So over the summer, I moved. It is now a whole new brewing experience at a new brewing location. You don’t realize just how set in your ways you get, till you can’t use those ways any more. It was time to try out the new home brewery location, and try to make a new beer style that I had not tried before. Granite Milkshake is a milkshake IPA that was formulated by yours truly, Brewmaster Jerry. Let’s take a peak at how things went.
So I can no longer brew indoors. That is a big thing. I had a great power boiler gas burner on my old range, but alas, the new house has an electric range, and not enough room for my Bayou Classic 1144 pot. The microwave/vent hood is not tall enough to let me get my pot on the stove, so I am now a full time outdoor brewer. Thankfully, the wife gave me that burner for Christmas! The sink? Yup, it is smaller. My pot won’t fit into it when chilling the beer or to fill it. I have to find my adapter to hook my immersion chiller to the faucet. So, it sounds like all is rough….right? Well, not really.
I fired up a starter of Omega Vermont DIPA yeast earlier in the week. I am making oversized starters now, using most, then throwing a jar of it back into my “bank”.
Omega OYL-052 starter
I started to brew on a Sunday afternoon. I heated up my mash water to get things going. I did add some Gypsum and Calcium Chloride to help out with my water profile. This is the first time I am attempting to get a profile made. My local area water report is not telling me everything I need to know, so I am still struggling with the Brew’n Water spreadsheet use. For this brew, I merely followed the dosing directions per the containers. I will have to dial this in more in the future, but this should give me a starting point. Another factor that I hadn’t considered before brewing was this is my first shot at using the home water here. It is still delivered by the same municipal and has the same source, but the pipes may be different, so I am not sure. The mash in went without a hitch using my AHA homemade mash tun. In the hour that the mash was going, I loss just a little more than 1 degree….I’ll take it!
146.3 for a final temp after 60 min mash. Started at 147.6
I filled my pot back up, and fired up the burner again. Oh, I love me some smells of brewing! I bittered the wort with Magnum. Throughout the boil, I was running in and out of my house, as the I couldn’t connect on my NFL Mobile app. I had to keep up on the game! I had a new neighbor stop down while I was brewing, and I gave him a crash course on the brewing process. He had tried some of Good Rye Old House Stout, but this beer should be more up his taste alley. Public Service Announcement – don’t brew with a big pot of wort and wear sandals. I almost had some nice boiling wort jump out to find my feet….luckily, I was paying attention and do a quick two step! The rest of the boil went off without a hitch.
Then added some Centennial, Simcoe, and Experimental Grapefruit during the flameout and whirlpool stages.
I hooked my immersion chiller up to the hose for the first time. I always hooked it up to the sink in the past. I have to find my adapter to see if it works with the faucet at the new house. One more thing that I need to find. I did just let the chiller drain into a side garden, so the water didn’t go to waste.
I feel like I added a ton of hops to this brew so far….and the it still isn’t done! I will be added more Experimental Grapefruit hops, as well as some Simcoe and Eukanot LupuLN2 (cryohops) to the fermenter after high krausen hit.
A few thoughts:
- Very happy with the gravity on this batch. I came in just above the target SG (1.072 vs 1.071) and below the target FG (1.010 vs 1.016). I think I did well with efficiency and the yeast did their part!
- I can’t wait to try out this beer….then use it in an upcoming project!
- I am curious to see what the water adjustments will do to the mouthfeel
- When I opened the fermenter after the LupuLN2 was in there for a few days, it smelled fantastic! I can’t wait to see if the smell and the taste match!
- I used some vanilla beans that were part of a larger vanilla extract soaking….and I poured in some of said extract as well. I wonder if the vanilla will need to be more pronounced in the future.
