BEER STATUS

IPA (11/23/17)

Trying a little twist to an old favorite... High Gravity with Liberty Hops and Citra NITRO (25.2 IBU) hops.
1.070 starting gravity.
12/6/17 Dry Hop Citra Nitro 1/2 oz
12/13/17 bottle ? or keg ?

Oktoberfest (10/20/17)

I had some German Lager 830 yeast harvested from my Warsteiner batch back in February.  I added wort from my Wheat #7 saved in a mason jar in the fridge.  Combined them 3 days ago, and had healthy fermentation right away.  Visited Vintner's Choice in Leesburg for my grains and hops... and made Friday afternoon 'Brew Day'.  Here's the recipe : Oktoberfest

11/5/17 Doing a diacetyl rest at 60 F for 48 hours

Then off to the Lagering Tank for 4-6 weeks...
11/8/17 Lagering at 45 F
11/17/17 Dropped temp to 40 F
12/8/17 still seeing slight bubbling action...maybe a couple more days

Wheat #7 Ale (8/19/17)

After using Cream of Wheat cereal for the last several batches, I have decided to use Flaked Wheat instead.  (Cream of Wheat cereal had excessive amounts of Calcium Carbonate, which made it difficult to balance the mash pH.  The GOOD side effect was that each beer had 15% of RDA of Calcium.)  Someone needs to tell my Mom that.
I have also adopted a 'boiling water' infusion method for the step temperatures.  This appears to be a huge time saving.  I will post my results.

Oatmeal Stout #2 (07/15/2017)

Time to re-do the Oatmeal Stout.  The first one was good, but TOO hoppy for the style.  I have redone this recipe, but this time the IBU's are 42 (half of the first batch).  Also, I have made precision adjustments on the the Brew Water Profile to closely match Ireland's Dublin water (used for Guinness).  It was intended to be a 'sweet stout', but my water infusion addition put me right at 148F.  So, I ran with it... Did a 30 minute Beta Amylase conversion then bumped it up to 152F for the Alpha...  Effeciency calculated out to 85%... that's HUGE... Can't wait to sample the finished product...
UPDATE 8/16/17... not quite a week in the bottle... too soon, not enough carbonation.  Will try again in a couple days.  But flavor is great, harsh back of tongue concern when I sampled the wort is 80% mellowed away... two more weeks should be perfect.

High Gravity IPA (adaptation of Jai Alai by Cigar City) 6/10/2017

Dry hopping is complete, keg conditioning now (7/15/17).  John Palmer says 2 weeks...its been almost a week, I can hardly wait!!!
UPDATE  8/10/17 keg is getting 'light'.. when translated, means it's very good.  I need to venture out to other hops and possible 'whirlpool' hop addition.

American IPA (by John Palmer) 5/11/17

Dry hopped a couple days ago... then headed for the keg! 6/2/2017
Sampled... tastes GREAT... Cascade Dry Hop finished well... 6/14/2017

Oatmeal Stout (by John Palmer) 5/5/17

This recipe went well... Its in the KEG now, chilled to 38F.. ready to drink. 6/2/2017
Here are my recipe notes

Wheat Beer #4 Cream of Wheat beer 

I'm officially changing the name of my adaptation of John Palmer's Three Weiss Guys beer.  I put this one in a keg and traveled to North Carolina to share it with some friends.

Wheat Beer #3 Three Weiss Guys (by John Palmer) 3/26/17

This is my THIRD time making this beer (ergo the #3).  The only adjustment I made this time was the 1/2 hop rate of the original recipe (at the request of Mike Crist).  And, my pH meter was fully functional this time, which meant the pH of the MASH was corrected (unlike the first two times).  The Cream of Wheat beer turned out GREAT (in my humble opinion).  Time to make more!!! 

3/28/2017 I just posted a comment on Brewers Friend website.  Check it out.  

CLICK HERE

Warsteiner 2/12/17

I am attempting an ALL GRAIN German Lager.  The brewing went well, the yeast starter was 1 gallon of wort made from DME 1.050 SG (WLP 830 German Lager Yeast).  There was a little more lag time than we are used to with the warmer Ale yeast strains.  I transferred it to the secondary fermenter 2/19/17.  After 2 weeks, I will may need to do a diacetyl rest...
3/18/17 The LAGERING stage has begun.
4/17/17 Sampled the Warsteiner... and started the Carbonation Conditioning...
4/25/17 Carbonation complete... Tastes pretty good....

IndiaPale Ale 1/1/17

Time for another IPA.  Same recipe as before.  Just a little higher gravity. This was made with 13 lbs of grain.  Also, Dry Hopped with 1 oz Cascade whole leaf hops.  Bottled 2/19/17.

Coffee Stout 12/25/16

I was originally planning this to be an Oatmeal Coffee Stout, with the joke being that its a 'breakfast' beer.  Maybe next time.

Saturday 1/7/17

Fresh brewed coffee gets added here, then bottled.  The coffee is also FRESH DARK ROASTED coffee.  And, I opted to add this just before bottling...  

 American Pilsner Lager 12/7/16

This is going to be a tough beer to make.  Lagers are complicated by nature.  And they take a couple months to mature properly.  I have NEVER made one before, so this is uncharted territory for me.

Wednesday 12/7/16: I am making the Yeast Starter, which is a mini-batch of beer to multiply my yeast colony for a large pitch rate (beer jargon).  We start off by making about 3-4 quarts of wort to pitch the initial White Labs American Lager (WLP840) yeast.  Then over the next couple of days, I will add more wort to multiply the yeast cell count.  By Sunday I should be ready to brew my beer.

Sunday 12/11/16

The yeast starter did not go as smoothly as I had hoped.  I pitched the yeast one day before its 'expiration' date... so, I was nervous when it didn't take off right away.  But, it all seems to be ok (thanks Charlie Papazian).  The fermentation is going well at 53F.  

Wheat Beer #2 Three Weiss Guys (by John Palmer) 11/24/16

Beer, its what's for BREAKFAST...  This time, its true.  I'm using Cream of Wheat Cereal to make this America Style wheat beer.  

Monday 12/5/16 it has been 14 days... The recipe says we are ready to bottle the beer...
Thursday 12/15/16 my busy schedule finally let me bottle... 4.99% ABV and it tastes great (warm and uncarbonated).
UPDATE 12/25/16... Beer sampled... ITS A HIT... a little more hoppy than expected, but the carbonation is PERFECT for the style... I will be making another batch 1/7/17.  My neighbor Mike likes it too and he doesn't drink....LOL

Export Stout Munton Kit Partial Mash Brewing 11/12/16

This style of beer is typically a HIGH gravity beer (10-12% ABV).  So... I felt obligated to stay true to its style.  The 'kit' is 4 lbs of Liquid Malt Extract.  My calculation estimated 10 lbs of grain to get the 1.090-1.100 Specific Gravity.  I ended up with 4.5 gallons at 1.101.  Once I added the extra 1/2 gal of water to get to the 5.0 gal volume we have 1.090 SG. 

Friday 11/18/16 Tested SG=1.032 and the yeast activity has fallen off.  Its at the upper limits (7.6% ABV) so we will have to do a second yeast that is more alcohol tolerant. 
12/4/16 We have bottled the beer... We will sample it in a week!!!  Carlton can hardly wait.
12/12/16 Sampling went well... Wow, its definitely HIGH gravity brew!!! 

IPA #2 Munton Kit Partial Mash Brewing 11/5/16

11/12/16
Transferred to the Secondary Fermentor.  Trying to decide whether to Dry Hop this one at this point.  The 'problem' is the foaming action that happens when you dry hop.  Since I ended up with 6 gallons, I might have issues because of the lack of head space in the 6 gallon carboy...  Still thinking this one thru...

11/5/16
5 pm, brewing session complete.  Ended up with 6 gal of beer (instead of 5 gal).  So, there is MORE beer, but lower ABV (alcohol by volume) for the intended target, but still within the acceptable range for an IPA.

Some would see a BBQ grill... I see a HomeBrewing Station...

12/5/16 We put this one into a keg, and we will naturally carbonate using corn sugar... In a week we will chill 'er down and give it a try.

IPA Munton Kit Brewed 10/23/16

I attempted to transfer this one today (11/12/16) but, since I dry hopped in a pressure keg, I need to chill it down again because the CO2 is foaming too much to transfer at room temperature.

Dry hopped, Conditioning Week 2 of 3 (11/5/16)
12/5/16 Several complications with this beer... the beer is fine, my kegging and dry hopping was 'new' to me, in that I tried a few new things... lost some beer, learned a lesson or two... more details later, but it is GOOD and HOPPY...

Brown Ale Munton Kit Brewed

Bottled, ready to drink (11/1/16)
This beer is getting better in the bottle.  I busted open a 32 ouncer today. (11/12/16)
This one didn't last long... I saved out a few bottles. I want to do an all-grain version of this, and explore some of the (hundreds of) variations of this style.

Wheat Munton Kit Brewed 

Bottled, ready to drink (11/1/16)
I'm down to 5 beers left (11/12/16)
12/5/16 one beer left... in the fridge, bottom right shelf, Come on over, I'll split it with you...

Kits available to make:

Pilsner (12/11/16 ?) 

Lager (same style as Pilsner

Oatmeal Coffee Stout (sounds like breakfast beer)
I have all the ingredients for this one... need to git 'er done!!!

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