Fall brewing season is finally here

[corkybstewart]

Thursday it was in the 90's here. Friday a cold front move in and dropped the temp into the 80's and it started to rain. Now its Sunday morning and it hasn't stopped raining for 65 hours. But the temp has been in the mid 60's so I can brew again.
This morning I've got Wife Brew in the mash tun, I'
ve got the yeast starter for my oatmeal stout going on the counter so I'll brew it tonight and then one night this week I'll do a Belgian triple ifthe temps stay cool. 30 gallons this week. Iwas starting to get nervous since I haven't brewed anything but my saison since March, and the saison won't get tapped before Thanksgiving.

[Otis_The_Drunk]

Yeah corky, I plan on making a Pumpken Ale in the next week or so.... As soon as I can get my son in law over to do the lifting.

[markaberrant]

I just finished up my summer Belgians, now it's onto some lager-esque ales for fall. My outside storage is currently hovering around 60F, and will be below freezing by end of November. I've got some American Wheat & Rye going, I did a Stout this week to use up some grains, and over the next couple weeks I'm brewing a Pilsner and an Alt.

Once I move everything back inside for the winter, I've got a series of 5 English ales planned using the 1028 yeast and EK Goldings.

[corkybstewart]

I'd like to have all my kegs full of ale by November, then I'll start making lagers again. Once it gets cold I can use my carboys for lagering and by February I'll have a bunch of empty kegs again. Fill em with lagers, start brewing ales again. Life looks good from here.

[Halgarmeister]

Originally posted by corkybstewart
This morning I've got Wife Brew in the mash tun

How many wives does this recipe take? And, do you have to use wives or will girlfriends work too? < wink > :D

Sounds like you've got the next 4 or 5 months well planned out, Corky.

[corkybstewart]

Actually one of the key ingredients is "wife's (or girlfriend's)indifference to what I'm doing". She didn't realize until the boil was halfway done that I wasn't cleaning the garage. And then my boss called to invite us to dinner tonight so the stout gets put off until tomorrow.
I'm also making a braggot tonight when we get home(the beer part is already mashing) so I'll have to tell the boss my wife has homework and we can't stay late. Unless of course he has some good beer for me. Then we may have a sour mash braggot, sounds interesting.

[Mad Scientist]

Starting my planning here too....up next an amber, and a monster IIPA....maybe even one that you will like corky....

[HogieWan]

I brewed today for the first time since the beginning of JUNE!!!

I finally got to put all my new gear to use. The 3-roller mill boosted my eff from ~75% to 88%!! However, the two-stage cooling using the thermonator failed to give me much difference in pitching temp, but I know what to change for next time.

The best news is the I got 7 gallons of porter in my conical and it will go into a couple of cornies in a few weeks!! Then we make a British IPA/barleywine for a christmas ale/

[S.F.B.]

I just kegged an amber/alt today while brewing an IIPA. I brewed it in June. I just got my garage back from the contractor who was doing the finish job on it (Insulated and all). I am planning on doing an oatmeal stout as soon as my primaries are clear and then I'll get a Scotch ale and barley wine going.

[dparsons]

Sounds like life is good to you now Corky. Its amazing, but here in Albuquerque we've had rain about half our afternoons since July. Glad its made it out to you now.

[hooky]

We're moving in October. At first I was bummed, thinking that I'd have to put off brewing until after the move. My grilfriend said, "We'll have to move all those bottles anyway, they might as well be full." Both secondaries are full now, so I have 10 gallons to bottle this week and next then 2 more batches to brew.

Corky, how many batches do you brew in a cool month?

[corkybstewart]

Normally I try to brew 2 10 gallon batches per month, but after since I don't brew in the summer because of the heat I have to catch up in the fall. Then I'll brew steady until around April or May when it gets to hot again. But now I've "discovered " saison yeast that love the heat down here so I brew it in the summer.

[HarkJohnny]

Originally posted by Otis_The_Drunk
Yeah corky, I plan on making a Pumpken Ale in the next week or so.... As soon as I can get my son in law over to do the lifting.

good to hear you're almost back in business Otis!

corky, do you ferment outside (or in a non temp controlled building?)

[HarkJohnny]

Originally posted by HogieWan
I brewed today for the first time since the beginning of JUNE!!!

I finally got to put all my new gear to use. The 3-roller mill boosted my eff from ~75% to 88%!! However, the two-stage cooling using the thermonator failed to give me much difference in pitching temp, but I know what to change for next time.

The best news is the I got 7 gallons of porter in my conical and it will go into a couple of cornies in a few weeks!! Then we make a British IPA/barleywine for a christmas ale/

great feeling isn't it!

I have the family talked into getting me the 14gallon Minibrew fermenter for Xmas/30th Bday gift! wooohooo!!

[Halgarmeister]

Originally posted by corkybstewart
Actually one of the key ingredients is "wife's (or girlfriend's)indifference to what I'm doing".

DAMN! The next thing you're going to tell me is that they don't use real Girl Scouts in making Girl Scout cookies... :(


<wink wink > LOL

I look forward to when I have the time and space to do larger batches as well as long conditioning periods. I've been watching some of the vids at BasicBrewing.com and would like to try some of the different things that they are doing, like mead, for instance.

[corkybstewart]

Originally posted by HarkJohnny

corky, do you ferment outside (or in a non temp controlled building?)

I have a 6X6 room in the garage that's not temp controlled but its well insulated. When the garage temp is 105F the beer room is 85F, and in the winter it stays around 45F, perfect for fermenting lagers. With this "cold" weather I got the room down to 68 and it'll stay that cool unless I leave the door open. That's why I'm brewing so much this week, I can take advantage of fermenting cooler than normal. In the past I've fermented in the house at 75-78 and that's really hotter than ideal.
We're hoping to build a garage so I can park my pickup inside. It'll have a basement for brewing and, if I have my way, an Irish pub style social room complete with dartboard and of course lots of beer on tap. But that's at least a year away.

[Jeff]

Originally posted by hooky
We're moving in October. At first I was bummed, thinking that I'd have to put off brewing until after the move.

Same here, moving in October or November. I recycled my entire bottle collection this weekend. I figure that once I'm settled I will be switching to kegging, wife be damned. (Yeah I will pay for that).:D

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by Jeff
I will be switching to kegging, wife be damend. (Yeah I will pay for that).:D

I am starting that painful process now - Dia is Muire duit (God and Mary be with you)

[corkybstewart]

Don't let her see that" wife be damned" statement. It'll turn into "Husband be banned". Just explain to her that with kegs there are no empty bottles lying around in the morning, less clutter, etc.

[Jeff]

Originally posted by corkybstewart
Just explain to her that with kegs there are no empty bottles lying around in the morning, less clutter, etc.

I've tried that, but usually it is a money issue. She knows how much it will cost and cringes at spending that much money for my hobby. Hopefully with the move and the new job money won't be nearly the issue that it was.

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by Jeff
I've tried that, but usually it is a money issue. She knows how much it will cost and cringes at spending that much money for my hobby. Hopefully with the move and the new job money won't be nearly the issue that it was.

how much is your time worth?

[kinjar]

We just moved, and my wife has deemed the basement bathroom to be mine for fermentation. It stays at a constant 70 degrees - so it will work well for ales.

I plan to start brewing again as soon as we get settled and sell our old home - housing market ain't what it used to be. [Anyone in Northern VA looking for a townhome?] Looks like I'll miss the fall season - but plan to start off with a nice "winter warmer".

[corkybstewart]

Now's a good time to remind everybody of the advantage of a blowoff hose vs airlock. Sunday I brewed Wife Beer, OG 1.062, and then I brewed a braggot (OG 1.090)to pour on the yeast cake from a prickly pear mead. I put a 3/8' blowoff on the Wife Beer because of its low gravity and the 1/2" on the braggot, and stuck the hoses in 1/2 gallon of water in a 1 gallon bucket. So far, so good. This morning I checked on them before work and there was krasuen running out of the bucket and across the counter, so I put the 1 gallon bucket inside a 5 gallon bucket. Luckily this is going on in the garage, not the living room. If I had used an airlock it probably would have blown the glass fermenter apart.

[Jeff]

Originally posted by HogieWan
how much is your time worth?

Quite a bit right now, considering that I want my house on the market in two weeks and a ton of stuff to do, to make that deadline.

Back on topic, the best thing about fall brewing is boiling the wort outside while listening to the football game on the radio as leaves fall from the tree.

[Mad Scientist]

Originally posted by Jeff
Back on topic, the best thing about fall brewing is boiling the wort outside while listening to the football game on the radio as leaves fall from the tree.

Nope. NASCAR, which is why I usually brew on sundays

[Skarekrough]

I spent last Sunday bottling up an IPA and an OctoberFest. IPA tasted fine green but the OctoberFest....well....there's alot of hope involved there. I'm due for a disaster though.

Off on vacation for a week and then I'll brew. Putting together a Russian Imperial Stout. Real excited about that one, it's a fave and one of the big reasons I took brewing into my own hands awhile ago; I just can't get it anywhere!

By the time it's drinkable it'll be perfect for kicking back in front of a fire and enjoying it as the snow starts to come down. Also planning on stashing a case away to age and see how it mellows.