 and 1.0145.

Here we are 3 weeks to the day and my gravity reading is 1.020. Should I keep waiting? Doesn't look like much has been going on in the air lock for quite a while.

[b0rderman]

Originally Posted by St. Lou Stu

Did you use the WLP 500?
This yeast sounds pretty damned interesting.
Let us know how this turns out please.

I ended up using Wyeast 1214 because the shop had two (and I only had time for a 24hr starter), and I believe I'll get a little less banana with the 1214 as well but haven't really looked into that in detail.

I checked in on it this morning before work and the bubbling has slow, but is still very active IMO with a large bubble/second.

[BlackDog]

About a month ago I made a sour robust porter; a basic porter recipe except I added one gallon of wort I soured with acidulated malt. Earlier today I racked it over from primary to secondary, and decided toinnoculate it with some Brett. This should be a very traditional tasting porter when it's done next autumn. Traditionally porters were aged in oak casks and became "infected" with lacobacillus bacteria and wild brettanomyces yeast. It will be modestly sour, and have a "barnyard" aroma. I tasted the beer when I racked it, and it tastes great. I almost decided to just go straight to bottles and omit the Brett. Hopefully I won't be disappointed next fall.

HERE is my original post if anyone is interested in the recipe.

[b0rderman]

awesome! Glad you updated us on this...very interesting

[kaisersozei]

Originally Posted by earnold25

Here we are 3 weeks to the day and my gravity reading is 1.020. Should I keep waiting? Doesn't look like much has been going on in the air lock for quite a while.

So here's what I would do. I would rack to a glass secondary and then watch it for a week. And by that, I mean actually eyeball it. Go all "beer whisperer" on it and see if it looks done. Anything bobbing around, or clumping on the top? Is it still as can be? Maybe float the hydrometer in there midweek to see if there's any movement. Then I'd bottle it and not worry.

I hestitate to say it's stuck, especially since you started at an OG that was 10 points higher than expected, and now you're only 6-8 points higher than the recipe. Just means you have a big bodied beer.

[rack04]

As soon as all the parts for my mash tun arrive I will brew BierMuncher Centennial Blonde. I have it on good authority that this is a good light ale for summer drinking pleasure. Plus it costs $18.87 to brew 5 gallons of beer which equates to approximately $0.36 per 12 ounce beer.

[kaisersozei]

Originally Posted by rack04

As soon as all the parts for my mash tun arrive I will brew BierMuncher Centennial Blonde. I have it on good authority that this is a good light ale for summer drinking pleasure. Plus it costs $18.87 to brew 5 gallons of beer which equates to approximately $0.36 per 12 ounce beer.

I have brewed this a number of times and can attest that it's a very good beer. icantbejon's wife loves it, and she's not much into homebrew. It's just as good if you leave out the Vienna malt, which I've done when I overlooked it in the recipe

Bottled my light American ale test batch last night--tasted a little like a cross between Rolling Rock & Sam Adams ale. Not my favorite style, but it's experimental for some non-craft brew drinking friends.

Tonight I'm racking my Hopslam clone, adding the honey and salvaging the yeast. Had good, steady fermentation for almost a full week, I'm really pleased at how well the yeast performed considering I cultivated it from the bottle dregs!

[St. Lou Stu]

Originally Posted by earnold25

Here we are 3 weeks to the day and my gravity reading is 1.020. Should I keep waiting? Doesn't look like much has been going on in the air lock for quite a while.

.020 isn't bad. Not ideal, but not bad, full bodies and a touch sweet. I like that.
If its still there(.020) by the time you read this and take another measurement, I'd call it good. It'll still be good beer. Did it get into the low 60's while fermenting?

[earnold25]

Originally Posted by St. Lou Stu

.020 isn't bad. Not ideal, but not bad, full bodies and a touch sweet. I like that.
If its still there(.020) by the time you read this and take another measurement, I'd call it good. It'll still be good beer. Did it get into the low 60's while fermenting?

sounds good. I was going to bottle anyway, but I found out I can't easily bottle straight from the primary with an autosiphon and a bottling wand. Looks like I need a bottling bucket or something similar.

Oh, I really doubt it got to the low 60's during fermenting. I'd guess 65 at the lowest but anything's possible. Unfortunately I wasn't able to watch it 24/7, even though I would have liked to

[rack04]

Bottled my Irish Red today. 3 weeks is gonna feel like forever with this one.

[BlackDog]

I just wrapped up brewing a partial mash pale ale. Nothing fancy. 4 lbs light DME, 3 lbs two row, one lb crystal malts. Magnum for bittering, Amarillo for flavor and aroma. Should have been about be about 45 ibu's, but I messed up my hop schedule so this will come in at about 36 ibu's. No biggie, should still be nice to drink. I'll also dry hop with the ounce of Amarillo I forgot to add. Pitched Safale US-05. OG was 1.052, planning for 1.012 FG.

[cricky101]

Sunday I bottled a cream ale and brewed a blood orange hefeweizen. Hoping that turns out because it smelled awesome, and the hydro sample tasted great, too.

I got the recipe off of homebrewtalk.com and the poster there said it came from "Extreme Homebrewing" by Sam Caglione. It was an extract and grains recipe.

This week I'm picking up the rest of the ingredients to do my first partial mash. It'll be a Bell's Two-Hearted clone I plan to brew this weekend.

[rack04]

Depending on what all I have to do this weekend I may find time to brew a dry stout. I'm thinking about trying the Ó Flannagáin Standard.

[kaisersozei]

AHA's National Homebrew Competition

If anyone is interested, now is the time to register for this year's contest. More information:

http://www.homebrewersassociation.or...on-information

The last time I entered was more than 5 years ago, so I decided to submit a few of my recent beers to get some professional feedback and to see how they hold up to others in their style:

Winston's Lot (Imperial IPA)
Trappist Hollow (Belgian Specialty/Trappist Christmas ale)
Essence (Cream Ale)

My son is also entering as primary brewer on CohiBrew (Imperial IPA,) I'll be secondary.

Since a number of folks around CA have sampled these, I'll be sure to post my performance once the scores come back. Unless they suck

[b0rderman]

Cool stuff Gerard, good luck.

Last night was bottling day for me...

No, this one will not be going to AHA, HAHA! I don't have particularly high hopes for this batch, but a lot was learned that I applied to my second batch (a belgian trip that tastes quite promising). I guess I'll just wait and see. It will certainly be beer! Labels are coming off from now on.

Dunkelweiss PM and Chimay Grand Reserve AG half-batch up on deck for this weekend.

[Mikes]

Just kegged 10 gal of AHS Greenbelt IPA and 10 gal of a smoked creamy amber. This saturdays mega brew day will include 10 gal batch of mixed up ginger wheat and 10 gal of ?????.

[BeerAdvocate]

Originally Posted by Mikes

Just kegged 10 gal of AHS Greenbelt IPA and 10 gal of a smoked creamy amber. This saturdays mega brew day will include 10 gal batch of mixed up ginger wheat and 10 gal of ?????.

I just emptied a keg of GreenBelt. Its one great beer, you are going to love it. More of an IPA than a PaleAle. I will be making it again for sure!

[Mikes]

Originally Posted by BeerAdvocate

I just emptied a keg of GreenBelt. Its one great beer, you are going to love it. More of an IPA than a PaleAle. I will be making it again for sure!

Good news! This stuff smelled like a grapefruit bomb went off when we were kegging it. Out of the keg a week later not so much...;o( Still a great beer for sure just wonder where that great flavor/smell went? I think we should have waited 10 or so days before we dryhopped (we did our dryhopping in the primary this time). In other words all of that great smell bubbled out with the fermentation. We are kinda lazy brewers and have only used the carboys once lol. Looking into dryhopping in the kegs next with a hop bag tied to dental floss sticking out of the corney lid.

You know of any IPA Clones (extract) that are lighter in color @think pilsner color@ and a bit less bitter?

[Salvelinus]

Makings of an alt, and my recent hop score. I should be able to lager this thing in the basement for the next two months unless spring decides to come early in VT. Should have 5 gallons ready for a May camping trip in Maine.

Rant on...
Hops are $3 an ounce at my local homebrew supply, $48 a pound. What you see on the table is 2.5lbs of various hops, leaf and pellet that cost me $35 with shipping. I'd like to support my local but at some point I have to look elsewhere.
Rant off...

[b0rderman]

Racked my second batch, Belgian Trippel, to secondary tonight to free up a primary. Also whipped up a starter for the Dunkelweiss I'm doing this weekend. I'm freakin hooked, bad.