Just thought I’d let you know. It’s been over a year since I brewed. Been in a pretty rotten mood for a while and I think it’s because I’ve been doing too much work and not enough stuff for me and so I’m turning to brewing to snap me out of this funk.
I don’t really even have much in the way of ingredients.
Going with 15 gals of:
24 lbs Pils malt - it’s on the older side but seems good still so what the heck.
2 lbs C 40
1 lb - Pale chocolate
3 oz Centennial @ 60
3 oz Centennial @ flameout
I don’t even remember the yeast # but it’s the Timothy Taylor yeast that has been kicking around in the fridge for a while. Gonna wake it up with a bit wort before pitching.
This won’t be the best beer ever, might even be one of the worst but the act of brewing will be good and a good refresher for some better beers once I get fresh grain.
Wish me luck…
If only it had been so. Ran into problem after problem until finally I abandoned my mash in the cooler. Gonna dump and run and try again next weekend. Biggest problem is that my system is all designed around 15 gal batches. But to do that I need to use a little forklift to lift my mash tun to drain and again to dump the wort into the fermenter. Battery was dead, so I took it out and switched out the battery but no go. Not sure what the problem is but given that my grain isn’t fresh and I only have 20 lbs of it invested I decided not to destroy my back lugging 150 lb mash tun on and off the table.
Let’s hope that next week goes better. I am going to run off a bit of wort and boil it up to get my yeast going for next week so maybe it won’t be a total loss but it’s far from a win today.
Thanks folks.
Good for you to get back to it. Today was your trial run where you figured out what, after a year away, needs fixing/rethinking, and got a reminder of the process, which you know so well but you’re rusty at. Next week you’ll start with fresh grain (and batteries). I can’t brew right now due to a heavy load of school and work with lots of deadlines, so I’ll watch for your next brewday. Have a good one!
Yup, sounds like a trainwreck. Not that it’ll be much consolation, but you have plenty of company. Trainwrecks and out of control mission creep are permanent features of my world. I guess these challenges help keep us from getting too wimpy.
Today went much, much better. 15 gals of pale ale done with minimal mishaps. Started some Irish Ale yeast (best before Feb 2015) so hopefully I see some life and I can build this up for an Irish Red next. Feels good to be brewing again.