[Sam]

Maybe Chuck can fax a virtual beer to Evan.

Serving:
Genmaicha Brown Ale
Munich Dunkel
IPA

Conditioning:

Fermenting:
House Amber

Planning:
?

[Sam]

I just started reading the Vintage Beer book last night, and I’m enjoying it.

OK, good to hear that given similar conditions, bulk aging isn’t significantly different than bottle aging. And there is still general consensus that moving beer off the ‘primary’ yeast cake is still a good idea if the beer is to be aged/conditioned in a larger container before carbonating.

You both have given me a lot to think about when it comes to carbonating my barley wine. It is more like an English Barley Wine (lower bittering, Imperial Pub yeast, and I used Loral hops which have a floral characteristic). The keg is currently at basement temperature of ~64F, and I only put ~5psi on the keg to seal the lid.

I’m considering leaving it in the keg for a couple months, then I might add priming sugar to the keg to carbonate it. I’m really not interested in going back into bottling yet, but this might push me over the edge for longer term aging/conditioning/cellaring. I don’t see how with my current setup I could realistically long term age in a keg in my 3 keg keezer. It would be too cold to allow the beer to change much, and I would be limiting my available drinking supply.

In the future, I might pickup a 2.5gal keg so I can keg some of a batch and bottle some.

Sam

Serving:
Genmaicha Brown Ale
Munich Dunkel
IPA

Conditioning:

Fermenting:
House Amber

Planning:
?

[Sam]

Cool. I’ve read there is a ‘standard’ for the size and shape of the glass for color comparisons. I might have read it in Palmer’s book. I’ll see if I can remember to look for it.

Sam

Serving:
Genmaicha Brown Ale
Munich Dunkel
IPA

Conditioning:

Fermenting:
House Amber

Planning:
?

[Sam]

Google Meet sounds like a good solution. WooHoo!

I agree there should be some type of agenda, or plan. It is difficult enough at the in person meetings to keep up with the conversations. We might need Colter to ‘run’ the meeting, take check-ins, and like Jeff mentioned allow each person a chance to present what they have, what they are doing, or any questions, and then open it up to comments.

Anybody every participate in a ham radio ‘net’? If so, similar to one of those.

Sam

Serving:
Genmaicha Brown Ale
Munich Dunkel
IPA

Conditioning:

Fermenting:
House Amber

Planning:
?

[Sam]

I think you could still add it to the primary. See if you can dissolve the sugar in 1/2 cup of water. It will be thick, but you might be able to lightly boil it to sanitize. It might take up to 1 cup of water to dissolve.

Serving:
Genmaicha Brown Ale
Munich Dunkel
IPA

Conditioning:

Fermenting:
House Amber

Planning:
?

[Sam]

I’m interested. What do you have in mind?

Sam

Serving:
Genmaicha Brown Ale
Munich Dunkel
IPA

Conditioning:

Fermenting:
House Amber

Planning:
?

[Sam]

OK. I haven’t done any long term aging on yeast. My interpretation of ‘aging on yeast’ is to leave the product in the fermenter for an extended length of time. I’m still cautious about leaving a beer in the ‘primary’ fermenter for more than a month because of reports of potential off flavors. I may have to get over that fear. 🙂

I do agree that filtering the yeast and force carbonating will produce a different result than allowing the yeast to carbonate and continue to make other changes to the beer.

If a beer is NOT filtered and moved to a 2nd container to age, will the yeast continue to make the other changes if additional sugars are not added for carbonation?

Also, if yeast was not filtered and sugars are added to naturally carbonate, what would be the expected difference if the beer is in a bottle versus in a larger container? (Both the bottle and larger container would be held at the same environmental conditions.) It seems to me if the primary variable is the size of the container for carbonation and aging, that bulk aging might produce a more consistent product compared to multiple smaller containers.

Sam

Serving:
Genmaicha Brown Ale
Munich Dunkel
IPA

Conditioning:

Fermenting:
House Amber

Planning:
?

[Sam]

That’s great! Medusa is a fun hop!

Sam

Serving:
Genmaicha Brown Ale
Munich Dunkel
IPA

Conditioning:

Fermenting:
House Amber

Planning:
?

[Sam]

Hi Aaron,

I agree the numbers seem off. It is almost as if your required water volume calculations are off. Do you sparge? Could your sparge volume be low?

Your boil off rate seems high. If your actual boil off is less that will bring down your OG. But since you are .5 gal less overall, there is either loss somewhere or your actual water input is lower than expected.

How do you measure the water volume? I know my kettle markings read high by ~.5gal. So I know I have to add more water than the kettle markings show.

Sam

Serving:
Genmaicha Brown Ale
Munich Dunkel
IPA

Conditioning:

Fermenting:
House Amber

Planning:
?

[Sam]

To update this thread and give some final thoughts about the recipe…

The wild rice flavor and aroma has diminished so that it isn’t so prominent, while still contributing to the brown ale. The pale chocolate has become apparent, and this is a very drinkable beer (if you like wild rice). However, it isn’t what I had envisioned.

For me, the cost of 2 pounds of wild rice isn’t worth making this recipe again. I was hoping the nutty characteristic of wild rice would add to the brown ale. Nope.

I will probably try again but use toasted/roasted white rice like Colter mentioned. I’ve found a few links for toasting rice for Genmaicha. This one seems worth a try for me: https://www.instructables.com/id/Genmaicha-roasted-rice-tea/

I’ll fill a bottle or two to bring to a future OTMP meeting for others to try.

Sam

Serving:
Genmaicha Brown Ale
Munich Dunkel
IPA

Conditioning:

Fermenting:
House Amber

Planning:
?

[Sam]

Mixing and matching threads… 🙂

Jim, your list of biers makes me want to start drinking in the morning!
Dunkel
Alt
Marzen
Munich Lager

All of those are hitting my taste buds these days. Yum!

Sam

Serving:
Genmaicha Brown Ale
Munich Dunkel
IPA

Conditioning:

Fermenting:
House Amber

Planning:
?

[Sam]

Ryan, thanks for the feedback. I appreciate your input.

That is how I interpreted the guidlines; that an Old Ale might have wood or brett character from the aging process. I don’t plan to age this batch on wood, so I don’t expect it to pick up those characters.

It seems my batch more closely matches the english barleywine, but on the low end. I’m good with that for my first attempt. I plan to have this batch around a long time. I haven’t decided if I will bottle once I have let it condition in a keg. I think that might be my best option for longer term aging.

Sam

Serving:
Genmaicha Brown Ale
Munich Dunkel
IPA

Conditioning:

Fermenting:
House Amber

Planning:
?

[Sam]

My keezer only holds 3 kegs, so I keep a rotation going. (Not like Jim’s 10 keg keezer in the picture.) I have 3 kegs of beer in my keezer, 1 keg of mead that needs to be bottled, one beer in a fermenter, and 4 bottles of homebrew gifted to me. I’ve also started planning my next brew session.

3 kegs of beer:
About half way through my Wild Rice Brown. It is ~5%ABV, so easy drinking. Not exactly the flavor I was expecting, but definitely drinkable. The wild rice flavor is diminishing, and the pale chocolate is coming through. Next time I’ll roast some white rice like Colter mentioned to get a nutty flavor.
Just kegged the OTMP grain challenge barleywine. It is alcohol hot after 3 weeks in the fermenter. It is about 9%, so not as high as Ryan’s saison. 🙂 It is cold crashing now. I’ll take it out of the keezer in a couple days to let it condition at basement temperatures.
Just kegged the ‘Work at Home’ coffee cream ale. It is ~4.5% ABV. Should be a few days, and should make a great April beer.

Mead:
I made a batch of tart cherry sweet mead in Feb 2019. It has been in a keg for ~11 months. I think it is ready to bottle. Guessing ~14% ABV. I’m looking forward to another OTMP meeting to get feedback.

Fermenter:
My house Amber, but with tap water and Campden tablet instead of RO and salts. This recipe usually ends up at ~6.5% ABV. Should be malty goodness.

Bottles:
2 bottles from my son in CA of an Orange Stout. The oranges are from a tree in his front yard. Should be ready now!
2 bottles from my college room mate of ESB. They were bottled in mid Jan 2020, so he tells me it is time.

Planning:
I like regular American Pale Ales and IPA, so I think my next batch will be a simple APA. I haven’t figured out what to do after that. I have a moderate amount of grains, so I should be able to make 3 batches of beer before I need to re-order. Plenty of hops. I’ll have to propagate some yeast to use unless I run out of CO2 and need to visit a LHBS.

Serving:
Genmaicha Brown Ale
Munich Dunkel
IPA

Conditioning:

Fermenting:
House Amber

Planning:
?

[Sam]

I understand the feelings of uncertainty over the next few months. I’m trying to mentally prepare that ‘stay-at-home’ (or ‘Stay-In-Place’ SIP) will likely extend into/through May. In the meantime I want to be able to live with the knowledge that life will return to ‘normal’, and that this is a temporary hiatus. For me, future plans will happen, but might need to be adjusted.
I had already brewed my OTMP challenge ale before the SIP order. Hopefully there will be some left when we are able to meet for the tastings.
Jim, since Jeff wanted to help with the mash, could you do the mash for him, find an acceptable way to package the wort for him, and let him finish the boil/ferment/conditioning on his own? It is really up to the 2 of you.
As for your brewing schedule… You do what works for you. Keep your current schedule and live life as normally as you can. If summer brewing isn’t normal for you, keep that schedule.
I’ve actually ramped up my brewing; I’ve brewed the past 3 weekends. And, I’m already planning my next brew. I’m going to run out of kegs (I don’t have as many as you…). HA!

FYI… Kegged my OTMP Grain Challenge barleywine yesterday. FG is 1.020. It tastes alcohol hot, but I didn’t detect any other off flavors. I’m thinking I’ll cold crash it, then let it condition at 64F (basement temp) for a month and taste test again. I read through the style guides, and I think it still fits a barlywine description better than Old Ale or Strong Ale. There isn’t any wood character like an Old Ale might have, and the numbers don’t really match the Strong Ale category.

Brew on!

Serving:
Genmaicha Brown Ale
Munich Dunkel
IPA

Conditioning:

Fermenting:
House Amber

Planning:
?

[Sam]

Jim, my ‘Isolation Amber’ is my regular YAA (Yet Another Amber) but I’ll be using tap water with Campden tablets instead of RO water and salts. I’m in the ‘at-risk’ due to lung issues so I am really trying to not go to public places like grocery stores. I’ll brew the amber tomorrow and it should be ready in 3 -4 weeks. Almost certainly it will be consumed in isolation.

I decided to try a barleywine for my OTMP Grain Challenge beer; this will be my first barleywine. My numbers were off, and my OG was 1.086 instead of the calculated 1.094 so this will be a barleywine ‘lite’. Tastes Great!, Less Filling! I thought 3 months would be the minimum for a barleywine so I felt I was pushing it anyway.

I agree. Not sure what our options will be by June. I was scheduled to spend a week on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in late June for my 60th. I don’t even know if the Grand Canyon will be open then. Other National Parks are closing, and backcountry travel is being shutdown all across the west. Strange times…

Sam

Serving:
Genmaicha Brown Ale
Munich Dunkel
IPA

Conditioning:

Fermenting:
House Amber

Planning:
?

[Author]

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