all grain brewing

[Boom Stick]

Primary has calmed down but is still bubbling. Been thinking of Blue Point's Toxic Sludge...a Black IPA that is one of the greatest beers. Northern brewer sells a black IPA all grain kit that has been getting great reviews. This may be my next....was thinking saison but I don't know.

 

[Highbeam]

We drank a black lager from Georgetown Brewing and the dark color of a normally light colored style really does throw you off. It was extra good.

 

[Boom Stick]

Answered an ad on Craigslist......Went to the guy's home today and for $150 I left with 14 - 5 gallon carboys, 3 - 3 gallon carboys and 1 - 6 gallon carboy every one of them had a handle attached to them. All were super clean and well cared for, gave me a huge box of airlocks, stoppers, hoses, bottle tree, aerating wand, thermometers, a floor stand corker, etc. I calculated cost of new carboys with handles (18 in all) and was over 800 bucks new. Must have given me 50 bucks worth of stoppers and airlocks. 3 gallon ones should work nice for smaller batches of stronger beers possibly. Score. should be able to sell some, recoup my investment and still have plenty to use for myself.

 

[Boom Stick]

Bought the ingredients for a Black IPA and a Hitachino Nest White Ale Clone today. First up will be black ipa and then I'll ghet on the white Ale. Anyone ever taste Blue Point Brewing's Toxic Sludge Black IPA??? an awesome beer. My recipe is not a clone but has great reviews on Northern Brewer,

 

[Boom Stick]

brewed the black ipa today and misjudged my sparge water amounts. Ended up with less than 5 gallons post boil. I did calculate but afterwards saw my mistake as guesstimating the amount in my boil pot after mashing/sparging. I did not confirm amount of water. overall, just doing everything was a good learning experience just doing it. Relax, have a homebrew was my mantra today. Mistakes are going to be made so whatever, my beer will still be drinkable. but damn i was so careful doing everything else that I was disappointed I didn't meet my water volumes....Things to do before next brew....use a recipe that provides the exact water amounts for mash/sparge. measure out gallon increments on my stir stick and on everything else that needs to be marked.

 

[Boom Stick]

Just checked on my first all grain...Berliner Weiss....OG was 1.042 and 1 week later it is 1.004....nottingham yeast is a beast I guess.

Comes out to 4.99% abv typically this style is betwen 3-5% so I am right at the top of the mark.

Taste was clean and tart....reminded me of fresh, tart lemonade. No off flavors at all. Was kind of expecting some given the method in which this was soured. Was really clear. Just a touch of haze. Gonna bottle this tomorrow night and count the days until this beer is ready to enjoy on a hot day. So far so good.

 

[begreen]

Success, yea!

 

[Boom Stick]

Well I have been drinking my first all grain beer and am very happy. Came out really tart and really good. I was buying 25 ounce bottles of the same style for 10.99 at my local beer store. I made 5 gallons for about twice that amount. I like it better than the stuff I was buying which has this corn flavor to it. Plus I made it. I will always have this on hand for spring summer beer. What a simple and cheap beer to make from all grain.