What's in your fermenter??

[BREWsmith]

Bright and early tomorrow a.m. I'll be crushing my own grains for the first time. Do you experienced brewers run them through the grain mill (I have a Barley Crusher) a single time? At what speed? Thanks.

[john mills]

I use the hand crank for my Valley Mill instead of the drill attachment. I can feel the grain as it's being crushed
I think the drill is just too fast for my mill. It takes 50 revolutions/pound for my mill. I usually only mill 1 time. But if I'm feeling good, sometimes twice.

A side note to milling when I first was learning and researching milling a long time ago. I either heard or read to mill in another room away from your brewing, or mill the day before. This is due to the dust from the grain that is created. This dust contains lots of yeastie bugs and has the potential to sour your mash a bit (lacto), or create other infections. I can't prove or have had any mishaps that can be attributed to such, but it just so happens that my grain storage and milling are not in the same room.

[BREWsmith]

I'm going to try dubbel (http://hopville.com/recipe/74518/belgia ... wit-dubbel) tomorrow using the jar of yeast Jack so graciously provided. Do I need to do anything to the yeast beforehand, e.g., warm it room temp, shake it up, etc.)? Rather than try to harvest from the fermenter, do you think I could save a few ounces (he filled up a 26 ounce jar from the fermenter) for a yeast starter later? As always, I appreciate everyone's advice.

[Chris Norrick]

I would decant off most of the liquid. Just leave enough to break up the yeast into a slurry so you can pour it out. Warm it to room temp before pitching. Yes, you can save a little back for later. I've been using old White Labs yeast vials for this. I knew I kept them for a reason. Store it as cold as possible but don't freeze it. The crisper drawer is where I keep my "yeast bank".

On the crusher. I hand cranked once for the experience. Now I just hook up an old electric drill. It only has one speed. I only crush once.

[Chris Norrick]

Summer Witbier

I cleared out my old stock of flaked wheat, oats, and pilsner malt which made this batch way over gravity. 1.060 OG is a little high for a summer drinker I think. We'll see how it turns out. I'm still planning on adding a large can of elderberry juice to one of the carboys, I'm just not sure when I'm going to do it. Maybe a couple of days into fermentation. I couldn't remember how many oranges I usually zest so I got four which I don't think was enough. 6 would have been better. I chucked in a pinch of wormwood for good measure. Prepare for the Green Fairy!

11 Gallon Batch:

Cereal Mash
122 F for 15 min; raise to 154 F over 15 min and hold for 75 min
168 F Mashout, sparge for 60 min.

Fermentables
Ingredient Amount % MCU When
German Pilsner Malt 12lb 0oz 41.9 % 1.3 In Mash/Steeped
US Flaked Soft Red Wheat 11lb 0oz 38.4 % 1.9 In Mash/Steeped
US Flaked Oats 3lb 0oz 10.5 % 0.8 In Mash/Steeped
US Rice Hulls 2lb 0oz 7.0 % 0.0 In Mash/Steeped
German Munich Malt 10.00 oz 2.2 % 0.3 In Mash/Steeped


Hops
Variety Alpha Amount IBU Form When
German Hallertauer Mittlefruh 4.0 % 2.00 oz 17.3 Loose Pellet Hops 60 Min From End


Other Ingredients
Ingredient Amount When
Orange Zest 3.00 oz In Boil
Coriander Seed 0.80 oz In Boil
Chamomile flowers 0.20 oz In Boil


Yeast
White Labs WLP400-Belgian Wit Ale

[BREWsmith]

I would decant off most of the liquid. Just leave enough to break up the yeast into a slurry so you can pour it out. Warm it to room temp before pitching. Yes, you can save a little back for later. I've been using old White Labs yeast vials for this. I knew I kept them for a reason. Store it as cold as possible but don't freeze it. The crisper drawer is where I keep my "yeast bank".

On the crusher. I hand cranked once for the experience. Now I just hook up an old electric drill. It only has one speed. I only crush once.

My dubbel is fermenting, but not enthusiastically. it took about 16 hours before noticeable activity and now 24 hours after that the krausen in only about a half an inch thick and hasn't risen much since last evening. It's bubbling at 14 per minutes. Should I just sit tight or pitch more yeast?

[sirgiovanni]

Jeff,
as far as your barley crusher goes, I use feeler guages to set the gap. Just run a .25 lb through and adjust both sides to the same gap and adjust until you get the crush you want.

Yeast starters just take time to figure out, especially with bigger beers. It looks like your recipe is your biggest one yet and that takes more yeast and oxygen. I think it's tough to pitch more after the fact. You may just have to be patient. When I first went to big beers it took quite a bit of time to ferment out before I got my sizes and o2 levels worked out.

[john mills]

Made the Big Turkey American Pale Ale yesterday. Had a bit more boil off than wanted to slightly bump up the starting gravity a bit. Oh well.

13 ½# Cargill 2 Row Special Pale
1 # Cara-pils
1 # Cargill White Wheat
1 # Special Roast
1# American Munich
½# Rice hulls
1 TBSP 5.2 ph balancer
¾ oz Zeus whole hop 16.4% AA @ 60 min
¾ oz Cascade whole hop 7.2 % AA @ 30 min
½ oz Zeus whole hop 16.4% AA @ 15 min
Zest of 1 tangerine/orange @ 3 min
1 oz Sorachi Ace 12.3% AA whole @ flameout
Safeale US-05 repitch from Seven Day Blonde
1 oz Amarillo 9.3% AA whole dry hop in secondary
½ oz Sorachi Ace 12.3% AA whole dry hop in secondary

Strike 20 Qts water @ 168 degree in keggle. Mash @ 155 degrees for 90 min. Mash out: 171 degrees.
Sparge to collect: 12.75 gallons boil.
Preboil gravity: 11.8 brix= 1.048 SG
Boil for 90 minutes
Original Gravity: 13.6 brix = 1.055.
9.5 gallons into primary (1/2 gallon left in kettle)
TOTAL IBU’s: 39.7
TOTAL SRM: 7.0
TOTAL EFFICIENCY: 83%

[Michael Erwin]

This doesn't fit under "brewing" technically, but today the brewery switches over to winery. Two 5-gallon batches of blueberry wine, just beginning the first one today.

Just in case you're interested:


Hoosier Blueberry Wine

This recipe is for 5 finished gallons of wine.

Fruits:
12 lb fresh Indiana blueberries; or equal amount frozen depending on season and locale.
2-1/2 lb dark raisins, diced and plumped (for tannins)
10 lb white sugar

Alchemy:
2 oz acid blend
5 campden tablets
1/2 oz yeast hulls (energizer)
1/2 oz pectic enzyme

Yeast starter:
1/2 tsp yeast nutrient
2 Tbsp sugar
1 qt water
1 pkg champagne yeast

Beermakers would find winemaking relatively simple. It's easier in some ways than beer. If you ever want to know, I'd be glad to share the process.

[john mills]

Michael,
You might have brought up a good new thread to start. What'cha vinting? or Latest Wine? or just change the name of this thread...What's in your fermenter?

[john mills]

Brewed 2 batches yesterday. An 11.5 gallon remake of the 1.040 OG - 7 day Blonde I made and consumed earlier this month, and an 11.5 gallon 1.057 OG - Robust Porter
16 # Marris Otter 2 row
2 ¼ # American Munich
¾ # Cara-pils
¾ # Chocolate Malt
¾ # Pale Chocolate Malt
¾ # Black Patent
¼ # Special B
1 # Crystal 40L
1 # Crystal 60L
1 # Rice Hulls
5.2 buffer added to mash water
2 tsp Irish Moss 15 min boil
.7 oz Magnum whole hops @ 14.2% AA 60 min boil 18.7 IBU’s
1 oz Zeus whole hops @ 16.4 AA @ 60 min boil 30.8 IBU’s
1 ½ oz EKG whole hops @ 5.0% AA 10 min boil 2.8 IBU
1 ½ oz EKG whole hops @ 5.0% AA 5 min boil 2.4 IBU’s
Safeale US 05 yeast slurry from 5 gallon batch Big Turkey APA 7/06/09.

[BREWsmith]

My attempt at a dubbel went down the drain. Seems I'm having a rough patch. Since it was my first batch from scratch, any number of things could have gone wrong. I saved a jar of the foul brew in hopes that someone can identify the culprit. Any volunteers?

[john mills]

Snuck in two more batches today before having to return to work tomorrow after being off 2 weeks.

Jackie O Lantern - A Pumpkin Ale
6.25 gallons
7 # Marris Otter
2# American Munich
½# Caravienne
½# Special B
½# Crystal 60
½# Cargill White Wheat
2 tsp 5.2 buffer added to mash
1# Light Brown Sugar
2- 29 OZ cans pumpkin roasted in oven
3-3” Cinnamon Sticks 30 min boil
2 pinches ground Cloves @ 30 min boil
2 pinches ground Nutmeg @ 30 min boil
2 pinches fresh ground allspice @ 30 min boil
½ oz Zeus Whole hops @ 16.4% AA @ 60 min boil
¾ oz Goldings whole hops @ 5.0% AA @ 15 min boil
1 tsp Irish Moss 15 min boil
US 05 yeast slurry from 7 Day Blonde
OG 1.057

And

Re-do Red (SourAle)
5.25 gallons

3½ # Cargil Idapils
3# German Vienna
3# American Munich
6 oz Melanoidin Malt
6 oz CaraMunich
6 oz Special B
6 oz Cargill White Wheat
2 tsp 5.2 buffer added to mash
1 oz Goldings whole hops @ 5.0% AA 60 min boil = 20.2 IBU’s
US 05 yeast slurry from 7 Day Blonde
OG:1.057

[Dwayne_Delaney]

Brewed this for the first time yesterday, based loosely on a recipe I found on another board.


Über Amber
7.75 lb Pale Malt
4.00 lb Munich Malt
1.00 lb Caramunich Malt
0.50 lb Melanoiden Malt
0.75 oz Magnum [12.10 %] (60 min)
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (First Wort Hop)
1.50 oz Amarillo Gold [9.00 %] (5 min)
1 Pkgs Fermentis US-05 Yeast

[Don]

Brewed my Total Eclipse #51 (dark mild ale) yesterday
this is for SWIRCA.
I had an 9 month old tube of WLP 002 and tried to make it work, did a yeast started for 4 days after 24 hours it is still dead so I added 1 package of S0-4

Style: English Ordinary Bitter
TYPE: All Grain
Batch Size: 5.5 gal
Boil Size: 7.75 gal
OG: 1.040 SG
Color: 23 SRM
IBU: 19.0

Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
7 lbs Maris Otter (Cargill)
6.4 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L
5.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L
4.0 oz Black (Patent) Malt
4.0 oz Cara-Pils
4.0 oz Pale Chocolate Malt
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [4.80 %] (60 min)
1.50 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 min)
1.50 tbsp PH 5.2 Stabilizer (Mash 60.0 min)
1 Pkgs English Ale (White Labs #WLP002) 2 QT. starter
1 pack S0-4 (after 24 hours)

Single Infusion
90 min Mash In 154.0 F 1.5 qts/#
10 min Mash Out- heat to 170.0 F for 10 minutes (15 minutes to raise using RIMS) ***the RIMS works great now***
Sparge w/ 170 F. till 7.75 gals (pre-boil sg 1.030)

5.25 in carboy, SG 1.040, aerated for 15 minutes
added yeast and set temp. to 69 F.
I will drop the temperature to 68 after it starts working.