What're you brewing right now?

[icemachine]

Recipe I'm putting together for next weekend, not sure I'm in entirely done tweaking it, any comments? I'm aiming for a winter pumpkin warmer.

3 kg Canadian 2 Row
2 kg Rye Malt
1 kg Amber Malt
250 g Chocolate Malt
1.3 kg Demara

60g whole Cascade at t60
3 kg pie pumpkin t30
30g whole Cascade at t15
1 tsp each at t10:
Clove
Allspice
Cinnamon
Nutmeg

28L pre-boil
23L post boil

Danstar Nottingham Dry yeast

Anticipated OG 1062
Anticipated OG 1012
Anticipated ABV 6.5%
Anticipated IBU 26.5

[markaberrant]

@icemachine:

- your expected OG seems low, what efficiency are you targeting?
- that is a lot of demerara, way too much in my opinion. Quite a bit of amber malt too. 1kg of each might even be too much, in fact I would probably only use 500g of each, and replace with more pale malt
- 500g of some sort of crystal malt (medium) will add some sweetness and body, that is most welcome in a pumpkin ale
- I would add the pumpkin to the mash so it will convert the starches. With all that pumpkin and rye malt, better use some rice hulls to avoid a stuck mash.
- I would leave out the late cascade addition, the will clash with the spices.
- I have no idea how the spicing will turn out, adding spices is pretty much a crapshoot.

[grub]

brewed up 20gal of quad today. might be the last brewday of the season, but we've got another tentative brew in mind if we get another nice saturday...

[markaberrant]

brewed up 20gal of quad today. might be the last brewday of the season, but we've got another tentative brew in mind if we get another nice saturday...

Do you take the whole winter off? When do you start up again? I'm gonna do one more brew in the next week or two, then planning to take a break until late Feb (yes, I know it will still be cold). This is the first winter I am planning to take a break, I brewed a Tripel 3 years ago out on my patio when it was -27 (-40 with the windchill).

[grub]

brewed up 20gal of quad today. might be the last brewday of the season, but we've got another tentative brew in mind if we get another nice saturday...

Do you take the whole winter off? When do you start up again? I'm gonna do one more brew in the next week or two, then planning to take a break until late Feb (yes, I know it will still be cold). This is the first winter I am planning to take a break, I brewed a Tripel 3 years ago out on my patio when it was -27 (-40 with the windchill).

yeah, generally. we'll brew as long as it's above freezing. it's just too much hassle having the hoses frozen, bringing pots and stuff into the house to wash and fill, slipping hazard spilling water in my garage, trouble reaching+maintaining temperatures... it's not about personally being able to survive the cold, it's about how much more of a PITA the brewday becomes, changing it from fun to a huge hassle. so we pretty much stop once the temperature drops and don't brew again until it warms up again. but we've become good at stockpiling enough to get us through the winter, so it works out ok

[Derek]

@icemachine:

- I have no idea how the spicing will turn out, adding spices is pretty much a crapshoot.

A little can go a long way... and fermentation can scrub off a lot of the aroma. I recommend spicing the secondary to taste (and even then the conditioned brew will differ).

I learned the hard way. I did a Jingle Belgian that was undrinkable for 3 years (unless you really like chewing on cloves). At 4 & 5 years it was good, but now the spicing is a little too subtle.

I just bottled that 1850's India Export Porter which got down to 1.023, so just over 60%AA and 5% abv. Durden Park recommends 9 months aging, but it was actually damn tasty right out of the secondary! If it was drier, the hops & bitterness would probably need some time to mellow, but I suspect I'll be drinking this over the holidays.

[elproducto]

I bottled my last batch last night, I officially have nothing in fermenters as we speak.

Going to do a batch of Tasty McDole's Janet's Brown this weekend. Supposed to be awesome.

18 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 69.90 %
2 lbs 4.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 8.74 %
2 lbs 4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt – 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 8.74 %
2 lbs 4.0 oz Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 8.74 %
1 lbs Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 3.88 %
2.75 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] (60 min) Hops 34.5 IBU
2.25 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] (60 min) (Mash Hop) Hops 5.6 IBU
4.00 oz Centennial [8.70 %] (Dry Hop 14 days) Hops -
2.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] (15 min) Hops 12.4 IBU
3.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (10 min) Hops 8.8 IBU
3.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (0 min) Hops -
0.55 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
2.21 tbsp PH 5.2 Stabilizer (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
2 Pkgs Safale US-05 (Fermentis #S-05) Yeast-Ale


Scaled down to 5.5 gallons of course.

[matt7215]

last night i transfered a berliner weisse to secondary and blended 3 gallons of dark saison with 2 gallons of lambic.

time to wait.

[dutchcanuck]

Matt7215,

I spoke with a couple people at the Learn2Brew event at Amsterdam brewery and many spoke very highly of your brewing capabilities. So I was wondering...would you ever consider posting a bit more regarding your techniques and recipes? Or is that a trade secret?

The only reason I ask is because I'm in the process of getting into the hobby and would love to tap into your wealth of knowledge.

[matt7215]

Matt7215,

I spoke with a couple people at the Learn2Brew event at Amsterdam brewery and many spoke very highly of your brewing capabilities. So I was wondering...would you ever consider posting a bit more regarding your techniques and recipes? Or is that a trade secret?

The only reason I ask is because I'm in the process of getting into the hobby and would love to tap into your wealth of knowledge.

ive posted a few recipes on here before and i try to comment as much as i can in the homebrew forum. was there something specific you like to know?

[matt7215]

tommorow im heading over to take a look at Kish84 and JB84 homebrew set-up and we'll be brewing a batch of black IPA (if the ingredients show up).

ill post the recipe and process along with pictures if we get to brew.

[dutchcanuck]

I'm curious Matt, what is your setup like? After the Learn2Brew event I'm sold on the Brew In A Bag (BIAB) method...any thoughts?

[matt7215]

I'm curious Matt, what is your setup like? After the Learn2Brew event I'm sold on the Brew In A Bag (BIAB) method...any thoughts?

Brew in a Bag is a great method. its cuts down on equipment costs and you can make very good beer. you can always build a mash ton later if you choose too.

IMO the best way to start is with the extract + specialty malt steep method. thats what were using tommorow.

[matt7215]

tommorow im heading over to take a look at Kish84 and JB84 homebrew set-up and we'll be brewing a batch of black IPA (if the ingredients show up).

ill post the recipe and process along with pictures if we get to brew.

so the my order from

http://www.homebrew-supplies.ca/viartshop/

has not been shipped yet so it looks like were gonna doctor a Magnotta Festa Pale Ale kit into a black IPA.

ill still post "brewday" pics along with the procedure used

when my order shows up ill brew a barley wine and again post everything on here.

[dutchcanuck]

I'm waiting for my week off christmas to get my new brewery in order. When I do though I will post some pics. I plan on building an electric kettle running off of 240v so it should be pretty interesting.