What's in Your Fermenter? 2020

[MitchBastard]

My black Hop hornet clone is chugging away. In havnt taken a hydro yet as It’s only day three but it’s swirling around like dish water. First dry hop tomorrow so will see where it’s at then.... as per an earlier post I thought I’d pitched too hot but given I had decent activity less than 12 hrs after pitching, maybe not.

first beer I’ve chilled too so keep to see if the extra 50 minutes was worth it

Edited April 19, 2020 by MitchBastard

[Instigator]

The Coopers Mild Ale I put down last week seems to have finished quickly. I guess not having many fermentables would cause that. Anyway, from the recipe I went with a 21C temp for the entire brew. The sample tastes pretty flamin' close to the real deal. I'm definitely happy with that. I'm not going to CC. Was busy today but have next week off so will bottle tomorrow.

Just as an aside, this is the third Coopers commercial clone recipe I have done using the Coopers Commercial Ale yeast grown into a starter (SA, XPA, MA). I'm sold! These taste really close to the commercial product. I think I'll have a crack at the Coopers Celebration Ale next.

[Shamus O'Sean]

I did this brew on Saturday.  I am calling it Promising Ale

• 2.5kg Pale Malt, Golden Promise (Thomas Fawcett)
• 0.75kg Gladfield Munich Malt
• 0.50kg Gladfield Wheat Malt
• 0.20kg Gladfield Light Crystal Malt
• 0.08kg Acidulated Malt
• 20g Ella 41 minute boil (30.7 IBU)
• 25g Topaz 2 minute boil (4.0 IBU)
• 25g Vic Secret 2 minute boil (3.8 IBU)
• 25g Topaz dry hop
• 25g Vic Secret dry hop

Brew particulars:

• 20L batch
• OG 1.048 Predicted; 1.047 Actual
• FG 1.013 Predicted
• IBU 38.5
• EBC 11
• ABV 4.5%

Yeast was a US-05 starter made the Otto Von Blotto method https://community.diybeer.com/topic/12084-reusing-yeast-the-starter-method/ 

15g Dry US-05 into a 2.5L starter wort (with 240g LDM); saved 800ml for the next starter; decanted off most of the 'beer'; swirled up the cold crashed yeast and into the fermenter at 22°C; temperature controller set to 18°C.

 

 

Photo after about 21 hours in the fermenter, cracking along nicely

[Marty_G]

Nothing.... feels a bit strange. I don't unplug the Inkbirk very often but it is off and will be at least till next Monday or Tuesday.  When I may do a mash. I usually have something on the go for someone. 

[MitchellScott]

44 odd litres of a Session XPA. Wanted to put some wheat into it but needed a brew on to fill two empty kegs and didn't have wheat at the time so went without. This is my first AG beer that I am stepping out of the SMaSH territory so keen to see how she goes :).

4.2kg Pale Ale Malt
0.2kg Carapils
0.2kg Light Crystal

Hops were Centennial, Citra and Amarillo, bittered to around 25-30 IBU's.

Smells amazing and shes bubbling away now on day 2 of fermentation.

[Otto Von Blotto]

Nothing in either of my fermenters either, although Saturday's batch is being pitched either Thursday or Friday. Once I get my hop order I'll be brewing a pils. 

I've also ditched the 25 litre batches for the time being so just doing 21 litre ones to fill a 19L keg by itself. Probably will help stretch the grain and hop supplies a little too which isn't a bad thing at the moment with a bit of an income reduction. Need to get another 20L cube, the other one I had didn't get cleaned for ages and I don't trust it so just running with one currently. 

[Marty_G]

5 minutes ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

the other one I had didn't get cleaned for ages and I don't trust it

Gee it must have been bad for you not to trust your cleaning and sterilising knowledge/skills 

[Otto Von Blotto]

3 minutes ago, MartyG1525230263 said:

Gee it must have been bad for you not to trust your cleaning and sterilising knowledge/skills 

No issues with the skills just not sure I can get everything out of the bung area. Easier to just buy a new one, they're only about $15-20. Not sure if any camping shops are open, I'd prefer a white one rather than the blue dyed ones Bunnings sell. 

[Waynealford]

Bottled by Earl Grey/Rooibos IPA on the weekend, gave both FVs a really good clean with TSP, shoulda seen the cloud coming off overnight!!  All rinsed, and would have put on the next brew but out of sanitizer.  Buying that this arvo, and tomorrow night will be doing Cooper's Saison recipe in the big one, and Prescription Pils in the little 'un.

I only have ingredients for the Bockenator after that, but I have the Czech Pils, Luchador Spiced Choc Stout and Hefeweizen lined up after that.  Will also need to try Kingsley's Ginger Beer; recently did the Hop and Grain version, can't stand it - needs lemonade which just makes me feel gassy!

[ChristinaS1]

On 4/15/2020 at 5:34 PM, Titan said:

My Eisbock is purring along nicely.

So many birds in the background. Sounds like you live in a paradise. Brew sounds good too.

Edited April 22, 2020 by ChristinaS1

[ChristinaS1]

On 4/10/2020 at 11:40 AM, ChristinaS1 said:

Just put this on today. No partial this time. Had intended to make a lager but had problems with my lager starter, so switched to making it an ale. Fermenting in the keg. Using Denali hops for the first time. Will be adding the dry hops at yeast pitching, another first for me, for some bio-transformation. MJ has informed me that M44 is able to do bio-transform. Will remove dry hops on day three. Won't apply pressure initially, to allow ester formation, but will apply 10PSI after removing the dry hops. 

Pandemic Denali Ale

 

1.7kg Coopers Lager

1kg light DME

10gm Cascade x 5 min

34gm Denali hop stand x 20 min

22gm Denali at pitching (in keg) for biotransformation X 3 days

10gm MJ's M44 West Coast Ale dry pitched

10mL Claritferm

17L

 

Cheers,

 

Christina.

Cold crashed this yesterday and added gelatin today. Was going to start fast carbing it too but I ran out of CO2. Very curious how this will taste, both because of using Denali hops for the first time, the first time for this yeast, and adding hops at pitching. 

Cheers,

Christina.

[MitchBastard]

@ChristinaS1 looks great!

[MitchBastard]

Black hop hornet clone down to FG. Happy with how it’s looking and tasting. It calls for a dry hop of 160g so I’ve decided to split that over two lots.one on day 4 and the other in a few days. Will be interesting to do a side by side. 

[Shamus O'Sean]

2 hours ago, MitchBastard said:

Black hop hornet clone down to FG. Happy with how it’s looking and tasting. It calls for a dry hop of 160g so I’ve decided to split that over two lots.one on day 4 and the other in a few days. Will be interesting to do a side by side. 

So do you mean split the brew in two, dry hop one half on day 4 and dry hop the other half a few days later, then do a side by side of the two brews to assess the difference?

[MitchBastard]

Hey @Shamus O'Sean Nar sorry mate I just mean I’m splitting the dry hop over one batch. 80g day 4 and 80g on day 8. I didn’t want to use trendy terms and say I’m double dry hopping it. 160g in one go didn’t seem like I’d get good saturation. The hop sock over got is kinda tight. I didn’t want to commando it either. 
 

im keen for a side by side with the commercial version once mine is down. 
 

sorry mate I didn’t word that real well!

[Shamus O'Sean]

No @MitchBastard, you actually worded it correctly the first time, I just skewed my interpretation.  If I had of read clearer I would of realised you meant a side-by-side with the commercial version.

Looks great in the sample tube by the way.

[Titan]

Eisbock is done cold crash on the way. Finished at 1.015/16 which is about right. Will sit at 2c for 7 days. 

[Otto Von Blotto]

Instead of pitching the next ale yesterday I decided to give the yeast another day to chill in the fridge. I'll be pitching it today in my break though. Target 21 litres and the OG was 1.045, a bit lower than expected which is the second time that's happened in as many brews. Maybe some variation in the base malt. 

[rodge]

I’ve tried recreating the Two Birds Golden Ale that they no longer sell. In the fermenter, see how close I get. 
 

[Otto Von Blotto]

Pitched my ale earlier, got about 20.5 litres in the fermenter and the temp was about 22. Fermenting at 19 with 1469 which it had already reached when I left for work again. Didn't use oxygen in this batch as I couldn't be arsed with the limited time I had. 

The cooler nights are certainly helping with getting the wort close to ferment temp prior to tipping into the fermenter. Will still need to pre chill lagers but the ales are close enough without it.

[MitchBastard]

On 4/23/2020 at 6:01 PM, Titan said:

Eisbock is done cold crash on the way. Finished at 1.015/16 which is about right. Will sit at 2c for 7 days. 

What’s the steps from here mate? Cold crash then drop lower to freeze? 
 

keen to see how this turns out for you

[Titan]

1 hour ago, MitchBastard said:

What’s the steps from here mate? Cold crash then drop lower to freeze? 
 

keen to see how this turns out for you

Yes mate i will gravity transfer from the fv to a sanitised and purged keg (closed transfer). Then i will drop this keg down to -2 or 3 for 48hrs. Im bottling this one as its going to my home brew club as a case swap. When bottling i will pressure the keg to 2 or 3 psi and use a modified pluto gun and bottling wand. As i have never done this i will do a practice run this weekend with a keg of water and will modify the gun so im ready for the next steps. I just need to increase the hole size on the gun to accept the wand snuggly.

[Titan]

Another thing i will be doing. When priming the bottles i will be enoculating each of the bottles with S23 lager yeast i havested from the starter i made for this brew. Just hope it can handle the high alcohol.

[UncleStavvy]

Doing a Smooth English Bitter from the spreadsheet recipe. Today is day 7 in the FV. SG is at 1.01 tested just now. Fermenting temp has been 21° (Proudly sponsored by Inkbird™) Question is should I up the temp for 24 hours for a diacetyl rest or not? Recipe says 10 days for fermentation but I used extra yeast.

[Titan]

15 minutes ago, UncleStavvy said:

Question is should I up the temp for 24 hours for a diacetyl rest or not?

Not required for an ale as the yeast will have cleaned that up starting about day 5. For me i would leave 1 more day at current temperature then crash and bottle.