Oh yeah. But I'm out of beer. So unless I go get some tonight, it will happen again.

Fuckballs... one of the half gallon growlers exploded in the closet 2 nights ago. That same porter that blew through its airlock. So that makes twice now I've cleaned that porter out of that closet. I took everything else out and cleaned up, it was all on the ground level which was great. Then I bled off some pressure from ALL the remaining porter bottles / growlers.

Also, this will just be an excuse for me to guzzle it all down as quickly as I can, "for safety."

Did my first all grain brew in a bag yesterday. Used 8.5lbs of grain and 4oz of hops to make a little over 3 gallons of IPA. Gravity after the boil was about 1.058 so I think it was pretty successful. Can't wait to try it when it's ready.

I've got a Black IPA extract brew dry-hopping in the secondary right now too. Going to bottle that one this week so it'll be ready for our Christmas guests.

Only 3 gallons?

Yeah, that seems a little light. I usually end up with about 3.5 gallons after racking it to the bottling bucket, but I have never started fermentation with anything less than four gallons.

I'm brewing my Amber Ale tomorrow. I would have done it over the weekend, since I had it off, but I took the time to recouperate from a chest cold and didn't really feel like hacking plague juice into fresh wort.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG

Cap, our mutual pal who builds cabinets and brews beers sent me a growlette of his latest DIPA: Shit was a thing of beauty, a little bit of amber darkness, tasted to be about 7% or so but I suspected more--a text confirmed it was over 10%. Dangerous.

And thus began the drunkening during the Georgia game.

I was gonna ask what you were drinking during.

I need to know what his recipe was.

I drank that, a Smuttynose Big A and a couple Lagunitas IPA's.

And a nice big shot of Makers after the game.

I did not drive home.

I would've been comatose.

I had several homebrew porters at home, then at the Cambridge Brewing Co I had a "Nom de Plum" (belgian with plum extract, not bad) and a "Kiwi Herman" (pale ale with all New Zealand hops, also not bad). Then I biked home.

Cap'n you aren't reusing twist lid growlers to bottle condition are you?
They just aren't built for that pressure. Forced CO2 only I was told. Kind of bummed about that because I usually got 5 or 6 of those around.

Yeah. And that batch is pretty highly carbed too.

Guh.

My aforementioned brother in law just built a "keezer" like our other buddy has for his homebrews:

Oh shit. Walnut stain over cherry?

Not sure if that's cherry but he did classy it up real nice with the stain.

I didn't learn this until recently but fortunately I never tried to use them.

When you get one of those twist growlers carbed with C02 or from a brewery you're supposed to drink it within a few days because they're only built to hold freshly carbed beer for a short time. I let one sit for a couple weeks once and the beer had gone flat. Also, the glass just isn't the necessary thickness to bottle conditioning. You were really flirting with disaster having that stuff in the closet. Let me know if you need a couch to crash on.

I guess those $55 stainless steel growlers and some of the 20-ish dollar swingtop growlers can be conditioned in. I want-but every time I go to the store with the intention of buying I come home with a box of 22 ozers instead.

Speaking of high carbonation and bottle bombs...I have the results of my first ginger beer experiment...and will post if I get time tonight.

oh fuck.


Also, you have an infant.

Yeah, I've only got a 5 gallon pot. I filled it totally full for the mash and had to add a bit after that to get to 4ish gallons for the boil. Ended up with a little over 3 gallons in the fermenter. Figured it'd be good for a first try.

At first, I "had a 7 gallon pot."

Now, I "only have a 7 gallon pot."

I wish I could do 10 gallon batches and go straight to keg. Not much more work or time, much more payout.

The next brew pot I buy will be at least a 10 or 12 gallons so I can do larger batches. The problem is then I'll also need to buy a gas burner because my stove top I'd pretty close to maxed out just boiling 4 gallons.

Yep. Gotta have that propane ring setup.

My 2013 Resolution: Roof deck all-grain brewing.

I like the ~13" diameter of my 7.5 because I can fit it in my kitchen sink. If I go any bigger I can't.
I had a 10 gallon pot for 1 brew session and realized I wanted something smaller and returned it. Most people seem to like them though. I am just a wee man and prefer wee things. Maybe if I can find a skinny 10 gallon pot I'd consider another upgrade.

it's a good thing then that cap'n isn't a "wee man"

Fuck no he isn't.

And I never thought of that.

i always forget that because he drinks so big.