The Homebrew Thread

[NightWoundsTime]

Hit the brewshop today and broke down on getting the immersion chiller. Had other cooling plans but can't quite DIY, more like Make My Friends Do It. Problem is all they do is argue or try to improve things in elaborate but wholly unnecessary ways, leading to much yelling and frustration. Original plan was to DIY a copper chiller to save a few dollars. At this point it's worth the money to end the ongoing overly repetitive discussion that never leads to any action.

Got ingredients for tomorrow's brew, a second similar take on the chocolate brown ale that was the favorite so far. Don't have the grain mill yet but all this new equipment and a decent amount of experience now has me dreaming about the big badass imperial stout that will surely be coming soon. Just put together a nice plan of action.

16# 6-Row

1# flaked oats

2# flaked rye

12oz cara-pils

12oz chocolate rye

8oz roasted barley

2oz chinook 90min

White Labs California Ale Yeast

OG 1.100, FG 1.023, ABV 10.0

Doing a cereal mash alongside the main mash. Involves throwing part of the 6-row base malt in the brewpot with the oats and rye, heating it and resting several times allowing the enzymes from the malt to convert the ummalted grains. Then boil quickly to push for a that heavy oily rye mouthfeel in the finished product. I'll probably do several decoctions from the main mash while I'm at it to get full efficiency. Will spend several months in secondary with carefully monitored oak spiral additions.

Edited November 14, 2011 by NightWoundsTime

[NightWoundsTime]

For those who choose to brew their own, why not start your own brand........... http://labeley.com/

Sure, quick attempt.

[NightWoundsTime]

Ready to do something big and heavy for the first bottling project, belaying the stouts for now. Brewing a Scotch Ale on Turkeyday, heavily adapted recipe from the webs. Got all the stuff today, it's going to be quite complex.

12# Golden Promise

13oz Special Roast

13oz Munich 20L

13oz Crystal 60L

8oz Peat Smoked Malt (The kicker, hopefully)

2oz Roasted Barley

1oz Chocolate Malt

2# Jaggery in boil (love this fucking stuff, don't care if it's incredibly inauthentic)

1oz E.K. Golding pellets 60 min

1oz E.K. Golding whole 15 minutes

1oz E.K. Golding liberally strewn about thereafter until flameout.

White Labs Edinburgh Ale Yeast

OG 1.085

FG 1.023

IBU 30

ABV ~8%

And of course this will get some Oak love.

Edited November 23, 2011 by NightWoundsTime

[tyrion]

Nice Matt, enjoy a nice cocktail while brewing. Jp and I will hopefully be brewing a fairly simple Porter this weekend. I haven't brewed in about a year.

[NightWoundsTime]

Didn't get to the scotch ale yesterday but tomorrow it will happen. Got the notice today that my grain mill has shipped so the stout goes down next weekend. Considering getting two 3 gallon secondary fermentors, brewing one 6 gallon batch and splitting, one with oak treatment and one w/o. Big bottling day early in January and 5 cases ready to drink in February. Hope it all turns out as awesome as I'm imagining .

[NightWoundsTime]

Scotch ale brewed and bubbling nicely. Previous brew, the chocolate brown ale that I heavily hopped is now on another ounce of EK Goldings in secondary and has been dubbed Chocodile.

Imperial Rye brew date set for Dec 10th, leaving a week to get a good yeast starter going.

One more brewdate before the year's over, another brew destined for the bottle that we'll call Matt the Younger Tripel (sic) IPA. Belgian yeast because I want to. 11% ABV is the target, 110 IBU's or so and dry hopped with whichever hop smells most like Pliny. Ordering 8 ozs of various whole hops from Northern Brewer.

Anyone who makes Hunahpus day this year will take away some goodies .

Edited November 27, 2011 by NightWoundsTime

[NightWoundsTime]

First taste of the finished 'Chocodile Brown Ale' and fuck me, it's a porter. Total hubris I'm sure to consider it one of my favorite porters ever, but it really is that spot on.

Today's the big day for the rye oat stoat. My recipe in the end involves 7 pounds of raw grains in the cereal mash and 16 1/2 in the main mash for an OG of 1.115, 11.5 ABV I hope. Loaded up on high tech additives, like the 5.2 PH buffer from Five Star and White Labs Servomyces yeast nutrient. Throwing a hail mary pass at this one, won't get a final verdict till at least Feb 19th, and might save the first taste for Hunahpus day.

Edited December 11, 2011 by NightWoundsTime

[Voltron]

First taste of the finished 'Chocodile Brown Ale' and fuck me, it's a porter. Total hubris I'm sure to consider it one of my favorite porters ever, but it really is that spot on.

I think you should change the name to Choco Porterius.

Those both sound damn tasty, Matt. The FFF Alpha Klaus is a hoppy porter that is awesome. Have you had a rye stout before?

[Voltron]

I think you should change the name to Choco Porterius.

Not even a chuckly for my great name for your beer, Young Matt?

[NightWoundsTime]

Sorry, just didn't notice it. Love the name, just changed it on my iBrewMaster recipe.

I have had the Bell's rye and it was nice. Aiming for Hunahpus levels of sticky oily high alcohol swill. I want to have to start this shit out of the bottle with a knife. Still haven't brewed it, weather was bad all weekend. It's happening Saturday.

I have a brewschedule set through Hunahpus day, and will have Dunlop Hill Scotch Ale, The Younger Tripel IPA, and Mostly/Seriously Rye Stouts bottled and ready. Going to start pulling a few bottles from each keg so those will make the scene as well. You need to be there, Uncle Al.

[Voltron]

March 10? I already have a couple weekend trips planned in the early part of the year, but it is not impossible. I will keep it in mind.

[raffy]

Dew it Al!

Matt, I'll be there on Hunahpu day waiting for some of your goodies

[NightWoundsTime]

No official announcement yet but the 10th is my best guess. Should be a huge event this year.

[Voltron]

Yeah, the site just says the second weekend in March, so I deduceded it.

Are there tickets to buy? I would happily re-pay you and then if I cannot use mine you could use it to get more Hunapus or something.

Edited December 15, 2011 by Voltron

[NightWoundsTime]

No tickets or general distribution system has been announced yet. Last year they handed out 1000 armbands (day of sale) with an allotment of 4 per band, and opened it up at the end with quite a bit of inventory. Recently Mike, John, Raffy and I went for a limited Barrel Aged Hunahpus release that turned into chaos on a hot September day, and resulted in very little beer in our hands. I saw the Redners looking a bit shocked at the turnout, so I'll give them one more chance to handle their shit.

[NightWoundsTime]

Just got the tiniest first taste of Mostly, while transferring to secondary. It worked! Crazy heavy rye bomb exactly like i wanted. Finished out at 10.9%. Had my oak spiral in a plastic bag with a cup of redemption rye for a week, smelled incredible when I added it to one of the three gallon secondaries. Seriously is born.

[manaox2]

I want some of that beer.

[Voltron]

me too

[guzziguy]

I hope that you brewed an extra large batch, Matt.

[NightWoundsTime]

Aimed for 6 gallons, somehow only got 5 1/4 in the end, so just over a case of each. I'll probably do a total of 20 12 oz bottles fo share, and bombers to share at H day. The rest goes in the cellar. Going to be a while before I summon the energy to do that again.

Actually I am planning just as much work in a few months on a DoppelSchwartzBock. Aging 3 gallons of that on sour and black cherries, and oak. Will be October before I taste it but I already know it will be excellent.

[NightWoundsTime]

Got a taste of my first real attempt at an IPA last night, it's not fully finished yet but I think another week in the keg will make it passable. I expect it will take a handful of attempts to nail a perfect IPA recipe. My methodology is sound, fermented from a 1.073 OG all the way down to 1.010, apparently the secret to any decent Pliny clone attempt. For all the hops I added, I think I could go bigger next time. We'll see what proper carbonation does for this one regarding the hop aroma. If it pans out in a week I'll pull a few bottles for our gathering.

Tomorrow I'm finally brewing the hopefully 11%ABV Tripel IPA, and I'll make no mistakes in underhopping. Using one relative unknown variety, Sorachi Ace, new Japanese bred strain designed for Belgian style beer. I've got 2 ounces of that to throw at this beer, probably split between late and dry hop. Another 8 ounces or so of good whole hops and an ounce of Simcoe pellets since that's such a bitch to find fresh. Going on a quick production schedule, a week in primary, two in secondary on the dry hops, and just under two in the bottle before H day. The hops should be well preserved, at least. I expect it to be extremely boozy at that point but we shall see.

Edited February 5, 2012 by NightWoundsTime

[tyrion]

I'm looking forward to trying some of the latest creations from Matt The Younger Brewing.

[Iron_Dreamer]

Damn, all the more reason I wish I could get with you guys in Tampa.

[NightWoundsTime]

if I get around to one more batch next week I'll have 6 varieties to share. 3 IPA's, the scotch ale, and the crazy stouts.

[manaox2]

The H in H day will be for hangover perhaps.