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    Hi Everyone, as mentioned in my introduction post, BOTL needs quite a bit of updating, patching and whatever else I might come across. Over time BOTL may be unreachable on occasion as I do migrations or updates, etc. Just be patient - we'll be back! I'll generally try to keep these maintenances until later in the evenings.

Homebrewers - Whats Fermenting?

HIM*

HIM*

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What a busy day for beer. Starting off bottling up a batch off the keg to clear some space. Then to keg up my Rye Blonde and wash the yeast cake so I can pitch it on a Berliner I've had souring overnight in the carboy. After racking back to the kettle to kill off the lacto first of course.
I've got about a million ideas running through my head but I decided to leave my first Berliner as is and go Florida Weisse with other batches. I was lucky to snag some blood oranges from the store so I'm thinking of using the peels on batch 2 along with pineapple. Batch 1 was going to be with mango but I'll do next round instead.

Berliner 1 chugging away...

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1458481780.602164.jpg

Batch 2 looks calm but the lacto is roaring!

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1458481902.944193.jpg
 
HIM*

HIM*

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Iholmes said:
Bottled up the BOTL RIS this past weekend. Man does that stuff taste great! I plan to do a few more batches so I can share with some local BOTL but might add a little cocoa nib action in one batch since I've never tried that before
Click to expand...
FWIW when I brew my chocolate stout I soak 4oz cocoa nibs + 1 vanilla bean(split/scraped) with just enough bourbon to cover it all in a jar, then add the whole tincture to the keg. Results are always phenomenal with a smooth real chocolate flavor. The key is starting the tincture ahead of time so it can sit for a good 4-6 weeks and really extract all the good stuff from the nibs/vanilla. Ive tried a few different bourbons but for whatever reason Ive liked the extracts I made with Knob Creek the most.
I think this stout would be a perfect base for chocolate, coffee, or oaked variants by the way!
 
sweemzander

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HIM* said:
FWIW when I brew my chocolate stout I soak 4oz cocoa nibs + 1 vanilla bean(split/scraped) with just enough bourbon to cover it all in a jar, then add the whole tincture to the keg. Results are always phenomenal with a smooth real chocolate flavor. The key is starting the tincture ahead of time so it can sit for a good 4-6 weeks and really extract all the good stuff from the nibs/vanilla. Ive tried a few different bourbons but for whatever reason Ive liked the extracts I made with Knob Creek the most.
I think this stout would be a perfect base for chocolate, coffee, or oaked variants by the way!
Click to expand...
+1 to this.
Did this exact thing for a batch of raspberry chocolate mead I bottled last month. Only in my case I used Godiva dark chocolate liqueur & Rittenhouse Rye
 
HIM*

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So my 2nd berliner came out just as tart as the first one, which isn't bad, just want a little more pucker. So I decided to have fun with the batches and move forward on some things I want to try. I added 1# frozen cubed pineapple and the dried peels of 2 blood oranges to the keg of berliner#1 and the results are killer. A lot like Anderson Valley Gose with a background of pineapple. Honestly tastes more like soda than it does beer lol.
Berliner #2 just got 28oz passionfruit to help boost the tartness and if I can find some I'll add a couple hibiscus flowers. I still want to do a mango batch but I think I need to get the base beer more tart before working with sweeter fruits or they'll overwhelm the acidity.
 
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Im sampling the passionfruit berliner right now and it blows the other batch out of the water. Perfect amount of passionfruit, its juicy yet sour and crisp. Kicked the acidity up to where I wanted things too. This will probably be on tap the rest of the summer lol.
In other news I tried my hand at another AG berliner today, all german malts. 50% malted wheat, 25% pilsner, 25% vienna. Going to leave this one a bit longer with the lacto and see if I can get it to sour up some more. Cool thing is I've done all these sours off of one pitch of lacto. I want to see if it'll get dialed into my conditions and sort of become my house culture.
 
BrewinHooligan

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Brewed 10gal of my Scottish 80/- today. Tweaked a few things and wound up overshooting my gravity and got an OG of 1.064 so I guess I won't be able to call it an 80/- anymore.
Such an awesome color
Image1460263046.457488.jpg
Whirlfloc is amazing stuff
Image1460263151.724214.jpg

Then came home and worked on the cpvc manifold for the 25gal cooler @BenS bombed me.
Image1460263208.172108.jpg
Just have to get a few pieces for the bulkhead to connect and it's good to go. It was a good day for beer fellas.
 
HIM*

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BrewinHooligan said:
Brewed 10gal of my Scottish 80/- today. Tweaked a few things and wound up overshooting my gravity and got an OG of 1.064 so I guess I won't be able to call it an 80/- anymore.
Such an awesome color
View attachment 79908
Whirlfloc is amazing stuff
View attachment 79909

Then came home and worked on the cpvc manifold for the 25gal cooler @BenS bombed me.
View attachment 79910
Just have to get a few pieces for the bulkhead to connect and it's good to go. It was a good day for beer fellas.
Click to expand...
Look at all that egg drop soup lol. You ever run protein rests? Judging from all that break in the kettle I'm guessing you may have. The difference it makes in clarity is like day and night it's pretty wild.
 
BrewinHooligan

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HIM* said:
Look at all that egg drop soup lol. You ever run protein rests? Judging from all that break in the kettle I'm guessing you may have. The difference it makes in clarity is like day and night it's pretty wild.
Click to expand...
I haven't done protein rests in a while since I don't have a direct fired mash tun and my pump needs replaced. This was a very strong 90min boil and the first 2 gal of runnings got boiled down and added back to the main boil. As soon as I get the kegs my friend has for me I will be building a direct fire mash tun out of one just for that reason. Not only is the beer clearer, I tend to get better efficiency and faster conversion when I do protein rests as well.
 
HIM*

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15mins at 135 for me. I stay in the higher end of the rest range since the lower end can screw with the proteins that help retention and all that jazz. Admittedly I've never seen any negative impact or heard anything first hand but I figure it doesn't hurt to play it safe. More of a "ain't broke don't fix it" kind of thing as this point lol
 
HIM*

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Sampling and pasteurizing my AG Berliner attempt and I think I may have hit my mark on this one. This time around I gave the lacto starter 48 hours then let the wort sour for ~3 days. Noticeable increase in acidity and while its character isn't as lemony it's still clean and pleasant. Not puckering sour but definitely has an assertive tartness.
I also wanted a bit more backbone to this batch since the others were lacking some complexity. I think the 25% Vienna really drove that home. Much better malt presence with a wider range of flavors playing behind the doughy wheat notes. I think I can still pull this profile from just steeping some Vienna in with the Bavarian Wheat extract though which would save a lot of time.
 
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