EPOS m22 speakers!

A new addition to my equipment collection! These sold originally for $1,995 + tax + shipping, but I managed to find them locally for $400 used / they come with their metal grills, but I took them off for listening – they are great for protecting these while not used or when moving!

Extremely well build, solid cabinets that pass the knock test!

Speaker: M22
Type: Two-and-a-half-way, tower
Tweeter (size in inches, type): 1, gold anodized aluminum alloy dome
Midrange (size in inches, type): 6, polymer cone 5.25
Woofer (size in inches, type): 6, polymer cone
Nominal Impedance (ohms): 6


Recommended Amp
Power (watts): 50–200
Available Finishes: Light/Dark Cherry, Black
Dimensions (H x W x D, inches): 36 x 8 x 10
Weight (pounds): 37.4
Original Price: $1,995/pair

I paired them with a B&K 125.2 amp / sometimes I switch and listen using the B&K EX-442 amp (if you ever find this, grab it fast!) – anyways, both are excellent amps!

I do have the EPOS ELS Subwoofer installed, so it is paired with that as well… I was lucky enough to find that one day in the market-place for $150 / extremely well build sub-woofer specifically made for music!

These speakers shine with Jazz, and other instrumentals, Classical, and Voice!

I have to admit that I am already used to the EPOS sound since I own 6 other speakers in my collection and these don’t disappoint, very well made, high quality with excellent drivers!

You will not find anything like that made today within any price range!

So if you are lucky enough to find some used for a fair price, grab them!

Youtube video is here – https://youtu.be/bzQpZX1Yifw

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IPA fine tunned by AI

In the last Blog I did a video on how to use AI basically to learn anything you want about beer brewing, but you can also paste your ingredients and ask AI to take a look at them to analyze.

The analysis asks can be anything, from the right grain proportions to maybe unnecessary grains that don’t do anything or might impart on your recipe.

So that’s what I did, I first asked it to review the Grains, then the Hops and last the yeast.

It compared everything against each other to recommend any changes for the Style of the beer that I am after. Now, of course, I did fact-check the recommendations and everything it recommended sounded fine to me and it even explains why.

With that this weekend of 10.19.2024 I have brewed the the following IPA / this is for a 5-gallon batch.

Grains:

  • 9lb 2-row
  • 0.5 lb Carapils

Hops:

  • 2 ounces of El Dorado (bittering at 60 minutes)
  • 3 ounces of Mosaic (Whirlpool)
  • 3 ounces of Cascade, also (Whirlpool) – so last 10-15 minutes

Yeast:

  • 1056 American Ale Wyeast

pictures and final tasting thoughts will come later with an Update, thanks!

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using AI for Beer Recipe Exploration

So this is a Quick introduction in the llama3.1 or 3.2 models which you can easily download and install on any computer (Windows, Mac or Linux) and the interface is very easy to use.

Wanted to do something new and more interesting than just posting another Beer recipe, since those are a dime a dozen.

So whether you are someone who hasn’t learned yet about AI for your job-related tasks or maybe you are retired and don’t pay attention to any of it, you really should because it can make the hobby of your Beer brewing a lot more interesting and can make great improvements to your recipes and understanding of ingredients.

Since most people are visual Learners, here is the Link to the Video on YouTube – https://youtu.be/2vh3D8zg3hQ

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English Brown Ale – brewed by a robot

So in case you haven’t seen in my recent posts, I have acquired a few picobrew machines / the original Zymantic and the Z1 and also a picostill (which I plan to use to make extracts with). Sadly the company is no more, but happily – you can score these machines for a fraction of their original price. I paid $200 for all, and this probably cost close to $4,500 for all that I have acquired in this deal.

I have setup the Raspberry Pi to act as a local server for these, so they no longer need to connect to the corporate web servers to make them run, $75 cost.

So now I store all my recipes online, as they sync and import into the machines using this new software tool, but regardless, you can use them using any equipment following the recipe.

Actually the yeast I used was: 1968 London ESB Wyeast

https://crafter.pilotbatchbrewing.com/recipe/print/1209

having these machines will save me quite a bit of time because you just put in your ingredients and press Brew, come back 5 hours later and you just cool (10 minutes at best ) and pitch yeast.

It also will give me smaller batches and more variety as I drink less beer these days, so ya!

Update – I used AI software (ollama model) to inspect the recipe, and it came out really good, I also wanted to dial is the perfect color of the beer:

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picobrew Zymantic leak fix

I have acquired some picobrew machines cheap / the original Zymantic, the Z series and even a new picostill. The Zymatic had [past tense 🙂 ] a leak, because the original seal that connects the internal bucket to the pump cracked over time, silicone don’t last forever.. This would create two issues:

  • a pretty substantial leak anytime the pump wasn’t working
  • slow pump return

I took some quick measurements and 3d designed a better than original fix, it was 3d printed in TPU.

I have linked to the part that is available to download and a youtube video so you can see it in action, thanks!

Thingiverse for the 3d part to print: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6661173

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EPOS ES14 speakers and custom tweeter Baffle – an adventure in HiFi Audio

So up to now this Blog site has been dedicated only to Beer Brewing, but I am going to start expand it a little bit into my vintage Audio hobby as well, so with that, this will be the first post.

A few years ago I have purchased a pair of EPOS ES14 (with one original blown tweeter, I knew this) and one of the things you learn with vintage speakers, especially highly sought after in the category of Cult following, is that when a driver breaks, especially a custom designed driver that is no longer manufactured – these are considered almost 100% un-obtainium and really the only way to get more drivers is to either buy another pair of speakers, broken or not and you hope to salvage something out of this, the things you do to stay in the Cult!

So with that, I was left with either this option or…… learn 3D CAD and designed my own baffle and 3D print them – which is what I did. I ended up using some spare tweeters that I had on hand from a different project that I ended up doing nothing with, so I ended up using some Peerless 4ohm ( BC25TG15-04) 50 watt and I paired these with a 4.7uF capacitor (after playing with some other values) and it came out super good, better than original.

I first printed these in PLA, but later switched to PETG, because it seems to be stronger and also more UV resistant, incase speakers would be placed by a window and getting direct sunlight.

with that, after verifying everything and fine tuning and going through about 7-8 different test prints, I then decided to offer it for Sale on Ebay / so customers in either a same situation as me or maybe just when people wanted to try some new Tweeter combinations.

Some advantages over the original tweeters is that /// the original was mounted behind the tweeter baffle most likely by design, but lots of improvements have been achieves since the late 80s and with the new baffle we can completely avoid any Baffle Diffraction or Edge Treatment and the sound is no longer so centered on axis as before.

Now a lot of people say that this will change the speaker, and in- fact does change it but for the better, much better.. and you have an option to choose your own driver, and material type, as I prefer soft dome tweeters over metal dome, just my preference.

I have tested these to people in complete blind testing and people were left speachless and that was with a fairly inexpensive proof of concept driver.

In the future I am planning to upgrade with a Seas tweeter and maybe make another version of the 3D baffle to true fit whatever driver I am end up selecting. 

With that – if you have interest in purchasing these from me you can find them on Ebay or if you like to buy them from me directly, please Contact me, thanks!

To Date I have helped and sold 5 pair / my hope is to raise some money to buy a better printer soon as well. The 3d design plans are “not” for Sale, thanks!

Ebay Auction: https://www.ebay.com/itm/125945208107

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Belgian/French Saison Winter 2023

This winter I’ve brewed a 10-gallon batch / more to come including the recipe I followed and how I mixed yeasts ( kind of unplanned ) but beer came out awesome…

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Next Brew / a Gulden Draak clone

Next up / I attempt to brew my first Clone of the Gulden Draak beer.

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Steuben Wine 2022

There is nothing quite like HomeGrown!

after fermentation was over – 2 months old, tastes great!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

The pour sample (picture below) of our wine from this year / when it was being transferred to secondary fermentation. It came out superb in color and taste! Of course it is still not even finished, but a good sign at this stage.

Link to Steuben grapes if you are not familiar with them – https://pennsylvaniawine.com/2018/02/15/pennsylvania-wine-school-steuben/

I choose this grape when I was first starting out for their resistance to disease and able to survive harsh winters. Last two year I let it go totally wild with no Management of any kind and the more I do that, the better the wine gets!

a Quick YouTube video is below after I have transferred from Primary to Secondary fermentation…

more to follow…

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British Brown Ale – rebrew 2022

Just a rebrew of our current recipe, it’s beautiful, isn’t it? Use the Search function to look for it if you want to brew it.

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Brewing a Saison using yeast from Mute Dog Brewing

The Beer came out Delicious!!!!!

—++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I have not brewed any beers in at least 5-6 months, simply because it takes much longer to go through what I brew and I also drink other craft beer, since social interactions have become less frequent with people due to Covid-19 – time has come to brew a new beer!

A few good months ago now, Mute Dog brewing has hooked me up with a few different yeasts, one of them is a Abbey Culture, a wild yeast “originally harvested it from honey I got from a neighbor of mine in 2012”, other characteristics:

  • ” it’s also quite fruity, maybe leaning toward pineapple, but mostly just generically fruity, like bubblegum “
  • ” A lot of saison yeasts express a somewhat assertive black peppery phenol. Mine is more subtle, like mild clove and vanilla. “
  • ” Oh, it’s also very highly attenuative, so whatever you make with it is going to end up pretty dry. Expect FG to be 1.006 or below (maybe a bit higher if you make a huge beer, but not much higher). “
  • ” Also, it’s highly alcohol tolerant, it has produced beers of 12-13% with no problems. I used it to make a sake and it went to 20+% “
  • ” I’ve run it from 48-105°F it doesn’t seem to care. It goes a bit faster at warmer temps, obviously. “
  • ” It’s good in Saison, though maybe not as spicy as some might like it. Great in Beire de Garde, also makes an excellent Wit, Dubbel, Tripel, & Quad. Also tasty in cider. “

At first the yeast was slow, it was in the fridge for a while, so it took a few good days to come out of sleep, but once it did, it started to move nicely.

about a week later it finished and here is a quick sample from under the microscope at 400x magnification, the slide was actually dirty, but I just wanted a quick glance… btw even at 1,000x you bearly (bears, hehe) see the inside structure of the individual yeast cell, you really need much better microscope, but optical cuts off at about 1,000x without loosing quality.

Almost a month later, the fermentation is over with FG-Final Gravity of 1.006 / starting gravity SG was 1.064- this should be a solid 8% Beer! Now we are going to age them, we got a total of 10 gallons clean beer….

Here is how the yeast looks after all the beer was removed (bottom of conical fermenter), yes yeast was collected to save into some empty jars and stored in fridge for next time.

~ link to mute dog: https://mutedog.beer/

Conclusion, there are risks with Wild yeasts, but if you find the right stuff and you are willing to invest the time and effort into it, you will be beyond rewarded, life is short, take more risk!

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next Brew – Baltic Porter

On 2/12/2021 – I brewed a 10 gallon batch of Storm Surge Baltic Porter, rated at 9.6% ABV. This beer has a large grain bill, as in expense, almost $70 just for the grains.

Also reused the grains and reboiled for 30 minutes, with whole homegrown hops added to the mash tun, to get a 5 gallon batch of lower ABV beer around 5%, which is a great technique to get more beer, literally for free.

I will post the full recipe details later, but some details:

About the Mash: 90 Minute Mash at 148F, at end of Mash the temp fell to about 142F, so then slowly started reheating to mash-out temp of 165F, an extra 25 minutes.

Mash-out picture:

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Pear and Apple Hard Cider

This year yet again we pressed some asian pear and mixed apple juice to make hard cider. I used a press that a friend of mine has access to via membership through a local tool library in Seattle, but I recon you can also buy one if you will press enough apples or use it frequently to justify its expense.

Here we were pressing some juice from mixed asian pears from a single nice mixed grafted tree, it produces one 5 gallon bucket of pears which give us about 2 gallons of juice:

you notice the light colour from the pear juice compares to a different colour from the apples:

To Make either apple or pear hard cider is easy…. you can use any fermentation container really, even growlers and if you don’t have an air lock, simply put some aluminum foil over it, the gas will escape and prevent anything going inside, the positive pressure should prevent anything going inside as well.

Crush and put some campden tablets into your fermentation container and let its do its thing for 24 hours, and allows gas exchange so that sulfur dioxide can escape. This process will kill any bad things from the collecting process of the pears/apples, bacteria and wild yeasts.

you can use many different yeasts, including wine yeasts.. some people naturally ferment it with natural yeast, but this is more risky and you never know how it will turn out, as each time the yeast and results could be and will be different…

After 24 hours, add your yeast of choice and let it ferment. To clear later you can cold crash it in the fridge for the cider to clear up, and there are many different natural agents you can add to clear up the cider as well, such as bentonite clay.

You can even transfer to another container and leave any sediment behind to further finish the fermentation and help to clear up the cider, which is recommended. Once all done, you can naturally carbonate with priming sugars or force carbonate with co2 gas if you already have this equipment.

Cheers!

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Scottish Blonde Ale

So this is basically a regular Blonde Ale recipe using a Scottish yeast, the Scottish Ale #1728

this yeast is pretty versatile, we did the Scottish Scotch Ale previously, so wanted to re-use it in something else and also save about $10 – a good house yeast – https://wyeastlab.com/yeast-strain/scottish-ale

grains for a 10 gallon batch:

  • 20 lbs of 2-row Premium ( use a local grain if able and keep this beer regional )
  • 1 lb of crystal 15Love

hops:

  • 1 ounces of Willametter hosp at 15 minute to end of boil and 1 ounce at end of boil

yeast:

  • Scottish Ale #1728

OG was 1.052 for a beer about 5.5%

total cost of grain and hops was $36.30 / we had the yeast from last brew so re-used, save money…

In addition to the primary brew, for the last year – we have been re-boiling the primary grain at 1/2 volume, so 5 gallons, adding whole hosp (its a mushtun so its ok) and you can even add a little bit DME, we added 1/4 lb to bring up the ABV% a bit. This nice #hack allows you to use different hops if you want and even different yeast using grain that you normally throw away – Yay to #freebeer

Yes, this beer will be a lighter body of the primary style, but it almost becomes a completely different beer in it’s own right, if I didn’t tell you it was a re-boil, you wouldn’t know anything different.

OG on the re-boil was 1.032 for a 3% beer.

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Strong (Wee Heavy) Scottish Scotch Ale – All Grain Recipe

Pandemic Brew 2020!

About two and a half months ago, in the middle of our Regional Pandemic, I brewed this Scottish Ale. It felt weird and strange brewing it in the middle of the happening.

Basically the recipe was used the same as last time, more updates later, Cheers for now!

Drink Beer and Stay Safe!

 

Previous Brews ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

strong_scottish_ale

 

above – Photo credit: Bryan Carr 2015

Below are our photos (is lighter than in the picture), should be – amber color, you should see through the glass to the other side.

Tk9ZtFLe8jXIkEZH61DHLgjWcCffA1hvwqtLjhfVJPKW=w1760-h995-no

15+-+1 15+-+2

 

Cheers!!!

 

Today we are sharing a recipe of another fellow brewer from the Brew Nerds Community on Google+ ( thanks for permission to share your recipe Bryan Carr!! )

Here is his recipe:

OG: 1.100
FG:  1.025
≈ 9.8-10.0 %

Grain: 
15# Maris Otter
1.5# Crystal 60
0.5# Crystal 120
2 oz  Roasted Barley
2 oz  Chocolate

Hops: 
0.5 oz Fuggle @ 90
0.5 oz Fuggle @ 60
1 oz    Northdown @ 15

Yeast: WLP028 White Labs Edinburgh, 1L starter with 3 vials… call it overkill.

Mashed at 146 F for 60 minutes, then brought it up to 156 F for 30 minutes. Mashed Out at 170 F and collected roughly 9 gallons of wort for the boil. It had a 90 minute (rigorous) boil, and final volume of 5.5ish gallons.

Fermented at 70 F in primary for 1 month, then dropped it down to 58 F degrees in secondary for 2 months. Bottle conditioned for 6 weeks.

//

For our 10 gallon recipe (based on grains/hops/yeast) that we have access to we picked:

  • 30 lbs of Golden Promise, at $1.30 a pound
  • 3 lbs Crystal 60 Lov., at $1.85 a pound
  • 1 lbs Crystal 120 Lov., at $1.85 a pound
  • 4 ounces or 1/4 lb Chocolate malt 350 Lov., at $1.90 a pound

We couldn’t get a hold on the Northdown – substitute Perle hops // also got the Fuggles (multiplied for a 10 gallon batch).  For yeast – Scottish Ale #1728 – using a 2000ml starter.

Further brew details and pics later…

OG was 1.086, FG was 1.014 // so basically 10%

The beer tastes awesome only 1 week out of fermentor (one week in fridge/keg), test pour.. the classic chill haze is there, but a few weeks later it will all naturally clear up, follow-up photo later..  Very drinkable only after 1 week – so I think we have a winner here!

SSAle_10

 

 

 

 

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Belgian/French Saison aka Farmhouse Ale Recipe +Fruit – All Grain

Brew in 2020: Belgian Saison (no fruit additions)

Beer came out delicious – this yeast/beer needs conditioning and aging, right off the bat it doesn’t taste all that good, but give it 3 months and what a difference, give it even more time and my ohhh my – Cheers!

We brewed the Saison on right after New years using the Wyeast 3724 strain to ferment starting at room temperature.  As expected it stalled at around 1.032 (read up on this yeast if you are not familiar), raising temperature to about 90F is recommended with this wild beast, but I was super busy and wanted to see what happens if you leave it alone.  “A lot” slower, but a few weeks later it eventually reach 1.012 on its own, attaining about 7% ABV, from SG of 1.065.   I have decided to keep it even longer for higher ABV, to get a drier Beer, as this yeast is more than capable.  In addition to the primary brew, we also brewed a Light version by re-heating the grain at 50% of original volume.

My technique is to reheat in the mashtun and take advantage of the grain acting as filter, thereby adding whole hops right into the re-boil and not worrying about hop stuck.  I re-heating to bring to a boil and then cook for about quick 25 minutes – yes, the dynamics change here a bit vs. normal primary brew, but the final product is always great Light beer.

Light beer pic below: 3% ABV

Primary beer pic below: 7% ABV

The light beer comes out Straw color, is very easy to drink and swallow, Low ABV at about 3%, maybe even a bit lower 2.8%

Brew in 2017: Belgian Raspberry Saison

picture below ( wort after mashing finished, continually recirculated ):

 

4/9/2017:

Today we have brewed a Belgian Saison – using the Wheast 3724 strain.  If you read about this strains feedback and requirements from the manufacturer and other people’s experiences, you will quickly realize that this is not a beginner strain.  If you are starting out and lack precise heating control in your fermenting environment (or some heat control), then you perhaps should go with a different strain, like the Wheast 3711 or perhaps offerings from other vendors like, White Labs., but check the requirements and do a little research for which ever yeast you decide to go with.

The temperature range for this strain is between 75 ~ 95F, it is a high attenuator 75-80% / which will give you that dry classic Saison profile beer.  The grain profile for this brew was more complex than for the French Saison.  We used regional hops from England.

For precise heat control management and data capture for later analysis, we of course use the Beeruino, it logs all the variables we need and allows us to monitor and tweak the temperature as the yeast gives you feedback on what to do.

We will post more details later including the exact recipe and final details on ABV.

The starting OG was 1.044 on this beer (11 gallons) and we take samples (gravity reading, date) over time as it ferments and quickly transform that into a plot using R to show what is going on.

[wpedon id=4272]

OG <- as.numeric(c('1.044','1.033','1.012','1.010','1.006'))
class(OG)

DATE <- as.Date(c("04/09/17","04/13/17","04/27/17","04/30/17","05/06/17"), "%m/%d/%y")
class(DATE)

observations <- as.data.frame(OG)
observations$DATE <- as.data.frame(DATE)

summary(observations)

with (observations, plot(DATE, OG, type="o", col="blue", ylab="gravity reading", xlab="Date") )

the resulting R plot (using simple x over y axis)…

If you don’t know what R is and want to learn: https://www.r-bloggers.com/start-here-to-learn-r/

On the 4th week we added 2lb of frozen raspberries / and waited a week extra.

Video before shows how I blend frozen raspberries.  Total volume added was 3/4 of a gallon – I mix warm water with frozen raspberries, otherwise its difficult to get them blended.

On Friday 5/12/2017 the heat was turned down to 78F and I let the temperature fall so that everything settled to the bottom of the fermentor.   You can ferment longer after the addition of the raspberries to let things integrate longer, maybe 3 weeks total after fruit addition.

Here is how the color looks before and after /  also for testing purposes its always a good idea to leave some of the original beer before fruit was added to see how they compare.

left = before adding fruit

right = after addition of fruit

This yeast likes heat!

Make no mistake about it, this yeast like heat right from the start, 80F minimum is perfectly ” a ok ” even as soon as you pitch.  Some people like to gradually raise it by a degree per day or so, but I think that this is totally unnecessary.

Most other strains when fermenting at these temperatures would result in a beer that tasted like a combination of gasoline and nail polish remover, seriously, so for this reason a lot of people naturally are wary of starting at higher temperatures.  Be warned that if you start with a warmer starter, and pitch into a cooler wort say 68F / this yeast can stall right away and you might not even see fermentation – which probably will freak you out.  As that’s exactly what happened the 1st time we did this, simply raise your temps to 75, then 80, then 85, 5F per day and let it sit there.  Agitate your fermentor if you can once in a while.

Stalling – did I say already that this yeast is notorious for stalling ?  It doesn’t matter if you are an experienced brewer, it has a mind of its own, it will stall, maybe on your first try or 5th try.  Also – this yeast can be slow – so a lot of people will confuse that with stalling, but it just takes time.

This strain will most likely stall around 1.035, for us it was 1.033, just ramp up the temp and take a vacation, you will have to wait a few weeks.

Make a big starter – for this brew we only made a 1000ml starter, but bigger is better with this strain of yeast, next time we will do 2000ml starter at bare minimum.

This yeast *may* be pressure sensitive.

Some research indicates that this yeast could also be stalling because of the pressure created inside the fermentor from co2 gas, and therefore some people open ferment, maybe put some aluminum foil over the exhaust.

What we actually did was use an air lock, because not a lot of pressure is needed to move the air lock up, but more is needed to overcome the water resistance enacting over the fermentor when the blow-off tube is sitting in a container full of water.

But think about it, maybe that’s really what an exciting brew is all about, brewing becomes a little bit boring after a while, if everything comes out like clock work ” as to be expected ” and there is no element of mystery, what is going on in there, hello yeast, knock knock, anyone there ?

This Saison will reward you with a wonderful complex peppery-fruity flavor, people will be breathing down your neck, they will beg!!

The ABV can range anywhere between 5 ~ 7.5%, it all depends on your recipe and what you are looking for.

Detailed observations to come, stay tuned!!!

 Grains used:

  • 22 lbs – German Pilsner
  • 1 lb – Vienna
  • 1/2 lb – Munich
  • 1 lb – Caramunich
  • 1 lb – Wheat

Hops:

  • 2 ounce at start of boil – East Kent
  • 1 ounce at 5 minutes to flame off – Styrian Hops

Yeast:

  • Wyeat 3724 1000ml starter

Cost:

The more complex the grain bill is, the more it will cost ( specialty grains cost more per pound compared to base 2-row grain ) – for all ingredients ( grain, hops, yeast, raspberries ), total was $72 with tax – this brewed 11 gallons, which means that we average about $6.50 per 1 gallon of awesome, fantastic beer.  Tell me where you can go and buy a gallon of Belgian Saison with Raspberry for $8 bucks ( no where ), most breweries sell Belgian by a small glass and that cost $8/$12 per glass, forget buying a growler to take home or a gallon.

The biggest cost was the German Pilsner, at $1.79 per pound.

Here is how it looks at only 1 week out of the fermentor with a quick cold crash in the fridge – ( tart, dry and a good hint of fruit ), very drinkable, now we age and see how it transforms and refines over time.

In conclusion – if you want a stronger/sharper raspberry flavor, remove beer about a week after addition of the fruit from the fermentor, however; if you want it more smooth and less fruity, let it ferment longer 3 weeks up to a month after addition of fruit.  You can also have both worlds, by removing half of it and half later from the fermentor, and also save some without fruit additions so that you can compare it all.

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Brew in 2015:

7/28/2015 – on Sunday we are brewing a slightly different variation this year.  80% Pilsner, 10% Vienna, 10% Wheat.  Columbus for bittering and Saaz for Aroma hops // using French Saison Yeast #3711 by Wyeast.  In addition we will use Raspberries during secondary conditioning for a – French Raspberry Saison…  Also we will shoot for at least a Double, so approx. 9% ABV+.  The colour we are looking for is a farmhouse straw!

The two pics below were a test pour out of the Fermentor at 2 weeks, the classic staw Farmhouse Ale colour was spot on.  The beer tasted awesome as well, only will get much better with time.

IMAG0074

IMAG0075

Raspberries also come through the best in beers for the flavor, taste and their overall profile.  It can turn some beer slightly sour with an unexpected benefit!

OG this time was 1.068…  FG was 7 days later (1 week fermentation), for a final of 1.005 – which would put this beer at a approximate 8.30% // not too shabby!

Now to Age // CHEERS!

Here is how the beer looks like at mashout…

eRB_9S5JznOVFPxQ7JUoPNAFADNbVfTEk4euY1kRY4I=w563-h995-no

and here is how it looks like after 1 week of fermentation with the raspberries added to the fermentor at day 3.

Uwg8HBBr3cONFVLDJUcwmuY1xzlwsKFrRxHaB2-YCXDZ=w563-h995-no

Raspberry-Fruit-Wallpaper

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 [wpedon id=4272]

Brew in 2014

7/20/2014 – we used 12 pounds of grain (per recipe percentage proportions), and 1/2 lb of Belgian Candi sugar (that’s all we had left)..  OG – 1.049, FG – 1.009

ABV % – 5.25%

Belgian Saison Ale

Historically a Saison is a french style farm beer, brewed in Fall/Winter for the next season – a harvesting/farmer drink.  These days many variations exist, and many good articles too – Google for additional research and ask questions if you are not sure about something.

If you want a traditional Saison don’t add any spices or orange/lemon peels and use traditional German hops like the Noble or something regional from the French area – since this is a traditional French beer.  We also like East Kent (even tho they are from the UK) and Styrian – these add a sweet edge to the beer.

Traditional Sainson’s are bottle conditioned and highly carbonated.  Color can be Golden to Amber, ABV 3 ~ 5%, modern Sainson can be as high as 6.5%+.  Should be moderately hoped to balance out the maltiness for all ABV variations.

Age: 1 ~ 2 months, and up to a year+

60 minute standard mash, some people even do a 90 minute mash

We will post out ( OG , FG ) and final ABV later.

  • 85% lbs domestic Pilsner // we like to use the German Pilsner Malt as substitution.
  • 10% Wheat
  • 5% Euro Caravienne

Hops / Additional ingredients:

Once you achieve a rolling boil, set timer:

  • At start-of-boil add 1.5 oz of Styrian Golding Hops and 1 lb of Light Belgian Candi
  • At 45 minute of boil add some Irish Moss – helps with Chill Haze later – http://byo.com/stories/item/486-conquer-chill-haze
  • At 5 minutes end-of-boil, add 1 oz of Sweet Orange Peel or lemon peels – depends what you want – ( skip peels for a traditional Seison )
  • At 2 minutes end-of-boil, add 1 oz of Noble Hops

Yeast:

Wheast #3711 seems highly recommended by other brewers, Wheast #3724 was reported to be slow and a pain-in-the-ass.  Yeasts by White Labs was recommended, choose a proper yeast for a true Saison beer.

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London Stout

8/31/2019

10-gallon primary batch sparge

  • 18 lb 2-row Northwest Pale
  • 1.5 lb Crystal 60
  • 1 lb Chocolate malt 350 love
  • 1.5 lb roasted barley 300 love

Hops:

  • 1.0 whole hops Yakima – start of boil
  • 1.5 ounce Norther Brewer hops – start of boil
  • 1.5 ounce Fuggles last 10 minutes of boil

Yeast – reusing the previous yeast brewed in the London Brown a few months back, doing a starter / London Ale III – Wyeast 1318 yeas

75-minute boil on the primary batch… OG 1.062 / 1 month fermentation FG 1.014 – 6.3% final OG

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

5-gallon secondary batch – here we use 6 gallons of water, added 2 ounces of whole hops into the grain (false bottom will prevent whole hop clog), bring to boil and do a short 30 minute boil, adding hops at a reduced time ratio. We also added (1lb dry light dry malt extract dme) to help with OG.

Hops:

  • 2.0 whole hops Yakima – start of boil
  • 0.5 ounce Norther Brewer hops – start of boil
  • 0.5 ounce Fuggles last 10 minutes of boil

30 minute boil. You might still get a stuck mash, so mashing out at a higher temp helps – I used a strong pump to suck and get it flowing, cool down the temps while recirculating (if no pump), good luck.

Here is how the secondary batch looks like after 3 weeks of fermentation and a quick co2 charge, it tastes light and is very easy to drink, creamy head with a chocolate taste, pretty damn good beer. The beer is at about 4.5%

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London Brown Ale 10 + 5 gallon batch

this beer came out delicious! – slightly on the sweet side with a hint of a hop after taste…

Today I am brewing a Brown London Ale using Wyeast 1318 yeast, which is a “London Ale III”.

Here I will do my standard 10 gallon batch sparge, but also do a 2nd running on the (same grain) and brew a secondary 5 gallon batch. I’ve done this before and you basically get 50% more beer with the same grain bill, just a bit weaker beer.

For this I always like to start with a high-er gravity beer, like 6% or higher, and then this way your secondary will end up around 5%+

In your secondary, you do have an option to add more DME or like in this case, we added 1/2 pound of Dark Brown Sugar. In the second batch you have the freedom if you want to use a totally different hop profile or even yeast. Of course you can keep everything the same, like I did.

malt:

primary 10-gallon grail bill:

  • 18 lbs Golden Promise
  • 5 lbs Munich Malt
  • 1.5 lbs Crystal 15
  • 1.5 lbs Crystal 60
  • 0.60 lbs Chocolote malt, 200 Love
  • 0.50 lbs Dark Brown Sugar

secondary running – same grain on a 5 gallon batch, plus 0.50 Dark Brown Sugar.

hops:

10 gallon – batch 1.5 ounce Cascade whole hops on 10 gallons from start of boil and 1 ounce of Willametter at 15 end of boil

5 gallon 2nd running – exactly the same

yeast:

London Ale III – Wyeast 1318 yeas

On the 2nd running I will use 6 gallon of water, re-heat it only and then transfer out of mash tun to the boil to finish it off, with standard 1 hour boil.

OG on 10 gallon – 1.06 – about 6% + – this one fermented for only about a week, and it comes out nice and sweet, I bet if you let it go longer it will end up higher ABV and less sweet, if you like this.

OG on 5 gallon – 1.04 – FG was 1.004 but also I left it in the fermentor for over a month, it comes out nice and clear and lighter color, more like a Newcastle Brown (also way better), so this comes out at a surprising 4.7% – so basically a 5% beer – see pic below:

Some nice outcomes from the secondary running is that the grain had more time to cook, so it is a little more of a roasty/nutty flavor, and in a English Brown Ale that is not a bad idea.

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Wild Blonde Ale

About 5 weeks ago we brewed a Blonde Ale / here I wanted to experiment more with the wild yeast culture that I have collected from raspberries in summer of 2018. This is my second attempt, the first was brewing a low ABV beer, but even here I think letting it ferment for more than the original 1 week would have been better. I finished fermenting in the bottles, so I am glad I didn’t use too much priming sugar.

below pic of the Krausen, some of it was saved…

It seems very important to monitor the activity and make sure it is done, especially if you are going to use priming sugar in your bottles so that they don’t over pressurize and become little time bombs.

The culture works, but incrementally over time, for this test I didn’t do any temperature tests, just keeping the Beeruino set at minimum 68F, since the basement can get cold sometimes – but right now I don’t know if it performs better at higher temps like 75F or 80 ~ 90F or some other range.

I took a weekly sample using a hydrometer and its flask.

The OG (original gravity) was 1.059 on this Blonde Ale.

1 week later1.04
2 weeks later1.03
3 weeks later1.022
4 weeks later1.014
5 weeks later1.010
6 weeks later1.008

Looks like at about 1.010 the fermentation stabilized and ABV is about 6.7% / probably in the end closer to 7%

I would monitor the flask as it basically is a mini-fermentor, but would still take a weekly sample from the fermentor, it was pretty much spot on – so one should be able to just take one sample with a hydrometer and monitor the flask (save beer), cover it with tinfoil or something like that seems to work awesome for me.

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Wild Farmhouse Ale

some warning – this was my first time collecting wild yeast and fermenting using it, there is a lot more to wild yeasts than meets the eye and more than I wrote in this blog, I am aware of it – but this is more of a story than anything. If you decide to go down the adventure road of wild yeast, just be careful and use common sense – research everything, this is by no means some indefinite write-up, also – stay away from assholes, they are everywhere, enjoy the hobby and don’t let them bog you down!

by the way: if you are interested in purchasing the Wild Yeast that was used to make this beer – Contact me.

When the Norwegian Farmhouse Ale was brewed – I did a second water running on the grain (lower ABV 3%) to test out a wild yeast that was collected in Summer of 2018 off Raspberries.

Now to those that don’t know a wild yeast is not a pure strain of yeast, it is in fact a culture – which is a mix of yeast, maybe even more than one yeast and other bacteria. When I first captured the yeast after the initial fermentation there was Brettanomyces in the krausen- this gives you the sour beer, in the top of the krausen you can see a spider web like infection – this is a tell tale sign.

I didn’t want a sour beer, so I had to clean it up, I collected the yeast below the krausen and did another yeast starter – you can google about this process to learn more…

see video below of what I did:

After another fermentation and confirmation of a clean yeast, I stored in the fridge until I had an opportunity to use it later, which was on this brew. Wild yeast in my opinion are a lot tougher, they have to survive winter in some harsh conditions, nature maintains it without any human involvement or lab process, in piles under leaves, under snow, sometimes freezing for months. I think it gives to the complexity and variability of the beer and probably why there is a resurgence in the Wild Ales.

So anyways, this yeast was added to the wort from the second runnings, pics below, as you can see the Brettanomyces is gone!!!

Yes, I collected all of that krausen into a sterilized jar and into the fridge it went for another brew. As you can see it was very clean and I didn’t see any weird colors or blocks of anything odd.

So now I have my very own unique wild culture of yeast collected from my land 🙂 Hooray!

another warning when bottling – let the ABV settle for a while to make sure it is stable and use less than the idea amount of priming sugar your first time as with a non-wild yeast, so you don’t end up with exploding bottles, as example I used 3 ounces of sugar for this 5 gallons batch, and everything ended up fine for me and nice…

I will brew some other beers in the future and blog more later…

I will update once the beer is ready to drink with more pics and a more detailed taste report!

links:

https://draftmag.com/brettanomyces-lactobacillus-pediococcus-beer/

If you are into Sour beers:

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Kviek Norwegian Farmhouse Ale

10 gallon batch.

Today 1/6/2019 we brewed a Norwegian Farmhouse Ale – but not using any traditional means, just a farmhouse grain stack with yeast – Imperial Yeast A43 Loki.

I will brew this again in the future using the Juniper branches in the more traditional way, but for now – we will go with a more modern recipe.

Speaking with the brew store employee, he just brewed something like that with the Loki yeast and recommended fermenting at 90F – so we used the Beeruino to control temperature at 90F and Log the fermentation (plot posted later).

We employed a step mash starting at 141 F for 90 minutes and slowly moving to target temp of 153F using a recirculating pump and a PID electric heater setup. This is a linear process but one way up, you never want to start at a too high of a temperature, as it would denature the enzymes and poop your beer.

grains:

  • 21 lb Belgian Pilsner
  • 1 lb Skagit Vienna (locally sourced grain)
  • 1 lb Munich
  • 1 lb Caramunich 60 Love
  • 1 lb flaked Oakts – fyi: we put it into the mash from the start, but if you don’t have a good strong pump that can pull, you might get a stuck mash starting at a lower temp like we did at 141 F – you can add it towards the end of the mash once your temperatures are higher…

R Code below… with Plot.

temp = c(141,147,151,153,153,153,153)

time = c(0,15,30,45,60,75,90)

?plot

plot(time,temp, type =”o”)

hops:

  • 2 ounces of UK Golding Hops – start of boil
  • 1 ounce Styrian – 5 minutes to end of boil

yeast:

Imperial Yeast Loki A43

More Update later – including looking into the more traditional brew.

Links to some YouTube traditional brews: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=norwegian+farmhouse+ale

OG was 1.046, FG ended up at 1.010 – 4.7%

but wait there is more… 🙂

We added back 6 gallons of water into the spent grant and kept going for a 2nd running, this is something new that I decided to do, the beer will be lower ABV, but I was ok with that.

For this one I have the freedom to use different hops, used 2 ounces of whole hops of 50/50 mix (Chinook, Cascade #homegrown) at start of boil and 70 grams of Saaz at 5 minutes to end of boil, shooting for a 5 gallon batch on this – so more hops here…

And for the yeast I used a Wild yeast that I have collected in the summer time off of raspberries, so this will not be a Norwegian Farmhouse, but more like a Wild Raspberries Farmhouse – just a creation that I’ve decided last minute and geek out on this brew day!

I named the wild yeast culture RAYRAS 01 – collected in August 2018. It looked good and smelled really good of fruit esters when a test was done, so we will see if this is any good or maybe I will get a surprise and get some nice wild sour, bottom line I expect an efficient yeast even with a 2nd running, it might end up close to the first because of the efficiencies of the yeast. TBD…

This yeast is not pure yet, it is a culture – meaning a mix of yeast and other things…

The Wild Farmhouse Ale – came out great so far, ABV was low 3% because I ran the water on the 2nd runnings – you could mix in some DME to bump that up, I didn’t on this test, as I wasn’t sure if the yeast would work out and it did!

Pictures tell a thousand words:

This is the yeast that was added in, collected from Raspberries, that’s why the color in the sample.

The wild yeast culture overall looked good at the end, no infections, no funky smells, taste tested good and within acceptable normal. I’ve collecting it to keep for the next batch.

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American Brown Ale 10 gallon batch


20160319_120209

attempt #1 pic below – Brew date: 3/26/1016

american_brown_ale-attempt1

attempt #2 pic below – Brew date: 7/10/2016

20160812_180653

10 gallons.

This beer was modeled after the Diamond Knot Brown Ale per the grains/hops posted on their web site, and simulated for ABV/SRM and IBU using app “Wort Pro”.

http://www.diamondknot.com/the-beer/always-on/brown-ale/

Videos of the brew are below:

adding flaked oats to mash: – add sweetness and body – read…

start of boil (using hop balls for whole hops so they don’t plug up the pipes):

transfer to fermentor:

adding yeast:

next day fermenting:

Attempt #1 – OG 1.068 // FG 1.010 – final ABV 7.6% – yes a little higher then the 6.0% Diamond Knot..

  • IBU 25.8
  • SRM 13

Attempt #2 – OG 1.066 // FG 1.014 – final ABV 6.83%

  • IBU 28.3
  • SRM 13

Total water used 15.5 gallons for final 10 gallons of beer…

attempt #1 grains:

  • 18 lb Pale Malt 2-row
  • 4.5 lb Munich Malt 10 love
  • 3.0 lb Crystal Malt 10 love – see below for attempt #2 changes
  • 0.20 lb Chocolate Malt
  • 0.20 lb Black Barley
  • 1.0 lb flaked Barley
  • 1/2 lb of brown sugar

attempt #2 grains:

  • 18 lb Pale Malt 2-row
  • 4.5 lb Munich Malt 10 love
  • 1.5 lb Crystal Malt 15 love
  • 1.5 lb Crystal Malt 60 love – we did this to give the beer more caramel flavor and beer body
  • 0.40 lb Chocolate Malt – we double the dark grains to darken the color a bit
  • 0.40 lb Black Barley
  • 1.0 lb flaked Barley
  • 1/2 lb of brown sugar – we didn’t use it this time, the sugar…

hops attempt #1:

  • 2.0 oz Galena with some whole hops from last year’s harvest (Yakima & Cascade) at start of boil, added to the hop boil ball, see video.
  • 2.0 oz Willamette last 15 minute of boil.

hops attempt #2:

  • 2.0 oz of home grown Cascade Hops, 2015 harvest (beginning of boil)
  • 1.0 oz of Cascade pallet + 1.0 oz Willamette pallet (last 15 minutes)

attempt #1 – Wyeast #1056 yeast was used, took 2 weeks to ferment out, this yeast consistently bubbled over the 2 week period…

attempt #2 – British Ale Wyeast #1098 // 2 liter starter // 1.040 gravity – majority of the active fermentation will be over in about 4 days, but let it go out full 2 weeks – because it’s still happening, just slower, also we like to allow extra time for all the floaters in the fermentor to settle.  On that note, per one of our brew nerds – once fermentation is over, trapped dissolved co2 gas slowly escapes the beer, so it will give you a false sense of a fermenation – only way is to measure.

attempt #3 – 11/11/18 – all same as attempt #2, expect for yeast – we used WLP002 English Ale… OG 1.052 / started the mash schedule at 138F and slowly ramped to 152F in 1 hour, then held at 152F for an additional 30 minutes for 90 minute total mash / this mash schedule produced much a better efficiency compared to OG of 1.040 in attempt #2

Beer tastes awesome – Fermentation was 2 weeks, which included 1 week rest time – this helps the yeast to reabsorb any unwanted off-flavors, in keg for only a few days!  Boom, a winner!

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