It was a hot one!

[jfmorris]

Mashed in 11.25 gallons of 165F water and 36.81 pounds of grain at 7:30am, working towards 9 gallons of a Wee Heavy (strong Scotch ale)...




No other pics right now, but I'll post something later. Things are cool now and in a fridge that serves as a fermentation chamber, and I am fixing to dump yeast in there.

I started early, lighting a propane burner at 6:45am, after having set up everything at 10pm last night, thinking I would avoid the heat. The dry grain was 88F out there in the garage, before I drained the hot water into it for the mash!

I would have skipped this brew, but it was needed for a barrel project, where we have 53 gallons of Russian Imperial Stout in a bourbon barrel in my friends basement at the moment. On the plus side, when I submit about 8 gallons of finished Wee Heavy for the barrel, I'll collect at least one keg of RIS to put on tap here.

I won't brew again until this heat wave passes, and highs are not upper 90's every day.

[TomfromtheSoo]

Awesome! Used to brew beer from 5 gallon kits. Enjoyed it both making and drinking

[texastweeter]

Wait, your making WHISKY?!?!?!

[jfmorris]

Haha. Although I probably could, since a judge recently ruled home distilling was legal.

We are using a “Russell’s Reserve” barrel fresh from Kentucky, but for beer, not more whiskey… 😅 They sell them off to the breweries when the whiskey comes out, and we got this through a contact at a local brewery. The beer will be picking up some bourbon and oak notes for sure!

[texastweeter]

Oh, never mind, carry on then, lol.

[Lynn Dollar]

Founders makes two Wee Heavy's that I love, Dirty Bastard and barrel aged Backwoods Bastard. Have both in my beer fridge.

[jfmorris]

I like the Founder’s beers too. I’ve got two different barrel aging projects I am involved in at the moment. One is a RIS with the Wee Heavy second. The other barrel is on the 13th round of a Flander’s Red (sour) - last one in that barrel sat for 2 years before we pulled it back out.

[klflowers]

I am a Founders fan as well. I learned about when my boss at my old job gave me a 6 pack of old dirty bastard and asked if they named it after me. I won't repeat my reply to him

[Lynn Dollar]

klflowers I really like Backwoods Bastard. Its barrel aged and delicious. And it hits 13.5% ABV , so its got a kick.

[LA Pork Butt]

I avoid the afternoons outside as much as possible. We’re supposed to hit 98 at 5 this evening, and our humidity is higher than you would anticipate in Dallas, Texas.

[Dewesq55]

The heat index was 107°F here this afternoon according to my weather app on my phone. I was in the air conditioned bedroom folding laundry and was sweating to death. My central air can't keep up with this level of heat.

[realdocBBQ]

No doubt, we're running ~105 heat index and my AC at home struggles to keep things under 80 in the house.

[dpearce]

Car was showing me 101 driving home tonight. Been walking with the neighbors, but it's been so hot out, we're typically going around dusk when the sidewalks and pavement start to cool off. Glad I got the mowing done yesterday, it was "less hot" relatively speaking...

Good luck on your brew!

[Dewesq55]

Same here on the mowing.

[DavidNorcross]

It’s too hot!

[Lynn Dollar]

The actual daily high here, has not reached what they predicted at the start of the week. The five day forecasts I saw, said high 90's to 100's. Had everybody talking. My weather station, that's very accurate, says its been low 90's all week. A high of 94.

That's just normal Fourth of July weather here.

Its also the end of my tomato season, the plants will shut down. But its been a bad year cause of the warm spells in May and June.

[jfmorris]

My dad has struggled with his tomatoes here as well. Too much rain in the spring, making them all stalky, and now too hot.

[realdocBBQ]

Awesome jfmorris that looks awesome! Lotta beer drinkin' in the future... lol

[jfmorris]

And the "cook" is progressing nicely today...

Both airlocks bubbling nicely... I split 9 gallons evenly, 4.5 gallons into each of two 7.9 gallon (30L) fermenters.



And gravity continues dropping at a steady temperature controlled 65F, thanks to an Inkbird temp controller.



For the beer nerds among us, this brew had a starting gravity of 1.095. A little lower than planned (1.100), but I'll take it.

[Waster]

Oh thats cool! It sounds like you have yourself a solera system - young beer in - old beer out. 53 Gallons is a good deal of beer to store - I do hope the current temps are not adversely effecting that. We're certainly sweltering in heat and humidity here in SE NC - no bloody wind either.
1.095 is a nice OG for a Wee Heavy - and very wise of you to split into two fermenters with plenty of ullage. After my repainting of the walls with a monster RIS, I learnt to ALWAYS use a blow off tube and a large Erlenmeyer flask filled with starsans solution. That was my attempt at a 12% RIS - which turned out excellent and aged amazingly well.

I never really got on with my tilt it worked, but now I just ferment by eye and ear - wait until bubbling stops, rouse the yeast by swirling, wait until bubbling stops and then wait several days. Maybe I should revisit the tilt - I even bought the wifi gateway device - although it was several years ago and I hear a new one is out now.

[jfmorris]

Actually, this is not a Solara barrel project. Full empty then full fill. We have a number of home brewers contributing 5 or more gallons per person to have what we need for the barrel. The barrel is currently stored in an air conditioned basement.

I have found that the Tilt (I have two Tilt 2's) is not 100% accurate, at least compared to a hydrometer or refractometer, but it at least gives me an idea of when fermentation is complete.

[jfmorris]

I was in a Solara barrel once upon a time, and we pulled about 15 gallons at a time, refilling it. It went really sour though, and not a good sour like a Flanders, so we ended up killing it, and I think someone turned the barrel into a table or two planters!

[Waster]

Eek, sounds like an infection on that solara barrel - that’s a real shame.

Maybe I’ll retry the Tilt - as indication that fermentation is done and then use hydrometer for accurate FG.

Main problem is, I moved to a 7.5G stainless kegmenter and the signal doesn’t get out!

Reason for the stainless kegmenter was I do no chill and put straight from the whirlpool into fermenter, then put that into an I knits controlled freezer. Leave until it hits fermentation temp (about a day), then add yeast