Chugger Pump Build

I have upgraded my brew system to include a pump, which allows me to:

• Connect and disconnect hoses from vessels quickly and easily
• Eliminate lifting hot and heavy water and wort from vessel to vessel
• Reduce reliance on gravity for transferring water and wort
• Reuse chilling water; pump cleaning solution from vessel to vessel
• Future: Whirlpool wort while chilling to reduce chill times
• Future: Build a recirculating mash system (HERMS/RIMS)
• Future: Incorporate a plate chiller, aeration stone, and thermometer

 

 Another batch brewing soon!  Cheers!

San Diego National Homebrew Competition Entry

We packed and shipped the IPA to the National Homebrew Competition Finals! Judging is 6/11 and the awards ceremony is 6/13. We are hopeful for the best!



The IPA has Rahr 2-Row Pale, German Cara-Red (20L), Crystal 10, and Carapils malts with Amarillo, Cascade, Columbus, Centennial, Citra, Chinook, and Crystal hops.  We were pleased with the batch that used GigaYeast GY054 Vermont Ale yeast as it had less attenuation, but gave a brighter color and aroma than the Safale US-05 American Ale and White Labs 001 California Ale yeasts.

AHA National Homebrew Competition 2015

We were fortunate enough to advance an American IPA in the Nashville first round of the 2015 American Homebrewers Association National Homebrew Competition!

Since we floated the keg of that batch at a local homebrew competition, we got a chance to rebrew it with a few tweaks based on tastings and feedback.

It is a San Diego style IPA with plenty of Pacific Northwest hops.

The final round with entries placing 1, 2, & 3 in each category from each of 12 regional sites will be judged in June in San Diego at the National Homebrewers Conference.

The grains are:
US Pale, UK Pearl, Crystal 10, Cara-Red (20), & Carapils

The hops are a mix of:
Amarillo, Columbus, Chinook, Centennial, Ahtanum, Simcoe, Citra, & Crystal

Fermentors were 64 and got good attenuation. Bottled.

Fawcett Pearl IPA Brew Day

Today we brewed the base malt challenge IPA for my homebrew club with 95% Thomas Fawcett Pearl malt and 5% Carafoam.  Hops are Columbus, Simcoe, and Amarillo.  The target ABV is 7% with 70 IBU.

Weighing the malt:

Heating strike water for mash:

Milling the malted barley:

Grains into mash tun:

Water into mash tun:

Vorlauft:

Lauter:

Measure hops:

Draining with first wort hops:

Boiling strong:

5 minutes remaining:

Racked into carboy and pitched yeast:

The original gravity was 1.064 and the yeast is Wyeast American Ale 1056.  Hopefully we can get it down to around 1.010.

O Rye Ale Bottling Day

Today is the bottling and kegging day for our Rye Pale Ale.  Check out our snazzy new labels.

We have 10 gallons of this Rye Ale with half on Safale US-05 American Ale yeast and half on Safale S-04 English Ale yeast.  Somewhat surprisingly, both finished with the same Final Gravity of 1.014.  The Original Gravity was 1.058, which puts this at 5.8% ABV.  The grist was Pale US 2-Row, Munich, Vienna, Rye, Biscuit, and Honey Malt and the hops were Columbus, Fuggles, East Kent Goldings, Cascade, and Amarillo, which should play well with the malts.  This will be a great beer for tailgating at the Braves home opener on April 10!

Racking to keg below:

Bottling via bucket:

Sanitized bottles:

Hop shrapnel:

Crowned and cased:

49 longnecks and 2 bombers:

Packed for competition:

Cheers!

Fat Ninja Ale Big Brew Day

Saturday was 65 degrees, perfect for a Pale Ale 10g batch. We used up the Maris Otter and used Pale US Malt, Munich, Biscuit, and Wheat malts. It came out at 1.052.

Experimental hop schedule with Simcoe, Centennial, Amarillo, & Palisade in the boil at 7,6,5,4,3,2,1...

Grains pre-mill:

Draining mash to kettle:

Boil in progress, lots of green hops:

Racking to two carboy fermentors;

Pitched yeast and set blowoffs:

One is California Ale yeast and one is English Ale yeast, both from White Labs.

Three Pale Ales

These are all the beers left in the pipeline. One gets bottled and two get dry hop/secondaried this weekend.

This is my new favorite video.

https://vimeo.com/86180108?from=facebook

Amber Ale bottled

47 bottles of Hopswell Amber Ale with 3.4oz sugar.

Brewed the Hard Way IPA kegged

Bottled 8, then kegged about 4 gallons. 4 carb drops per bottle.

We have our Ginger Ale, Oatmeal Stout, & this double dry hop west coast IPA brewed for people who like to drink beer. At 12 psi, the IPA should be ready in 5-7 days I surmise.

Peach State permit printed & ready, #thisbudsforyou

Portable CO2 Keg Dispensor

We had a trial run with the new keg portable draft dispensing system. It looks like 1 or 2 co2 cartridges will dispense 5 gallons. The beer should be good and carbonated in the fridge first on the big tank as this is for serving only.

Safety Disclaimer: Do not attach charger to post unless it is already attached to the keg. Do not squeeze trigger unless picnic tap is pressed open.

You attach the empty gas post first, which depressurizes the keg, then screw on the loaded charger, then open the picnic tap and pull charger trigger to re-pressurize. If it runs out, simply unscrew the cartridge holder, replace the co2 cartridge, screw it back on and tap/charge again.

This will surely beat hauling the co2 tank, regulator, distributor, and the tubing. We will probably set the keg in a 5 gallon bucket with ice.  Get ready Peach State Brew Off!

Oatmeal Stout Bottling Day

The Oatmeal Stout came out to 55 bottles worth. Bottling stouts is remarkably easier than dry-hopped IPAs due to the sludge called trub.

First, we racked sanitizer to the bottling bucket:

Then racked the sanitizer back into carboy:

Now the beer was transferred from the carboy to the bucket with some Dixie Crystal simple syrup. The Hydrometer reading was 1.018 from 1.058.

Add the bottling wand and fill some bottles:

Crown and crimp:

This will be a good batch. It smelled and tasted Choco- roasty. Cheers!

Hard Way IPA Brew Day

Today was the brew day for a kegged beer to enter in the People's Choice Award contest for the Peach State Brew Off presented by the Covert Hops Society on 2/28/14.

It was a windy day, but the trusty Blichmann burner powered through.

There was a lot of steam!

After chilling, this golden beauty was racked to the carboy.

The yeast for this batch is Safale US-05 American Ale.  After it is finished fermenting and dry hopped, we will bottle a few using carbonation drops and keg the remainder.

Bluff City Extravaganza Packaging

Today, we prepared our homebrews for shipping to Memphis, TN for the Bluff City Brewers and Connoisseurs competition.  The method that has worked best for us is to rubberband the labels, Foodsaver the bottles, wrap in bubblewrap, and stuff box with paper.  The key is to eliminate the possibility of glass to glass contact and prevent as much possibility for movement as possible.

Six bottles is typically the maximum we will pack into a box, so this is two boxes worth.

Oatmeal Stout Brew Day

Saturday was the brew day for a 10 gallon batch of Oatmeal Stout with a double mash and two yeasts. We got some great shots of the action.

Grains pre-mill:

Run off from mash:

Grain in mash tun:

Heating up wort:

Boiling strong!

Two carboys:

Pitched two yeast strains:

Wyeast London Ale WY1028

White labs English Ale WL002

It will be 5% ABV or more if attenuated below 1.020.

Cheers!