Beer Name: Cold IPA
Grains: 11 lbs Weyerman Bohemian Pils
2 lbs flaked rice
Hops: 1 oz Chinook 12.8% AA 60m
1 oz Chinook 12.6% AA hop stand 15m
1 oz Warrior 15.4% AA hop stand 15m
Yeast: Washed Omega Mexican lager yeast, starter made night before
Misc: 2 cups white sugar
Brew Date:
Rack to Secondary:
Keg Date:
Date: 02/23/24 03/08/24
Gravity: 1.069 1.008
% Alcohol:
Notes:
-16.25 qts 165 > 152. After 1 hour > 150. Add 8 qts boil > 164. Collected 4.4 gallons 14 brix. Added 2.5 gallons 173 > 164. 7.5 brix. Had 7 gallons of 11.5 brix. Boiled some on 2 pots for 45m or so. Ended with like 4.95 gallons before adding yeast starter. Took a good 48 hours to really get going but for first day it was in the upper 40s. I'm assuming that was the delay. Now it's 56 and fermenting actively. Hopefully there is enough yeast to do the job but wasn't crazy about the long delay.
02/27 Didn't really get going until like Sunday night? Now it's Tues am. Temp in basement is up to 62. I had it wrapped in shirts and also a blanket. Generating its own heat. Took a gravity reading and it's 1.042. Down almost 30 points but obvs a lot more to go. Maybe I'll take off the blanket and leave in basement for a while yet.
03/08/24 Some hop aroma? Maybe a hint of alc in flavor but otherwise bitter with some remaining malt balance. Finishes a little warming. It is kind of a big boy I suppose. Not bad but I'm sure can use a little aging time, clearning and carbonation. I did add gelatin. 8% alc.
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VIDEO on this beer.
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Grains: 10 lbs Weyermann German Pils
Hops: 1 oz Perle 60m (no AA% listed)
1 oz Perle 0m. held for 15m.
Yeast: Imperial Global lager, starter made 7 hours before pitching it
Misc:
Brew Date:
Rack to Secondary:
Keg Date:
Date: 03/12/24 04/04/24
Gravity: 1.051 1.008
% Alcohol:
Notes:
-12.5 qts 165 > 154 > ice > 151. After 1 hour > 150. 14 brix. Add 8 qts boil > 166. collected 3.8 gallons. Add 3 gallons 180 > 168. 7.5 brix. Had 7 gallons of 9 brix. Boiled some in 2 pots on stove for a while. Ended with just under 5 gallons. Added 1 pint of water and adjusted gravity reading. Then added starter. Was fermenting next morning around 52. Aerated with pure O2 after chilled (pitched yeast 4 hours or so later).
03/15/24 1.028 Fermenting around 55F. It can go at least another day before warming up to the mid 60s.
04/04/24 Earlier this morning I got the horrible news that our good friend Scott Benson suddenly passed away on March 31. I last heard from him March 28. His wife let me know. :(
As for the beer, didn't have much gelatin left but added it in. Not super clear otherwise. But the taste, damn, it's nice. Three weeks and 2 days since brew day. Strong but pleasant bitterness. Clean. Somewhat dry but some malt character. I think it should be good.
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Beer Name: Mosaic IPA (Collab with Chop & Brew)
Click on either pic for larger version.
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VIDEO on this beer.
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Grains: 11 lbs Root Shoot Pils https://www.rootshootmalting.com/
2 lbs Root Shoot malted oats
.5 lbs Root Shoot Crystal 15
Hops: .15 oz Magnum, 60m
4 oz Mosaic, hop stand 20m
3 oz Mosaic, dry hop during active fermentation
Yeast: Imperial Flagship, pitched directly (did add pure O2)
Misc:
Brew Date:
Rack to Secondary:
Keg Date:
Date: 04/14/23 04/24/24
Gravity: 1.062 1.006
% Alcohol:
Notes:
- milling the oat malt was a pain in the butt. It did not crack at normal mill setting so had to make it smaller. Then it was hard to get it started. Eventually it ran through and cracked. But then it was hard to get the barley crushed after setting the gap back.
- 17 qts 165 > 155 > ice > 152. After 1 hour > 150.8. Add 8 qts boiling > 163. 4 gallons of 14.8 brix. Add 3 gallons of 177 > 167. 8.2 brix. Had 7 gallons of 12 brix. Boiled some on 2 pots for a while. Ended with about 5 gallons even. Added pure O2 but did not make yeast starter. Fermenting the next morning at 62F.
04/16 down to 1.028. added 3 oz Mosaic in a hop bag with marbles, all sanitized.
04/24 Near the end of fermentation I brought it up into the kitchen so it could warm to the mid 60s (it had cooled down into the 50s as fermentation slowed) for a couple days. Then put into my cold room for a couple days. No gelatin. No hop bags to catch anything else. Aroma was fairly strong on the hops. Was getting ripe pineapple and mango in nose and also in flavor. Was not getting much pine yet. It tastes ok but isn't really popping at this point. Might need some carbonation and clearing. But should be all right. Was not necessarily unbalanced, esp if you think of the dry, bitter Arbeiter beers.
06/10/24 This beer is still around and I'll say it has not dropped off quite as much as I thought it might, by this time. It has softened a touch and is almost more enjoyable.
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04/23/24 Propane filled. 4.0 gallons, around $17. Looks like 11 batches since last refill.
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Beer Name: Cream Lager with Pink Hops
Grains: 8 lbs Rahr North Star Pils
2 lbs flaked maize
1 lb flaked rice
Hops: 10g Magnum 16.2 % AA 60m
2 oz Pink Hops, 15m hop stand after boil
Yeast: Imperial Global Lager, starter made night before from washed yeast
Misc:
Brew Date:
Rack to Secondary:
Keg Date:
Date: 05/06/24 05/17/24
Gravity: 1.056 1.010
% Alcohol:
Notes:
-13.75 quarts 167 > 153. After 1 hour > 152. Add 8 qts boiling > 166. Collect 3.6 gallons 14.5 brix. Add 3 gallons 172 > 166. 7 brix. Had 7 gallons of 11 brix. Boiled some in 2 pots on stove. Ended with just under 5 gallons before adding yeast starter. Did not do pure O2. Was fermenting already within a couple hours. Was down to 50F in the morning (room is like 56). Using ice jugs.
05/08/24 Weird. This started fermenting that night and has appeared to have been going strong, so I thought I'd take a reading. It's only down to like 1.050 or 1.051? It has been around 50F. Low end of the yeast range is 46. So not really sure about this at all but might go ahead and stop adding ice jugs under the shirt and let it warm up a bit and see if it gets going more. It seems to have hardly decreased in gravity at all. Taste is not off or unusual, just like unfermented wort with a hoppy bite.
05/11 After the weird reading above I warmed it up to the mid 50s for a couple days. Then I moved it out of the cold room into the main basement area. Now it is up to 62-64F so out of the yeast's official temperature range. However it is finally down to 1.020 so I brought it upstairs to warm into the uppper 60s and go ahead and finish out.
05/17 At least it finished. Not clear, and did not add gelatin. Not much aroma from hydrometer sample but taste is decent. Drinks like a pale ale, or I guess pale lager. Corn and rice? Hmm. Not sure if you would know it. Perhaps there is a bit of an alc note, maybe from the adjuncts. Interesting it did not go lower. Some bitterness and hop flavor but hard to define at this point. At least it tastes good.
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Beer Name: Hefeweizen -banana forward attempt.
Click on pic for larger version.
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VIDEO on this beer.
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Grains: 5 lbs Rahr two row
5 lbs Rahr white wheat
Hops: 1 oz Hersbrucker 60m
Yeast: Imperial Stefon -pitched packet into wort
Misc: few oz of rice hulls stirred into mash after 60m mash time.
Brew Date:
Rack to Secondary:
Keg Date:
Date: 06/08/24 06/15/24
Gravity: 1.054 1.015
% Alcohol:
Notes:
- 12.5 qts 164 > 153. 1 hour > 152. stirred in some rice hulls. Added 8 qts boiling > 162. 3.3 gallons of 15 brix. (seemed like not all of it had run out but didn't worry about it at that time). Added 3 gallons 179 > 167. 7 brix. Had 6.6 gallons of 11 brix. Boiled some in one pot on stove for 45m or so. Ended with just under 5 gallons. Was fermenting that night and blowing off in the morning. Was mostly done 24 hours after pitching. Got up to 78.
- 06/15 kind of high FG? Will look at others. Once as low as 1.007 but usually around 1.012. Not sure what happened this time. Same process. Maybe the higher temp? Fermented at 78 for a couple days then activity slowed down. Brought it downstairs where it was about 74 for remaining days and still bubbling. Then it dropped "clear" in last few days. Light banana and even alcohol in nose? Huh. Guess it is pretty fresh. Taste is of banana, light hops, not really much clove at this point. Will see after carbonating. Should be all right.
06/26 - drinking good right away. Did not develop the sulphur character that needed time to go away. Pretty happy with this. It definitelyleads towards the sweet/banana side with not as much spice.
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Beer Name: Korean Rice Lager (modeled after Arbeiter Tokki)
Click on either pic for larger version. Homebrew on the left, Arbeiter Tokki from their taps on the right.
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VIDEO on this beer. .
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Grains: 6 lbs Rahr North Star Pils
4 lbs Crisp Torrified Rice
Hops: 1 oz Hallertau Mittelfruh 2.8% AA 60m
1 oz Hallertau Mittelfruh 2.8% AA 10m
Yeast: Imperial Pilgrimage Lager, special pitch amt sent by Imperial via Chip
Misc: ~10 oz rice hulls added to mash tun after mash
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Brew Date:
Rack to Secondary:
Keg Date:
Date: 06/25/24 07/08/24
Gravity: 1.054 1.008
% Alcohol:
Notes:
- 12.5 qts 163 > 152 > ice > 147 (lowest mash temp yet?). After 1 hour > 146. Added in rice hulls. Add 8 qts boiling > 161. 14.1 brix. 3.6 gallons first runnings. Add 3 gallons 181 > 168. 7 brix. Had 6.6 gallons 11 brix. Boiled some in 1 pot for a while but ended with 5.25 gallons, so makes me think not as much got boiled off due to it being more humid in general(?) Did not use pure O2. Pitched .3L jug sent by Imperial. Was fermenting that night around 69. Put lots of ice jugs in tub, covered with blankets. Tub air temp was 54 in am while fermenter temp was 64. Fermenting under pressue. Was up to about 13 psi or so. Will monitor psi and temp.
07/01/24 took reading. Fermented in the lower 60s most of the time at around 12 psi. Now has warmed up to 68. 1.009. Thought it might be lower than that with low mash temp. Don't know if should have done starter or pure O2. I assumed the yeast amount from Imperial was more than sufficient and it was not going to be fermenting cool. Taste has some hop flavor and also probably some yeast bite. Might try to "crash cool" with all my ice jugs for 12 hours or so and then add gelatin and keg. Might give it a few more days and take another reading.
07/04/24 Now it's 1.008 or possibly 1.007. So it's unclear if I should wait even another few days, or what. I guess I could and then do one more final reading before starting to cold crash.
07/08 Calling it 1.008. Did a ghetto cold crash attempt with a LOT of ice jugs and wrapping blankets around and on top of the tub the fermenter was in. Temp of beer was 69 before this and after about 30 hours it was reading 38! Made up gelatin, put in keg, racked beer into keg. It's tasting really nice. Light but a pleasant flavor with some light hop character. Hopefully will be good and even better if it gets clear.
09/03/24 This beer is a delight. Every time I have it I'm just tickled with pride and enjoyment. It got super clear and matched up to the original Tokki pretty well. Check out the video. I will make this again as well as probably use rice in other beers.
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07/09/24 CO2 tank filled at Weber and Troseth. Took about 10 min. Date on tank was 2021 so in 2026 might have to leave for the test or find a place for an exchange. Cost $14.50
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Beer Name: Patersbier with Gambrinus IPA Malt
Grains: 11 lbs Gambrinus IPA malt
Hops: 2 oz Tettnang 2.6% AA 60m
1 oz Tettnang 2.6% AA 0m. 15m hop stand
Yeast: Imperial Triple Double B48, Trappist high gravity. no starter made.
Misc:
Brew Date:
Rack to Secondary:
Keg Date:
Date: 07/13/24 07/23/24
Gravity: 1.053 1.005
% Alcohol:
Notes:
- 13.75 qts 166 > 154 > ice > 152. After 1 hour > 151. Add 8 qts boiling (not quite boiling) > 161. 3.8 gallons of 14 brix. Add 3 gallons 178 > 166. 6.5 brix. Hadd 6.8 gallons of 11 brix. Ended with just over 5 gallons. No pure O2. Used tub and ice jugs. Was in low 60s at first. Temp range is like 66 -77. Dialed back the ice jugs. Morning of day 2 it was 70. I guess I will try to keep it around there and maybe let warm up at end. Going out of town tomorrow anyway so should be fine by then. Room temp is about 72.
07/23 Did a bunch of ice jugs for 30 hours. Brought temp down to about 45. Added gelatin when kegging. Medium clarity. Peach in nose? Belgian notes perhaps. Taste is clean. Mostly malty. Hint of alc in finish. Some spice in flavor and finish, pepper, cloves. No real hop character. Should be good drinker.
09/03/24 Perfect fine beer but not the best Patersbier. This malt has more residual malt character, body and sweetness than a typical Pils malt. I'm using some in a beer below that is heavily hopped and hoping that is a better use of it.
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Click on pic for larger version.
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VIDEO on this beer.
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Grains: 8.5 lbs Gambrinus IPA malt
1.5 lbs Root Shoot Pils
Hops: .5 oz Mosaic 12.2% AA 60m
.5 oz Mosaic 12.2% AA 0m
Yeast: Imperial Global Lager, starter made night before from a bunch of washed yeast
Misc: 8 lbs raspberries from garden that were in freezer
Brew Date:
Rack to Secondary:
Keg Date:
Date: 08/11/24 08/26/24
Gravity: 1.054 1.009 with raspberries, 1.005 without
% Alcohol:
Notes:
- Paul came over to watch wort production. 12.5 qts 163 > 153. After 1 hr > 152. Add 8 qts boiling > 164. Got 3.3 gallons of 15 brix. Add 3 gallons 179 > 168. 6.5 brix. Had 6.5 gallons of 10 brix. Boiled some in one pot on stove. Ended with 5 gallons and after adding yeast starter was over 5 gallons. Was about 66 when pitching. Using ice jubs in tub to try and keep it cool. Next morning it was at 61 and actively fermenting. Then it was reading 59 that evening and following morning.
08/18 Fermented at 58-60 for most of the time. Let it warm up last several days to room temp of around 70. Tooking a reading today: 1.008. Tastes fine. I guess it's ready for the raspberries. Some bit of hop flavor at this point but that might go away with the fruit addition. Racked 1 gallon out of the bucket to have room for all the raspberries.
08/26/24 removed raspberries, kegged beer. Had about 4.5 gallons in keg to racked .5 gallons from jug (down to 1.005) back into keg to top it off. Was quite a bit of sludge in bottom of bucket and a bunch of that probably got into the keg, so we'll see if it's cloudy going for a while. Bottled 3 bottles of the NON raspberry beer in 12 oz bottles and added .5 tsp white sugar. The fruit beer definitely has a strong raspberry taste. Too much? Probably. It's almost like a sour beer. If I have the Patersbier on tap for a while I may blend it with that in the glass. The beer w/o the fruit is nice. It's almost a little warming, maybe from the low FG. It's clear. No off flavors even though it fermented "warm." There also is more Mosaic character than I would expect from two 1/2 oz additions from a bag of hops that was opened and has been in the freezer for a few months.
09/03/24 This came out nice enough. Again, it's very raspberry forward. Chip and Elsa think it's fine as is. I wonder if less raspberries would be better to my taste. This was 8 lbs so 6 lbs? Maybe 4? At least I know for sure now that 8 lbs will give it a lot of strong raspberry character. I bottled maybe 3 bottles of the non-raspberry beer. I had a gallon of it set aside so there would be room in the bucket for all the fruit. Ended up racking about 1/2 gallon of that back into the keg (so maybe got around a half gallon of juice from raspberries?) Will do a side by side with the plain beer, eventually.
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VIDEO on this beer.
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Grains: 8 lbs Gambrinus IPA malt
4 lbs Rahr North Star Pils
2 lbs torrified rice
Hops: 1 oz Eureka 16.4% AA (but a couple years old?) 85m (boiled longer to reduce volume).
1 oz Eureka 16.4% 0m. 20m hop stand until wort was like 177.
3 oz Eureka 16.4% added after 20m and held for about another 15.
Yeast: Imperial Flagship, yeast starter made night before
Misc:
Brew Date:
Rack to Secondary:
Keg Date:
Date: 9/02/24 09/11/24
Gravity: 1.070 1.009
% Alcohol:
Notes:
-17.5 qts 166 > 154 > ice > 152. After 1 hour 151. Add 8 qts boiling > 164. Collected 3.8 gallons (not all ran out) of 17 brix. Add 3 gallons 176 > 166. 9 brix. Had 7.4 gallons of 13.5 brix. Boiled some in 2 pots on stove but still had too much volume after adding it back into boil kette (was reading about 6 gallons but think it was swolen from boiling). Boiled extra 25m and ended with right about 5 gallons even. Will have to remember this next time I have that much pre boil wort. Hit it with pure O2. Have in tub with ice jugs. Was fermenting actively at 63F the next morning.
09/11 Tried the ghetto crash cooling but only got down to about 50 from 70. So it was cooler, at least. Also added gelatin. Now washing yeast to maybe make a corn syrup wash. Beer is somewhat clear already. Aroma of pine and peach/apricot. Taste is firm bitterness up front, middle and in finish. Hopefully not too bitter with extra long boil and then double hop stand. I think it should be ok and it will soften some. Kind of IPL like with maybe a touch more yeast character. Light alc burn in finish. 8% alc. Ha.
09/19/24 Now that it's on tap and carbonated initial glasses have been excellent. It's not super clear but man does it pack a punch. It's very piney and strong and bitter. Finishes with a lingering bitterness but it's not too much. And the punch will probably lessen to a degree in time. Very tasty strong IPA.
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Beer Name: Heretic Shallow Grave Porter (More Beer all grain kit)
Don's More Beer Affiliate Link
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Click on pic for larger version.
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VIDEO on this beer.
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Grains: 12 lbs two row
1 lb Munich
1 lb Crystal 40L
8 oz Black Patent
8 oz Chocolate malt
Hops: 1 oz Columbus 16.7% AA 60m
2 oz Cascade 5.6% AA 15m
Yeast: Imperial Flagship, starter made night before
Misc:
Brew Date:
Rack to Secondary:
Keg Date:
Date: 09/18/24 09/25/24
Gravity: 1.072 1.014
% Alcohol:
Notes:
- 18.75 qts 166 > 157 > ice > 152. After 1 hour > 151. Add 8 qts boil > 162. Collect 4.8 (!) gallons of 16 brix. Add 8 qts (instead of 12) 180 > 167. 11 brix. Had 6.8 gallons of 14 brix. Boiled some in one pot on stove until 15m left in boil. Ended with a smidge under 5 gallons but yeast starter topped it off to 5 or just over. Aerated with pure O2. Was fermenting that night, 12 hours after pitching. Using ice jugs. In morning was going strong at 65F.
09/23 Gravity check. 1.014. Probably done. Not super dark, that is not black. Dark brown, maybe. Little bit of an edge that I'm guessing is from suspended yeast, hop bitterness and also probably it just being young. Could probably keg any time but it will need a couple weeks of aging.
10/27 did video tasting with Dawson last night. Very happy with this. I noted all Robust Porters I've made have 5 malts, the same you see here. The amounts might vary. This one is maybe medium hoppy and if it wanted to be more of a Black IPA I think they could be dialed up a bit, maybe even by adding a hop stand with an oz or two.
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Beer Name: Rauchbier (with old crushed smoked malt)
Grains: 4 lbs Skagit Valley Maple smoked (possibly somewhat crushed?)
1 lb Skagit Valley oak smoked (not previoulsy crushed)
6 lbs Briess Mesquite (previously crushed a year ago)
2 lbs Rahr North Star Pils
1 lb torrefied rice
Hops: 1 oz Hallertau Mittelfruh 2.8% AA 70m
Yeast: Imperial Flagship, entire washed yeast amount from previous batch, starter made night before
Misc:
Brew Date:
Rack to Secondary:
Keg Date:
Date: 10/09/24 10/17/24
Gravity: 1.068 1.009
% Alcohol:
Notes:
- VIDEO on testing old malt for conversion before making this batch. The question was, would I still get enough sugar and flavor out of malt that was crushed a year ago? It looks like at least on the sugar front there really was not much drop off at all.
- 17.5 qts 166 > 152. After 1 hour > 151. Add 8 qts boil > 162. Got 4.6 gallons of 15.5 brix. Add 2.5 gallons 176 > 166. 2nd runnings were 8 brix. Had 7.1 gallons of 14 brix. Boiled some in 2 pots on stove until 15m left in boil. Added with 5 gallons even in fermenter. NO pure O2 added because yeast starter had so much yeast and wanted to see how it came out. Was fermenting about 5 hours later when I checked. Next morning it is at 64 with a couple ice jugs.
10/17/24 Aroma - clearly a smoked beer in smell. Taste is also quite smokey. It does have a bit of a sharp smoke character that I wonder if it is from mesquite. I'm sure this will soften some. It's not unpleasant or undrinkable but it is a little different than other smoked beers I've made. IDK if it is kind of medicinal or what. Hopefully it will turn out to be ok.
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Grains: 10 lbs Rahr Premium Pils
.5 lbs Carapils
.5 lbs Munich
Hops: 1 oz Perle 5.2% AA 60m
Yeast: Imperial Global Lager. Starter made night before.
Misc:
Brew Date:
Rack to Secondary:
Keg Date:
Date: 10/30/24
Gravity: 1.055
% Alcohol:
Notes:
- 13.75 qts 166 > 154 > ice > 152. After 70m > 150. Add 8 qts boiling > 164. Collect 3.5 gallons 16 brix. (Took .5 L for yeast starter). Add 3 gallons 174 > 166. 7 brix. Had 6.5 gallons 12 brix. Boiled some in 1 pot on stove. Ended with about 5 gallons before adding starter. Did pure O2. Was fermenting later that night. Was at 58 next morning but will try to make it even cooler with ice jugs, if possible. Otherwise that temp should be fine.
- 11/01 Was maybe around 58 last night. This morning it is 55. Swapping out 4 ice jugs twice a day. Room temp is low 60s.
- 11/02 I think it was 54 this morning. Only replaced 2 of the 4 ice jugs. It doesn't need to be much cooler than that. Official range is 46-56.
-11/04 took reading and it was 1.017 so brought it back upstairs. Has been fermenting around 52 in recent days. Hopefully enough time to warm up and absorb any diacetyl.
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Fermentables: 5 gallons Pine Tree orchard cider via MN Homebrewer's Club buy
2 cups white sugar ( ~ 1 lb)
2 cups brown sugar (~ 1 lb)
Hops:
Yeast: Imperial Bubbles cider, 1 pouch.
Misc:
Brew Date:
Rack to Secondary:
Keg Date:
Date: 11/03/24
Gravity: 1.050 > 1.064
% Alcohol:
Notes:
- heated about a gallon, dissolved all sugar, added back into fermenter, stirred, took final OG reading. Pitched a pack of yeast, no starter, no extra aeration. It's in the mid to upper 60's. Hope it is enough yeast. First time not just using 2 packets of 71B.
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Beer Name:
Grains:
Hops:
Yeast:
Misc:
Brew Date:
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Keg Date:
Date:
Gravity:
% Alcohol:
Notes:
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© 2024 Don Osborn