Weather Conducive to Brewing this Week/Weekend

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daryl
Posts: 1621
Joined: Thu Jan 16, 2014 11:07 pm
Location: Springville, IA

Weather Conducive to Brewing this Week/Weekend

Post by daryl »

If you are one of our many members who brew outdoors, I'd like to point out that we are getting a stretch of weather that is taking us out of the deep freeze.

This might be a good weekend to brew your first beer of the year, or perhaps you squeezed in one or more sessions before Eastern Iowa became Ice Station Zebra.

At any rate...I think I'll make a Schwarzbier if I can shovel my way to my fermentation chamber in one of my out buildings.

While the Benz Beer Festival is still up in the air, it sure looks good for us to hold our Festival in August.....we'll certainly be a go if the State Fair is a go.

Brew on!
Daryl
In the Fridge/On Tap: English Bitter, Schwarzbier, Cream Ale
In the keg: Wheat Beer, Russian Imperial Stout
In the bucket:
In the queue: Irish Red, American IPA
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tony b
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Joined: Mon Nov 19, 2007 5:13 pm
Location: CR, IA

Re: Weather Conducive to Brewing this Week/Weekend

Post by tony b »

As I relayed the story at our last meeting, my 2nd brew attempt in the BeerMkr was a disaster (massive leak). The only good news was that it happened before I pitched the yeast and the hops. I ordered replacement grains from Ritebrew, which arrived Monday. Jumped right on it. Made it through the mash phase with no leaks this time. Currently in the middle of fermentation. Looking good so far. App currently projects it being done a week from today (24th).
A Mighty Wind's A Brewing

“Life is short - break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably, and never regret anything that made you smile” ― Mae West
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carrisr
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Joined: Sun Nov 01, 2009 9:43 am
Location: Stone City, IA

Re: Weather Conducive to Brewing this Week/Weekend

Post by carrisr »

One of the reasons I went electric was to brew inside during the cold months. Without our pouring events, though, I've slowed down a bit. I've currently got all 4 of my taps filled with stout, Schwarzbier, Oopschlager, and just started carbing a Marzen today. Not sure what I'm making next.

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Randy Carris
Randy All the Time Brewing
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tony b
Posts: 2959
Joined: Mon Nov 19, 2007 5:13 pm
Location: CR, IA

Re: Weather Conducive to Brewing this Week/Weekend

Post by tony b »

Update on the BeerMkr brew. Fermentation is done and the beer has been dry hopped. It's in the Rest phase now. Then the cold crash. ETA is Tuesday for the transfer to the tap box.

Full disclosure: Twice in this brew session, the machine has shut itself down. First time was right after I pitched the yeast and added the steam hops. Rebooted the machine and it started right back up and was doing fine until the next day, when I checked on it mid-morning, it was off again. Rebooted again and it's been fine every since. Several conversations with Tech Support at BeerMkr haven't yielded any insights into the problem. The machine has its own WiFi to link to their cloud and they can interrogate my machine via their servers, but didn't see any specific problems. So, they are sending me a replacement machine. UPS says it will be here Monday. I'll ship mine back to them so they can see if they can track down the problem in their shop. A bit of a hiccup, but at least they are "doing the right thing" by replacing my machine for free (It does have a 1 year warranty after all.)

UPDATE: Machine turned itself off again this morning. 3rd time now. Rebooted OK. Fortunately, if it actually quit on me, the brew is far enough along that I can finish it from here without the machine, if I need to. I'd really hate to lose this batch now, after babysitting it this far, plus it smells great!
A Mighty Wind's A Brewing

“Life is short - break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably, and never regret anything that made you smile” ― Mae West
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