First 2021 Brew

[phettebs]

OK, brewday is actually Monday but my shipment of supplies arrived today and I got the starter going.

I'll be brewing an imperial stout. OG is expected to be around 1.105. I have not brewed this beer since 2008 so it should be fun. I need about a 3.5 liter starter to brew this big beer.

Starter Pics

Starter heating to boil

Starter chilling down

Starter on the stir plate

The plan is to let this ferment out over the next few days. Then I will chill it in the fridge to get the yeast to drop, drain off the liquid, and 500+ billion yeast cells ready to chew up the big beer on Monday. I will add brew day pics to this post.

Baz

 

[phettebs]

It's been a while since I brewed a beer this big. I forgot what a pain they can be!


21 pounds of grain about filled my old FV bucket.

About maxed out my 48qt mash tun too.

Motor oil coming out

Getting ready to chill.

In the end, my gravity was actually higher than target. I hit 1.110 and wanted 1.104 but that was because I overboiled. So I topped off with some water and brought the OG down to 1.104. I set the kegerator to 60F/15.5C and have the FV in there. I've gotta really watch the temp because these can go volcanic quickly.

I'll leave on the yeast for 3 weeks and then chill it down to help everything settle out. Then I'll let it age until around Nov-Dec and keg.

Baz

 

[phettebs]

I forgot what a pain it was to manage fermentation of big beers. I think I need a bigger FV for these!