New Year's Brewing Resolutions

Get advice on making beer from raw ingredients (malt, hops, water and yeast)
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BenB

New Year's Brewing Resolutions

Post by BenB » Mon Dec 29, 2014 6:39 pm

So has anyone got any brewing related plans for next year? So far my list is

1) build a stainless HLT to go with the Sesto PID controller I've bought. Just waiting on some XLR connectors for the PT100 and I'm ready to go. Doesn't make sense to PID my electrim when it limits my brew length. Trouble is I decided on stainless, then I decided to use the same 50L stainless jobby as for my boiler so it matches and it would seem silly not to have a sight glass to go with it.... Looks like that's a hundred quid taken care off!

2) Do an Oktoberfest beer on my birthday in March to stick lagering over Summer. Just got to get a freezer to use as a lagering fridge. Can you lager in a plastic fermentation vessel or is glass or stainless better in terms of less oxidation?

3) Re-brew my ESB clone without mucking up the boil, the sparge and everything else. See if it turns out nearer my favourite brew.

4) Finally get round to using my King keg (so far just used bottles or mini kegs). Just need to find a brew I fancy finishing off quite quickly. I was thinking a mild but most fancied Sarah Hughes Ruby and that's 6% so not really a session beer! Thinking Thwaites Nutty Black instead- really liking my St Peters Porter- I think some of the bottles were contaminated but the mini keg came out really nice!!

5) Finally get round to visiting the Fullers brewery and doing their tour. Might do the Camden Town one too as it's closer... Only issue is the Saturday tours are fully booked and the Thursday evening ones are when I work late :(

6) Brew a fairly hoppy Camden Town IPA style beer.

7) Move away from DLS as my salt additions to doing it at least partially properly with CRS to reduce carb and then individual salt additions to adjust the profile...

byronb

Re: New Year's Brewing Resolutions

Post by byronb » Mon Dec 29, 2014 9:41 pm

Glad to see I'm not the only one planning these sorts of things :)

1) Get a malt mill so I can buy uncrushed grain.

2) Get a pump so I can use recirc on my BIAB setup. Should get a much more consistent mash temperature and faster cooling with whirlpool.

3) Brews planned so far are the JBK ESB, Seymour Citra Gold, a Classic American Pilsner and a Wheat Beer (last two from Brewing Classic Styles). Having moved to kegs these will be the first beers to use a fermentation fridge (was my bottle fridge).

4) Finish my keg chiller build and get it filled with five corny kegs (three so far).

5) Replace the STC-1000 on the fridge with a BrewPi (or BrewPi Spark).

6) Improve my water treatment. Alkalinity is greater than 300ppm and I'm currently using quite a lot of phosphoric acid on each brew, I'd like to get an RO system instead.

7) Get an SS BrewTech Brew Bucket. No particular reason, it's shiny and I can't fit one of their chronicals in my fridge :)

byronb

Re: New Year's Brewing Resolutions

Post by byronb » Mon Dec 29, 2014 9:53 pm

Forgot two:

8 ) After reading the Yeast book: setting up a yeast lab :) Probably just making plates and slants to start with and using these in my starters.

9) Finish Principles of Brewing Science (got this for Christmas) so I can understand a bit more about what I'm doing. At the rate I'm getting through it this might be the last thing I complete next year :)

kev93_10
Piss Artist
Posts: 124
Joined: Mon Aug 29, 2011 8:54 am

Re: New Year's Brewing Resolutions

Post by kev93_10 » Mon Dec 29, 2014 10:05 pm

Mine is simple......

I work for a brewery and get a voucher each month for a case of their beer......I hope to get to next December and have 12 left.

Therefore, I hope to supply myself (fully) in beer for the coming year.

That is all

K

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Pinto
Falling off the Barstool
Posts: 3443
Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2012 4:09 pm
Location: Rye, East Sussex

Re: New Year's Brewing Resolutions

Post by Pinto » Mon Dec 29, 2014 11:08 pm

Hmm...

Brew. Something. Regularly. :lol:

I'd also like to finish my mag stirrer, replace all the nasty pvc garden hose on the inlet/outlet of my CFC with lovely, soft, flexy silicone stuff. I also need to obtain a medium chest freezer to keezerise so I can start using my polykegs... but that would mean buying three 50L ex-stainless kegs to convert to boiler/mash tun/ lauter tun so I could fill 30l polykegs in one go....which would mean regulator, hose and bottle for my burner ring....and replacing my dead frooker so I can ferment AND lager.....and...and...

goddam. This is getting dear !!! :lol:
Primary 1: Nonthing
Primary 2 : Nothing
Primary 3 : None
Secondary 1 : Empty
Secondary 1 : None
DJ(1) : Nowt
DJ(2) : N'otin....
In the Keg : Nada
Conditioning : Nowt
In the bottle : Cinnamonator TC, Apple Boost Cider, Apple & Strawberry Cider
Planning : AG #5 - Galaxy Pale (re-brew) / #6 - Alco-Brau (Special Brew Clone) / #7 Something belgian...
Projects : Mini-brew (12l brew length kit) nearly ready :D

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BluePanda

Re: New Year's Brewing Resolutions

Post by BluePanda » Tue Dec 30, 2014 7:14 pm

Make the transition to AG (BIAB method). Although I have about half a dozen kits left so not in any hurry and since I made a brew fridge, the quality of my finished kit beers has increased measurably.
Still - planning is fun. :)

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JamesF
Drunk as a Skunk
Posts: 986
Joined: Fri Feb 10, 2012 12:09 am
Location: West Somerset

Re: New Year's Brewing Resolutions

Post by JamesF » Tue Dec 30, 2014 7:30 pm

I don't really do New Year's Resolutions. If I want to do something, I get on with it when I decide I want to do it. However, having started work on my new brew shed this year I do intend to get properly back into brewing as I've done little since my boiler thermostat gave up the ghost and I decided I should take the opportunity to upgrade my gear.

James

mshergold

Re: New Year's Brewing Resolutions

Post by mshergold » Tue Dec 30, 2014 7:38 pm

Now I have my own place again, my resolution is to start brewing again.

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Sadfield
Lost in an Alcoholic Haze
Posts: 707
Joined: Mon Jun 09, 2014 3:16 pm

Re: New Year's Brewing Resolutions

Post by Sadfield » Wed Dec 31, 2014 5:05 pm

Another one for starting liquor profile adjustments, here. Received and carried out Salifert test this morning, just need to acquire CRS and salts on Friday, and I'm good to go.

lord.president
Hollow Legs
Posts: 350
Joined: Tue Jun 11, 2013 10:57 pm
Location: Lockerbie,Scotland

Re: New Year's Brewing Resolutions

Post by lord.president » Wed Dec 31, 2014 9:42 pm

1)Learn about water,properly. Currently I just put the figures in GW's spreadsheet. Luckily I could make a Helles with absolutely no additions!
2)Have a bit more of a think about wines-I currently just follow recipes from CJJ Berry's book
3)Try to get to the bottom of my recurring 'plasticy' taste. Interstingly,some of my recently brewed mild had it,some didn't,so I've narrowed it down to something I'm doing during bottling.
4)Upgrade mash tun,sparge and FFV. £££££ so probably not happening.
Getting Carlisle United into the First Division,is possibly the greatest football achievement of all time-Bill Shankly

ChrisHughes

Re: New Year's Brewing Resolutions

Post by ChrisHughes » Wed Dec 31, 2014 10:02 pm

Brew more beer basically, enough to learn more & get consistent results

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