I see your Schwartz is as big as mine.

Update 3/18 - I think they liked it. Tapped for a St Paddy's party yesterday, just a bit of foam when I reached for *my* first pint of the stuff tonight. Maybe I should brew bigger batches.
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Update 1/18 - Okay, the gravity hasn't changed in a while, we're just done at 1.018. A little high, but whatever. I'll empty out a keg and pop this in the lager fridge in the next day or so.
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Nice black lager. I think this is another one of Jamil's recipes. Or at least I took inspiration from it. Not too roasty. It's a trick, really. Looks and smells like a big roasty thing, but comes through much softer. The carafa is nice because it's been dehusked, giving a less harsh roast character than other forms of roasted barley. WLP800 isn't necessarily the best choice - it's supposedly from Pilsner Urquell - but it's what I have and I didn't feel like making a starter of German yeast last week.

Batch #52
Schwartzbier
--8lbs Pils
--2lb Munich
--0.42lb Chocolate
--0.58lb Carafa II
--0.5lb Crystal 40L
--0.5lb Melanoidin
--0.5oz Perle 7.5%AA (60min)
--0.5oz Perle 7.5%AA (45min)
--0.5oz Perle 7.5%AA (20min)
--0.5oz Perle 7.5%AA (0min)
--Whirlfloc (10min)
--WLP800 Pilsner Lager Yeast, slurry from pilsner
OG: 1.062
FG: 1.018
ABV: 5.5%
IBU: ~25

Mash in all grains except chocolate and carafa at 154F, hold for 30m. Stir in dark grains, mash temp falls a bit, hold for 30m. Batch sparged (again didn't get as much extracted as I thought I would...). Used a 75m boil to compromise between the DMS issue and the low extraction volume. Chilled to 50F, pitched yeast.

Because wine ought.

Update 1/30 - Bottled. Ended up with 23 bottles. Floor corkers are wonderful.
Update 1/12 - SG 0.995. Metabisulfite, sorbate, fishguts added. Stirred to degas...will use drill next time.
Update 1/10 - SG 0.995
Update 12/31 - Damn it. I racked into the wrong size carboy and had to dump a gallon of wine. Oh well. SG was 1.009 today.
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Mead bottled.

I "made" "wine" today. By which I mean I mixed some cat litter, grape juice, and water, and then sprinkled yeast on top. Seriously, it took longer to sanitize everything than to actually mix the must up. I'd like to try starting with grapes at some point, but really...why? This was super easy, and short of growing my own grapes, it doesn't seem like there's too much room for improvement on the grape end of things. I could be wrong. What do I know?

Wine Batch #01
Vintner's Reserve Pinot Noir
OG: 1.075 (18.2 Brix)
FG: 0.995
ABV: 10.5%

Follow the kit instructions. So far, that's mix 10g bentonite with 2L hot water, add 10L juice, dilute to 23L, and add yeast (Red Star Premier Cuvée, included in kit). Still, I had fun. I'm excited about having 30 bottles of home wine to hand out to people.

Hey.

The lady's little sister heard such nice things about this one, that she requested it be around when she visits. She'll be here in about three weeks, so it's a little rushed, but here we go again.

Batch #51
'bout Damn Time Oatmeal Stout
--9.75lbs Pale
--1lb Flaked Oats
--1lb Flaked Barley
--0.75lb Pale Chocolate
--0.75lb Victory
--0.5lb Crystal 75L
--0.5lb Black Roasted Barley
--2oz Willamette 4.9%AA (60min)
--whirlfloc (10min)
--WLP002 English Ale Yeast, 1.5L starter
OG: 1.060
FG: 1.018
ABV: 5.5%
IBU: ~25

Single infusion 154F for 60m in 18qts water.
Batch sparge with 16qts to collect about 6.5 gallons.
Fermenting at 64F, so probably going to miss some of the esters from that yeast. I'll probably have to swirl the fermenter a few times to keep the yeast going, too.

That's a bit more like it.

Did the mash and sparge/lauter work on a 7 bbl brew yesterday. Had to take off before the first hop addition, but still. =)

Fifty!

Batch #50
Bohemian Pilsner
--8lb German Pils
--9oz CaraPils
--9oz American Munich
--3.9AAU Saaz 3.9% (60m)
--3.9AAU Saaz 3.9% (45m)
--3AAU Saaz 3%, whole (30m)
--3AAU Saaz 3%, whole (10m)
--whirlfloc (10m)
--pinch gypsum in mash
--WLP800, 2L starter
OG: 1.046
FG: 1.009
ABV: 4.8%
IBU: ~30-35

Meant to mash 60m at 154F, ended up mashing in to 158, dropping to 145, raising to 150, and holding for 45 more minutes. Used a 90m boil, ended up with just about 5 gallons exactly in the bucket. Probably 4.5-4.75 in carboy. This is what happens when you brew outside in the rain on a cold day and screw up the mash. Oh well. Smells good.