In the Fermenter

IPA bubbling away in about 12 gallons total.

Nice! I always liked the smell of that yeast mess. Some would say one isn't really a homebrewer until your fermenter has pulled an "Old Faithful" moneyshot.

Today my honey wheat burped a little out the airlock. Nothing like Randi's mess, but that was a first for me.

added straw berries to blonde last night, and dry hopped my IPA, couple weeks i should have IPA to share another week or two after that 4 different strawberry blondes. (got to love those split batches)

dkwandt wrote:

hubba bubba IPA should be interesting.

Here's to hoping! It'll definitely have the Belgian half of Belgian IPA down and based on the aroma from the airlock, it's got the IPA part, too. Life's too short for boring beers!

hubba bubba IPA should be interesting.

dkwandt wrote:

So yours will be more belgian, with all those fenols, and his should be more IPA ish. right? less fruits

With that strain of yeast, at least in my experience and in reading about it, temperatures above 66-68 will yield a more pronounced bubblegum ester, though the delicate apple, pear, plum, etc fruits will remain intact. Mike's, just a guess, will likely be fruitier and seemingly drier, whereas mine will be fruitier and have that higher bubblegum aroma/flavor. I've only used this yeast once before but I absolutely love it. That's why I reused it in my Dubbel Date, even though it's not a recommended yeast for the style. Having had enough dubbels, it'll fit well. It's actually a pretty versatile yeast IMO.

So yours will be more belgian, with all those fenols, and his should be more IPA ish. right? less fruits

currently i have,

in primary: 10 gallons of blonde (trying 2 different yeasts), an IPA,

in secondary: imperial stout, the colaberation Alt Bier, and 10 gallons of Standard American Lager.

next brew day thursday the 13th at WWnH 6 ish (american brown, going to do a split batch.

Mike Thomas and I brewed a double batch of Belgian IPA today, tentatively named "Bitter Belgian" for those who care. We're both using 3942 in this one, but at different fermentation temps. I'll be going higher at 72 and he's shooting for lower, between 66 and 68. It was a great brew session and I'm excited to see how our respective shares of this beer turn out.

currently i have,

in primary: 10 gallons of blonde (trying 2 different yeasts), an IPA, the colaberation Alt Bier, and 10 gallons of Standard American Lager.

in secondary: imperial stout

After the holidays have wreaked havoc on my brew schedule, I'm back on the wagon. Tonight, I put my Dubbel Date, a Belgian Dubbel brewed with organic dates, into the fermenter. Wort tasted great but only time will tell how she turns out. Here's to hoping!

You'll get a chance to try it at the next meeting. I was planning on coming to the last one, but had a few things come up. It's pretty tasty. It is mashed at 154F to leave some residual sugars to enhance the plum flavors. I think it turned out pretty well, but I guess you can be the judge of that on the 6th. So far, it has been very well received.

five gallons of amber for another couple days, and 10 gallons of pale ale! mike F. how did the plumb porter go over? i bet is tasty, those to flavors should marry very well together.

5 gallons of amber for your event, bubbling away like crazy (love the blow off tube).

right now i have 58 gallons in fermenters and secondaries.....3 gallons from a Mr Beer batch was brewed last year dec...and sat in basement till spring then went in the cooler...so this one may be bad but will try it..then only other lager is one i did in first on august, a pilsner trial....i am out of fermenters and secondaries..but will have to get two cleared up as i have to brew for the class this saturday,, then next week for the clone challenge...i should only neeed about 20 gallons for the Holiday Chamber Mixer on Dec. 14th..and remember any one working for a paying chamber association is welcome at the event...my booth is to be close to the food court.. and i am sick of buying beer and need to get some in kegs...Jeff

The Plum Crazy Porter is ready to go, and there's a tapping event tonight!

in primary, i still have my amber, and a belgian wit.

in secondary i have a blonde i added strawberries to, and a vannila porter, and the octoberfest lager.

the wit, and the blonde both seem to taste great. can't wait to try the blonde with strawberries.

i will be kegging 5 gallons of the amber, and the wit, early next week. bottling the other half of the amber.

i will keg the blonde the week of the 8th.

the octoberfest should be bottled the week of the 15th, and the porter the week of the 2nd.

i need to start brewing soon though (but i am out of fermentors, may need to buy more) any ideas where to get fermentors jeff?

wow that blonde ale i made last night sounds like a machine gunin my blow of tube, it goes faster and faster, then blah sounds like it just puked. it has to be one of the most active fermentations i have seen.

Dennis i would add the frozen as they are have slight process to them and little sugar so they will take off better,,i alos ordered some extract for someone else....Jeff

well i have 3 batches currently fermenting. i need to transfer my octoberfest to secondary for lagering today (hopefully), this weekend i am transfering my porter to secondary for a vanilla addition. and brewed up a blonde last night, it will eventually be a strawberry blonde, i pland to add 3 lbs of fresh strawberries (or frozen not sure yet) when i go to secondary.

my wife doesn't mind too much, as long as i have done some work on the honey do list. really she is rather supportive, i can't complain.

Oh I see. I am ready, just slowly getting my allowance, or as I call it BEER CREDITS saved up enough to purchace what I need

well i am far from a going keg beer for a while i am a bottler, so, i was pretty much letting Jeff know i needed one of those two that were donated to the club, as long as the seals are ready, i will borrow it untill october 3rd. as long as all i need to do is sanitize it i am ready!

I was at WW&H on friday & Jeff got in a whole boatload of kegs! I think I should get a 2nd or 3rd!

my american amber is almost down, i will be dry hopping in the next day or two. i will need a keg by friday. jeff, or anyone?

I've been busy lately. A 10 gallon batch of Saison, split between 3724 and 3711, a soured Bourbon Vanilla Belgian dark ale, a Cherry-Smoked Trappist and Randi's American Oat Brown ale 2.0 are all in the fermenter. In the mean time, I've kegged a Belgian Red Rye ale. That's a lot of beer.

it woud be well worth cloning in my opinion! they have become my favorite for both the porter and the imperial stout! and thank i will bee looking that up to copy!

You can get a clone recipe of Nogne Porter on the "Can You Brew It" podcast from the Brewing Network. They interviewed the brewer, and developed the recipe from his interview.

i bottled my bird dog brown last night should be ready for the club meeting in sept.

by the way i picked up a porter and an Imperial stout by "nogne" it is straight from norway, i believe both are outstanding! you be the judge, i will be bringing the to the next meeting i attend!

actually yeah. I took a bite when they were cooked like about cookie status & then this morning when they were COMPLETELY dried out. They aren't bad!

have you tasted them yet ? i bet there good..Jeff

not on this recipe. I really don't think it matters. It did say you could also subsitute pizza sause for the penut butter. I just kept my grains in the bag & pretty much drip dry till I was done with my batch. Then I started on the cookies. I wouldn't think you want them too wet. When I mixed everything together it was like a clay. I don't think you would want it too wet, would take long time to dry.

I gave my dog some samples & he loves them! I will bring a few to the meeting tomorrow since I don't have any beer to share.

Great i looked for a recipe last week with no luck...did it say anything about the best grain bills for dog tastes?? or how wet to leave the mash?

Today I made another batch of honey wheat with a few other tweeks & ended up with a 1.054 this time. MUCH better!! I also took the spent grains & made dog biscuits. My dog now REALLY loves it when I make beer!
here's the recipe I used
Any easy recipe for dog biscuits to use up some spent grain
4 cups spent grain
4 cups flour
1 cup peanut butter
1 egg

Editor's Note : hops are toxic to some species of dogs. Please do not use grain that has been mash-hopped! See our FAQ for details on the matter.
Mix together (works well with hands) and roll onto cookie sheet. Score (almost through) into shapes you want, or use a cookie cutter as you would for cookies. They don't spread out and they pretty much end up the thickness you start with. This recipe made one cookie sheet but they are pretty thick so you could adjust that if you want them thinner.

They end up very crisp after they've been baked and dried. Bake at 350 for 30 min. Let cool enough to break them up then place back in the oven to dry for 8-10 hours at 225. You want to make sure they dry adequately, if they look like a fig newton when you break one they're not dry. If they don't dry enough they will mold. Dried thoroughly they will store well in an airtight container.

bird dog brown bubbling away, closet smells great!

Thank you! I like it to! But yeah, I think it's smooth so it's easy to have too many with that amount of ABV

Slight disagreement with you there! I think it tastes great! Too good maybe, that ABV sneaks up fast! it had no side affects from the added alcohol in my opinion I did not even taste the added alcohol, which is why I think it sneaks up on you.

yeah... I warned you about that dkwandt! It was WAAAAAY stronger than I wanted. But oh well.. Tastes good. Just can't have too many!

about a month ago i did have one of the ipa's blow the lid and it scared me and my wife...the lid blew into the ceiling and it sounded like a small bomb...i am glad i keep my fermentors in my basement bath on the counter..the large mirror was a mess {along with the rest of the walls} ..prevoiusly i have only had the airlock blow out ..Jeff

Whippin' Post Pale Ale was in the fermenter as of 1 pm Saturday. Going to be a nice pale with a big Citra Hop finish splashed with some Amarillo hops. Almost blew the lid on the fermenter on Sunday morning. Got one of the buckets a littler fuller than the other, and it nearly blew the top off! Oops! Problem was solved and they are going crazy. Gravity went from 1.055 to 1.032 in less than 24 hours. This won't take long!

Well my Bird Dog Brown (English Brown) is in the fermenter. Motorcyclelvr77 joined me for a nice brew. I was pretty disappointed at first my preboil gravity was only .030 (beer smith said it should have been around .061) before pitching gravity was @ .052 which I was again bummed because beer smith said it should have been .069. I was re-reading my recipe from the powers brewery master calculator and it said my original gravity should be .52 so then I felt better. I didn’t have any bubbling this morning; hope to see some good bubbling tonight! Motorcyclelvr77 brought over his Honey wiess, wow the ABV on that stuff must be around 10, 2 of them and i was slurring my words! We did enjoy my Bird dog amber #1, good beer but I will be tweaking it! Can’t wait to get the clubs input on it.

After 10 days in the fermenter, I tasted the Saison made with 3711. I have to say, it turned out great. It begins with a nice shroud of yeast funk that melts into a slight tartness, which leads into a dry graininess that's balanced by hops. Most enjoyable, is the aftertaste, which is pleasantly grassy, like a fresh-cut field, in which you can taste the Belgian white wheat distinctly. Normally, I think people who make up such exaggerated tastings are full of it to some extent, but this is one complex beer. Now it's going to go into a corny keg to be conditioned and primed the old fashioned way.

Haven't read Wild Brews yet, but I am expecting Radical Brewing (which you showed me) on the 18th!

(Paper Anniversary)

dpnelson1978 wrote:

Yeah, I actually have a corporate account with Wyeast now, so even if there is a seasonal yeast that doesn't come in slap packs I can get it by the cubetainer.

I also happen to have Farmhouse Ales, Brew Like a Monk, and Tasting Beer sitting next to my computer right now!

Nice, you've got the backstage pass to exclusive yeasty goodness. Color me jealous.

Looks like we're building the same library. Did you read Wild Brews yet? It's definitely required reading, along with the ones you mentioned. Though I don't know if wild yeasts are really a consideration for your enterprise, but more of a personal interest.

Yeah, I actually have a corporate account with Wyeast now, so even if there is a seasonal yeast that doesn't come in slap packs I can get it by the cubetainer.

I also happen to have Farmhouse Ales, Brew Like a Monk, and Tasting Beer sitting next to my computer right now!

dpnelson1978 wrote:

3711 is year round now.


And saison isn't really French. If anything it is Flemish since it was developed on the Belgian side of the Kingdom of Flanders.

I did some checking on the internet earlier and it seems you're right, it is year round. Thank goodness.

Funny you mention the divisional line and how it relates to the Saison as a regional "style." Right now, I'm reading "Farmhouse Ales" by Phil Markowski. I can hardly put the book down. It's a tapestry of historical background, art versus science and everything in between related to, you guessed it, farmhouse ales. One of the big points of the book is learning to "unlearn" what we've been taught by ourselves, and others, in terms of brewing. The other big discussion, which actually divides the book in two, is the difference between Saisons, a Belgian phenomenon, versus French Bieres de Gardes as two similar, yet different, styles.

I could give a lecture on my reading so far, but I'm not the expert who wrote it (or claim to be). It's ridiculously extensive and has inspired me to transform my garage into a "Brasserie de Saison."

3711 is year round now.


And saison isn't really French. If anything it is Flemish since it was developed on the Belgian side of the Kingdom of Flanders.

That 3711 could be a great all-around yeast, but as far as I know, it's a seasonal. However, I've heard rumors online stating the opposite. Can anyone comfirm or deny if I have to hoard all the 3711 I can now or if it'll be available later as well?

I never thought i would like chinese beer till i had it..and French i have yet to have...

Mike Philleo wrote:

Just brewed my first true-to-style Saison last night. I pitched a 2 day starter of 3711 at high kreusen into it, getting machine gun-fire bubbles in several hours. That 3711 is the Toyota of yeasts. The smack pack activator I had was dated August of '09 and started right away. It ate into the starter and visibly increased itself about 1/3-1/2 in less than a day. That stuff is amazing. Plus, since it doesn't have the often-maligned horse blanket farmyard flavor and aroma, it makes a very good all around, attenuative yeast that provides a nice phenol profile. I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out. Regardless, the fermentation should be knocked down from 1.065 to 1.010 within this week.

my amber is still bubbling away, planing to bottle saturday!

it smells awesome!