To prepare for this year's hopyard growth I took some soil samples and sent them to my local soil testing facility, "Simply Soil Testing" to see what kind of amendments were suggested. The results showed a lack of nitrogen and a pH that was just a touch low. While waiting for my soil test results a Spring snap of warm weather really got the bines reaching for the sun and made a mess of the hopyard. I cut back the undergrowth and kept the two strongest bines from each box segment for the stringers. I applied about 1/2 lb of 21-0-0 fertilizer as suggested by my soil testing and gave the beds a good water soaking. I haven't adjusted the pH yet, but plan to follow the recommended Lime addition. and we're off... 05.14.2021 (+16): 2 weeks of growth after adding soil remediation and a shot of my Willamette plant that I planted in 2018. I didn't think the Willamette was still alive after it was mauled by the backyard chickens in it's first year.
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I suppose this is the official kick-off for the BJCP Project. This first beer is an American Lager and as always, the name is derived from a TTP (Tactic, Technique, Procedure) or an APT (Advanced Persistent Threat). Iron Liberty is cyber espionage group that targets the energy sector. BJCP Style: 1B - American Lager BJCP: "A very pale, highly-carbonated, light-bodied, well-attenuated lager with a very neutral flavor profile and low bitterness. Served very cold, it can be a very refreshing and thirst quenching drink." Brewday 04.11.2021 Recipe: I propogated a 2L yeast starter for this brew 24hrs in advance. 2-row and flaked rice Milled 2-row I used the Beersmith water calculator for this brew. I'm running a baseline of reverse-osmosis water so building up the salt profile is a little easier and consistent. Pre-boil gravity 1.039SG/9.9P The entire hop charge for this batch is a measly 20g of Hallertau...a far cry from the 100s of grams I would typically be using for other beers. Post-boil gravity 1.055SG/13.9P I conducted a serial dilution (1:100) of the 2L yeast starter and found that the yeast density was higher than I expected. Based on my math I'm showing that to pitch a 1.5 million cells/mL/Plato I need to pitch about 130mL of the starter. This seems like a tiny amount of yeast, but I'm going to trust the math here and see what happens. I also made some mistakes in my water calculations...again (I blame the new kettle configurations...more on that later) so I only ended up with 4 gallons of wort in the fermenter. 04.14.2021 (+2): After a little more than two days with essentially zero change to gravity I've revisited my pitch rate and it turns out...math is hard and it's really important to place your decimals in the correct position. Below (Left) was the pitch rate from my initial inoculation and (Right) was the appropriate pitch rate. Both of these are based on my cell counting which was 2.45 million/mL/Plato cell density. Looks like I was only off by about 260 BILLION cells. Since I still had the remaining slurry on the stir plate (definitely should have had this in cold storage) I went ahead tossed that into the fermenter. We'll see how it turns out considering the circumstances. The silver lining here is that I've refined my process for yeast counting/calculating pitch rate so this sort of situation can be avoided in the future. It's ok to make mistakes, just try not to make the same ones over and over. 04.26.2021 (+14): Looks like the additional yeast was able to kick-start the fermentation. Here's the fermentation curve after adding the yeast slurry.
Easter dinner with friends plus brew day...who could ask for more? It's always a pleasure to brew with friends especially when you're training up the greenhorn (pictured here blowing bubbles). This brew is a sMasH (single malt & single hop) Hazy IPA that will be testing out some new-to-me hops (Jarrylo®). BJCP Style: 21B - Specialty IPA:New England IPA BJCP: "An American IPA with intense fruit flavors and aromas, a soft body, and smooth mouthfeel, and often opaque with substantial haze. Less perceived bitterness than traditional IPAs but always massively hop forward. This emphasis on late hopping, especially dry hopping, with hops with tropical fruit qualities lends the specific ‘juicy’ character for which this style is known." Brewday 04.04.2021 Recipe: Brewing in the all-in-one "Mash & Boil". This unit is really ideal for mobile brewing...maybe even for a trip to a national monument (more on that at a future date). Pre-boil wort is showing 1.040 (Left) Post-boil wort is showing 1.050 (Right). I was expecting about 1.060 for post boil, but I was using a rough calculation for water volumes and probably over-sparged. Brought the un-innoculated wort home and transferred into the conical to bring everything up to a balmy 95F before pitching the revived Kveiking yeast. >>> Fermentation Statistics <<< Full Tilt Report/Chart 04.05.2021 (+8hrs): After just 8 hours the Kveik yeast has pushed all of the StarSan out of my first keg, and is fermenting so aggressively that I've had to cap the second keg to prevent further mess. I'm redirecting the CO2 to a standard blow off. .04.05.2021 (+2): The revived Kveik yeast is flexing its muscle and has essentially completed fermentation in less than two days. 1.010 (1.012 temperature adjusted). 04.08.2021 (+4): And just 4 days later we're cold crashed and getting ready for kegging. .04.05.2021 (+15): Easter Brews: canned and enjoyed on a Family trip to Winthrop.
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Jamie WeissHomebrewer, Recognized BJCP Judge, aspiring Certified Cicerone Archives
November 2023
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