Homebrewers - Whats in the fermenter?

[kaisersozei]

Thanks for all the positive remarks guys, I'll let you know how it advances!

[rack04]

I will either be brewing a dry stout or irish red this weekend. This will be my 3rd all grain brew and 1st with my new brew kettle and temperature controlled fermentation freezer.

[Salvelinus]

Just bottled a saison, moved an IPA into secondary, and purchased a stainless fittings kit to convert my cooler into a mash tun. Tired of crappy brew in a bag efficiencies.

[ODLS1]

My Monolith Imperial Stout, 16.3% abv, will be kegged up tomorrow! I can't wait. This beer is AMAZING. Fresh it gives Dark Lord, my favorite beer, a run for it's money. It was pretty great, then I added vanilla beans and it took it to a whole new level. This is all from tasting it from the fermenter too. I'm sure carbonation and age will only improve it... I can only hope.

[BeerAdvocate]

Im making a stout today where I will add Dark Rum, Vanilla beans and oak cubes to secondary.

[St. Lou Stu]

Brewed up an all grain California Common today.
Hit all my numbers perfectly.
We'll see how it turns out. My LHBS didn't have WLP 810, so I went with Safelager S-23 dry yeast and made a 1.5l starter.
I'm going to ferment it at 60 degrees for a few weeks, or until it is done.
The recipe:

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Cleveland Steam
Brewer: Tim Lael
Asst Brewer: Rollo Tubbs
Style: California Common Beer
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: 

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal      
Boil Size: 7.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.054 SG
Estimated Color: 8.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 38.4 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount        Item                                      Type         % or IBU      
10.00 lb      Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)            Grain        90.91 %       
0.50 lb       Caramel Malt - 40L (Briess) (40.0 SRM)    Grain        4.55 %        
0.50 lb       Caramel Malt - 60L (Briess) (60.0 SRM)    Grain        4.55 %        
1.00 oz       Northern Brewer [10.00 %]  (45 min)       Hops         30.2 IBU      
0.50 oz       Northern Brewer [10.00 %]  (15 min)       Hops         8.2 IBU       
0.50 oz       Northern Brewer [10.00 %]  (0 min) (Aroma Hops          -            
1.00 items    Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min)          Misc                       
1 Pkgs        SafLager West European Lager (DCL Yeast #SYeast-Lager                


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 11.00 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Medium Body
Step Time     Name               Description                         Step Temp     
60 min        Mash In            Add 13.75 qt of water at 170.0 F    154.0 F       
10 min        Mash Out           Add 7.70 qt of water at 198.4 F     168.0 F       


Notes:
------
Steep aroma hop addition for 10 minutes while whirlpooling prior to starting chiller flow

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[kaisersozei]

My fermenters are all empty, but I just bottled a disastrous SN Torpedo clone this weekend. Pretty much everything that could go wrong, did go wrong with this beer. 10# of malt and I couldn't reach target mash temperature, ended up adding twice as much water as I wanted, the manifold got clogged, the sparge was difficult, I boiled off more liquid than I wanted, overshot my SG by about 10 points, the primary fermentation was so vigorous that I blew off the airlock and got foamy yeast all over the laundry room, for some reason I thought dryhopping with whole cones was a good idea, ended up bottling a whopping 3.5 gallons from an original 6 gallon boil, and I was trying to create a blended yeast strain (Bell's Hopslam + WL001) but forgot to salvage some of the yeast. In twenty years, I have never had such a challenging brew.

On the positive side, it tasted pretty good going into the bottle, so we'll see what a little time does.

Shipped off my last 3 bottles of the Trappist Christmas ale to the final round of the NHC competition yesterday. Hoping for the best!

[gvarsity]

Did my first brew in several years. It was a partial mash Imperial Blonde Ale kit. It is happily bubbling away in the basement. I forgot how much fun and the sense of pride there is from making your own beer. Here is hoping it tastes good.

[rack04]

I bottled an irish red about a week ago and will be bottling a dry stout tomorrow. If everything works out I will be brewing a kolsch on Saturday. I have my 1 liter yeast starter in the fridge getting ready to decant and then I will add another 1 liter of fresh wort to step up the yeast counts.

[cricky101]

Originally Posted by rack04

I bottled an irish red about a week ago and will be bottling a dry stout tomorrow. If everything works out I will be brewing a kolsch on Saturday. I have my 1 liter yeast starter in the fridge getting ready to decant and then I will add another 1 liter of fresh wort to step up the yeast counts.

Nice! I'm brewing a partial-mash Irish red tomorrow on my day off

[rack04]

Originally Posted by cricky101

Nice! I'm brewing a partial-mash Irish red tomorrow on my day off

I'm real excited to try it. The sample that I tasted while bottling was fantastic. To bad I have already promised to give 1/2 away.

[Salvelinus]

Bottled my IPA. Sitting on the porch in the rain smoking an ELO, drinking a homebrew, and watching a pale ale boil. Simple batch

10lbs two row
12oz crystal 90 for color
0.5oz of columbus at 60, 10, and 1

going to pitch it on the yeast cake from the IPA and bottle in a week I hope. This will probably be the last of my summer beers, wanted something simple to fill out the summer drinking list. Time to move on to the longer aging winter stuff.

[kaisersozei]

The first batch of "NuptiAle", a pretty basic, nondescript American ale (OG 1.045, 4% ABV, 22 IBU with Centennial + Cascade) that my boss is having me brew to serve at his daughter's wedding in September, is sitting quietly in the secondary. I have 2 more batches to brew to get the proper quantity for 120 people. Good thing it ferments quick & clean.

[BeerAdvocate]

Today I kegged a Coffee Vanilla Porter and brewed an Imperial Stout for winter

[rack04]

Originally Posted by BeerAdvocate

Today I kegged a Coffee Vanilla Porter and brewed an Imperial Stout for winter

Did you add the vanilla to the boil or secondary? I'm interested in making a chocolate vanilla robust porter for the winter but I'm having a hard time deciding on beans/extract and when to add.

[kaisersozei]

Originally Posted by rack04

Did you add the vanilla to the boil or secondary? I'm interested in making a chocolate vanilla robust porter for the winter but I'm having a hard time deciding on beans/extract and when to add.

I've always put the extract in the bottling bucket with the priming sugar. As Travis says, secondary might work just as well--you may even get better distribution, but I've never had problems with the bottling method. If you're using beans, definitely in the secondary.

[cricky101]

It's a brewing weekend for me. Two partial mashes. One double chocolate stout in the fermenter yesterday and an Irish red ale going right now.

[St. Lou Stu]

Got two in the fermenter right now.... both will be served at Shack.
Last Sunday I brewed up a California Common (a newer revision of the recipe a few posts up) and today was a nice little Session hop bomb.

Today's Session beer:

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: American Session
Brewer: Tim Lael
Asst Brewer: 8 million mosquitoes
Style: American Pale Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (0.0) 

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal      
Boil Size: 7.33 gal
Estimated OG: 1.040 SG
Estimated Color: 5.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 46.9 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount        Item                                      Type         % or IBU      
5.25 lb       Brewers Malt 2-Row (Briess) (1.8 SRM)     Grain        65.63 %       
1.75 lb       Maris Otter (Crisp) (4.0 SRM)             Grain        21.88 %       
1.00 lb       Caramel Malt - 20L (Briess) (20.0 SRM)    Grain        12.50 %       
1.00 oz       Cascade [5.50 %]  (Dry Hop 5 days)        Hops          -            
1.00 oz       Cascade [5.50 %]  (60 min)                Hops         18.1 IBU      
1.00 oz       Centennial [11.00 %]  (Dry Hop 5 days)    Hops          -            
0.50 oz       Cascade [5.50 %]  (20 min)                Hops         5.5 IBU       
0.50 oz       Cascade [5.50 %]  (10 min)                Hops         3.3 IBU       
1.50 oz       Centennial [11.00 %]  (0 min)             Hops          -            
1.00 items    Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min)          Misc                       
1 Pkgs        English Ale (White Labs #WLP002)          Yeast-Ale                  
1.00 oz       Centennial [10.00 %]  (90 min) (Mash Hop) Hops         7.8 IBU       
0.50 oz       Centennial [10.00 %]  (5 min)             Hops         3.6 IBU       
2.00 oz       Cascade [5.50 %]  (90 min) (Mash Hop)     Hops         8.6 IBU       


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body
Total Grain Weight: 8.00 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Light Body
Step Time     Name               Description                         Step Temp     
75 min        Mash In            Add 10.00 qt of water at 160.7 F    148.0 F       
10 min        Mash Out           Add 6.40 qt of water at 205.1 F     168.0 F       


Notes:
------
Whirlpool 1.5oz Centennial at flameout before starting chill water.
Dry hop 1oz Cascade 1oz Centennial for 5 days as active fermentation subsides

Brew adjustment:
Added 2 quarts extra to mash to account for hop absorbtion

Strike water @ 162 hit mash at 148.5

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[BeerAdvocate]

I always add to secondary. Actually this time I used some high quality vanilla extract and just put a tablespoon in the keg and racked my beer on top of that.
I usually use whole vanilla beans that I split down the middle, scrap out the insides and soak everything in vodka for a day. Then I just dump it all into secondary.

[Salvelinus]

Put a marris otter/simcoe smash over a starter from the dregs of a DFH Squall. Friend put an amber in the basement on Sunday. Add the lambic and I'm sitting 15 gallons of goodies in the basement. Peanuts for some, but my personal best.