thursday nite brew.

twas very tasty!

i still have the gravity tube here ..come and get it!!

well i pitched from my porter, than made a small starter from there! i think jeff and Tyler would agree i had enough yeast (a lot anyway)

jeff is dreaming to think his is better, i will note, he was not offering any tastes of his wort.

well this morning i tasted my wort and i do have to say i added over 12oz of hops and i could taste them...but remember this beer has to sit and that will mellow ...its going to be better than Dennis's.. ,,ha ha.....my beer was not foaming up yet this morning but i had no yeast sitting on the bottom which means it working and at the 1.091 with the little bubles going this morning i will be in for surprise tonite...my wort was only 59 degrees out of the chiller....so it will start slower and thats really what i wanted....i didnt get in till ten this mornign..was tired but ready to go now..i allowed for a 9 gallon batch with the 35 punds of grain which seems close to max for the keg and i quit boiling at 10 gallons which was also good as all those leaf hops do soak up a bit of water...Jeff

I'd say go with it, but pitch at a higher rate that normal.

well i thinkthe brew was a blast! i had a great time, but i am dragging ass a bit this morning! glad i got most of it cleaned last night! mike and randi, did a great job sprucing up the club room.

ok to the beer! my SG was like .014 low so i added dry malt, to bring it up, well my OG was now way high! 1.112 this really stinks because my yeast is for up to 10% and this is going to be about 11.2%. i whent back to my recipe and added the malt, and this was the gravity it said i would have, something must have gone wrong in the SG or maybe i just boiled a little too long! i think i should have made a second beer with the second runnings there where still at 1.03 add a bit more grain i would have had a dark session beer.

ok i need the beer nerds! is my yeast ok, or do i need to get a barley wine asap

We will have at least one student that wants to dive in strong at brewing.. One of Mike thomas friends..and after talking to him found i drank many beers with him at my daughters wedding many years ago...so if anybody knows of others that want a lesson also let them know.. Jeff

yeah definately going to be at least a 90 min boil. i can't wait! 120 if we have to!

thanks mike..i may just do 8 gallons then split into two fermenters for the two yeast trials...

If you are making an Imperial Stout you may have a longer boil time 120 minutes or more. You could do a mash at 75% of the total grain bill, start the boil process and mash your remaining 25% and add to boiling wort and still have a 60-90 minute boil on the second mash. Just a thought on a limited space problem.

you can safely boil 14.75 galls in a keg if you are very careful to watch when boil starts and adjust your burners before so that you don't get that violent rolling boil right off the bat.

now for a question ...has anybody with the 16 gallon kegs tried 40 pounds of malt for a mash?? i think i could safley boil 14 gallons in my boil keg...but have only mashed 34 pounds in my mash keg...just worried that 40 punds may be to much..i could always cut another keg and have two mash tuns but then sparging i would only be able to do one at a time to boil keg..am i nuts???? Jeff

Dennis and i are brewing here thursday nite..if any body wants to bring there system and join you can ...we are doing a Nogne imperial stout clone..he and i both made a recipe from the ingredients on the bottle...a good nice challenge and exchange program...we should get some more exchange brews of the same recipe to check out different brewing techniqes for tasting and exhange..would be fun to not drink your own brew all the time instead of the little tastes we get at the meetings..Jeff