RDWHAHB - What Are You Drinking in 2020?

[Marty_G]

15 hours ago, PaddyBrew2 said:

I'm loving how far this journey has taken me and thanks largely to the epic folk on here who are filled with knowledge and always take the time to answer and help 

Cheers all

Well, that is a wonderful thing to say. 

So just how hooked on pressure fermentation are you? Did you find any negatives?  I know with those FV sometime it can be an issue getting them to seal correctly.   

Personally I have fallen in love with it.   I have very little head space in my FV so the beer is carbonated before I transfer.  On Friday morning I cold crashed and yesterday afternoon had a schooner of it to see what it was like via a party tap. The beer was at 5c and was full of small fine bubbles.  That beer, a lager, was grain last Monday.  The time savings alone are worth it.  I struggle to find any negatives.  Can easily have a beer grain to glass with natural carbonation in 7 days with no compromise of the flavour.  Actually think with hoppy beers it is better. 

Edited June 27, 2020 by MartyG1525230263

[Aussiekraut]

My Chocolate Hazelnut Porter is coming along nicely. The chocolate flavours are subsiding a little making way for some coffee flavours and the hazelnuts are starting to come out too. Another 3 or 4 weeks and I'll have a nice winter warmer on my hands

 

[Popo the Reprobate]

Sounds delicious @Aussiekraut

 

[Popo the Reprobate]

3S's from Cheeky Peak. Pretty good.

[PaddyBrew2]

6 hours ago, MartyG1525230263 said:

Well, that is a wonderful thing to say. 

So just how hooked on pressure fermentation are you? Did you find any negatives?  I know with those FV sometime it can be an issue getting them to seal correctly.   

Personally I have fallen in love with it.   I have very little head space in my FV so the beer is carbonated before I transfer.  On Friday morning I cold crashed and yesterday afternoon had a schooner of it to see what it was like via a party tap. The beer was at 5c and was full of small fine bubbles.  That beer, a lager, was grain last Monday.  The time savings alone are worth it.  I struggle to find any negatives.  Can easily have a beer grain to glass with natural carbonation in 7 days with no compromise of the flavour.  Actually think with hoppy beers it is better. 

I loved the first ferment mate. Getting the lid off to dry hop was a bit of an inconvenience as you can't just pull it off. Have to hit with a few pounds of pressure from the CO2 tank to make it pop. But other than that it's all positives. I'm making a hefeweizen next so I won't pressure ferment that but all my Hoppy beers I will.  

[Popo the Reprobate]

3 hours ago, Popo said:

3S's from Cheeky Peak. 

*3C's

[BlackSands]

On 6/28/2020 at 7:17 AM, Otto Von Blotto said:

The Photoshop app on my phone has a correction or adjustment called clarity. If I turn it all the way up it makes a cloudy beer look clear. He's probably just sneakily doing that and making us all think the clarity is fantastic every time

 

Nice try...but no!    Some, but certainly not all my beers end up super clear.  I know on bottling day which ones will be really clear i.e when they're already obviously very  clear, even at a CC temp of 1ºC.  In fact sometimes they look close to 100% clarity.   The current batch that was bottled just a few days ago is also going to be super bright, that one looked totally transparent when held up to the light.  I also know that, like this one, it'll probably take a month to carbonate!  In contrast though, an English IPA I brewed some months back was hazy going into the bottles and pretty much stayed that way, without much improvement after bottle conditioning.  I haven't really identified the reasons for the variation... it seems kinda random.  I CC for around 3-4 days, adding gelatine on day 2.  However, having said that it could be something to do with the way I'm preparing the gelatine...  which has varied.

(@MartyG1525230263)

Edited June 28, 2020 by BlackSands

[Pezzza]

On 6/28/2020 at 3:24 PM, Aussiekraut said:

My Chocolate Hazelnut Porter

Wow Aussie K mate you are now 'setting the pace'!

How long have you had the GUTEN now and gone all graining?   You certainly have cranked it up and are going great mate!

Beautiful looking brew mate.  Well done.  Great Stuff.

Cheers

BB

[Pezzza]

On 6/28/2020 at 3:45 PM, Popo said:

3S's from Cheeky Peak. Pretty good.

Lovely looking Brew and am a believer in CPB too Popo... they're a good lot they are.... and nice beer photee too mate ha ha ; )

[Pezzza]

10 hours ago, BlackSands said:

adding gelatine on day 2.

So you make up a solution BS and then just stir that in - any tips mate - got some gelatin in a jar sitting here waiting for a gallop....

[Pezzza]

Weekend Brews.... and the Nitro is back.... herewith BushKenny II.... a beautiful thing:

[Lettucegrove]

10 hours ago, BlackSands said:

 

Nice try...but no!    Some, but certainly not all my beers end up super clear.  I know on bottling day which ones will be really clear i.e when they're already obviously very  clear, even at a CC temp of 1ºC.  In fact sometimes they look close to 100% clarity.   The current batch that was bottled just a few days ago is also going to be super bright, that one looked totally transparent when held up to the light.  I also know that, like this one, it'll probably take a month to carbonate!  In contrast though, an English IPA I brewed some months back was hazy going into the bottles and pretty much stayed that way, without much improvement after bottle conditioning.  I haven't really identified the reasons for the variation... it seems kinda random.  I CC for around 3-4 days, adding gelatine on day 2.  However, having said that it could be something to do with the way I'm preparing the gelatine...  which has varied.

(@MartyG1525230263)

15 minutes ago, Bearded Burbler said:

So you make up a solution BS and then just stir that in - any tips mate - got some gelatin in a jar sitting here waiting for a gallop....

 

Would also love some tips on gelatine. Is it advisable to use when harvesting trub/yeast slurry to reuse? Can it be used in the keg or is this a no no?

[Aussiekraut]

12 hours ago, Bearded Burbler said:

Wow Aussie K mate you are now 'setting the pace'!

How long have you had the GUTEN now and gone all graining?   You certainly have cranked it up and are going great mate!

Beautiful looking brew mate.  Well done.  Great Stuff.

Cheers

BB

Thanks mate. It's been 6 or 7 months since my first AG batch. It's been a pleasant journey so far  

 

[Aussiekraut]

12 hours ago, Bearded Burbler said:

Weekend Brews.... and the Nitro is back.... herewith BushKenny II.... a beautiful thing:

Look at that creamy head. Very nice  

[BlackSands]

13 hours ago, Bearded Burbler said:

So you make up a solution BS and then just stir that in - any tips mate - got some gelatin in a jar sitting here waiting for a gallop....

I'm not claiming any particular kind of expertise but there's really not much to it - using gelatine really is very simple.  I know some go through a really tedious process using a microwave to incrementally warm up the gelatine solution but that always seemed to me to be making what is really the simplest of things unnecessarily complicated!   If you ever buy a packet of "Beer Finings" e.g. Mangrovejacks (which is gelatine) on the packet it simply states: 

"Dissolve sachet contents into half a cup of luke warm water (not hot water). Stir until completely dissolved. Add this solution to your beer after fermentation. Allow to settle for two days."   

That's all I'd been doing, though I do of course cold-crash my beer first.  Gelatine is FAR more effective if you force a chill haze first.  More recently though, after something I read, I now allow the gelatine to 'bloom' first -  i.e. sprinkle it onto some warm water and let it sit for a while. Then a wee while later add some hot water to fully dissolve it. Then into the beer she goes.  I have no idea if this extra "blooming" step makes any difference though, but I can say I've done it this way with the last two brews and they're as clear as any beer can be.  It's worth noting also that neither of these two recent brews were dry hopped. Two brews prior to these two were dry-hopped and both have a slight chill-haze  - but I didn't 'bloom' the gelatine with those.  Would that have made a difference?  At this stage I have no idea.   

13 hours ago, Lettucegrove said:

Would also love some tips on gelatine. Is it advisable to use when harvesting trub/yeast slurry to reuse? Can it be used in the keg or is this a no no?

I add gelatine to all my brews and harvest the slurry all the time.  There's no issue there.  I don't keg myself but plenty of those that do keg their beer use gelatine. 

 

[Pezzza]

9 hours ago, BlackSands said:

but I didn't 'bloom' the gelatine with those.  Would that have made a difference?  At this stage I have no idea.   

Thanks mate.  Yeah I think Mr Palmer recommends something like that - that is why I asked...

[Lettucegrove]

Cheers @BlackSands I might give it a crack next brew.

[MitchellScott]

On 6/28/2020 at 3:45 PM, Popo said:

3S's from Cheeky Peak. Pretty good.

I love this beer. It's going to be a regular for me from now on.

In fact, I might smash it out again this weekend. Thinking about subbing in some wheat malt and seeing how it affects the outcome.

 

On 6/29/2020 at 7:33 PM, Bearded Burbler said:

Weekend Brews.... and the Nitro is back.... herewith BushKenny II.... a beautiful thing:

YUM!

[Norris!]

4 hours ago, MitchellScott said:

I love this beer. It's going to be a regular for me from now on.

In fact, I might smash it out again this weekend. Thinking about subbing in some wheat malt and seeing how it affects the outcome.

Yeah that is a cracker of a recipe. I use the base as my House pale ale, I picture it as a west coast ale. The west coast ales don't usually have wheat in em, but honestly it wouldn't hurt it, I love wheat and think it has a place in most beers and I have to try not to add it. If you do brew it let me know how it goes.

The only reason I haven't tossed it in is because my 2 other house ale recipes use a lot of wheat, so I kept it out of this one for a crisper and slightly more bitter mouthfeel and flavour. But like I said, I think it wouldn't hurt the beer one bit.

Do you or @Popotoss in any different hops? I mix and match for different flavours and sometimes add some choc malt to get it a little darker.  I also do a fwh with the 60 min...I haven't done a side by side to be able to tell if it makes a difference. I have tried to get all the bitterness from the F/O additions, bumped up some, that beer was good but I prefer these a little more bitter so kept the 1st addition going forward.

As you can tell keen to hear what you all do with this brew. Def one of my favourites from CPB especially when it is on sale for $29.99.

[iBooz2]

On 6/28/2020 at 3:51 PM, PaddyBrew2 said:

I loved the first ferment mate. Getting the lid off to dry hop was a bit of an inconvenience as you can't just pull it off. Have to hit with a few pounds of pressure from the CO2 tank to make it pop. But other than that it's all positives. I'm making a hefeweizen next so I won't pressure ferment that but all my Hoppy beers I will.  

@PaddyBrew2, to get the lid off the Fermzilla (pressure released) simply undo the top ring cap a couple of turns then before its screwed all the way off put a big flat blade screw driver under the lip of one of the SS ball lock connectors and gently pries the lid up using the ring cap edge for leverage.  Work alternatively from side to side.  This saves precious CO2.

Also when I dry hop, don’t take the lid off, (slowly pressure release) just undo the gas SS ball lock connector from the lid itself and using a funnel drop the hops in that way.  Re-fit and re-tighten the gas SS ball lock connector again then give the fermzilla a bit of a circular wobble to get hops to move around and settle into the beer.

Cheers - AL

[Journeyman]

On 6/30/2020 at 8:18 AM, BlackSands said:

More recently though, after something I read, I now allow the gelatine to 'bloom' first -  i.e. sprinkle it onto some warm water and let it sit for a while. Then a wee while later add some hot water to fully dissolve it. Then into the beer she goes.  I have no idea if this extra "blooming" step makes any difference though, but I can say I've done it this way with the last two brews and they're as clear as any beer can be

Gonna be trying this! Thanks.

[ozlizard]

ROTM Fruit of the Woods. Very enjoyable drop and probably the second best home brew I have made

 

[Naughty Corner Brewing]

Big Ass Sweet Stout with Steak and kidney stew and dumplings!

[Pezzza]

8 hours ago, MitchellScott said:

subbing in some wheat malt

DO IT MS!

Wheat Malt is Gold...  head structure, mouthfeel and head retention... I reckon it's the biz meself...

My Brewing Advisor @Beerlust Lusty notes that you need good full malt body already for the wheat to do its magic - but you already have that above it seems ; )

------

And @Norris! Norris ha ha mate - I love the wheatie stuff... and it usually gets a bit of a run in my malt bill : )

3 hours ago, Norris! said:

I love wheat and think it has a place in most beers and I have to try not to add it

 

Edited July 2, 2020 by Bearded Burbler

[Pezzza]

6 minutes ago, NewBrews said:

Big Ass Sweet Stout with Steak and kidney stew and dumplings!

Woohoo!  Festive Dumplings as well... how good is that?!  Luvyerwork!