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What I did for beer today

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I picked up a wort chiller, two homemade bottling buckets, a carboy, and a nice Polarware brew kettle for $20. I went to my local homebrew store, @TheFlyingBarrel, for a recipe for that HOOTER recommended. Had to change up the yeast because it wasn't in stock. Got a stopper and a one-way valve for the carboy, too. So many questions, yet I feel too foolish to ask sometimes. :cask:
 
Today finally got results for the Puyallup Fair entries. Lager got third (not surprised, wasn't my best), Pale got a second. And the Porter that I brewed back at the end of March, and just let sit, got a First! Don't have the scores yet (won't until I go pick up the ribbons in 2 weeks). Only 26 entries listed, it's not a big competition any year but was a rather disappointing turnout. That same porter got a very poopy score back in May; aging seems to have improved it quite a bit. Quite proud of myself. Going to brew it again in February, and just let it sit for several months. Seems to do it good.
 
Today finally got results for the Puyallup Fair entries. Lager got third (not surprised, wasn't my best), Pale got a second. And the Porter that I brewed back at the end of March, and just let sit, got a First! Don't have the scores yet (won't until I go pick up the ribbons in 2 weeks). Only 26 entries listed, it's not a big competition any year but was a rather disappointing turnout. That same porter got a very poopy score back in May; aging seems to have improved it quite a bit. Quite proud of myself. Going to brew it again in February, and just let it sit for several months. Seems to do it good.

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Busy beer day - did a LODO transfer into two corny kegs. One fermenter was a 6.5g corny, the other was an ss brew bucket. All nice and clean.

Cleaned a spent corny of pilsner and both fermenters. Carbing up one of the new batch of English in a corny keg while the other sits and conditions in "Triple AAA", aka the closet. At the right time, they will get called up to the big leagues (aka the keezer) into the "on deck circle", where there's room for 6 taps and 8 kegs. I always keep one or two in the one deck circle so I can swap out a corny and it's ready to pour. All carbed and cold.
 
Kicked the first keg of a 10 gallon batch of my first "Cold IPA", swapped in its mate and ran the kick through the still venerable Mark II, now relying on gravity and inertia alone to hold itself together.

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Thinking about ending my long hot summer brewing hiatus (as the number of stand-by kegs is approaching zero :oops:), decided to start the next brewing season with a fresh membrane for my RO system. Breaking it in now by cranking out a couple of gallons of product water straight down the drain.

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Cheers!
 
Started the day with a trip to the local home brew store, picked up the ingredients for an octoberfest and an Irish red, went home scrubbed the jacket for my Grainfather, then scrubbed and sanitized said Grainfather, as that is my larger fermenter, I "serviced" my monster mill and crushed the grains, I prepared my strike and sparge water , and divided it between the hot liquor tank and my brew kettle, I then set the parameters for my strike water on the brewzilla.. lastly I set the temp in My lagering freezer..
Obviously ill be brewing this weekend.
 
Started the day with a trip to the local home brew store, picked up the ingredients for an octoberfest and an Irish red, went home scrubbed the jacket for my Grainfather, then scrubbed and sanitized said Grainfather, as that is my larger fermenter, I "serviced" my monster mill and crushed the grains, I prepared my strike and sparge water , and divided it between the hot liquor tank and my brew kettle, I then set the parameters for my strike water on the brewzilla.. lastly I set the temp in My lagering freezer..
Obviously ill be brewing this weekend.
My Grainfather needs a spa day badly. Maybe I'll do that this weekend.
 
Not really FOR beer, but ABOUT beer. Taking our Rad bikes on a trip today, taking the Snoqualmie Valley Trail up to Carnation to visit two breweries we haven't been to yet (yes there ARE breweries we haven't been to yet, amazing). Will post pics and stuff later.
 
I took beerventory (inventoried brew supplies) so I can hit the sales. I always try to order everything I need during the sales, and check multiple vendors. That always helps, these prices can vary considerably between vendors. Plus when I'm looking around I always find something cool to add to my wish list.

T Murph, I like your chalkboard.- very cool! :yes:

Day Trippr- Nice filtration system (I used to be a filtration chemist back in the day). What filters are in housings 1,2 and 3? It looks like prefiltration for an RO system (which appears to be on top)...very nice. :thumbsup:

I have 1 housing with a 5um/carbon combo filter that I use if needed. No RO here. I pull straight off at the well head. It goes through a sand Trap (large 50 gallon vessel that traps the sand, then through 2 more filter housings (I use screens-74 um, or 30 um, or 15 um) and then have the 1 mobile housing with the 5um/ carbon filter that I use if needed. I seldom use the carbon filter though.
 
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#1 is a wound particulate filter while 2 & 3 are both carbon blocks (probably way overkill considering this is our private well it's working with so no chloramine/chlorine/etc). Membrane is the big horizontal element with a taste & odor carbon block on top. The system works very well reliably producing ~4.something gallons per hour while taking our ~250ppm well water down to below 10ppm.

Cheers!
 
Swapped out the Irish Red that kicked with the Irish Red in corny #2. Been chilling and carbing in anticipation of the #1 Irish Red on its last few pours. Perfect swap. Ready for duty !!!

Cleaned out the Irish Red corny keg along with 2 recently acquired cornies and a spent Czech pilsner . So ... 4 corny kegs ready to go.

Began cold crashing the Czech pilsner in the 10 g large corny fermenter. Ready to package on Thursday or Friday - it's been at about 10 psi for 5-6 days now.

Meanwhile - the large stout batch (15 g) has about a week to go to finish fermenting . 3 (5 g) fermenters . Two pales and an SS brew bucket . Looking forward to sampling each batch - with its own yeast. Nottingham, US-05, and a Novalager.

Finally ... Researched more RO systems and how to use it for my situation. It's just for beer and I will store it outside, water input from a garden hose. I will use my Brewzilla 100L as the storage tank and fill it to the proper level for a No Sparge batch the day before brewing.

Finish off the day with baseball. Brewers vs Philly's
 
Brewed an English IPA!

Not my plan but felt like it after sampling a rather decent one at homebrew club on Sunday. One of the smoothest brew days I've done in ages with 25L of crystal clear amber 1.055 wort into the fermenter and exactly no mishaps.

I'd give myself an A- docking points only for lack of preparedness in sanitising my fermenter until I was chilling.
 
Went down to dry hop my IPA and saw water all over the f loor, my 2.5 gallon under sink water heater gave up the ghost-The floor needed washing anyways-ive been wanting to upgrade,and nothing was available locally so I ordered a 7.5 gallon one on Amazon, ill install it tomorrow when it gets here in a newly made space,, while I was playing with water i changed the large sediment filter i have in line for my entire water system in my " brewery" I dry hopped my IPA, adjusted,down the temp on the Irish red now that fermentation has started ..I'll be brewing Yoopers house pale ale Saturday so I made a yeast starter for the brew
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And today I'm transferring my Raider Red Ale to a serving keg. The beer is a clone of my Red Nut Ale that I created back in 1995. However, for this batch I added a half ounce of Citra Hops during the last 15 minutes of the boil. It did exactly what I expected. I won a ribbon back then with my Red Nut. Then a friend who was working as brewmaster at a new start up ask if he could copy my recipe for his brewery. Of course I agreed and it became their signature beer. They call it Lincoln Red, from Star Union Brewery in Henepin Il.
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Went to my LHBS to pick up the specialty grains for my 🎄+T Ale which I will be brewing soon. When I got to the place where the store used to be, there was a sign on the door of the otherwise empty facility... :mad:

But there is a shining silver lining to this little cloud of mine ... after having driven 20 minutes to get to where I thought the store was -- and it was there back in February when I made my Piraat clone -- my Assistent Braumeister googled the new address listed on the sign. When she got the address, she said, "You're not going to believe this, but we drove right past it to get here!"

Yes, happy surprise, not only is my LHBS still in business, it is now 5 minutes away instead of 20 minutes away... good for my time, but probably bad for my budget! You can see their site online at HBYOB.com.

They had everything I needed in stock except the hops, but they were due sometime today via FedEx. And sure enough, they showed up about three this afternoon Eastern Daylight Time! Eight ounces of Sabro straight from Yakima Vally Hops, complete with a "Lupulin Lunatic" fridge sticker!!! Ordered Monday, shipped Wednesday and arrived Friday. Thanks, guys, if you're reading.
 
Visited Hopside Brewing in Alena, MI, for a flight. Especially enjoyed their lemon basil saison, but all were interesting. Beer tourism in Michigan is solid. Reed City Beer Co., Crankers Brewery in Big Rapids, Tank Space on 8th in Traverse City, Tombstone Brewery in New Baltimore, Cheboygan Brewing, Petosky Brewery,and Austin Brothers Beer Co. in Alpena have all been excellent finds.
 
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Yesterday finally pulled up my big girl pants, and tested the WF lager I brewed on Monday; that was the poopiest poopshow of a brewday that I've had in a long time. (See Don't Do That for details). It's not my best, but nothing off and no infection. Set it to crash last night, and will get it in a keg tomorrow. Amazingly not bitter, tad boozy, will be a second-string choice in the taps; but so far I'm glad I went through with pitching yeast to see what it would do. Two days ago kegged off the Kona Golden clone that I brewed a week or two ago; more of a Pale than a Golden, but very tasty. Used El Dorado hops for the first time in yonks, and I'm really liking the result.
 
So that was yesterday. Today I'm finally doing something I should have done a long time ago; giving the empty kegs a good soak with hot PBW, to get rid of the crud on the inside that no amount of scrubbing will remove. First time using PBW, hoping for good things. Will also use it on the carb stones for the carb lids; one of them barely works, hoping this will help.

*EDIT: just finished the first one, after pushing the hot PBW into the second keg. WHY have I never done this before???? PBW is the absolute shiznit. I've had this keg for over 7 years, yes I clean them but the beerstone just keeps getting in it. It is COMPLETELY clean and shiny inside, looks brand new. I am amazeballs.
 
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So that was yesterday. Today I'm finally doing something I should have done a long time ago; giving the empty kegs a good soak with hot PBW, to get rid of the crud on the inside that no amount of scrubbing will remove. First time using PBW, hoping for good things. Will also use it on the carb stones for the carb lids; one of them barely works, hoping this will help.

*EDIT: just finished the first one, after pushing the hot PBW into the second keg. WHY have I never done this before???? PBW is the absolute shiznit. I've had this keg for over 7 years, yes I clean them but the beerstone just keeps getting in it. It is COMPLETELY clean and shiny inside, looks brand new. I am amazeballs.
Love me some PBW too. Shiny/happy
 
Now that the weather is heading towards fall I'm getting geared up for brewing two 10 gallon batches on successive days and as soon as I can, so I ran up to Jasper's and picked up a 2nd 5 liter e-flask along with a couple of smack packs of London III and a crapton of light DME, along with some carafoam and flaked rice.

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Came home to a tornado warning (eep!) so we're kinda chillin' here inside that red square for a bit :oops:

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Cheers!
 
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Well, technically not today, but on Thursday brewed a 3 gallon starter...

My local homebrew club does an annual "Mash Madness" competition that starts around March and is roughly patterned after NCAA March Madness. Each round 1/2 of the participants are eliminated. I'm in the final four and the assignment is "big beers" (> 8% ABV). I'm planning a brew with an OG of 1.107.

Depending in what yeast pitching calculator I use, I get estimates of between 500B and 700B cells needed. I also planning a second brew of lower gravity beer with the same yeast.

After a series of highly complex mathematical calculations, I concluded that I need 1 1/8 metric ****-tons of yeast. Rather than buy out MoreBeer's entire supply of WLPxxx at $15 per packet, I'm just brewing a starter beer to produce enough yeast for the two brews.

Since it was such a nice day out, I decided to boil it on my BBQ island's power burner rather than on the electric system in the garage.
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Since the pool needed more water anyway, I discharged the output of the immersion chiller into it.
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