What'd ya'll make today?

[cornsqueezin]

Setting up to do a stripping run of sweetfeed mash. It will be started on a timer and will start tomorrow morning at 6:30am. Have used this timer a few times and it seems to work great. If I oversleep, it is already going. Always go downstairs after I make coffee and check on it to make sure all is well and turn up the heat a little (never set it up to the normal until I go down and check it. Better safe than sorry. Lower heat gets it warming up.) After this stripping run, I will run all that I have collected from previous runs and make a finished product.

[blind drunk]

Stripped some apple wine.

[Bushman]

Made cabinets for a built in desk! Question was What'd ya'll make today?

[johnny108]

DIstilling a faux-absinthe, using sage as a replacement for the Grande Wormwood I can't seem to get my hands on.
(25g aniseed, 25g Fennel, 15g Sage soaked in 1l of 40%vodka for a week, distilling "on the solids" in an ice-water-wok still)
Used sage as a less-bitter replacement for the wormwood, because it has similar (sometimes higher) thujone levels.

(BTW- using the dark syrup/"molasses" that comes from sugar beets DOES NOT make a rum- it just tastes like a bad sugar wash.)

[RumBrewer]

Been looking for a thread like this for 2 days! Glad it got bumped!

Today I filtered, cut and tasted my Banana Rum. Fermented on Bananas then dropped a sliced banana in a jar to add color, flavor and body. Came out great!
Also tasted some rum that's almost a month old. Coming along very well.

[MDH]

Decanted a chocolate wine I am working on. It's now a clear, coffee-colored, transparent dark brown wine that smells intensely of nuts and cocoa. Infused it with a few pieces of black pepper and rosemary. I'll have to age it for a while.

[frozenthunderbolt]

Decanted a chocolate wine I am working on. It's now a clear, coffee-colored, transparent dark brown wine that smells intensely of nuts and cocoa. Infused it with a few pieces of black pepper and rosemary. I'll have to age it for a while.

Recipe please

[MDH]

I don't think I'm giving it away quite yet, this is a first time recipe. But if it works I'll let you know.

[RumBrewer]

Decanted a chocolate wine I am working on. It's now a clear, coffee-colored, transparent dark brown wine that smells intensely of nuts and cocoa. Infused it with a few pieces of black pepper and rosemary. I'll have to age it for a while.

Recipe please

MMMMM! Liquid Sex Mead!
http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?showtopic=70826" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
I've made this one a couple of times and the Chicks Dig it!

[RumBrewer]

Ok. If I can clean up the mess I made yesterday, 10 gallons of 3rd gen Rum going into the boiler!

[heartcut]

In the atrium, cold for Houston (mid-30s), brewing some Oatmeal Stout. Shooting for 8%. mmmm

[zouthernborne]

I got a Pugirum wash going, an All Bran, and a wash of my own recipe rum. All three are smelling good. Couple more days till distillin' time.

[Stephen_Stills]

Just finishing up a 10-gallon stripping run of UJSSM. Have a 10-gallon spirit run scheduled for Saturday while MDW is in the big city goin' to college. I am happy she is working on her doctorate and gone most Saturdays.

[NcHooch]

100% corn ....was more of an experiment ....sadly, didn't work out as well as I'd planned/hoped. (I got a pint of hearts out of 5 gals)

[dag_nabberit]

12 pounds ground malted corn (green), 5 pounds sugar, 6 gallons water.
Steeped malted corn in 3 gallons water at 150f for several hours, added sugar dissolved in one gallon water and topped with 2 more gallons of water. Used a white wine yeast. Fermented out to 1.005 sg.
Ran about half of this today (the top part that had cleared) one time thru post still with thumper charged with feints from previous run. Tossed the heads (all of them), cut off hearts at 65% abv. Collected tails down to 25%. The remaining mash was put through a nylon mesh bag and squeezed out to finish clearing.
Total drinking spirits collected today after diluting to 50% abv (100 proof)...-3 1/2 pints.

[bmkonsoul]

I've got an All Bran wash that just cleared and a grain wash that's 5lbs cracked corn, a pound of rye, pound of barley, and enough sugar to get me 13% abv in a 6.5 total gallon wash, simple sour mash style.

Strip runs tomorrow night, Beer & Bourbon Festival on Saturday, spirit run on Sunday. I love it when a plan comes together

[King Of Hearts]

I started some Wyeast 2308 Munich for a 1800ml starter that I'll make tonight and then double up tomorrow for an 11 gal batch of Vienna Lager Sunday with Hallertau Mittlefrau hops.

[zouthernborne]

Got bored, so I went to the garage to see what was lying around to run through my still. Had an old bottle of rum that I spiced and then hated, some kiwi infused vodka that tasted terrible, a bottle of banana wine and a bottle of honey mead that I have no interest in aging. It's a Frankenstein mixture that smells wonderful coming off the still!

[Odin]

Some "aulde" genever yesterday. Right now I am making Poitín from a barley/oats beer. From 10% in one run to 90%. Then diluting it back to around 50%. Some Irish folks visitiing this weekend.

Rye beer is almost finished. If on time, I will pot distill that on Saturday.

Odin.

[jcrawf]

mashed 8 lbs of yellow millet ( more expensive then the other stuff I used). came out thick like cake frosting. Used 3.5 lbs of 2 row for conversion and a few beano tabs just in case. SG came out at 1.07 but i think there may have been a few solids in there that skewed my reading. Smells great and is bubbling away like crazy. we'll see how it turns out.

[Bro-sephus]

Inverted 6 lbs of refined cane sugar in 3 ga of water with a quart of grapes that were looking like they were fixin' to turn, poured over a pound or so of cracked field corn and topped off with another gallon or so until it cooled down to about 95 degrees and pitched my yeast. We'll see if the grapes do anything to the flavor!

[Odin]

Maybe strip my first gen of all rye UJSSM ...

[Samohon]

Just Kegged and Decanted:

• 19L Sierra Nevada IPA clone
• 19L Caledonian 80/- (Slash and Dash)
• Tempered and Decanted 5L of UJSSM
• Tempered and Decanted 5L of Odins Special K Vodka...

Getting ready for the in-laws coming from Ukraine in 6 weeks... Hope I can keep my greedy lips away from it....

Another Special K wash to do tomorrow...

[King Of Hearts]

Vienna Lager
3-A Vienna Lager
Date: 3/4/2012

Size: 11.0 gal
Efficiency: 90.0%
Attenuation: 73.0%
Calories: 170.37 kcal per 12 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.051 (1.046 - 1.052)
Terminal Gravity: 1.014 (1.010 - 1.014)
Color: 10.74 (10.0 - 16.0)
Alcohol: 4.89% (4.5% - 5.5%)
Bitterness: 29.4 (18.0 - 30.0)

Ingredients:
10 lb Best Pilsen Malt
5.0 lb Vienna Malt Best
1.0 lb Melanoidin Malt
1 lb Belgian Aromatic
1.0 lb Cara 20 - Caramel Malt

4.0 oz Hallertauer Mittelfrüher (3.4%) - added first wort, boiled 90 m
1.0 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 m
1 oz Hallertauer Mittelfrüher (3.4%) - added during boil, boiled 10.0 m
1.0 tsp Wyeast Nutrient - added during boil, boiled 10.0 m

300 mL WYeast 2308 Munich Lager

Schedule:

00:38:53 Mash In - Liquor: 5.62 gal; Strike: 155.93 °F; Target: 145 °F
01:38:53 Saccharification Rest - Rest: 60 m; Final: 131.6 °F
02:05:13 Mash Out - Heat: 26.3 m; Target: 168.0 °F
03:35:13 Sparge - Sparge: 12.0 gal sparge @ 170.0 °F, 12.67 gal collected, 90 m; Total Runoff: 13.0 gal

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.20

[Odin]

Just Kegged and Decanted:

• 19L Sierra Nevada IPA clone
• 19L Caledonian 80/- (Slash and Dash)
• Tempered and Decanted 5L of UJSSM
• Tempered and Decanted 5L of Odins Special K Vodka...

Getting ready for the in-laws coming from Ukraine in 6 weeks... Hope I can keep my greedy lips away from it....

Another Special K wash to do tomorrow...

Sam,

Could you please tell what you mean by kegging and decanting and tempering a bit? If you don't mind? I am trouble trying to "see" what you do. Kegging is from a keg, but that's your boiler, so ... what is kegging? Taking out of the barrel? And decanting is "opening a bottle" to me. Tempering ... diluting to drinking strength? Hope I am not too far of.

Odin.

[Samohon]

Here you go Odin; Your well on track, but my beer-making and distilling enterprises are separate issues, but kinda go together if you know what I mean...

Corny keg: I use this to condition, store and serve my beers and ales...

Tempering: Taking the high proof, > 60%, down to drinking strength. ie, 40%...
Decanting: Taking the tempered spirit from my large 10L tempering bottle and placing into something more manageable...

Heres my 1905 Russian Ships Decanter... (sorry: dont know the name of the ship...)


ps: your Special K vodka is definitely gonna be a big hit... Thanks again man...

[Odin]

Hi Samohon,

Forgot it could be about beer. And it was for a part about beer! Now I get it! Was thinking: what do you do with your likker and a keg, after you distilled? Making beer, using a keg, now that makes sense! Thanx for the explain. Improving my English by the post.

Great you like the Special K! An the other hand ... it is no more than another interpretation of Rad's All Bran.

Love your decanter. You should have the ships name. That would be even better. Maybe a ship from the Odenin Line? Just kidding.

I have a decanter with a pointed glass base. It sits in a silver something that helds it in place. You pour in the wine, put the decanter on the table and it is at a 45 degrees angle. You can swirl the decanter around in a circle and so decant the wine even more. It's got some of my first brandywine in it. Will post some pics later this weekend.

For now it is: vacuum clean the first floor, maybe find time to smoke a cigar, eat some, and then see the guests to my birthday party arrive. I expect like 30 to 35 people and it will be late before it is finished. Serving (apart from beer & wine, etc.): a young grain genever, an old style genever, vodka based on a barley mash with plenty of mouth feel and even some bits of taste on the back ground, sortilege (a sorta whiskey liquer), UJSSM style single malt whisky (not there yet), UJSSM bourbon, Malibu (rum coconut), and some other stuff ... Hope to see a lot of it "gone" by tomorrow!

Odin.

[Samohon]

Sounds like a great and BIG party Odin. Henk, you and I could have a great tasting gig with all our variants...lol Maybe one day...

Hey, your English is great, my only other language's are Russian and some German... Hope the party goes well...

ps: I'll try and trace the name of the ship... My brother-in-law bought it for me as a B/Day present 10 years ago from a bazaar in Kiev, it was quite expensive then...

[topNoEvil0420]

I had a bunch of stuff left over from a few separate runs, I took a 1kg of wheat malt extract , 2, 1.3 kg tubs of pale malt extract 1 kg of 2 row pale malt barely, 1 kg of corn , 2 500ml can of sweet corn. boiled it for 90 mins and put it in a 40 l pale and filled it up with water and stired. I added 2 packages of ec-1118 yeast and 1 package of Safbrew S-33 dry brewing yeast ( yeast E491), I wasnt sure about putting 2 different kinds of yeast I hope it will turn out.... Good luck on the Apple brandy , can you bake the apples first then add them to some extra sugar and water, i figured the baking would release and caramalise alot of the sugars in the apples and the extra sugar ( i would use a golden brown sugar) to make a really nice brandy , Sorry for the rant had the thought while i was writing the first bit and had to add ,

Once again good luck on the apple brandy !

Cheers!

[MontanaMule]

The Misses and I brewed up a pale ale with lots of sorachi/cascade/amarillo hops this evening. Should finish at about 7% with some citrus/grapefruit/lemon tastes and aromas.