| Date Added | Name | Style | ABV | Amount | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10/18/2024 |  Couver Browner Ale |
American Brown Ale | 4.4 % | 4.75 Gallon(s) | |
| 5/9/2023 |  Munich Row |
American Pale Ale | 5.2 % | 4 Gallon(s) | |
| 5/9/2023 |  Abbey Saison |
Trappist Single | 6.1 % | 4.25 Gallon(s) | |
| 4/8/2023 |  Wit |
Weissbier | 6.8 % | 4 Gallon(s) | |
| 11/8/2022 |  Unmalted Wheat V2 |
Weissbier | 5.6 % | 4 Gallon(s) | |
| 7/12/2022 | Paley Aley |
American Pale Ale | 5.5 % | 4 Gallon(s) | |
| 7/10/2022 |  Hurricane Unmalted Wheat |
Weissbier | 7.0 % | 4 Gallon(s) | |
| 7/10/2022 | Christmas 2022 |
Belgian Dark Strong Ale | 14.7 % | 3.25 Gallon(s) | |
| 3/5/2022 |  Dunkel-er Weisse |
Dunkles Weissbier | 4.5 % | 4 Gallon(s) | |
| 3/5/2022 |  Festivus Beer |
Festbier | 5.7 % | 4 Gallon(s) | |
| 12/9/2021 | Third Florida IPA |
American IPA | 5.7 % | 4.25 Gallon(s) | |
| 12/9/2021 |  La Trappe Dubbel |
Belgian Dubbel | 6.9 % | 3.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 12/4/2021 | Zatarra Single |
Trappist Single | 4.2 % | 4.25 Gallon(s) | |
| 12/4/2021 |  Anutha One Brown Ale |
American Brown Ale | 4.7 % | 4.25 Gallon(s) | |
| 10/4/2021 | Second Florida IPA |
American IPA | 5.7 % | 4.25 Gallon(s) | |
| 9/7/2021 |  Gourd Ale |
American Amber Ale | 5.1 % | 3.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 8/27/2021 |  First Florida IPA |
American IPA | 6.6 % | 4.25 Gallon(s) | |
| 10/17/2020 |  St Bernard-leteren 12 |
Belgian Dark Strong Ale | 11.1 % | 3.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 9/2/2020 | Vine and Root Ale |
Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer | 6.5 % | 4.25 Gallon(s) | |
| 8/22/2020 | We Had Such Dreams Then |
Trappist Single | 6.7 % | 4.25 Gallon(s) | |
| 7/6/2020 | Festbier |
Festbier | 6.7 % | 4 Gallon(s) | |
| 7/6/2020 | Eighth Minnesota IPA |
American IPA | 4.5 % | 4.25 Gallon(s) | |
| 6/3/2020 | Seventh Minnesota IPA |
American IPA | 2.9 % | 4.25 Gallon(s) | |
| 6/3/2020 |  Bluegrass Common |
Kentucky Common | 5.9 % | 4.25 Gallon(s) | |
| 5/21/2020 |  Hoppy NA Beer |
Unknown Style | 0.7 % | 4.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 5/21/2020 | Obsidian Farmhouse Ale |
Saison | 4.6 % | 4.25 Gallon(s) | |
| 5/18/2020 | Sixth Minnesota IPA |
American IPA | 4.3 % | 4.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 3/13/2020 |  Georgie Brown Ale |
American Brown Ale | 7.4 % | 4 Gallon(s) | |
| 3/9/2020 | NAnny State Beer |
Unknown Style | 1.0 % | 4.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 2/21/2020 |  NA Beer Revisit |
American Light Lager | 1.3 % | 4.25 Gallon(s) | |
| 1/30/2020 | Fifth Minnesota IPA |
American IPA | 7.2 % | 4 Gallon(s) | |
| 1/7/2020 | Fourth Minnesota IPA |
American IPA | 6.1 % | 4.25 Gallon(s) | |
| 12/16/2019 | Hop Soda Water |
Unknown Style | 0.0 % | 4 Gallon(s) | |
| 11/25/2019 | NA Beer Edit |
Unknown Style | 0.9 % | 4.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 11/14/2019 |  Nutty Brown Note |
American Brown Ale | 5.5 % | 3 Gallon(s) | |
| 11/14/2019 | Extract Hazy IPA |
American IPA | 6.0 % | 4.25 Gallon(s) | |
| 11/14/2019 | pFriem Lemon Zest Farmhouse Ale |
Saison | 5.0 % | 4.25 Gallon(s) | |
| 11/14/2019 |  Nutfarm II Sweet Stout |
Sweet Stout | 6.9 % | 4.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 11/14/2019 |  Morning Session Stout |
American Stout | 2.8 % | 3.75 Gallon(s) | |
| 11/14/2019 | Swans of Lir IPA |
American IPA | 5.7 % | 4.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 11/7/2019 | NA Beer Revision |
Unknown Style | 0.6 % | 5 Gallon(s) | |
| 11/7/2019 | Slow Churn Milkshake IPA |
Unknown Style | 6.7 % | 3.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 11/7/2019 | Tin Roof Juke Joint IPA |
American IPA | 5.0 % | 3.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 11/7/2019 | Denim Tux Blue Corn Lager |
International Pale Lager | 5.7 % | 3 Gallon(s) | |
| 11/7/2019 | Cape May Brewing Imperial Stout |
Imperial Stout | 9.0 % | 3 Gallon(s) | |
| 9/27/2019 |  Jamaican Breakfast Stout |
Imperial Stout | 7.7 % | 3.9 Gallon(s) | |
| 9/20/2019 |  Third Minnesota IPA |
American IPA | 5.6 % | 4.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 9/6/2019 |  Pump and Dump Ale |
American Amber Ale | 5.8 % | 7.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 9/5/2019 |  Cardinal Spada Ale |
Trappist Single | 6.3 % | 4 Gallon(s) | |
| 8/22/2019 | Second Minnesota IPA |
American IPA | 5.1 % | 4 Gallon(s) | |
| 8/12/2019 | Harlow-My-Daughter IPA |
American IPA | 5.7 % | 4.25 Gallon(s) | |
| 8/3/2019 | Bastille Ale |
Saison | 6.9 % | 5.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 8/2/2019 | First Minnesota IPA |
American IPA | 4.6 % | 3 Gallon(s) | |
| 6/4/2019 | Dried Saison Yeast Experiment |
Saison | 5.3 % | 1.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 5/31/2019 | Lighter Than Helium |
American Light Lager | 4.1 % | 3 Gallon(s) | |
| 5/17/2019 | Whenwes IPA |
Saison | 5.9 % | 3 Gallon(s) | |
| 5/17/2019 | Brown Note Clone |
American Brown Ale | 5.5 % | 3 Gallon(s) | |
| 4/30/2019 | Red Ale Mutation |
Specialty IPA - Red IPA | 4.7 % | 3.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 4/23/2019 |  Red Yeti Bragot |
Braggot | 8.8 % | 2.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 4/10/2019 |  End of Peak Imperial Ale |
Double IPA | 8.6 % | 2.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 3/30/2019 | Big Yeti Bragot |
Unknown Style | 7.9 % | 5 Gallon(s) | |
| 3/28/2019 | Devils Backbone Vienna Lager Clone |
Vienna Lager | 6.8 % | 3 Gallon(s) | |
| 3/25/2019 | Ten and a Bit Minute IPA |
American IPA | 4.2 % | 3 Gallon(s) | |
| 3/20/2019 | Distillers Malt Corn Experiment |
Cream Ale | 5.1 % | 2.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 3/17/2019 | Meadowfoam Mead |
Unknown Style | 7.3 % | 1 Gallon(s) | |
| 3/12/2019 | Trillium Melcher Street Clone |
American IPA | 7.3 % | 4 Gallon(s) | |
| 3/5/2019 | Vossaol |
Unknown Style | 6.9 % | 3.75 Gallon(s) | |
| 3/5/2019 | NA Beer Attempt |
Unknown Style | 0.4 % | 2.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 3/1/2019 | Emerging Sunshine Clone |
American IPA | 6.8 % | 5 Gallon(s) | |
| 2/22/2019 | Hefty Braggot |
Unknown Style | 12.9 % | 5 Gallon(s) | |
| 2/11/2019 | Singlespeed Brewing Coconut Migration Clone |
American IPA | 5.2 % | 3 Gallon(s) | |
| 2/2/2019 | Brunssi Mestari 2000 |
Witbier | 4.5 % | 4 Gallon(s) | |
| 1/29/2019 |  Tuesdays Gone Brown Ale |
American Brown Ale | 5.0 % | 6 Gallon(s) | |
| 1/19/2019 | Yeti Mead |
Unknown Style | 7.2 % | 1 Gallon(s) | |
| 1/13/2019 | Ten Minute IPA |
American IPA | 4.2 % | 3 Gallon(s) | |
| 12/30/2018 | Land of Hobbits and Diggers IPA |
American IPA | 5.2 % | 3 Gallon(s) | |
| 12/26/2018 | Not Quite Westvleteren 12 |
Belgian Dubbel | 8.9 % | 3.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 12/26/2018 | Westvleteren 8 |
Unknown Style | 7.9 % | 3.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 12/14/2018 |  Cluster Extract Dubbel |
Belgian Dubbel | 7.1 % | 3.25 Gallon(s) | |
| 12/12/2018 | New Messico Brown Ale |
American Brown Ale | 4.9 % | 2.65 Gallon(s) | |
| 12/6/2018 | Kvasir |
Unknown Style | 7.1 % | 5 Gallon(s) | |
| 12/5/2018 |  Birra Etrusca |
Unknown Style | 5.7 % | 5 Gallon(s) | |
| 12/4/2018 | Chateau Jiahu |
Unknown Style | 9.2 % | 5 Gallon(s) | |
| 12/4/2018 | Midas Touch |
Unknown Style | 7.7 % | 5 Gallon(s) | |
| 11/30/2018 | Experimental Grapefruit Hop IPA |
American IPA | 5.5 % | 4 Gallon(s) | |
| 11/29/2018 | Distillers Malt Wheat Experiment |
American IPA | 3.4 % | 2.25 Gallon(s) | |
| 11/28/2018 |  Apple Crisp IPA |
American Amber Ale | 3.9 % | 2.75 Gallon(s) | |
| 11/26/2018 | Da Shugabaweizen |
American Wheat Beer | 5.3 % | 3.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 11/18/2018 |  Funkwerks Tropic King |
Saison | 6.0 % | 3.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 11/13/2018 |  Vrolijk Kerstfeest Ale |
Belgian Dark Strong Ale | 12.0 % | 6 Gallon(s) | |
| 11/3/2018 | A Hundred Years Ale |
American Amber Ale | 5.1 % | 3.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 11/2/2018 | Sabor de Sabro IPA |
American IPA | 6.6 % | 2.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 10/28/2018 | Graff Extract Experiment |
New World Cider | 6.2 % | 2 Gallon(s) | |
| 10/27/2018 | God Gives Us the Victory IPA |
American IPA | 4.3 % | 6 Gallon(s) | |
| 10/17/2018 | Entering the Silence Trappist Ale |
Belgian Dubbel | 6.7 % | 9 Gallon(s) | |
| 9/27/2018 |  Brew Dudes Community Brew Brown Ale |
British Brown Ale | 4.5 % | 4.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 9/12/2018 | Graff Experiment |
New World Cider | 5.1 % | 4.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 8/26/2018 | Hot Dump Amber Ale |
American Amber Ale | 6.2 % | 6.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 8/18/2018 | Northwest Fresh Hop 2018 |
American Pale Ale | 3.6 % | 6 Gallon(s) | |
| 8/11/2018 | Chateau dIf Ale |
Belgian Tripel | 6.2 % | 5.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 8/10/2018 | Pumpalumpagous Ale |
American Amber Ale | 5.6 % | 7.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 8/10/2018 | Le Patronweizen |
Weissbier | 5.2 % | 4 Gallon(s) | |
| 7/27/2018 | South Pacific IPA |
American IPA | 4.5 % | 5 Gallon(s) | |
| 6/27/2018 | Harry-My-Son IPA Redux |
American IPA | 4.7 % | 5.75 Gallon(s) | |
| 6/3/2018 | Apple Dapple Amber |
American Amber Ale | 6.1 % | 5 Gallon(s) | |
| 5/29/2018 | Howells No. 1 Barley Wine |
English Barleywine | 8.4 % | 3 Gallon(s) | |
| 5/16/2018 | Ancient Grains Cereal Saison |
Saison | 7.8 % | 9 Gallon(s) | |
| 5/16/2018 | Ancient Grains Cereal Lager |
California Common | 5.7 % | 10 Gallon(s) | |
| 4/18/2018 | Creme de la Cream |
Cream Ale | 4.5 % | 3.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 4/17/2018 | Experimental Hops |
English IPA | 4.7 % | 5.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 4/7/2018 | Rye Table Ale |
American Pale Ale | 3.9 % | 5.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 2/23/2018 | Designer Hops Pale Ale |
American Pale Ale | 4.5 % | 8.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 2/22/2018 | Modesto Farm Lager |
California Common | 3.7 % | 5 Gallon(s) | |
| 2/9/2018 | Bebop Rye Pale Ale |
London Brown Ale | 5.6 % | 5.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 2/8/2018 | Feliz Natal |
American Stout | 7.9 % | 5.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 2/1/2018 | Table Pale Ale Redux |
American Pale Ale | 3.2 % | 5.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 1/24/2018 | Ubiquitous Table Ale |
California Common | 3.2 % | 5.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 1/12/2018 | Table Pale Ale |
American Pale Ale | 4.7 % | 5.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 12/30/2017 | Mamber Ale |
American Amber Ale | 4.5 % | 5.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 12/16/2017 | Wallonian Wonder |
Saison | 7.1 % | 5.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 12/14/2017 | Land of Entrapment Brown Ale |
American Brown Ale | 4.9 % | 5.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 12/12/2017 | Dubbely Bubbley |
Belgian Dubbel | 6.6 % | 5.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 12/2/2017 | Hefelimen Pie |
Weissbier | 3.8 % | 8.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 11/29/2017 | Harry-My-Son IPA |
American IPA | 3.9 % | 8 Gallon(s) | |
| 11/29/2017 | Walloon So Soon |
Saison | 7.5 % | 5.15 Gallon(s) | |
| 11/26/2017 | Turtle Power Rye Pale Ale |
London Brown Ale | 5.6 % | 5.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 10/19/2017 | SHIH-nook IPA |
American IPA | 6.2 % | 5.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 10/14/2017 | CHUH-nook IPA |
American IPA | 5.8 % | 5.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 9/20/2017 |  Xmas Gingerbread Willage Stout |
American Stout | 7.2 % | 6 Gallon(s) | |
| 9/17/2017 | Duke City Brown Ale |
American Brown Ale | 5.6 % | 5.75 Gallon(s) | |
| 9/17/2017 | O Chefeweizen |
Weissbier | 3.9 % | 10 Gallon(s) | |
| 9/7/2017 | Punkin Chunkin Pie |
American Amber Ale | 6.4 % | 6.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 8/13/2017 | Northwest Fresh Hop 2017 |
American Pale Ale | 6.6 % | 11.65 Gallon(s) | |
| 8/2/2017 | Peanut Nutter Cherry Saison |
Saison | 6.1 % | 5 Gallon(s) | |
| 7/19/2017 |  Your Left My Right Milk Stout |
Sweet Stout | 3.9 % | 5.5 Gallon(s) | |
| 7/15/2017 | Ch-Ch-Ch-Cherry Saison |
Saison | 6.1 % | 5 Gallon(s) | |
| 6/29/2017 | Great Fermentations Brain Eater |
American IPA | 7.2 % | 5 Gallon(s) | |
| 6/16/2017 | Northern Brewer Dead Ringer |
American IPA | 6.4 % | 5 Gallon(s) | |
| 6/15/2017 | North By Northwest NEIPA |
American IPA | 6.7 % | 5 Gallon(s) | |
| 6/7/2017 | Jim Baumanns Milk Stout |
Sweet Stout | 5.9 % | 5 Gallon(s) | |
| 5/19/2017 | Northern Brewer Grapefruit Pulpin |
American IPA | 7.5 % | 5.75 Gallon(s) | |
| 5/3/2017 | Northern Brewer Saison |
Saison | 5.6 % | 5 Gallon(s) | |
| 3/29/2017 | Troegs Nugget Nectar Clone |
Double IPA | 7.5 % | 9 Gallon(s) | |
| 2/25/2017 | El Jefeweizen |
Weissbier | 6.6 % | 10 Gallon(s) | |
| 2/15/2017 | Rye Ask Rye Pale Ale |
American Pale Ale | 6.1 % | 8 Gallon(s) | |
| 2/15/2017 | Do You Know the Way Brown Ale |
American Brown Ale | 5.5 % | 5 Gallon(s) | |
| Date Added | Name | Style | ABV | Amount |
CheeseNips
11/3/2024 12:00:00 AM
11/3/24 - brewed today, not bad12/3/24 - bottled today. Finished at 1.013
CheeseNips
1/26/2024 12:00:00 AM
1/26/24. OG is 1.053. Brewed with Belma and Waimea hops for flavor/aroma. Pitched yeast today.3/2/24 FG is 1.007. bottled today and the sample is quite good, nice and fruity with a little bit of bread at the end. I'm really looking forward to this carbonated.
CheeseNips
11/25/2023 12:00:00 AM
12/29 - bottled today
CheeseNips
9/26/2023 12:00:00 AM
9/26 - brewed today and pitching the Halvorsgard today as well10/27 - bottled today
CheeseNips
5/25/2023 12:00:00 AM
5/25 - brewed today and it's chilling down to pitching temp5/26 - pitched yeast today7/2 - bottled today
CheeseNips
4/8/2023 12:00:00 AM
4/8 - brewed today and may pitch yeast later today, but not sure4/28 - bottled today and ended up very dry, 1.0005. Interesting.
CheeseNips
2/25/2023 12:00:00 AM
2/25 - brewed and pitched yeast today3/12 - bottled today. Pretty good flavor except for the alcohol, almost fusel, finish. At only 5.5%, it's probably that way because of the higher fermentation temp (80F), which I selected for the kveik.
CheeseNips
12/2/2022 12:00:00 AM
Pitched yeast today. I suspect my conversion was poor due to low DP from my other base grain. Next time, for this unmalted wheat, I will add some additional enzyme that I have sitting around.12/18 - bottled today
CheeseNips
10/9/2022 12:00:00 AM
10/9 - brewed today and pitched the yeast since it was kveik Holvarsgard
CheeseNips
9/5/2022 12:00:00 AM
9/6 - yeast added today after cooling in the fridge9/26 - bottled today
CheeseNips
8/6/2022 12:00:00 AM
8/5 - not exactly sure what day I brewed this, but I have stepped the fermentation chamber temperature up 1 degree per day, starting at 68F and ending at 85F. When I hit 85F, today, I threw in 40g of whisky wood chips. My plan is to let this go for a week and then remove the chips. I need to buy some CBC yeast to ensure complete fermentation and I'll lower the temp back to 70F and let it go for another 1 or 2 weeks and then bottle.
CheeseNips
6/20/2022 12:00:00 AM
6/21 - brewed yesterday but yeast pitched today.7/17 - bottled today. Very fruity and nice sample.
CheeseNips
5/20/2022 12:00:00 AM
5/20 - pitched yeast this morning. Gravity came in low. I suspect that diastatic power was very low due to the Vienna malt being the only malt in the mix. Such is life.6/4 - Bottled today. The sample tastes okay, not very good
CheeseNips
4/7/2022 12:00:00 AM
I brewed the beer yesterday but it didn't get a yeast infection until today. Sample registered a 1.060 on the pycnometer. For the actual brew, the protein rest cooled quickly to the high 130s despite the heat and humidity. Adding about 1 gallon of boiling water brought it up to 151F or so, so the 157F saccharification rest was missed. Nonetheless, it was a type of decoction from the standpoint of a boiling addition to heat the mash, so that was a different step for me. Now I wait for a ...
CheeseNips
3/2/2022 12:00:00 AM
Bottling sample didn't have much hop presence whatsoever. Bummer.
CheeseNips
2/4/2022 12:00:00 AM
I guess I never created a brew session for this one. I think that I brewed this on 2/4.
CheeseNips
1/1/2022 12:00:00 AM
1/2 - I gave the beer a yeast infection today, letting it cool1/16 - bottled today
CheeseNips
12/4/2021 12:00:00 AM
12/18 - bottled today. Sample is a bit more bitter than expected, but that has to be due to the mash hops. I will give Cosmic Punch yeast one more chance and then I am dumping it completely.
CheeseNips
10/4/2021 12:00:00 AM
Pitched yeast on 10/4 but brewed on 10/3. I was not able to use the acidulated malt because it was infested with bugs so I used 2.1mL of lactic acid instead.11/30 - Went to bottle today but dumped the beer due to oxidation. I thought I had been doing a good job keeping the air lock full but apparently not. I am really bummed since the beer wasn't heavily oxidized but enough to where I didn't want to mess with it. Oh well.
CheeseNips
9/25/2021 12:00:00 AM
9/26 - pitched yeast today. Brew day was uneventful. I did not have coriander so that was just left out. Efficiency was really high, OG=1.058, and I am not sure why, so that is disappointing.
CheeseNips
8/28/2021 12:00:00 AM
Brewed today and had issues with the grain mill getting jammed and then I lost the nut for the fermenter's ball valve that holds the ball valve onto the bucket. For the grain mill, I am milling the grain above the mash tun after the water is warmed to strike temperature, which might be causing some light condensation on the grain and then gumming things up; I am not exactly sure but my grain mill has a bar for adjusting the gap on the side and playing with this might things work, eventually. ...
CheeseNips
8/9/2021 12:00:00 AM
First brew day in awhile, since moving to Flo-Rida. Overall it went well but very hot. I may have forgotten the Aromatic malt as there was a separste 1lb bag in addition to the large sack of grain that I milled. I won't be able to test the gravity until tomorrow as the ground water is quite warm, so I chilled to 100F and then put the fermenter into the chest freezer I have, holding at 70F. I didn't do pH readings or otherwise, just rolled with it. We shall see.8/11 - pitched yeast today. ...
CheeseNips
9/12/2020 12:00:00 AM
Dry hopping 6 hours after giving the wort a yeast infection. Very active, which isn't surprising given that it just came off the stir plate last night.9/27 - Honey was used to prime instead of sugar pills as I am tired of over-carbed beer. I did 2.2g per 12oz, 3.3g per 16oz, and 4.4g per 24oz.
CheeseNips
9/3/2020 12:00:00 AM
9/17 - bottled today. Lots of suspended junk in the fermenter so I probably bottled only 3.75 gallons rather than 4.25 gallons. Perhaps the junk was from the yam or the pumpkins, not sure. I was going to save the yeast but I dumped it instead. Pretty good flavor on the sample, mostly some light pumpkin spice and maybe a little bit of malt, but overall light flavor.
CheeseNips
8/22/2020 12:00:00 AM
OG 1.04628/25 - Primary fermentation is complete so I added whiskey soaked barrel chips to the beer. I will bottle on 9/7 or 9/8.9/9 - bottled today. Pycnometer pulled 1.0237 but there was a bit of yeast sludge in the sample as it was the very bottom dregs of the fermenter. I wouldn't know what it finished at and I don't really care in the end. I'll go ahead and use 1.024. The flavor of the sample was fantastic, coffee was predominant with chocolate and roast. Just awesome.
CheeseNips
8/2/2020 12:00:00 AM
Good brew day. Much better efficiency than I was anticipating, possibly due to the longer mash. Split the Skare and Cal Common yeasts between 2 gallons each of wort.8/15 - bottled today. Cal Common yeast finished at 1.014 while the Skare yeast finished at 1.011. The Skare yeast is clearer and cleaner tasting while the Cal Common yeast has some fusel. Pretty good though for either sample.
CheeseNips
7/23/2020 12:00:00 AM
Terrible mash efficiency due to undermodified base grain and I did nothing to increase enzymatic activity. I should have mashed for much longer, 2 hours, in hindsight.Bottled - Hornindal is 1.011. Aurland is 1.009. the Hornindal was dry hopped but not the Aurland kveik. The Hornindal sample was quite bitter, almost too bitter while the Aurland was very pleasant.
CheeseNips
7/1/2020 12:00:00 AM
Brew day sucked for whatever reason; took forever and being outside was miserable. Nevertheless, I chilled the wort to 90F and drew off 2x1 gallon jugs and then chilled the remaining 2.5 gallons down to 65F. In the 1 gallon jugs, I pitched Tomasgard and Ner-Saure kveik; Tomasgard has a sweet/caramel aroma in the starter while Ner-Saure has a spicy (but not Belgian) and fresh yeast smell; I'm anxious to see how these turn out. In the 2.5 gallon fermenter, I pitched Cal Common yeast.A couple ...
CheeseNips
6/18/2020 12:00:00 AM
Pycnometer sample was fairly bitter, so we'll see if that carries over to the final product.
CheeseNips
6/11/2020 12:00:00 AM
Nothing noteworthy other than the obsidian malt didn't add any appreciable color, unfortunately. I was told at one point that it adds purple but that did not happen.6/25 - bottled today. Sample has a hop bite and is fruity like orange juice. Actual finishing gravity is 1.0027.
CheeseNips
5/19/2020 12:00:00 AM
pH after 15 minutes of sac rest was about 4.9. Used 2.8g of baking soda and it shot up to 6.4. Added 1mL of lactic and it dropped to 4.95. I tossed in a little baking soda, didn't measure but it was maybe 1g, and I left it at that.Not sure why but my efficiency was shit. If I had to guess it was due to the pH adjustments. Nothing really remarkable beyond that except for lots of little problems, like a busted line in the chilling loop.5/20 - dry hopped in the morning. The airlock was ...
CheeseNips
4/30/2020 12:00:00 AM
Imperial Julius looks like egg drop soup coming out of the package. Hops during flame out gave off a very melon like aroma, which I'm not jazzed about. Unremarkable brew day otherwise.5/17 - bottled. Incredible flavor and aroma, fruit and resin. Even uncarbonated the sample was delicious.
CheeseNips
4/8/2020 12:00:00 AM
CheeseNips
4/8/2020 12:00:00 AM
4/10 - dry hop during high krausen4/28 - bottled. Very good sample, mix of IPA and witbier flavors.
CheeseNips
3/30/2020 12:00:00 AM
I didn't need to add baking soda to the mash to raise pH. It was sitting at 5.4 without any other additions, which is fine by me. The pecan roasting was fine, not much oil came out of the whole nuts or pieces. It's tough to say how much in the way of pecans I used, maybe a pound total, perhaps two.Other than that, it was a great brew day as I finally got to brew outside again.4/9 - added barrel chips to the tank to soak for a bit.4/18 - bottled today. Both the barrel aged and non-barrel ...
CheeseNips
3/6/2020 12:00:00 AM
The yeast that I used was discounted due to age, October manufacturing date from Wyeast. It took 2 steps up to get it to really hum.Efficiency was crazy high. I must have purchased more grain than I thought as I calculated above 100% efficiency so I just adjusted the amount of pilsner and efficiency to compensate. I did mash for about 3.5 hours so that probably accounted for much of the high efficiency. The acidulated malt worked well and made it so that I didn't have to add any acid, so I ...
CheeseNips
2/12/2020 12:00:00 AM
Heated 5 gallons of water and drew off 1.5 gallons for a batch sparge of sorts, which was after adding minerals and acid - my sparge was simply dumping in the sparge water at the end of the mash and then allowing to sit for a couple of minutes before vorlauf. I used 1.5mL of lactic and that was too much, took it down to 4.9 so I bounced it to 6.7 with 1.5g of Baking Soda, and then down to 5.5 with 0.7mL lactic. I figure that the sparge water will take the final pH to around 5.3 but I'm not ...
CheeseNips
2/4/2020 12:00:00 AM
pH settled to 5.4 without baking soda, so added only 0.4g to, roughly, hit 5.5. I rehydrated all of the yeast before I pitched it in distilled water. I wanted the OG much higher but I can't get the wort to boil very well with the lid off on the stove, so my boil off rate sucks. I need to try to boil on the propane in the garage with these bigger beers.2/11 - putting all the secondary additions and will let the nibs and wood chips soak for 2 weeks. I will remove the coffee after 2 days.
CheeseNips
1/12/2020 12:00:00 AM
1/24 - dry hopped tonight. I will consider bottling tomorrow or the next day.1/25 - bottled with only a day of the dry hops soaking. Sample was fairly vegetal and nothing more than that.
CheeseNips
1/5/2020 12:00:00 AM
pH was difficult to hit as the RO water really bounces around. I was at low 4s on the sparge and then adjusted the mash pH up from 5.05 to about 5.4 using baking soda. It goes to show that very little to almost no lactic acid is needed for pH adjustment. Everything else was fine.1/12 - I discovered through Bru'n water that you don't need to adjust sparge water pH if you are using RO water. Go figure.
CheeseNips
1/1/2020 12:00:00 AM
Brewed and chilled in the kitchen. It worked out well though I learned that I have to fill the chiller with liquid first and then the feed tube to the pump to get everything to work. This will be my last BIAB for awhile as I'm going back to using a mash screen to up my efficiency once again. The Vic Secret is very pungent so I hope that this carries over to the finished beer. I hit my pH spot on with hand waving amounts of Gypsum and CaCl additions; I'm glad that I found the little sachets ...
CheeseNips
12/16/2019 12:00:00 AM
It took 1.3mL of lactic acid to acidify down to 4.5.
CheeseNips
11/27/2019 12:00:00 AM
I completely missed the mark on the OG. It was likely due to far too much grain in the paint strainer bag as the grain was very tight in there. I only have one of these bags left and then I am done screwing around with BIAB. I will go back to 2 vessel brewing and use the mash screen. This is a bummer as I really enjoy the time savings that I get from BIAB but missing OG so far is just a shame. I will also focus on better pH control during the mash as I have just been winging it lately with ...
CheeseNips
11/25/2019 12:00:00 AM
ABV is 0.69%
CheeseNips
11/23/2019 12:00:00 AM
Everything done on the stovetop and no chill. This chilled in about 9 hours sitting outside in 35F temps.11/28 - It took probably 30 minutes to roast the hazelnuts properly. Getting the skins off was a pain and I didn't get them all off, just as well as could be expected. The hazelnuts are in the fermenter and will soak for 5 days. This will be bottled on 12/3.
CheeseNips
11/12/2019 12:00:00 AM
Easy Brew day, about 2.5 hours start to finish. I'm letting this no chill outside in the 17 degree air. Actual OG of 1.0116.11/25 - bottled today. Actual FG of 1.0062. That yields an ABV of 0.69%, which is a little high for what I wanted. I will be trying a different yeast next time, perhaps a kveik, as the sample tasted mostly malty with little else to offer. I think that the Belgian yeast requires some byproduct of a proper mash to yield the flavor profile I want.
CheeseNips
11/3/2019 12:00:00 AM
For the sake of efficiency, I went with a stovetop brew, which worked out really well time-wise, 3.5 hours for the whole brew. I boiled only 10 minutes, adding the bittering addition as FWH and then boiling 5 minutes before adding the flavor/aroma addition. I went no chill with this as well so I will pitch yeast tomorrow. I didn't get a gravity measurement but I will do that tomorrow when I pitch.11/4 - Yeast pitched 27 hours after boil is complete; I checked the temperature in the morning ...
CheeseNips
10/16/2019 12:00:00 AM
My plan is to draw off 1 gallon of the finished wort, mix with a gallon of cider, and ferment that mess out with Imperial Monastic.I ended up mashing 3.5 hours, which really cranked up my efficiency.No issues with the brew day. Pitched about a cup of yeast into both tanks, after aerating for 1 minute each. In the graff tank, I pitched Imperial Monastic.10/18 - The vossaol is bubbling like mad. The graff is not yet bubbling.10/20 - The vossaol is done fermenting. The Graff is slowly bubbling ...
CheeseNips
10/11/2019 12:00:00 AM
Very easy brew day. No chill so I won't pitch the yeast until tomorrow.10/12 - I added a ladle of yeast that I had sitting in the fridge, probably 1/2 cup11/1 - bottled today. A very good fruity pebbles taste, a touch of sulfur, and some malt. A little too bitter.11/7 - cracked a bottle today and there's no head but the mouthfeel has plenty of carbonation. The sulfur is more prominent now and it is a touch too bitter, maybe take off 10 IBUs. There is a good Belgian flavor as well so I'm ...
CheeseNips
9/22/2019 12:00:00 AM
About 7.5 gallons finished volume, closer to 4 gallons in the lager tank and 3.5 gallons in the wheat beer tank. Most of the pumpkin dissolved in the bag during the whirlpool, but the wort had a really big pumpkin aroma so I'm happy with that. No aeration, one packet of S-23 in the lager tank and then 80% of a packet of WB-06 and a bit of a packet of S-04 in the ale tank.10/4 - bottled today. Ale finished at 1.0096. Lager version at 1.011.
CheeseNips
9/12/2019 12:00:00 AM
No aeration. Pitched 1/2 cup of yeast slurry to culture more for flakes, temp at the end of chilling was 96F. Easy brew day overall.9/13 - first dry hop about 12 hours after yeast pitch, high krausen.9/18 - second dry hop9/21 - bottling today.
CheeseNips
8/24/2019 12:00:00 AM
Split the wort with a friend so I probably have only 2.5 gallons to bottle.
CheeseNips
8/24/2019 12:00:00 AM
0.5 tsp of honey per 375mL bottle when bottling. Using. S-04 for yeast.
CheeseNips
8/18/2019 12:00:00 AM
Great brew day. Pitched yeast about 90F or so after aerating for 1 minute. There's a double dry hop on this one so after 24 hours and then 3 days before bottling.8/19 - first dry hop after about 8 hours, high krausen. Very pungent tropical fruit coming out of the airlock. Opening the lid of the fermenter, I could feel the radiating warmth of the wort.8/21 - second dry hop. This smelled amazing.
CheeseNips
8/10/2019 12:00:00 AM
Wort was fermenting almost immediately after yeast pitch. Dry hopped after 16 hours in the tank, airlock activity already slow.8/14 - Bottled today. The sample was quite hoppy but there was a corn flavor in it that I didn't care for. I believe that I may have bottled it a little too early as well because of this flavor. We shall see.
CheeseNips
8/6/2019 12:00:00 AM
Not a fun brew day at the new place. Overall though, I got it completed without too much effort and the efficiency was much better than I expected. pH came in very low, 4.80, and I didn't have any baking soda to raise it. I use Bru'N water and I normally adjust my lactic acid addition to 2/3rd of the recommended addition, which I didn't do this time as I am using RO water now. I will step back to that.8/7 - evening, very long lag as the fermenter still is not bubbling8/18 - started bubbling ...
CheeseNips
6/11/2019 12:00:00 AM
I mashed with a single infusion at 149F as I didn't have a lot of time today. The mash efficiency was crazy as I hit an OG of 1.062 rather than the recipe's indicated 1.050. C'est la vie. I pitched all 5g of yeast flakes that were sent to me. Thanks DoubleA.6/17 - bottled today. Sample aroma and flavor was malt and somewhat earthy, interesting. Very clean considering it was fermented at 85F.
CheeseNips
6/4/2019 12:00:00 AM
6/17 - bottled today. Sample aroma and flavor is a little roasty and sweet, solid brown ale.
CheeseNips
6/4/2019 12:00:00 AM
This was a no boil beer. DME was incorporated along with the honey and salts, then acidified down to a pH of 5.3. Temp raised to 170F and steeped flameout hops for 10 minutes before chilling down to 80F and pitching the flakes after aerating.6/5 - the flakes showed no sign of activity after 24 hours. I pitched the remainder of a T-58 packet that I had around and fermentation kicked off within a couple hours.6/17 - bottled today. Sample attenuated incredibly low. Aroma and flavor are ...
CheeseNips
5/22/2019 12:00:00 AM
Aerated for 1.5 minutes. I tossed in the whole pouch of Saisonstein yeast, which has a great smell. I can't wait for this to finish out. Pitching temperature was somewhere around 75F.
CheeseNips
5/17/2019 12:00:00 AM
Pitched 1.3g of Sowuli flakes after aerating for 1 minute. I'm using a new yeast nutrient from BSG and it calls for 1 to 1.5 tsp per gallon of wort, which is really high. I went with 9g of nutrient, which is equivalent to 1.5 tsp.5/18 - after 24 hours of lag, airlock activity is starting to get rolling.5/21 - bottled at night. Airlock activity was done for a couple days. Sample tasted of green pepper and malt, not what I was expecting. The color is closer to a red ale.
CheeseNips
5/2/2019 12:00:00 AM
Initial pH came in around 4.85, probably because of the large amount of dark grains and CaCl/CaSO4 additions. I added quite a bit of NaHCO3 to get pH back up to 5.35. My actual process was steep specialty grains for 30 minutes, add LME to achieve desired gravity, adjust pH, add FWH/Whirfloc/yeast nutrient, heat to 175F, steep whirlpool hops for 30 minutes, and then rack to fermenter to chill overnight.Total brew time was about 1.5 hours with clean up.5/3 - yeast pitched this morning. ...
CheeseNips
4/26/2019 12:00:00 AM
First runnings are 1.065, which doesn't surprise me as the paint strainer bags I use were maxed out by this amount of grain and it didn't seem like the grains were as wet/broken down after the mash, which I let go for 90 minutes. I opted to pour 0.5 gallons of hot water on the grains after being pulled from the kettle to get more extract.Need to boil down to 2.3 gallons to hit target OG, though I only went to 2.5 gallons so I didn't quite make it up to 1.085 that I was shooting for. I took ...
CheeseNips
4/21/2019 12:00:00 AM
I'm using 2.2g of Gebo yeast and yeast nutrient, each. Temp of the must is about 90F at pitch. I aerated the must for 1 minute or so. I heat wrapped after pitch.5/22 - bottle with 1 tsp of honey per pint to carbonate.6/3 - bottles today, 0.5 tsp of honey per pint instead.
CheeseNips
4/12/2019 12:00:00 AM
I did an iodine test after 60 minutes of mashing and it was converted, surprisingly; I didn't think that the Distillers malt would work so well but it is awesome. I aerated the wort after chilling and pitched approximately 200mL of slurry. The wort was extremely cloudy and the trub did not settle out very well.4/14 - fermentation is chugging along4/25 - bottled. The beer dropped very clear but there was a very large amount of trub and some got into the bottling bucket. It tasted like a ...
CheeseNips
4/8/2019 12:00:00 AM
About 3.5 hours total for the brew day, including clean-up. The only thing out of the ordinary was the gravity points were much higher than I anticipated, which I think is a function of more grain than in the recipe as 78% efficiency with BIAB is exceptionally high for my system. Other than that, I pitched the yeast at 85F and then heat-wrapped it. 4/9 - fermentation is going very strong with great aroma. I will dry hop this afternoon.4/12 - bottled today. Pulled 1.007 on the pycnometer. ...
CheeseNips
3/25/2019 12:00:00 AM
I forgot to add the rice solids during the boil so those went in during the whirlpool, not a problem. I chilled the wort to 90F, aerated for 1 minute, and pitched the yeast with the wort at 87F. The heat wrap is on to keep temps up.3/26 - I woke up to find lots of airlock activity. The outside of the fermenter measures about 90F. I'm going to dry hop later this evening.4/1 - bottling today. Pycnometer measures 1.010.
CheeseNips
3/18/2019 12:00:00 AM
Made up 2 gallons of mead, 1 gallon with 1.8lb of meadowfoam honey and 1 gallon with 1.8lb of a mix of meadowfoam and wildflower honey along with 1qt of peach puree; I used 105F water out of the tap and then warmed up the honey in a hot water bath prior to mixing so it combined really easily; I topped off with 90F water before pitching yeast. Pitched 35g of Loki slurry into each jug and then aerated for about 30 seconds. Pitching temp of must was about 95F and then I put a heat wrap onto both ...
CheeseNips
3/8/2019 12:00:00 AM
3 gallons transferred to fermenter at 75F, steeped with spices and Amarillo hop hash only; yeast is wlp550 that was started in 1L of starter wort, unknown pitch rate beyond that. 1 gallon transferred to fermenter at 105F, steeped also with 2oz hibiscus flowers; yeast is Imperial Loki flake, 0.8g pitch. Both fermenters are heat wrapped.3/9 - the WLP550 beer is already winding down, probably peaked in activity 12 hours after pitch. The Loki beer is taking off now.3/11 - fermentation appears to ...
CheeseNips
2/26/2019 12:00:00 AM
First runnings are 1.047. Mash and boil went according to plan.Chilled the wort to 105F and ran off half the volume into one fermenter for the Loki yeast. I checked the temperature right before pitching and it was 100F. About an hour later, I put the heat wrap on the fermenter and plugged it in. As for the Cal Common yeast fermenter, I chilled the wort down to 70F before running into the fermenter and pitching. I aerated both worts for 45 seconds with O2 prior to pitching.2/27 - a little ...
CheeseNips
2/7/2019 12:00:00 AM
BIAB approach. Nothing special about today's brew other than it was 3 hours start to finish.2/8 - pitched yeast at 72F. 13 hours later, lots of bubbling.2/19 - bottling today. Beer is crystal clear and no sulfur, which I find interesting as the first time I used this yeast it kicked off a ton of sulfur. Flavor was very light, perhaps a little corn and apple, but even those were slight.
CheeseNips
2/1/2019 12:00:00 AM
First runnings are 1.032, lower than expected. The hawtorn berries were impossible to grind without moistening first with wort. There was a great orange smell from the orange peel and hawthorn berry steep. The hawthorn berries really led to a congealed brick, which was only manageable as I put the slurry into a mesh bag and threw it all away.Pycnometer measurements are: 1.0476 on Midas touch, 1.0692 for Chateau Jiahu. The Chateau Jiahu is much higher in gravity than I was expecting. To the ...
CheeseNips
2/1/2019 12:00:00 AM
The actual number of saffron threads was probably more like 20. They were just a jumble in the package and I didn't have the inclination to sort them out 1 at a time.I was going to pitch a packet of S-04 but I changed it up and pitched Loki flakes instead. I aerated by shaking the carboy for 1 minute.2/2 - no discernible activity after 16 hours or so. In the evening, activity is full bore. I added 600g of grape juice concentrate.2/4 - the beer color was a bit darker and clearer before ...
CheeseNips
1/28/2019 12:00:00 AM
This brew went very smooth. First whirlpool addition went in flame out and then second addition in at about 190F. Wort temp into the fermentor was 165F.Yeast Pitch is 92% Safale S-04, 5% Safbrew T-58, 3% Safbrew WB-06. Added full 11g despite the lower gravity and lower volume. I'm debating on whether to sugar of some sort to bump the gravity, though I think I'll leave it be so that it's more of a table beer.1/30 - Added 2oz of dry hop.2/6 - bottled today. Sample was quite a bit more bitter ...
CheeseNips
1/28/2019 12:00:00 AM
Added 6.8g of CaCl via 1.5 tsp. Recipe called for 2 tsp but I just couldn't added more given how light the beer is and I'm concerned about beer tasting mineral-y. This took just about 5 minutes to put together as I soaked the piloncillo sugar in water overnight and it was already dissolved.2/6 - bottled today. The aroma was good but the flavor was not; it's hard to describe but there was a cider flavor mixed in there, which I suspect is from the sugar. I'm thinking that I may be pouring all ...
CheeseNips
1/22/2019 12:00:00 AM
This was easy to put together from the standpoint that you simply dump the honey, water, and yeast in a fermentor. I didn't warm the honey up much and that was a mistake as it was slow to get into the fermentor and then it was slow to mix in with the water. Next time, I really need to be fastidious in using warm water and honey when first combining ingredients.1/24 - Checked on this and there are a lot of very fine bubbles rising to the surface but no krausen really. It looks like there may ...
CheeseNips
1/14/2019 12:00:00 AM
For the yeast, I had a jar of WB-06 slurry in the fridge along with a jar of Treehouse blend slurry. Given that I want to reduce refrigerator clutter, I figured that I just create a blend of blends and then start it in 1.25L for a direct pitch.Brew day - Going BIAB style for today. After 30 minutes into the sacc rest, conversion was complete but gravity was only 1.034, which is pretty darn low for what I wanted. I'm looking for 1.042 as my preboil gravity. As such, I added 0.5 tsp of ...
CheeseNips
1/11/2019 12:00:00 AM
Beginning the grain cold steep the day before with a little over 2 quarts of water, which will be added to the fermentor and the wort racked on top when at least 165F.Final temp in the fermentor after everything was pitched in is 163F. Just a bit under 2 hours, start to finish, for the entire brew day.1/12 - pitched yeast at 78F in the morning, though I failed to take a gravity reading so I will use whatever the calculated value is. 12 hours after pitching, the airlock bubbling is going ...
CheeseNips
1/2/2019 12:00:00 AM
Yeast starter is 105g of DME in 1L of liquid, getting this going on 1/2 for upcoming brew day. The Loki yeast is truly amazing as it kicked off in the starter after an hour despite coming out of the refrigerator. The slurry is incredibly dense.I plan on racking off 1 gallon of wort and seeing how yeast flakes that I made from drying out some Loki slurry work at fermenting.Brew day - I used a BIAB approach today and it has made things easier. After mashing in, I whisked every 15 minutes into ...
CheeseNips
12/13/2018 12:00:00 AM
Pitch rate is 150mL of slurry.Including 5 minute boil and 25 minute steep, waited a total of 30 minutes for contact time with hops. Added cold steep grain liquor to the fermentor for incorporation into the wort; lots of sludge left over from the cold steeping, which I was able to decant the cold steeping liquid off this, thankfully. Racked to fermentor the boiled wort at 185F and will let chill overnight prior to pitching yeast tomorrow. Less than 2 hours, start to finish of clean up.12/14 - ...
CheeseNips
12/10/2018 12:00:00 AM
Using a couple of yeast starters to build up my pitch. I need 500 billion cells for this one.I ran out of CaCl after putting together the mash addition, so in the sparge I used more gypsum and then added salt to get my Ca and Cl numbers right. The mash tun is very full, about 0.5 inches from the top so this is definitely maxed out.Mash pH was a little high, 5.45 vs 5.4, but that's okay as the sparge pH was a little low, 5.3 vs 5.5. It all evens out. Initial conversion test failed so I ...
CheeseNips
11/30/2018 12:00:00 AM
First runnings are 1.045. Enzymatic activity continued and my starting boil gravity was 1.047. Pretty darn good efficiency for no sparge.Started whirlpool at 172F. Second addition into whirlpool at about 160F.Based on 11.5g pitch: Yeast Pitch is 10.58g Safale S-04, 0.575g Safbrew T-58, 0.345g Safbrew WB-0612/1 - the airlock is bubbling regularly so that's a positive. I will throw in the first dry hop addition tonight or tomorrow morning, once high krausen is achieved.12/8 - second dry hop ...
CheeseNips
11/26/2018 12:00:00 AM
Do not aerate. Pitch 125mL of slurry.First runnings are 1.042 and I lost a little over 0.25 gallons of liquid in the grain. Due to what I thought was worse efficiency than expected, and wanting to save time, I added 0.5lb of DME to hasten the boil. I think the Viking malt is not as well modified as many American grains and benefits greatly from step mashes as my efficiency was on target with the mash schedule that I used.During the whirlpool, only 30 seconds of the immersion chilling took ...
CheeseNips
11/11/2018 12:00:00 AM
First runnings are 1.042. My efficiency ended up being lower than normal due to the crush of the oat malt, I suspect, so I added 12oz of DME to bump the points. My mash tun jacket worked very well, holding the temp much more consistently than it would have otherwise. The whirlpool temp settled out at 167F, so I set the 15 minute timer before starting to chill again. I added 20 minutes to the boil also, in order to get the final volume down a bit to increase points.Pitched one packet of ...
CheeseNips
10/29/2018 12:00:00 AM
11/15 - racked to secondary, two by 1 gallon fermenters. One fermentor with 0.5oz of apple crisp and 1 cup of pomegranate juice. The other fermentor just 0.5oz of apple crisp. The sample is interesting as it has elements of cider but smells more like a beer. I'll have to try it carbed up but it's not bad actually, and I don't really care for cider.12/7 - bottling today using sugar drops. Pulled 1.006 on the pycnometer. Only tried the non-juiced version. It had a great hop smell with a ...
CheeseNips
10/27/2018 12:00:00 AM
Target pitch rate is 267mL so I will probably go with somewhere around 300-325mL as the slurry that I have are a couple of months old.Mash pH came in lower than intended, 5.3 vs 5.4, due to my forgetting to adjust lactic addition from Bru'n Water. Initially the sparge was stuck for whatever reason. I took the pump to it to get it flowing and then the pump was having issues. For no reason, it started flowing just fine and first runnings are 1.068. Preboil was 1.063, much higher than I was ...
CheeseNips
10/11/2018 12:00:00 AM
I like the 4.5 gallon size of beer as I can just use 2 kettles instead of 3. After vorlaufing into a bowl, I emptied all the sparge water onto the mash tun, ran off 3 gallons, and then swapped kettles on the burner and started heating the wort as it ran off. Very quick process. I didn't get the first runnings measurement, but I'm not really concerned with that.Aerated and pitched 215mL of London Ale 3 as the slurry I have is fresh.10/14 - Fermentation is slowing down greatly. High krausen ...
CheeseNips
9/18/2018 12:00:00 AM
First runnings are 1.051. I added the remaining leaf hops that I have to the mash and their filtration is awesome.My gravity was coming in a bit low so I opted for 15oz of brown sugar towards the end of the boil to get back to the OG I wanted. I need to adjust my mash water volume or my sparge. Perhaps I could drop 0.5 gallons from each.I struggled with the sparge water pH, first really low and then high. My local water must be changing as I seem to have problems with it more lately.I will ...
CheeseNips
9/7/2018 12:00:00 AM
300mL for either yeast when pitching.I stirred in the canned pumpkin as I was heating the mash water and it mixed in really well. No issues during the mash, lautering, or sparge. I didn't need any rice hulls so I'm fairly proud of myself.First runnings are 1.044. Missed my OG of 1.056 by 2 points, so I'm not displeased with that at all; I could have used a little bit more sugar to bump up the gravity but I'm not worried. I was able to get 7.5 gallons of wort total, so that is a bonus. Good ...
CheeseNips
8/31/2018 12:00:00 AM
Yeast starter is 1.25L water with 128.4g DME. I actually did a 2 stage starter as my initial brew day was delayed. Second starter was 1.25L with 125g DME.First runnings are 1.046. I boiled an extra 30 minutes before first hop addition in order to get volume down as I ran 7 gallons instead of 6.5. I need to reduce my sparge by 0.5 gallons next time as I am consistently hitting 7 gallons for preboil. Instead of boiling with the chiller in for the last 10 minutes, I put it in at flameout to ...
CheeseNips
8/20/2018 12:00:00 AM
First runnings are 1.041. During whirlpool, I lost a gallon to 1.5 gallons of wort to the wet/dry hops, which I set in the mash kettle above the screen and it worked really well.Pitched about 300mL of older slurry given required amount of 225mL fresh slurry.For bottle conditioning, I'm going to try using 2.2g of CBC-1 and see how that goes.8/21 - Probably high krausen reached this afternoon, about 1.5 inches of foam.8/24 - Fermentation is complete, effectively. I would like to make a variant ...
CheeseNips
8/7/2018 12:00:00 AM
First runnings are 1.042. I was able to get a bit more runoff than I anticipated so I'm boiling without the lid on.Pitched 300mL of yeast slurry. Stall lasted for 6 hours.8/10 - all fermentation activity has stopped. I will let this set for a few weeks until I can save up enough bottles for packaging. Prior to bottling, I'd like to make a cinnamon tincture and add that during bottling to about 1 or 2 gallons of beer.8/29 - bottling today. Pulled 1.025 on the pycnometer. During bottling, ...
CheeseNips
7/29/2018 12:00:00 AM
Doing a vitality starter with 200mL US05 slurry. It's fairly old so I want to be sure that it's good to go.Brew day went very well. I got a much higher gravity than expected, which is fine. The liquid extract smells very sweet, so I hope that dissipates through fermentation. I ended up dropping the boil time to 30 minutes as I brewed 2 beers today.Fermentation is kicking off about 7 hours after yeast pitch.7/29 - Fermentation is going strong. The stall was at least 6 or 7 hours. Only ...
CheeseNips
7/29/2018 12:00:00 AM
I will be using the yeast cake from the Harry-My-Son Redux beer, so no need for a yeast starter.First runnings are 1.052. Everything went according to plan on the brew day, so pretty unremarkable. The gravity during runoff was running quite high, about 1.040 after the first 7 gallons, so I kept running off into the Apple Dapple Amber to keep the gravity lower on this one. I dropped the boil down to 30 minutes as I brewed 2 beers today.This has started fermenting very quickly, about 3 hours ...
CheeseNips
7/20/2018 12:00:00 AM
Since I'm using an old slurry, I'm putting together a vitality starter, so to speak, by putting 200mL into 1L of 1.036 wort to go on a stirplate for 24 hours. When I bought the grains, I had to mill the oat malt 3 times to get a good crush.1.052 first runnings. Collected 7 gallons of wort with a gravity of 1.036, so I boiled a little harder to get the volume down. The Randall still gave me grief, even with the rice hulls and loose leaf hops. I will consider bagging the leaf hops and then ...
CheeseNips
6/7/2018 12:00:00 AM
Using a Wyeast smack pack, starter is 1.05L with 108g DME.Because of my new mash screen, I have to increase the mash water as the thickness is too great because of the dead space under the screen. Modified mash liquor to 6 gallons and sparge to 2 gallons. First runnings are 1.041. Poured out about 1 gallon of wort as I just didn't need anymore.I used a mesh bag with the leaf hops in the randall and it worked just fine this time, but I don't know that there is any difference then between ...
CheeseNips
5/22/2018 12:00:00 AM
Mash pH went a little low, so added 1.5g Baking Soda to bring final pH to 5.4. Checked for conversion after 45 minutes and there were still starches. I suspect that the cereal I'm using didn't gelatinize the starches prior, so no amount of time will suffice. I mashed for an entire hour and left it at that.First runnings were 1.065. I was able to get a lot more wort despite not using 1.5 gallons of sparge; in the end, I got 11 gallons of runoff with 11.5 gallons of water, so that is pretty ...
CheeseNips
5/22/2018 12:00:00 AM
I didn't grind the black pepper; the coriander and lime peel were already ground so I got lazy and skipped that step. Pitched 375mL yeast slurry from prior brew. Oxygenated for 1.5 minutes.5/26/18 - bubbling is still going, about once every couple seconds. Krausen was about 1cm. There's a lot of yeast goop still leftover on the surface. Surprisingly, the color is lighter than the lager version. Go figure.5/30/18 - still a slow trickle of bubbles6/7/18 - bubbling has subsided, mostly, but ...
CheeseNips
5/4/2018 12:00:00 AM
Yeast starter is 1.5L with 154g DME.2.1 or 2.2mL lactic to achieve pH of 5.5 in HLT. Added 1 gallon of water following ferulic rest to the mash tun as the thickness looked a bit stiff. As a result, added about 0.5mL lactic to get in the 5.4 pH range. First runnings are 1.057.Overall, the brew day sucked as the pump and the randall were clogged and I had to resort to gravity feed. I'm done with the plate chiller and I'm going to buy a better immersion chiller. The wort turned out well in ...
CheeseNips
5/4/2018 12:00:00 AM
5/16 - Bottling today. Pulled 1.014 on the pycnometer. Sample tastes good with a definite malt edge on the back end. I'm not sure that I like this but the Hefelimen pie will be great I suspect.
CheeseNips
4/13/2018 12:00:00 AM
First runnings are 1.061, which is much better than I'd calculated. I think that I need to improve my calculator quite a bit.Bought a new canning jar randall from Norcal Brewing. Some forums describe putting 5oz of hops in there. I put in 3oz of Cascade leaf and that restricted flow quite a bit so I think this is the upper limit. In fact, it so heavily restricted the flow that I took it out of the circulation loop and created a mess. I will only use 2oz from now on. I probably lost 0.5 ...
CheeseNips
3/9/2018 12:00:00 AM
Used 6mL lactic to achieve mash pH of 5.37. Used 1.6mL lactic to achieve sparge pH of 5.37. I thought the sparge was stuck at first, though it finally started moving after 4 or 5 attempts with the pump to get things going. I really need a new mash screen. I suspect it was the spelt, which may have also imparted a grey scum in the mash tun and an interesting smell throughout the brewing process.Pulled 4 gallons from the mash when I expected 5 gallons, so I had to use 2.5 gallons of second ...
CheeseNips
3/9/2018 12:00:00 AM
Despite having 10 gallons of grains and water for the second runnings, I only drew off a total of 4.25 gallons.As I had to draw off an additional gallon of second runnings for the Wallonian Wonder, I topped off with only 1 gallon of water and added a pound of belgian candi sugar to keep the gravity above 1.030.I took the hop tube with the spices from the Wallonian Wonder and put that into the wort during its hop stand.Pitched 250mL of yeast slurry following 1.5 minutes of aeration. I think my ...
CheeseNips
2/15/2018 12:00:00 AM
Added 1.5g more baking soda in kettle to achieve pH of 5.5 in first runnings; I don't want this beer to be so crisp so it's important to have a higher pH, though I don't mind it being in the 5.3 range for mashing for efficiency's sake. First runnings are 1.065 with 4.5 gallons runoff. Second runnings are 1.032 up to 1.041 with 3 gallons runoff. Shooting for preboil gravity of 1.071 accounting for 16 points from brown sugar and lactose along with boil down. Actual hit was 1.057, which should ...
CheeseNips
2/5/2018 12:00:00 AM
Going with a parti-gyle approach. Mashing with 6.25 gallons for the first beer and then sparging with 6.25 gallons to get the second beer. I'm calculating an OG of 1.0685 for the first beer and 1.0314 for the small beer.Brew day: took pH measurements of the wort, 5.27, so right on. First runnings should be 4.7 gallons and ended up with 6 gallons. Used 1 gallon of adjusted RO water to top-off. Preboil gravity was supposed to be 1.059 and ended up being 1.040 so I only transferred 0.5 ...
CheeseNips
2/5/2018 12:00:00 AM
This beer is the second runnings of my Mamber. Sparge water was supposed to be pH of 5.5, but ended up with pH of 5 using only 2.5mL of lactic despite Bru'n water calling for 3.1mL. My tap water is all over the place for pH, sometimes 6.98, like last night, or 7.18 like this morning.Second runnings ended up being 1.014 gravity instead of 1.042. I'm not going to top-off this at all for fear of extremely low gravity. I ended up adding 1lb of Belgian candi sugar to get this to a better ...
CheeseNips
1/22/2018 12:00:00 AM
First runnings were 1.067 and I pulled 2.5 gallons from the 3.25 gallons of mash liquid; based on calculations, I hit 56% efficiency without sparging. Used 4 gallons of top off water for a preboil gravity of 1.023. My boil off was a little too aggressive despite leaving the lid on, so I ended up with 1.033 post-boil. I added another gallon of distilled water but it only lowered the gravity to 1.031 according to the pycnometer.I incorporated a pump into my brew setup and it works great. No ...
CheeseNips
1/12/2018 12:00:00 AM
Ferulic rest was a pH of 5.9 rather than predicted of 5.7. Sacc mash started at pH of 5.6 and added 2.5mL lactic to get pH to 5.35. I'll have to reevaluate my tap water pH as that was off by more than I would like. First runnings are 1.063. I'll only get 3 points from the sugar, so I'm shooting for 1.035 gravity preboil. Actual preboil gravity is 1.044, so I will hit 1.056 if I boil down to 5.5gall and will hit 1.060 with the sugar addition. What I will do is drop the sugar and live with ...
CheeseNips
12/19/2017 12:00:00 AM
Shooting for 1.036 as the preboil gravity. First runnings pulled 1.065, preboil at 1.038, so a bit high. I ended up splitting the wort in the whirlpool, putting 5g each coriander and orange peel in along with hops for steeping in 4 gallons and then just hops for 3.t gallons; I got a new dip tube and it leaves a lot more wort behind than my last, about 0.5 gallons. My OG came 1.0414, though that was with a sample at 100F or so, meaning the actual OG was probably closer to 1.043, but who's ...
CheeseNips
12/5/2017 12:00:00 AM
Purchased a smack pack dated from 9/29, so did a starter of 1.2L @ 1.036 to hit my target pitch rate of 225 billion cells. I want to pitch on the low end in order to encourage more ester production.12/5/17 - For the ferulic rest, I mashed in at 124F and it settled out to 115F, down to 111F after 30 minutes. Ramped up to 150F on the burner and let sit another 30 minutes, down to 148F after rest. Ramped up to 162F on the burner and let sit for another 10 minutes. Checked via iodine and ...
CheeseNips
11/29/2017 12:00:00 AM
Big temperature drop in the mash despite my monitoring thermometer identifying 153F at the end; in the winter, I will just have to reheat halfway through. First runnings pull 1.065. I'm shooting for 1.047 preboil with 6.5 gallons or 1.044 with 7 gallons. Ended up with 1.043 with 7 gallons so I'll just crank up the heat on the burner. No issues, more than usual at least, with sparging despite the proportion of rye malt.Hydrometer pulled 1.052 while the pycnometer pulled 1.0567. I'm going ...
CheeseNips
11/16/2017 12:00:00 AM
Preboil gravity of 1.0586 if 6 gallons to start boil, and then 1.0542 if 6.5 gallons to start boil.Pycnometer weighs 12.415g with water on mg scale, pycnometer alone weighs 8.043g, so I will proof it today against the hydrometer.Had to reheat mash up to 153F halfway through die to how cold the garage is. Mash dropped to 147F in first 30 minutes. Pulling 1.067 on the hydrometer, weighing 12.662g on the pycnometer for a gravity of 1.0565, so it's off due to lack of temp correction capability. ...
CheeseNips
11/9/2017 12:00:00 AM
First wort pulling 1.080, shooting for 1.048 preboil. Actual preboil gravity is 1.042 with 7 gallons in the kettle, so I'm looking at 1.050 with 6 gallons postboil. Turns out, with boil down to 5.75 gallons, I pulled 1.055 for OG, so that is good. I left 0.5 gallons in the kettle due to a malpositioned dip tube, so I lost that. Pitched 375mL yeast slurry. Aerated 45 seconds, producing lots of foam so that is max time likely otherwise foam would pour out carboy.11/10/17 - Fermentation ...
CheeseNips
10/17/2017 12:00:00 AM
Pulling 1.051 on first runnings. Mash temp swung a lot despite insulation due to how cold the garage is. After the mash, I noticed that the crush of the grain didn't look so great as I went to a different brew store to get a special variety of pale ale malt; half of the berries were intact entirely, and why I didn't notice before I actually started brewing I don't know. My preboil gravity being only 1.040 given that I stopped at 6.5 gallons rather than the 9.5gallons I initially went with is ...
CheeseNips
9/28/2017 12:00:00 AM
First wort is 1.073 gravity. Looking like I'll get 18 points from the lactose and brown sugar - given 6 gallon volume in fermenter - so I will need 1.058 preboil gravity from malts with 7.5 gallons in the kettle. The lautering process required constant attention to maintain a consistent flow; I should have added rice hulls and/or not accidentally have milled the flaked oats. I pulled 1.053 with 7.5 gallons so I'll be a few points, maybe 4, short going into the fermenter. I don't want to ...
CheeseNips
9/12/2017 12:00:00 AM
Didn't roast the pumpkin as it was canned, so already processed enough in my mind. No problem with sparge as I thoroughly stirred in the pumpkin pulp and used 1/2 lb of rice hulls. The temp for mashing was low despite 11 degree higher mash in so I had to heat the mash tun to 156 from 146, and final mash temp dropped to 151. Normally my temps stick exactly, so the pumpkin seems to have made a difference. First wort pull 1.071, very clear and very orange. Final product smelled right and a ...
CheeseNips
9/6/2017 12:00:00 AM
Brewed with my new plate chiller. It was a small learning curve. The biggest detail is that I can't let the kettle valve be full open as it only takes it down to 95F or so from 180F. As a result, the Denny's Favorite yeast batch was probably in the carboy in the mid-90s when I pitched the yeast, which doesn't really concern me too much as yeast proofing temps go up to 105F; even still, it may promote too many esters and downplay the hops. The Imperial Dry Hop yeast batch was down in the ...
CheeseNips
8/11/2017 12:00:00 AM
Need 1.6L yeast starter with 165g of DME for proper cell count.8/11/17 - Only had 1.5oz of both Northern Brewer and Saaz hops, so pushed Northern Brewer hop addition back to 60 minutes to hit target IBUs. I want to ensure the bitterness is there to help balance the sweetness of the cherry. Im not using airlocks, just foil, to reduce back pressure in the carboy to ensure yeast attenuation. 1.046 preboil gravity @ 11.4 gallons so I need to boil down to about 10 to hit desired OG.8/23/17 - ...
CheeseNips
7/21/2017 12:00:00 AM
7/19/17 - Imperial Darkness yeast starter of 1.6L @ 1.033 gravity today, preparing for brew day on 7/217/21/17 - The temperature gauge on my mash tun is slow to adjust so I'm using digital thermometer in conjunction with the dial and ensuring proper temps now. Pulling 1.084 (temp corrected from 1.072) on first runnings and pulled as low as 1.013 (temp corrected from 1.003). Volumes for mash and sparge were spot on as calculated by Brewgr. Whirlpool hop addition was closer to 165F, still at ...
CheeseNips
7/6/2017 12:00:00 AM
I'm going to under pitch the yeast to increase ester profile. Will pitch 200 billion cells despite calculated requirement of 250 billion cells per Brewer's Friend calculator. Need 1.1L water with 103.6g DME for 1.033 SG wort. I'd like to get this going tonight for my brew day on 7/6. I will only do a starter for the Wyeast strain as Imperial touts itself as 200 billion cells in the can.7/6 - I went with a mash thickness of 1.5qt/lb to reduce sparge volume and, hopefully, to increase sugar ...
CheeseNips
6/19/2017 12:00:00 AM
Kit comes with 5oz of Centennial hops so, as I'm dry hopping with El Dorado hop hash, I will incorporate a whirpool hop addition using 1.25oz of Centennial meant for dry hop and 0.7oz of Magnum hops left over from a previous brew; whirpool performed by steeping at 180 for 20 mins.Using too much sparge, I'm getting lower efficiency than I should; should be 80% but I'm only hitting about 75%. I will use Brewgr recommended sparge volume next time rather than Palmer's 1/2 gallon per pound of ...
CheeseNips
6/9/2017 12:00:00 AM
Everything went as expected except for the sparging. Sparging resulted in low gravity after 5 gallons of runnings so dialled down the burner to reduce boil off. Had about 4.5 gallons of finished wort. Very clean wort into the fermenter.6/10/2017 - Primary fermentation ended after 24 hours. I am impressed by the power of Imperial's Darkness strain, which I started with DME dissolved to 1.033 gravity. Not sure if I want to secondary this as I might bottle sooner than later given how quickly ...
CheeseNips
5/19/2017 12:00:00 AM
Manipulated mash and sparge water via Bru'n water calculations to achieve target IPA water profile. Even though I had pH strips, it was difficult to get a reading where I had a lot of confidence, but I feel like I achieved a pH in the low 5's - between 5.0 and 5.5. Reducing the running rate to roughly 1gal/10min greatly increased my efficiency, which had been closer to 60% in previous beers. Northern Brewer recipe card identifies an OG of 1.065 while I achieved 1.070, so I am pleased with ...
CheeseNips
5/3/2017 12:00:00 AM
Bottled on 6/12/2017. Used 10% increase in dextrose from NB priming calculation recommendation. After a week in bottles, the beer went from cloudy to crystal clear, not sure why. Quite a lot of yeast collection on the bottom of all the bottles. The color of the beer is darker than predicted, by at least a few degrees SRM - somewhere between 12-15 rather than 7 - perhaps because the burner was hotter than needed and I caramelized the sugar. Great flavor from the yeast, but it took nearly 6 ...
