Well, last weekend resulted in every fermenter and empty keg in the brewhouse being cleaned.
So maybe it’s time to get cracking on some more goodies!
You created this week’s sticky just as I decided what to brew – how convenient!
I’m going with my house IPA this week. I’m going to ferment with an English strain this time (I usually ferment it with Wyeast 1272).
No more brewing until Memorial Day Weekend for me but I need to transfer my wee heavy to the secondary sometime this week.
7.5 gallon blonde
5 gallon barleywine
plus some bottling and much cleaning!
RIS w/ my house IPA yeast cake (1272)… but I thought about using an Abbey Ale yeast. Anyone tried this?
Probably won’t be able to brew this weekend, but I do need to bottle or keg my first attempt at Jamil’s Black Forest Stout.
I did tweak it a little bit.
After racking from the primary to the secondary, I used cocoa powder (Nestle low fat, unsweetened) x 1 month for flavor, and cocoa nibs x 2 weeks for aroma. I did not use the cherry puree (couldn’t find anything except crappy pie filling with preservatives), but I did find RW Knudsen “Just Black Cherry” 100% juice. I did the math and found that one 32 oz bottle per 5 gallons of beer would be just about perfect for priming (given the sugar content of the juice). Since it is going straight into the bottle or keg, I shouldn’t lose any cherry flavor or aroma. I just hope it doesn’t “thin” the body of the beer too much (as opposed to using the cherry puree, as the original recipe calls for.) I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Racking my DAPA onto Columbus leafs in the secondary this weekend, Also racking the Scottish 80 leaving a nice big 1728 cake for the Traquair House clone I’m doing Sunday. Then, onto a Rochefort 8 clone.
Gotta bottle a Kolsch before the weekend. I am brewing a London Pride clone on Saturday with a buddy who’s interested in the whole process (and likes everything else I’ve brewed). He chose the style, I found the recipe, we’re splitting the batch and costs.
Change of plans - gonna brew my wife’s birthday beer (a Dunkel Weizen based on Babalu’s award winning recipe) on Friday while she recovers from a night shift. The London Pride clone will have to wait for a week or two.
Its also the maiden batch for my new keggle (which I still have to put the valve on).
12 brew systems at my house to brew a Russian Imperial Stout that is going into a bourbon barrel.
10 all grain brewers and 2 extract brewers.
5 gallons of a porter
Yet more Rye IPA. Gotta keep my wife happy!
I smacked a 14 month old pack of WY3787 Westmalle yeast yesterday. I’m hoping it will swell enough so that I can make a starter tonight, and brew on Sunday. Planning on a 1.050 Abbey single type beer, to get a yeast cake for a 1.080ish tripel in a couple of weeks.
I’m thinking Abbey with a twist…gonna use 100% Gleneagle Maris Otter malt in it, plus Styrians and Saaz. Ferment cool in the mid 60s for a week, then slap on the brew belt to finish in the low 80s for a few days.
The LHBS didn’t have the yeast I needed for a Biere de Garde, so no brewing this weekend. I’ll be kegging 10 gal of pale ale and bottling a batch of cider.
What kind of yeast were you looking for? A BdG is usually made with a clean ale yeast of a lager yeast. Should be plenty of choices in those.
Chumley, I may be interested in trading if that turns out . . I can’t get enough Belgians as of late.
Well, I am in a Quandry…all six of my Kegs are full
and the cask is full of beer and cherries…no where to put any new brews…
So I have no landing spot for any beer until I get a keg kicked…
Guess I will just have to drink beer all weekend…NICE>… ;D
Would that be a Herman Holtrop recipe?? And if not would you care to share your recipe??
I believe it is either Herman’s or very close to Herman’s. I actually got this from Bill Pierce.This is for 5 gallons . .
8.5 lbs. Pilsner
1.25 lbs. Caramunich II
0.5 lb. Special B
0.5 lb. Flaked Maize
1.5 oz. Carafa Special
1.5 lb. Belgian Dark Candi syrup (added just before flameout)
1.5 lb. White Table Sugar (added just before flameout)
1.25 oz. Styrian Goldings 60 min.
1 oz. Hershbrucker 30 min.
0.38 oz. Hershbrucker 5 min.
2 tsp. Freshly Ground Coriander seed 10 min.
Wyeast 1762, pitched at 68 F and allowed to rise to 73 F as vigorous fermentation begins to level off.
The reason for the additional sugar is an attempt to achieve the high attenuation of Rochefort.
The key is to make your own Belgian Dark Syrup from table sugar with a little creme of tarter which helps “invert” the glucose-fructose bond in the sucrose. It’s easy AND a lot cheaper than buying syrup! 
Preparing a starter for a Kolsch next week. Maybe bottle my RIS if I get the energy. Planting the rest of my garden…the weather is suppose to be sunny and low 70’s in the mid-atlantic this weekend.
Ah… just about forgot… kegging “Der Governator” Doppelbock - been lagering for about 8 weeks and is ready to rock
Putting the railing on my deck. Hope to break Sunday afternoon, bluesman is playing down the road from my house. Me and my better half will go down there and quaff a few brews and get into the blues with Dr. Harmonica & Rockett 88. 8)