Category: August 2022

It was Labor Day today and laborious it was. Didn’t get at all the things that I had planned on so that leaves stuff to do on the non-labor days of the year. Started the day with a 67 mile bike ride followed by cutting the grass on a half acre lot with a push mower and then a few small projects. This took care of the day – almost. I’ve been needing to get at this post as it is 8 days past event.

The brew day was anything but silent due to the day’s activities. This is a winter warmer – so the silent part comes during the cold days and nights of mid-winter.

Mark hosted the trifecta of events on Sunday, August 28 at his place. On the agenda for the day was: 1) Brewing (of course). 2) Blauertcraut (been a while since it has made a showing). 3) Staff fantasy football draft for those of us who understood that the 28th was draft day and not this weekend. Right pastor?

Mark and Helen hosted a larger than usual group for this shindig and put a lot of effort into making it a memorable experience. The Blauertcraut and fixing were fantastic. Mark has become the master of the Weber and spent a good portion of the day grilling copious quantities of meat products for the main event. It was worth all the time and effort. Blauertcraut with Mark-B-Q sauce is amazing!

Commissioner Dave directed the NFL Fantasy Football draft. Someone thought it a good idea to have an individual who has expressed indifference towards the league to be the director of operations. Dave did keep the program moving and may have made some decisions (picks) for individuals taking more than 12.5 seconds to make a pick.The “Staff Infection” is 10 strong this year and looking forward to the beginning of the NFL season this Thursday.

While Mark was busy outside with the grill, I took care of the brewing responsibilities down in the Blauert Mancave. The session went well – as far as I could tell. There was an initial concern because the Dorothy Doors were closed upon arrival and continued that way for the mash-in due to the persistent threat of rain. However, the rain avoided the festivities, for the most part, and the DDs were opened as the 60 minute mash ended. This worked out well because open Dorothy Doors makes disposing of the spent grains a lot easier. No one likes sticky dripping all over the floor, up the main stairs, through the kitchen and out the back. Open DDs make outside access easy and quick. Outside guests also enjoyed the easy access to the beer fridge in the mancave.

Silent Night is a higher abv beer due to the addition of honey – a little more than the 2 lb in the original recipe. 3 lb were added because of the container size when purchased. 3 lb sold for $9.99 at the local big box store (which also sells groceries). I was not going to measure out 2 lb so into the brew went the 3. A second change also concerning the honey was when it was added. In the past, the honey was added to the boil somewhere during the last 15 minutes. The conventional reasoning for doing it was to do away with any potential bugs that may be in the honey. In so doing, some of the nuances of the honey were boiled off. I surmise that this is not needed as honey is a very shelf stable product. So, for this batch I put the honey directly into the fermenter and racked the cooled wort on it and added the yeast. I am not concerned in the least bit of anything wonky happening by doing it this way. Of course, time will tell.

Here are the makings of this edition of Silent Night Winter Warmer:

Grains

• Common 2 Row – 14 lb
• Crystal 60° L – 1.5 lb
• Chocolate Malt – 0.25 lb

Adjunct

• Honey – 3 lb added directly to the fermenter

Hops

• Cascade – 2 oz at 60 minutes
• Cascade – 1 oz at 45 minutes
• Cascade – 1 oz at 30 minutes
• Cascade – 1 oz at 15 minutes

Yeast

• Fermentis Safale US-05

The numbers as indicated by brewing software – not measured:

• Original Gravity (OG) – 1.101
• Final Gravity (FG) – 1.019
• ABV – 10.79%
• IBU – 94.47
• Color – 18.07 SRM (Standard Reference Method)

Here’s looking forward to some cold winter months and some Silent Night Winter Warmer!

This summer has been a bit lax when it comes to brewing. This may be just the second brew session since school ended just before Memorial Day. Since the new school year is just about here (23rd) it is time to get a brew on while there is still the opportunity.

When deciding what to brew, Doc Brown’s Double was at the top of the recipe list so the decision process ended very quickly – no need to look any further. 1.21 Gigawatts it is.

The grains, hops and yeast were procured from Hop To It in Racine. This is the counter part to Littleport Brewery. Owners Mark and Chris Flynn have been running the Hop To It brewing supplies business for some years now and their Littleport Brewery has been in operation for about 16 months now. Supporting local is what we try to do at Fieldpointe Brewery. It is nice to have these options available.

Today’s post is being typed in “real time” and not the customary days or week post brew. Not having much interesting to convey – this is a solo brew and I’m not very entertaining on my own – I’ll attempt to give the “play by play” action as it happens.

Currently – (8:01 AM) the mash is resting. Target temp is 152° F but close counts. Sparge water is heating to around 170° F. Exciting times.

Update – (9:07 AM) the mash is done doing its thing. Sparging with the previously heated water. Aiming for 7 gallons in the boil kettle. It should be close, which again is good enough for garage / basement brewing.

Slow going – (10:30 AM) the grain bed must have compacted some as the runoff is a slow trickle with the valve completely open. Haven’t had this problem for a while. Perhaps rice hulls are needed for future batches. (I discovered that all I had to do was close and reopen the valve to fix the situation.)

Back in business – (11:00 AM) one hour boil has commenced.

Half way – (11:30 AM) the propane tank is getting on the light side. Hope it holds out for another 30 minutes. There is another tank in the shed but it is, of course, empty from previous brew sessions. I need to plan better.

Boil compete – (Noon) and the propane tank did not go dry. Yea! Didn’t miss any hop additions. However, the 5 minute Cascade hop addition did not play nicely! I have not experienced a boil over at the end of the boil. This one made up for it. What a mess! This was volcano eruption quality action going on. You would have thought I added a box of baking soda to a pot of vinegar for some kid’s science fair project. It looked like most of the hops that were added during the boil ended up on the outside of the kettle, all over the burner and on the floor. Once the wort has been transferred to the fermenter, the kettle and burner are going to get a bath from the outside hose. What a way to end. I am thankful that this happened at the end of the boil. What a headache it would have been earlier on. I’ll need to fire up the burner again to get the water out.That area of the garage floor is going to be sticky for some time. I’ve washed it a few times now and my shoes still make sticky walk noises. Sheesh!

I did use a new app (for me) on my phone: Brewer’s Friend. It appears to be a nice setup however the timer alarms for hop additions do not sound. I was paying attention to the schedule so it all worked out in the end. I guess the app creators are trying to get this bug worked out for future app updates. Otherwise, the app can be downloaded for free and saves recipes among doing other things like strike water additions (which is why I downloaded it).

Just finished (1:45 PM) cleaning up the burner which is a Blichmann Hellfire unit. There are a lot of gas ports on that thing. I had to take a wooden skewer (just the right size) and poke it into every hole because of all the sticky hop goober that baked onto it. After about 20 minutes of run time all the ports had flame again. (No, I did not poke around while the unit was lit.) I’ll let it cool down and then fire it up again just to make sure all the water is out of it. Boil overs just don’t usually happen on my watch. This one got me good – and totally by surprise.

Just about (2:15 PM) done with the cleanup (dishes). This event went a tad longer than it otherwise would have if Mount Vesuvius would have remained dormant. The Hellfire was lit again and all looks good. The gas ports are clear of gunk and water. Now the unit looks like it has been used. Oh well, looks are not everything but it had the appearance of a new unit until today. Like most of the products I purchase – they are to be used and not looked at. I’ll be OK.

This, like many Fieldpointe brews, is a “no chill” brew. It will cool in the fermenter overnight and the yeast will be added tomorrow morning. No, there are no issues doing it this way. It shortens the brew day and cuts down on water usage. Transferring the wort between 170 and 180° F keeps the bugs at bay. The fermenter is a Blichmann 7 gallon stainless steel conical so it can handle the heat.

I believe this is not the first posting for 1.21 Gigawatts – Doc Brown’s Double but here are the makings and estimated analysis so you don’t have to go hunting for it:

Grains

• 10 lb – 2 Row Brewers Malt
• 0.5 lb – Maris Otter
• 0.25 lb – Vienna Malt
• 0.25 lb – Crystal Malt: 20°L

Adjunct

• 1 lb – Corn Sugar

Hops

• 1 oz – Magnum: 14% AA (60 min)
• 1 oz – Simcoe: 13% AA (30 min)
• 1 oz – Centennial: 10% AA (15 min)
• 1 oz – Cascade: 5% AA (5 min)
• 1 oz – Amarillo: 8% AA (Flameout)
• 2 oz – Cascade: 5% AA (Dry Hop)

Yeast

• Fermentis Safale US-05

Estimated Analysis:

• OG: 1.063*
• TG: 1.012*
• Color: 5.18 SRM*
• Alcohol: 6.68% ABV*
• IBU: 111.4*

*These numbers are calculated by brewing software and are not measured.

The next anticipated brew session is projected for Sunday, August 28 and will take place in the Blauert Basement Man Cave in connection with the Fantasy Football draft. The beer is TBD.

Thanks for reading!