What're you brewing right now?

J343MY · Post by **J343MY** » Thu Aug 08, 2013 12:51 pm

grub wrote:
atomeyes wrote:it stopped working when i started my brew day (which was late) and when my water was heating up. i spent 20 min trying to fix it and got it to work but not crush to my prefered settings (the crush was too fine).

i couldn't get the adjustable roller to close the gap properly/adequately. grains were slipping through uncrushed. not sure how/why the roller slipped out of its previous settings.

i haven't taken it apart to investigate/do maintenance. i've only had it for a few months and, while it was used when i bought it, it wasn't used all that much.

i'll look at it this weekend and see if i can figure out what went wrong. the adjustable roller sticks at times when adjusting and i need pliers to move it (which shouldn't be necessary). what kind of lube do you use? WD40?
ah, sounds like it could use some TLC and it'll be okay then. I'd say your best bet is to take it apart and give it a thorough cleaning. you'd be surprised how much grain dust and gunk builds up in the nooks and crannys.

you want something food-safe for lube, so not WD40. I just use a little vegetable oil. If you're just oiling it (not taking it apart), i put a little in the cap and use a toothpick to drip it down where the end of the roller meets the body, spinning the whole time. repeat for the other 3 ends. you should notice it loosen up pretty quick, but i usually sit there and keep spinning until I know it's worked through pretty well. then wipe up any excess and run 2-4# of junk grain through it and discard to be sure you've got all the oil off (I have an old bag of grain that i keep around for this purpose).

if you're going for a full breakdown, which I'd recommend in your case, take it fully apart and clean everything, then oil up the joints as you put it back together and repeat the junk grain routine. that should lube up the adjustment pegs and let you get things rolling properly again.

I use a food grade mineral oil to lubricate mine. Same thing I use to oil my cutting board. It seems to be doing the job quite well.

Derek · Post by **Derek** » Fri Aug 16, 2013 12:42 am

Derek wrote: Sour Cherry Saison...

I'll probably thaw the cherries, blend them up and add them when the primary fermentation starts to slow down... I'm not sure if I'll rack it to a secondary at that time, or let the yeast work on the cherries for a bit first.

I decided to put the cherries in the carboy and rack the beer over for the secondary... bad idea. It wasn't even 3/4 full, and there wasn't enough headspace for the cherries and foam! That dupont yeast went crazy and spewed cherries everywhere!

Next up is 'Hoptoberfest'... 10# vienna, 0.5# crystal 40, 0.5# Honey malt, with a lot of cascade & centennial at the end of the boil (I need to make some freezer space for the next crop), US-05 yeast.

markaberrant · Post by **markaberrant** » Fri Aug 16, 2013 12:47 pm

Racked 3 gallons of blended and aged Flanders Red onto 6lbs of sour cherries last night. Average age of combined blend would be 2 years. Will keg it up in 2 months.

Another batch of Kombucha will go into a keg in the next day or so, just waiting for it to get a touch more sour.

Making 10 gallons of Pilsner next weekend.

matt7215 · Post by **matt7215** » Fri Aug 16, 2013 1:09 pm

markaberrant wrote:Racked 3 gallons of blended and aged Flanders Red onto 6lbs of sour cherries last night. Average age of combined blend would be 2 years. Will keg it up in 2 months.

Another batch of Kombucha will go into a keg in the next day or so, just waiting for it to get a touch more sour.

Making 10 gallons of Pilsner next weekend.

are you still fermenting your pilsner with US05?
if so, what temp are you fermenting with?

Im planning on doing a few lagers this winter and Im still trying to decide which yeast to use

markaberrant · Post by **markaberrant** » Fri Aug 16, 2013 2:45 pm

matt7215 wrote:are you still fermenting your pilsner with US05?
if so, what temp are you fermenting with?

Im planning on doing a few lagers this winter and Im still trying to decide which yeast to use

A friend ordered me some 34/70, as he wanted to see me brew a real lager. Already used it once on a "brown lager" and it turned out good, so going to repitch it.

I still find US-05 ultra clean, but have been playing a bit with different yeasts this year. No real reason, just wanted to give them a try, as I wasn't really messing with any other component of my recipes this year. I have become somewhat partial to Wyeast 1028 for high gravity ales, still has great attenuation and alcohol tolerance, but adds a little something extra that US-05 does not. Made some nice session ales too with the Wyeast Kolsch strains this year, as well as the West Yorkshire.

J343MY · Post by **J343MY** » Sun Aug 18, 2013 9:54 pm

Today, I brewed a Quad. After primary fermentation is complete, it will be split into 2, 3gal fermenters. One will get White Labs brett L, and the other will get Wyeast Brett L.

I also harvested two thirds of my hops. Once the rest are ready, they will be going into a wet hopped IPA.

icemachine · Post by **icemachine** » Mon Aug 19, 2013 8:49 am

Brewed up a Black IPA yesterday afternoon loosely based on Gonzo Porter, put it on the S-05 yeast cake from my American Amber, blowoff was just humming along when I came downstairs this morning

atomeyes · Post by **atomeyes** » Mon Aug 19, 2013 7:13 pm

J343MY wrote:Today, I brewed a Quad. After primary fermentation is complete, it will be split into 2, 3gal fermenters. One will get White Labs brett L, and the other will get Wyeast Brett L.

I also harvested two thirds of my hops. Once the rest are ready, they will be going into a wet hopped IPA.

i like how you roll, dude.

ritzkiss · Post by **ritzkiss** » Wed Aug 21, 2013 12:31 am

Brewed up a saison tonight with yeast harvested from Saison Dupont - looking forward to how that turns out!

atomeyes · Post by **atomeyes** » Sun Sep 01, 2013 6:01 pm

SMaSH with backyard cascade and brett anomalus as the yeast

J343MY · Post by **J343MY** » Mon Sep 02, 2013 5:38 pm

Just brewed a wet hopped IPA, with homegrown Centennial, Chinook, and Zeus.

Swampale · Post by **Swampale** » Sat Sep 07, 2013 6:21 pm

Just brewed a Blonde Ale with a touch of honey malt. Next week a Belgian using Wyeast 1762 Abbey Ale II. Stepping up the yeast right now.

icemachine · Post by **icemachine** » Sun Sep 08, 2013 9:18 pm

Just kegged a Black IPA, 100 grams of Cascade for dry hopping

dale cannon · Post by **dale cannon** » Tue Sep 10, 2013 11:33 am

About to embark on a run of 3 brew sessions before shutting down until next spring.

#1 Belgian Ale (la chouffe clone): Pils, wheat malt, C10, sugar, bitter with magnum, cumin/coriander/carraway, WLP550

#2 Bitter: gypsum, MO, C75, chocolate malt, sugar, bitter/flavour/aroma with glacier, WLP023

#3 American Brown Ale (based on McDole's Janet's BA): 2-row, C40, carapils, wheat, chocolate malt, sugar, bitter with columbus, flavour/aroma with centennial & cascade, US-05

atomeyes · Post by **atomeyes** » Thu Sep 19, 2013 7:53 am

either no one's brewing or no one's bragging....

brewed a vanilla porter on Sunday. fermentation was clean and fast.
re-brewing it on Friday for a party and going to up it to 6.5% abv.
looking at brewing my first barley wine and using Jeremy's recipe as the base for mine.
also going to attempt a Singularity clone. that's looking pretty wild. my basement should be the perfect temp to prevent the beer from tasting too hot.
and i'm 2 months into my Supplication clone. there's lots of activity in those Russian River dregs. had a pellicle within a week. 3 months in secondary, then a year in tertiary on top of sour cherries (probably 5 lbs) and pinot noir-soaked oak cubes.