[purduekenn]

Brewing a German Pils with 100% Rahr North Star Pils malt,  Edelweiss hops, and Diamond Lager yeast.

This is my first batch with the North Star Pils.

I like Rahr North Star Pils malt hope you get a great beer!

[tommymorris]

Brewing a German Pils with 100% Rahr North Star Pils malt,  Edelweiss hops, and Diamond Lager yeast.

This is my first batch with the North Star Pils.

I like Rahr North Star Pils malt hope you get a great beer!

That beer turned out fantastic.

Honestly, though I can’t tell a huge difference between the Rahr North Star Pils and the bag of Canada Malting Co Superior Pils I have been using lately. I think I would need a side by side to speak intelligently about any differences. That may be because I used a lot of Edelweiss and that flavor is coming through very well.

[saaz amore]

Brewed another amber ale today, despite having just kegged my last one a week ago. It's been 5 months since COVID, and although I can at least detect hops now, I still can't handle bitterness. The last one was rated at 31 IBUs, and it was way too bitter for me, so I went down to 21 on today's amber. I tasted the wort after chilling it, and it still seems too bitter. The other change I made was from 100% Verdant IPA to 50/50 Verdant/S-04. Curious about how it will flocculate. Hopefully it'll turn out OK.

I also managed to bake a loaf of wheat bread, make a pint of yogurt, and smoke six chicken breasts, though, so it's been a pretty good day, all things considered. Time to catch up on football.

[purduekenn]

Brewed another American Pale Ale yesterday. Brewed 3.4 gallons on Anvil Foundry 10.5. Second time using this recipe.
Grain:
95%  Rahr 2 Row
5%    Briess Carmel 40
Hops:
CTZ for bittering
Azaccaa and Amarillo hops at Flameout
Yippee! I also added Ascorbic acid in the mash and Brewtan B in the boil to help with O2 in the beer.

[Clint Yeastwood]

First imperial stout. I took my dry stout recipe and increased everything until I hit 1.084. Fermenting with Kveik Lutra.

Turned out to be a real challenge, because the wort did not want to come out of the bag. I had to put an oven rack on a cooler, open the bag, and pour hot water over the grain to get to my target gravity.

This brings BIAB nearly up to the level of the Braumeister in terms of work, but not quite.

[BrewBama]

Brewing an American IPA this AM



Edit: this beer scored at 32 at the America’s Finest City as an IPA.  I entered it as a Golden Ale in the AL Brewer’s Cup where it scored a 36.

[ynotbrusum]

I see that you are using OxBlox in the recipe - have you used this routinely on other recipes?  I am interested to hear your thoughts and those of others here who have used it.  I assume it is in lieu of a homemade trifecta-type set of compounds? 

[BrewBama]

I have used it on half a dozen or so beers now. It is supposed to be the commercial version of Trifecta. Quite frankly, I have no idea if it works or not. I don’t even notice its there. Just a little insurance policy I guess. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to be using it + Brewtan B but I have been with no detectable issues.

[BrewnWKopperKat]

For the past 6 months, I added just BrewTan-B to my recipes (both BIAB & DME); I'm definitely seeing clearer beer, and perhaps some flavor improvements (I have not done side-by-side comparisons).  I brew small (2.5 gal or less) batches, so I bottle condition with fresh yeast (currently CBC-1) and ascorbic acid - and bottles are held around 75F for the first week.

For a "new years day" BIAB brown ale, I used OxBlox in place of BrewTan-B.  I also added ...
1) YOS (2 g yeast/sugar per gal at 90F for 30 min),
2) mash capping,
3) and no sparge.
With all the changes, I feel that I got a better beer. 

I have another BIAB brown ale (different recipe) in the pipeline with OxBlox, YOS, mash capping, but a dunk sparge with boiled water.  Hydrometer samples suggest this this beer will be similar to the "no sparge" beer.

As noted earlier, I have a DME recipe early in the pipeline where I included YOS, mash capping, and a "low stir" approach for adding the DME.  If it turns out well, I may post a full recipe & process steps here.

My guess is that I'll end up with the following changes to my brew day
1) YOS
1) OxBlox for BAIB (or BrewTan-B for DME)
3) "mash" capping
4) BIAB: dunk sparge with boiled water (I have a tea kettle that heats quickly)

eta: while my approach to YOS extends the brew day about 30 minutes, it's also 30 minutes for casually milling grains, measuring hops and minerals, etc.

[BrewBama]

The LowO2 data says YOS will hold zero O2 for days so I do my YOS the evening before brewday.

I quit using a mash cap as I can’t tell a difference and it’s a PITA (I have a very low PITA tolerance).

Other than that, I underlet, no sparge, lauter very clear wort,  gentle boil, purge kegs with ferment CO2, closed xfer, and when I bottle for shipping I use O2 scavenging crown caps.

I have no idea if any of it works but it’s easy, the beer tastes great, so why not.

[ynotbrusum]

The Brewtan B has definitely clarified my brews significantly.  I intentionally avoided it on one beer to see if it made a difference and that beer took longer to clear and never reached the level of brilliance that the Brewtan B brews do.  Just one data point, but significant enough to me to cause me to use the insurance dose of Brewtan B.  I use a gram in the mash and a gram (rehydrated) at the end of the boil.

I might give OxBlox a shot; I haven't used the homemade full trifecta in quite awhile, since I wanted to get away from sulfites and I found little difference leaving K-meta out of my process.

[Village Taphouse]

The Brewtan B has definitely clarified my brews significantly.  I intentionally avoided it on one beer to see if it made a difference and that beer took longer to clear and never reached the level of brilliance that the Brewtan B brews do.  Just one data point, but significant enough to me to cause me to use the insurance dose of Brewtan B.  I use a gram in the mash and a gram (rehydrated) at the end of the boil.

I might give OxBlox a shot; I haven't used the homemade full trifecta in quite awhile, since I wanted to get away from sulfites and I found little difference leaving K-meta out of my process.

I've heard people mention getting better clarity with BTB and it surprises me because I don't think I have seen it.  Maybe it's a multi-issue thing.  I stopped the BTB for awhile but now I'm back on it.  What I noticed when I used it was that my beer seemed much smoooooother.  Silky smooth.  But I will be paying attention to the clarity on these latest beers. 

[BrewBama]

Brewing from the Historical Beer category this AM



Edit: this beer scored a 32 at the AL Brewer’s Cup which took 3rd at the table. I am super stoked that Sandy Cockerham judged this beer!

[denny]

Planning on a rye doppebock this weekend

[pete b]

I took some time off earlier this week and was able to get an inauthentic English porter in the fermenter. Inauthentic because I used what was on hand. I used Rahr two row, crisp brown malt, bairds 50/60 crystal and a little valley malt kvass rye. The rye was strictly to make up some gravity points because I didn't have enough pale malt but I think it will play wee, it's only 10% of the bill. I used an ounce of perle I had for the 60 minute addition and the rest of the some Styrian sav Goldings I had at flameout. I used WY1469 at flameout. I feel all the non-traditional substittions will be fine especially as I used 25% Crisp brown Malt.
I also am doing an experimental hopped Blueberry Session Mead. I have been happy with my 6% session meads, they have plenty of body and flavor especially when carbed. This is pushing it down to 5% to see if it holds up at that level. For the hopping I used some columbus/warrior hop extract for the bittering addition by adding it to about 1/2 gallon of the 5 gallon batch and boiling for an hour. i will dry hop with citra pelllets.