My patience caved and I am tasting a pilsner that I brewed for shewilleatyou on Oct 19th. This is about 7 weeks into the process. Still prob about 2 weeks from her drinking.

"PAIN PILLS"

I didn't realize the pic was blurry until I finished drinking it. Will update pic when I crack another, hopefully 2 weeks from now.

As mentioned before, I can't lager with my setup so I'm just faking it around 60 degrees with the bohemian lager yeast. Supposedly, it'll turn out fine.

Humbly, I can admit that this is my most impressive effort. Tastes like a great commercial pilsner. It's precisely what I aimed for. Halfway between her two favorite beers...Stella and New Glarus Two Women. It's very crisp and clean and the Munich malt gives it more nose character than a Stella. Has a great head (think the tiny amt of Carapils helped with that). It's already clear dark yellow, should even clean up more in the next couple weeks. I think she's gonna love it. It's not too farty like some pilsners, so I love it too.

This was done with my cooler set-up. Will probably do another one before it gets warm. If you look up recipes for either of those beers you can tell this is the bastard child. Will make some small adjustments to make it more of my own and try to brew it in a bag instead next time. This one is a keeper though. I can't wait till she tries it. She EARNED this.

Fermentables
5 lbs Briess Pilsen Malt
4 lbs Belgian Munich
½ lb Briess Carapils
Hops & Flavorings
1 oz. Czeck Saaz @ 60 Min
1 oz. German Hallertau @ 60 Min
1 oz. Czeck Saaz @ 5 Min
1 oz. German Hallertau @ 5 Min
Yeast
Wyeast 2124 Bohemian Lager *
*1L Starter made 24 hours prior
Additions and Water Adjustments
1 campden tablet*
3 gr. Gypsum*
3 gr. Calcium Carbonate*
1 teaspoon Irish Moss @ 15 Min

oh...so now i see that it's saturday night and i'm on the messageboard. hello fatherhood.

It was inevitable.


And thanks for the recipe, that's pretty awesome. I should put a temptale (explanation in a moment) in the little mini-garage downstairs and see what it stays at 24/7 this time of year, I might be able to lager.

(temptales are these temp recording devices we use at work to send in shipments, they record at 5 min intervals for like a month, then when you hit Stop they write a pdf internally, and there's a usb pigtail on the side to download the file. So I could map what a space does, and if it stays within the bounds that work for lager yeast, it would be ok to try.)

Also, most of that Porter batch is now gone. Haven't bottled the scotch ale I brewed at the same time, because it took so long to ferment, and then when I had time I had only enough bottling sugar for one batch, so I bottled the gluten free breakfast beer for the Mrs. Guh.

Semke I need help.

I got a well-intentioned gift from a relative - a real oak ageing barrel - but it's only 5 liters, just over a gallon. They didn't realize how small it was. It's very well made and I'm 99% sure I could fit an airlock into the bung hole in it... I am pondering brewing a very special mini batch of high-caliber beer to then age in this thing for 6 months or so. Then I'd bottle and carbonate and serve at some special occasion.

So first the mechanics... I would ferment as normal, then when it's done I would transfer and use an air lock. Make sense? And fermenting something with 12% or so ABV would take like Barleywine or chapaign yeast (I prefer barleywine yeast I think but could be talked into whatever). Anything else not occurring to me yet?

And then what style... barleywine, big stout, what?

I vote barleywine.

I don't think campaign yeast would be a good idea, I dunno though, might be.

Knowing that you seem to be against small batching your beers... make a 5 gallon and split it up (4 gal/1 gal) after primary ferm is done. I don't have personal experience with ABV in that range. So this is just based off of stuff I've read and daydreamed about doing myself. Take with a grain of salt. Typically you would still use an ale yeast..you just absolutely need to make a starter...unless you want to pitch 3 packs. You can put that starter in your fridge after 1 day after you make it and then before you pitch it decant off the top... maybe throw in some yeast nutrients. Let it go wild for a week and then rack it into a different carboy and your oak aging barrel. I think it'd be awesome to have the side by side tastings. The one that doesn't go into the barrel could be bottled sooner, to clear up that carboy for use...not to be drunken any sooner...just let some additional shit settle out for a few weeks. (I would anyway)

Might have posted this calculator before but it's always useful
http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

I just put in a typical barleywine 1.082 and it says you're gonna need almost a 2L starter.

Never made a starter... so I'll have t research it.

I've done it about 10 times now and I think they've all been successful.
I could answer some questions you might have on that part.

Since you don't have a stir plate I would recommend to start it 2 days prior brewing.

You're just making a small beer batch with relatively low gravity 1.030-1.040.
Bring 1 cup of DME and 3 pints of water to a boil for fifteen minutes. Cool it with the lid on.
You want to use the same sanitation practices as you would for a batch of beer.
Put this into a fermentation vessel (one of your growlers with some tin foil (sprayed with star san) over the top would work well.
Pitch your yeast onto it.
Give the growler a swirl every few hours that you're awake...or if you're like me every time you walk by.
In about a day and a half it should be ready to pitch into your freshly brewed batch.
I pour the beer right in but many people set it in the fridge for a few hours/day and decant the beer off the top.
IMHO it's such a small amount it shouldn't taint the flavor of your batch. You're just adding a small amount of boring beer to your large tasty one.

These amounts get you about 1.5 L starter I think? So maybe just up the amounts a little for a 2L starter.

My method is halfway between don's method here
http://www.donosborn.com/homebrew/bottl ... eyond.html
and this beer geek nation dude.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMhFerNTwbQ

I still look at both of these links before I start one

Damn. Sounds easy, except knowing 100% for sure that I'm going to brew 2 days in the future.

Shit just sorta happens around here. But I'd have to know in this case.

You have a few extra days if you toss the starter in the fridge too. Once its ready just throw it in the fridge and pause it. I'm sure that cooling it will make it slower to start up again but really it's the volume that you're after.

There’s, like, nowhere else I can share this.

A good friend of ours who now lives in Paris with her husband and 2yr old boy is visitng the states and is staying with her son and sister in our house for 2 weeks. She is awesomeness personified, one of those delightful, funny, witty people you just cannot spend enough time with. Anywho. Her son is completely and totally a shrunken surly old frenchman. He speaks french, he shambles around with this “old man” walk, he gets fiesty in that 2 yr old way but sounds like an old frenchman when he grumbles and shouts.

So last week she was having a beer and he was in her lap, and he kept clawing for the beer, so she gave him a sip. “He LOVES beer. I figure a little won’t kill him.” And I totally agreed, no issues from me, but still you never see it, so I was like a little. He had probably an inch at least out of a pint glass, and wanted MORE. Kid digs beer.
Last night we were sitting around, she was enjoying a bomber of that stout I made (she had an entire 22 of it, which I took as a compliment), and he wanted some, so I got to watch a 2 year old drink beer I made. It was a little surreal.







He was pissed when it was empty.

Always remember that people of all ages (toddlers too) drank beer for centuries, I'm sure it was typically low ABV but it was safer than the water and gave them some protein too.
Those pics rule. Why don't you post them to your FB?

Assuming I continue this hobby for some years, I'm already wondering how I'm going to guard my homebrew inventory when babywilleatyou is a high schooler. Even well before that age, I've heard stories of crayons ending up in carboys.

So Black Fridale hasn't been bubbling much at all these days and I measured it at 1.020.
GULP
Think it was a bad one to test the cap'ns method on. Think I busted the yeast up too much and they're not gonna finish it.
Should I pitch more?

FWIW it's already delicious.

No harm in pitching more.

And as for my tiny wooden barrel... I really think I'm gonna brew a gallon. I can do all-grain that way for the first time in a smaller, easier way. I need to gin up a recipe now and then scale it down to 1/5.

Ok, mini-barrel-batch is a go. I found a recipe I like the looks of that uses only maris otter and east kent goldings. I'm going to the store to get 6 pounds (!) of Maris Otter for a 1 gallon batch, which seems nuts but that's how the math works out... would've been like 28 pounds for a 5 gallon. It's a no-sparge deal, so I will mash for 60 minutes on the higher end so it doesn't end up over-attenuating and get too dry. I will get 2 packs of yeast, ale yeast of some sort, will make up my mind at the store. Should wind up with something close to 13% abv, and all of it will age for at least six months in the little barrel, then get bottled and put away for another 6 months, to be given out as christmas presents next year. Seems like the best use of the barrel I can think of.

sounds like a good plan and a good test of patience.

Today's experiment is homebrew related-though I'm not brewing.

So, a little over three months ago I was moving a stout to a secondary and I decided to wash and save the yeast. It's been sitting in a couple jars in my fridge since. Kind of getting to the point where it's not so fresh and it would probably take a lot to get it going again. So two days ago I decided to try and make a loaf of bread with some of it. I am no bread maker but I would like to become one. Making bread with beer yeast makes it more appealing to me.

Poured the water off the top and scooped out approx one tablespoon of stout smelling yeast.
In 1 1/3 cups of lukewarm water I mixed that yeast, a teaspoon of sugar, a tablespoon of honey and let it sit for about an hour.
Thaen I added 2 tablespoons of oil and a 1 teaspoon of salt.
Added 3 3/4 cups of flour and mixed it all up and beat the shit out of it for another 20 minutes... keeping enough flour on my hands just to keep it from being sticky.

Set it in a plastic wrap covered bowl on the counter for two days. Last night it still hadn't risen but this morning it had taken off. Baked it for 25 minutes at 450 in a cake pan.


Tah-dah.
It's a great success.
I often do the same recipe with a teaspoon of dry bakers yeast and no honey and that bread is okay while it's hot but pretty blah afterwards. This one is just slightly sweet and slightly beer flavored and I just had the most kickass chicken salad sando with it. I think I'm going to keep doing this. Overall washing the yeast is a lot more work than just buying bakers yeast but I love reusing stuff and shewilleatyou thinks it's the best bread to come out of our house. Maybe I'll try a pizza dough with it.

Also, after seeking out additional help on northernbrewers messageboard regarding Black Fridale I've moved the primary upstairs to see if I can get it to kick up a little bit. Still need to age it in a secondary and dry hop it..but no one is recommending me to pitch more yeast or add nutrients. Most people think it might just be finished there and there's nothing I can do about it, but that it should be fine. No one seems to think the honey/agave thing would have prevented that yeast from finishing. My mash temps might have been a little high making it a shorter finish line.

It looks like you could have benefited from a second rise, i.e. punch the dough down again after the first rise, reshape, and let rise again before baking. It'll add an hour and a half, but you'll get an even crumb, i.e. no holes, and a more developed flavor as the yeast have more time to work. And if you're not doing it already, I would recommend using "bread flour" for breads and pizza crusts (higher protein/gluten than all-purpose).

I thought so too. I punched it down once but I only waited 15-20 minutes afterwords. Had a real small window of time and had to take it.
BUT I don't know anything about baking bread at other temps...should I try a lower temp for longer or is this alright?

For that type and volume of bread 450 for 20 minutes is perfect.

Coincidentally, I made a similar type of rustic bread yesterday with a similar recipe only additions were vegetable shortening to soften the texture, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) for preservation and yeast viability and powdered milk for increased browning. From start to finish it took about 2.5 hours.

A super easy loaf of rustic bread can produced overnight using a no knead bread recipe:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dinin ... .html?_r=0

thanks jerkass. you can be alright.

Damn that's awesome.

Oh and I got the ingredients last night. Had a work party thing a few blocks away from the homebrew shop, conveniently enough. Got 6 lbs of Maris Otter and 3 oz of East Kent Golding, plus a package of dried yeast. Going in there with a rockin' buzz (post work party, 3 good pints on an empty stomach) was an odd experience. The guys who work there are so nerdy it's painful, in a good way, and interacting with them while basically mildly drunk was strange. Everything seemed to happen at light speed.