Backwoods to Beaches Homebrew

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Brew day complete! Pretty solid overall, mash efficiency was on point so pretty much hit my target numbers across the bo...
01/06/2023

Brew day complete! Pretty solid overall, mash efficiency was on point so pretty much hit my target numbers across the board. I lost a little liquid unfortunately due to a hose failure... but still managed 4.5 gallons to the fermenter. Starting gravity 1.082 so this beer should finish around 7%. Being a Milkshake IPA I'll do a heavy dry hop, went light on the boil. As an experiment on flavor enhancement I added 1lb pecans and .25oz dried rosemary to the mash. Depending on the results I'll dry hop some more of the two as I want the pecans and rosemary to be fairly present. Used wyeast 1318 London Ale yeast to make sure this baby is hazyyyy and that starter is kickin! Updates as this beer progresses and I plan the next one.

Next beer ingredients - done! Going to attempt a previous beer, Toasted Rosemary & Pecan Milkshake IPA. Problem is I los...
12/20/2022

Next beer ingredients - done! Going to attempt a previous beer, Toasted Rosemary & Pecan Milkshake IPA. Problem is I lost the original recipe so I'll adjust the adjuncts as needed once the base beer is done. A Milkshake IPA is similar in structure to a NEIPA, grain bills are close as the idea is the same - hazy, soft mouthfeel, very low bitterness, heavy dry hop and features fruity hops. The difference is the addition of lactose in the boil and vanilla in secondary. I decided to use Simcoe hops as a compliment to the Rosemary and will use Citra and Cascade to round it out. The Black IPA is bubbling away and tasting nice, so ill get this going nextvweek. Definitely looking forward to this one!

Finally back at it! Life and work hasn't really allowed much time to brew. I've done a few batches here and there but ju...
12/16/2022

Finally back at it! Life and work hasn't really allowed much time to brew. I've done a few batches here and there but just not able to dedicate the time like I used to. However, now that covid has subsided has FINALLY brought back the Almost There beer festival designed for local homebrewers! So now the inspiration has kicked in and it's time to make some beer!

First beer is my absolute favorite thing I brew - Black IPA. Featuring a small amount of Carafa III for color and flavor, I build this IPA around Galaxy and Comet hops and use White Labs San Diego yeast to ferment.

My brewing setup has changed quite a bit! I now have the Digiboil kettle as a HLT, Grainfather mash/boil kettle, and Spike 7+ conical unitank. I have the parts to carb the beer in this unit but have continued to carb in the keg for now. I also built my own glycol chiller from an old window AC unit and it works like a charm! I'll do a write up on this later, but it easily keeps my beer at temp and cold crashes even in the hot Florida summers.

Being the first time I've brewed in a while, I definitely have some bugs to work out in my setup. The hardest thing for me on the Grainfather is figuring out the boil. Being the 110v unit it doesn't exactly crank out heat. After a 90 minute boil, my gravity wasn't anywhere close to where I wanted it to be. This unit just doesn't boil hard enough to condense wort in a timely manner. Next batch I'll try a shorter sparge and a lower boil volume than calculated. Either way, the beer should still be good just not as high ABV as desired. If anyone knows any tricks on managing the boil, I'm all ears! Next brew will be the Rosemary and Pecan Milkshake IPA so stay tuned!

06/02/2020

BREW DAY!! The heat is here in Florida and we need our summer crushers. So we're cooking up our Raspberry Wheat to get us through. It's our favorite and most consistent beer made up of 2-Row, White Wheat, and Crystal 10L. We use Chinook and Hallertau Blanc hops in the boil, no dry hops in this one. We've found 2lbs whole Raspberries per 5 gallons is a great balance of the fruit and the wheat backbone. Usually ends up in the 5.4-5.8% ABV range making it super easy to drink a few. Can't wait to empty this keg out! Cheers 🍻

ATTENTION HOMEBREWERS - if you're wanting to keg carb but don't necessarily have the space for a kegerator, invest in th...
05/13/2020

ATTENTION HOMEBREWERS - if you're wanting to keg carb but don't necessarily have the space for a kegerator, invest in the Beer Gun! This piece of equipment is a game changer. Let me explain.

Bottle conditioning using priming sugar has been our method of choice since the beginning. We like to share with our friends, family, and co-workers. Also neither of us necessarily have the space for a kegerator. So we've bottled and waited the normal 2 weeks before sampling. However we were recently faced with a scenario where we had to go grain to bottle in 14 days for a local beer competition. The solution - brew it, treat it at day 7, force carb in the keg at day 12, bottle and serve day 14. This is where the Blichmann Beer Gun came in to play. All you need in addition to the normal carb setup is a V-fitting or distribution block to allow TWO co2 lines - one for the keg to keep pressurized, one to the gun for purging. We kept the keg in the fridge, poured ourselves maybe 10-12 beers, hooked up the beer gun and bottled the rest. Possibly the best investment into our setup at only $100. Cheers 🍻

Timeline is getting close for our for and it's shaping up nice! Started at 1.042, finished 1.007 so about 4.5% ABV. B...
04/28/2020

Timeline is getting close for our for and it's shaping up nice! Started at 1.042, finished 1.007 so about 4.5% ABV. Beer is clean and smooth, nice malty flavor. We decided to try something new and throw some tea in the mix. Opted to use a Chai-Vanilla tea, and toss in 1 whole vanilla bean along some raspberries. Should be an interesting combo, we'll see! On top of that we were so pleased with the results on our Strawberry Shortcake + Coffee Berliner that we decided to go ahead and keg it. Looks like we'll be putting our new Blichmann Beer Gun this weekend! Cheers 🍻

So we've been absent for a few weeks... being part of the hospitality industry the effects of this quarantine hit us har...
04/28/2020

So we've been absent for a few weeks... being part of the hospitality industry the effects of this quarantine hit us hard. So we've adhered to the new standards set forth and made the best of the situation for the past few weeks. We haven't brewed since February and the urge finally kicked in when decided to do a quarantine beer comp. The basic recipe is a blonde ale in which we have the freedom to flavor however we want. Though our final profile is TBD we had a ton of fun just brewing a beer again. We'll update as we add the final touches to this one and add our signature flare. Just feels good to be brewing again! Future updates to come on the beers we've been hiding in the closet 😉 cheers!

Finally able to crack open one of these bad boys! Our Black IPA once again came out great, and we're excited to see how ...
02/26/2020

Finally able to crack open one of these bad boys! Our Black IPA once again came out great, and we're excited to see how it does in competition. I've never tasted one quite like ours so I have decently high hopes for it, especially since it's fresh. The hops definitely hit you up front and it finishes with a nice dark malt sweetness. We'll update once we have results! Cheers 🍻

Bottling day! Here is our Darkness of Space Black IPA. Look at all that trub. Combination of a healthy 1600ml yeast star...
02/26/2020

Bottling day! Here is our Darkness of Space Black IPA. Look at all that trub. Combination of a healthy 1600ml yeast starter and lots of dry-hopping with Galaxy and Comet, a beer like this can easily create a bunch of sediment. We have found COLD CRASHING is key to clear, clean beer when it comes to packaging. Cold crashing is bringing your fermented beer down to temps near freezing. It wont freeze (alcohol lowers the freezing point) but the cold temps will cause the yeast and suspended solids to fall and compact at the bottom of the vessel. As budget homebrewers we don't have a filtration system, so we've found that stashing our fermenter in the fridge for 2-3 days and siphoning through a 5 micron mesh bag generally does really well. This one finished around 7.8% and should be pretty stellar - see what I did there?? Can't wait to try this one! Cheers 🍻

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01/30/2020

Mashing in our Black DDH DIPA! Last year this beer won gold in one local competition, and scored well in another larger competition. We plan on submitting this to the AHA National Competition coming up in the next few weeks. The target OG is 1.080 and hoping to finish around 1.018, aiming to hit 8-8.3% on this one. Took a different approach using Wyeast 1332 Nothwest Ale. Galaxy and Comet hops will be the only ones used, with additions at 60m and 5m as well as a double dry-hop similar to our NEIPA. De-husked Carafa III will be the dark malt used at 6% of the grain bill. Everything so far looks and smells good, well post progress as we go! Cheers 🍻

Til next year Almost There! We brought what we feel was the best of our best. Honestly, we were both thrilled with the f...
01/30/2020

Til next year Almost There! We brought what we feel was the best of our best. Honestly, we were both thrilled with the feedback and overall reception of our beers. We like to experiment and blend things together, and it's nice to see and hear people appreciate the thought the design we put into our beers. The coffee sour was for sure a hit! Being new to the sour game it was great to see people enjoy it so much. The Rosemary & Pecan is definitely unique and many were intrigued yet pleasantly surprised with the end result. We'll see what we can come up with for you next year! Cheers 🍻

Almost There was a huge success for us! One of two posts we'll make highlighting our day. Big shout out to and for org...
01/28/2020

Almost There was a huge success for us! One of two posts we'll make highlighting our day. Big shout out to and for organizing and hosting this awesome event for us homebrewers. It's always great to put a little spotlight on our hobby and get some feedback from folks who have been doing this much longer than us. Also need to give a few thanks to and for some pieces and ideas on the design for our display. Cheers 🍻

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