My Milk Stout Brings All The Boys To The Yard - 2025

Today I’m brewing a beer that I really love, and haven’t brewed recently, my Golden/Blonde Milk Stout. I’ll be donating this beer to pour at a local homebrew festival in February. If I’m remembering correctly, this beer took bronze at Beehive Brew-off for Spice Herb and Vegetable Beer at least two years in a row, but I’m pretty sure it was actually three years in a row. It was also a crowd favorite at our club booth at the Mountain Brewers Beer Fest in Idaho.

One of the things I love about this beer is that the color looks like a pale ale, but the flavor and aroma are straight up rich and roasty stout due to the coffee toddy and the bomb tincture. It tastes and smells so different from how it looks, it’s a complete mind f’ beer. It leans sweet and malty, but not cloying. Today’s version has a couple minor tweaks compared to the last version. I’m using Proximity Pale Malt instead of Maris Otter, which will likely result in a little less malt-derived perceived sweetness. I'm also toasting the flaked oats, something I've always wanted to try but apparently never planned far enough ahead. The maillard reactions that occur when toasting oats is said to give you more complexity including some nuttiness that you don't get without it. More info on the process below. I’m using LalBrew® House Ale for the yeast. House Ale is described as follows:

LalBrew® House Ale is a next-generation performance yeast strain that is extremely fast and incredibly clean, making it the perfect versatile house strain to meet your brewing needs.

Selected by our partner Escarpment Labs (ON, Canada) for its superior fermentation performance, this strain allows brewers to achieve greater efficiency with faster fermentations, shorter maturations, high stress tolerance, excellent repitchability, and quick cleanup of off-flavors like acetaldehyde and diacetyl.

LalBrew® House Ale is suitable for a wide range of beer styles, including IPAs, Blond Ales, and Stouts, due to its neutral fermentation profile.

• Faster fermentations – to save time and space.​ 
• Shorter maturation times – accelerated clean-up of diacetyl and acetaldehyde.​ 
• High stress tolerance – capable of handling difficult fermentations.​ 
• Excellent repitchability – genetically stable and proven consistency in key brewing parameters.​ 
• High FAN uptake – more stable final product.​ 
• Neutral flavor profile – Versatile for a wide range of ales

Finally, I’m reducing the mash temp slightly because I think it could benefit from a little more restrained sweetness. Also, I tend to shoot for more tailored water profiles nowadays, so this will use the Amber Balanced (7-17 SRM) profile from Beersmith. Hopefully this beer is as well received here in Florida as it was in Utah and Idaho. Here’s the recipe as I’m brewing it today:

Target OG: 1.070

Target FG: 1.020

IBU: 19.1

ABV: 6.4

8.75# Proximity Pale Malt

1.00# Flaked Oats (either toasted or untoasted)

1.00# Gambrinus Honey Malt

1g BrewTan B (Mash)

0.75 # Lactose (10 min)

3.0 ml Hopshot (60 min)

14g EKG (10 min)

28g EKG (0 min)

Wyeast Yeast Nutrient

4.66g BCAA (10 min)

Whirlfloc

LalBrew House Ale

Zinc Buddy

Coffee Toddy (at kegging)

The Bomb Tincture (at kegging)

Mash at 152F, 90 minute boil, ferment at 61F, raising temps to 66F over the course of a week.

Toasted Flaked Oats Instructions

As mentioned above, toasting the flaked oats can add a layer of complexity to your beers. Joe Aruscavage was a member of my homebrew club back in Utah and employed this technique in most of his beers that called for flaked oatmeal, including his award-winning Oatmeal Stout. I'd always wanted to try it myself, but most brewers will recommend you do it a few days in advance as the character from the toasted flaked oats improves when left out to breath over a few days. In my case, I always forgot to do it a few days ahead of my brew day, so this is my first time trying it. Here's the process I'm using:

1. Set oven temp to 325F.
2. Use a cookie sheet and spread the oats out into an even layer. You can optionally line the pan with parchment paper which can make it a little easier to remove the oats after you're done toasting.
3. Transfer the pan to the oven and set a timer for 10 minutes. 
4. After 10 minutes, remove from the oven and give it a gentle stir with a spatula. Spread it back out evenly and put it in the oven for another 10 minutes.
5. After 10 minutes, remove it again and give it another stir before returning it to the oven for the final 10 minutes (30 minutes total).
6. Remove the pan and let it cool.
7. Transfer the oats to a fine mesh, paper bag, or even a grain sock. Being in Florida and the multitude of little critters we have, I put mine into a fine mesh paint strainer bag. Allow them to breathe/off-gas for at least three days, and up to a week before brewing. 

Note: The aroma coming off the toasted oats was pretty amazing. Similar to oatmeal cookies but without sweetness and additional spices. I'm really excited to see how this impacts the finished beer.

The Bomb Tincture Instructions 

6 oz Vodka - Any decent one will do

1 Vanilla Bean, split and scraped, chopped into 1/4” pieces

3 oz Cacao Nibs - I prefer TCHO Roasted Cacao Nibs

1. Mix the vodka and vanilla bean (and parts) in a tight sealing jar like a jelly jar or mason jar. Shake every day, several times, for 7 days. 
2. Add the nibs for another 4 days, continue to shake everyday.
3. Strain the nibs and vanilla out of the dark extract. I have a stainless steel pour over coffee filter that I like to use. Discard solids.
4. Place the extract in the freezer overnight.
5. In the morning, carefully scrape out the fat cap that may have formed and discard. I don’t usually get a fat cap with TCHO nibs, it just depends on the fat content.
6. I use the entire tincture in this beer and add at packaging along with Coffee Toddy.

Coffee Toddy Instructions

I like to use Ethiopian beans for the toddy because I never seem to get the dreaded green pepper character with them. For this batch, I decided to go with Ethiopian Guji Wush Wush from a local roaster named Day of the Dead (D.O.D.) Coffee Roastery. D.O.D describes this coffee as follows:

Sourced from the Guji region of Ethiopia, these beans are meticulously roasted to perfection, resulting in a vibrant and aromatic cup of coffee. With notes of floral jasmine, ripe berries, and a hint of citrus, this medium roast is perfect for any coffee enthusiast looking to elevate their morning routine. Enjoy the unique taste of Ethiopia with every sip of our premium Guji Wush Wush coffee.

Flavor Notes: Berry, Strawberry, Red Wine, Jasmine, Dark Chocolate

For 5 gallons of beer you’ll need:

3 oz fresh coarsely ground beans

3 cups RO or filtered water

1. I usually bring the water to a boil in a microwave safe measuring cup for sanitizing as well as driving off O2, then chill.
2. Add the chilled water to a French press then add ground coffee and cold steep in the fridge for 24 hours.
3. Add to beer at packaging.

Water Profile

Target Water Profile
Ca	Mg	Na	SO4	Cl	HCO3
50	10	15	75	63	40

To 11 gallons of RO/distilled water, add the following salts:

• 2.6g Gypsum
• 4.3g Epsom salt
• 5.4g Calcium chloride
• 2.3g Baking soda

Brewing Notes

Mash pH was low so I added 1/4 teaspoon of chalk after the initial pH reading. I waited about 15 minutes then took another reading and it was at 4.98. I added about 1/8t of chalk then took another reading after about 15 minutes which read 4.99. Rather than risk overdoing it with the chalk, I decided to leave it as is. In hindsight, I should have checked pH before adding an acid to the mash. No other issues with this brew session. I chilled down to about 54F then let it sit for 15 minutes before transferring to the fermenter. By the time I got yeast pitched and wort oxygenated, the temp was 62.8F. 

Session Readings
Beginning mash pH	4.85
Ending mash pH	4.98
1st running gravity	21.4 (1.087)
Pre-Boil gravity	11.2 (1.0 44)
Pre-Boil pH	4.98
Post-Boil gravity	17 (1.068)
Post-Boil pH	4.92

Update 12/29/2025

Gravity is down to approximately 1.061 from an OG of 1.068 today. I bumped the temp controller on my fermentation chamber by 1F this morning.

Update 12/30/2025

Gravity is reading 1.04013 this morning on the Tilt. Fermentation seems to be pretty active as I'm seeing some wobbling in the readings, so I suspect the actual current gravity may be a point or two higher, but it's in the ballpark.

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Cajun Jambalaya

Food recipe today. I made up a boxed jambalaya a couple weeks ago and figured I'd try making one from scratch to see how it compared. I love jambalaya and it's kind of like stews/soups in that it's better the day after you make it. This recipe is Cajun rather than Creole; based on some quick Googling, the primary difference between the two is Cajun style uses broth only. whereas Creole style usually includes tomato sauce and/or crushed tomatoes. 

I really enjoyed this recipe but I think I might try a minor tweak next time. I wouldn't say this dish was too salty, but it was definitely salty. Next time I think I'll dial the Cajun seasoning back to 3 teaspoons total and see how that turns out. The heat level on this dish was great; noticeable spice, but not punishing. Here's the recipe as I made it today:

1# Boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2t Baking soda
4t Tony Chachere's Creole seasoning with salt, divided (consider reducing to 3 teaspoons)

2t Canola oil
13oz Johnsonville andouille smoked sausage, cut into 1/4-inch thick slices
1c Yellow onion, diced 
1c Green bell pepper, diced 
1/2c Celery, diced 
4 Large garlic cloves, minced

2c Long-grain white rice, rinsed
2t Worcestershire sauce
2 Bay leaves
1t Dried thyme
1/2t Ground black pepper
3c Low-sodium chicken broth
4 Scallions/green onions, thinly sliced

Instructions

1. Prep all ingredients.  
2. Combine chicken with 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and 2t Creole seasoning in a bowl. Mix well and allow to "marinate" for at least 15 minutes. The baking soda will help keep the chicken tender.
3. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  
4. Add chicken to Dutch oven and brown on all sides, about 8-10 minutes. 
5. Transfer cooked chicken to a plate. There should be some nice flavorful brown bits stuck in the pot. Don't worry about them for now, they'll be deglazed later.  
6. Add the sausage to the pot and continue to cook over medium-high heat until browned and some of the fat has been rendered (about 5 mins), then transfer the sausage to the plate with the chicken. 
7. Reduce heat to medium and add onion, bell pepper, and celery to the pot. Sautee until tender and translucent (about 5 minutes). The moisture from the vegetables will deglaze the pot, so stir periodically.
8. Return the chicken and sausage to the pot. 
9. Add garlic, broth, Worcestershire sauce, rice, bay leaves, thyme, black pepper, and remaining 2t Creole seasoning (or optionally 1 teaspoon for less saltiness).
10. Mix well, then turn heat up to high and bring to a boil. 
11. Reduce heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer for about 30 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed. 
12. Fluff with a fork and serve with sliced scallions/green onions and Tabasco sauce to taste.  

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Mostly O-rings

Today's post is mostly about o-rings. Not the most exciting topic, but o-rings are pretty vital to homebrewers especially once you get into things like kegging, a pump, or decide to throw together a weldless kettle fitting. Not to sound like a grumpy old man, but I swear you used to be able to buy all sorts of o-rings at local hardware stores for super reasonable prices; I'm talking less than 10 cents each. Now you go somewhere like Lowe's, Home Depot, or even Ace Hardware and you'll be lucky to find the size you need and/or it only comes in an assortment pack that costs $10-$20. Or say in the case specialty brewing equipment like homebrew pumps, you order from the manufacturer and you pay $5+ for a single o-ring plus $7 to ship it. I believe in supporting the homebrewing industry, but I have a hard time paying inflated prices for something that likely costs a couple cents to manufacture. 

If you're looking for a good supplier of o-rings and similar gaskets, I highly recommend O-rings and More. They have a huge selection plus reasonable prices and very affordable shipping. They do often have minimums (e.g. 5, 10, 50 pieces) but with their pricing, you're still coming out way ahead.   

Side note, I always use silicone lubricant (AKA Keg Lube) on my o-rings. It doesn't take much, but it helps to ensure they seat correctly when assembling equipment and prevents issues with binding and deforming. Material-wise, I tend to use either Silicone or Buna Nitrile rings, and both tend to be 70 durometer hardness. Basically, the higher the hardness, the firmer the material, the lower the softer the material. It's also a good idea to make sure the materials are food safe, but I haven't ever seen any that aren't. Also, Buna-N tends to be less permeable to O2, so I usually use it for keg lids rather than Silicone. 

I'll update this post as I come across additional o-ring needs, but here are the common ones I've encountered so far.

 

Keg and Draft O-rings
Description	Size	Comments
Dip Tubes	-109	The o-rings that slide onto dip tubes (gas and liquid) and seal them against the threaded male posts on the kegs. Use a quad or x-ring style as this will provide much better sealing than a standard round cross section o-ring. This is especially true if you run any high pressure kegs (e.g. nitro beers). I believe I've only ever used Buna-N for these.
Internal Ball-lock	-013	The o-rings that are internal on standard ball-lock disconnects (grey gas, black liquid). I believe it's the same size on standard pin-lock kegs as well. These are easily lost during cleaning. If missing, your disconnect will leak. Quad or x-ring styles seal better.
Keg Lids	-417	The large o-ring that seals between the lid and keg body. Both Buna and Silicone work well, though Buna-N is more common.
Posts	-111	These slide onto the posts and prevent leaks between posts and quick disconnects. Silicone tends to last longer than Buna-N. I often use natural red, but recently switched to green ones from Value Brew to quickly identify gas posts. This is especially handy for connections on Kegmenter fermenters where gas vs. liquid isn't as as obvious.

Blichmann Equipment O-rings
Description	Size	Comments
G2 Linear Valves	-112 and -110	The G2 linear valve has two sizes of o-rings. -112 is the larger and prevents liquid from leaking out the valve body. -110 is the smaller one that seals the cone-shaped stopper that is used to control the rate of flow. By the way, I love these valves as they are super easy to clean and make fine adjustments to flow rate.
Riptide Pump	-143	This is the large o-ring that provides the seal between the pump head and the motor.
Riptide Pump Thrust Washer	See comment	Not an o-ring, but a part that's easy to lose is the thrust washer on a Riptide pump head. I found that a standard Hillman 6mm stainless steel washer worked perfectly. As long as the finish looks nice and smooth, any 6mm stainless washer should work.
False Bottom Washer	See comment	Not an o-ring, but a washer that slides over the kettle pickup tube and prevents grain from getting through the gap and under the false bottom. A standard 1/2" × 1 1/2" stainless fender washer will do the trick here.

Spike Equipment O-rings
Description	Size	Comments
Flo Pump ARV	-012	The o-ring for the Air Release Valve. I haven't confirmed the size on this part, but I saw it referenced online so I've included it here.
Flo Pump Head	66418MMS	This is the large o-ring that provides the seal between the pump head and the motor. It's a metric o-ring measuring 66.4mm ID × 70mm OD × 1.8mm C/S. The size referenced here is O-rings and More's SKU.

SS Brewtech Equipment O-rings
Description	Size	Comments
Bucket valve	16220MMB70	The o-ring that fits between the valve and the body of the SS Brew Bucket. I always use silicone lube on these and be sure not to overtighten them. You want them finger tight, but not so tight that they're deforming or tearing. The size on my buckets are 16mm ID. The C/S on mine vary between 2.2 and 2.3 mm. On SS Brewtech's site, they indicate the C/S is 1.8mm, so this may be an updated size compared to what came with mine. I haven't ordered any yet, but I'd likely go with 16mm ID × 20.4mm OD × 2.2mm C/S, which would be SKU 16220MMB70 on O-rings and More.
Bucket racking arm	851MMB70	These are the two small o-rings that slide over the racking arm and allow the racking arm to push-fit into the valve body. The buckets came with two of these on the racking arm, but they work fine with one. Be sure to use silicone grease on them as they tend to bind and/or deform when used without lube. If lost or damaged, you'll lose siphon and leave beer behind in your fermenter. I've tried both Buna-N (OEM from SS Brewtech) and Silicone, and the Buna-N ones seem to be more durable. These o-rings measure 8.5mm ID × 10.5mm OD × 1mm C/S, and the size listed here is the SKU on O-rings and More's site.

Misc O-rings
Description	Size	Comments
Heating Element	-217	This was used primarily for heating elements on The Electric Brewery style assemblies. These aren't too common anymore with people buying off-the-shelf All-in-One systems. Also, those building their own systems are typically using Tri-Clamp style elements rather than threaded elements.
Temp Probe	-009	This o-ring is used in a compression type fitting in conjunction with a 1/4" diameter temp probe like those used with the BCS-460 controller. These will also work as the outer o-ring on Blichmann Brew Commander temp probe fittings. They create a tight leak-free fitting that can also be easily disassembled.
Old School Weldless	-211	These were often used on old school 1/2" weldless bulkhead fittings, aka The Electric Brewery style fittings. Typically these would be used with a thin washer. The thin washer's ID was slightly larger than the o-ring's OD, and served to keep the o-ring from squeezing out while the fitting was tightened. The washer became less important as locknuts with grooves became more common. Regardless, this o-ring is used primarily in 1/2" bulkheads. I've used these in equipment I've repurposed for brewing so that I could have leak-free bulkheads.

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British Brown Ale 2025

Today I'm brewing another beer designed around using up some specialty malts that I've collected. Like my recent Irish Extra Stout, this recipe is based on an NHC medal winner. This one is based on Jarrett Long and John Bates entry named Cheerio British Brown Ale, gold medal winner in 2024 NHC. For this beer I'm using the Brown Balanced (18-30 SRM) water profile in Beersmith. This should help support the malt character without being overly sweet/malty. The 2021 BJCP guidelines describe the style as follows:

A malty, caramelly, brown British ale without the roasted flavors of a Porter. Balanced and flavorful, but usually a little stronger than most average UK beers. 

I don’t believe I’ve ever used Crisp Brown Malt before. This is one of the malts I got in a judge grab bag and have been wanting to try it out in a recipe. On the Crisp website it includes the following descriptors:

Lightly roasted flavor notes, milky coffee undertones, hits of sweet pastries. The color is produced in the same manner as Amber, but is roasted for a slightly more extended period to achieve a nutty, roasted dryness with a light brown hue, perfect for brown ales and mild beers. 

I tasted a few grains and I’d say it’s definitely roasty, surprisingly so considering it’s a light brown color. That said, it’s not a harsh roast like you might get with darker roast malt. I think it’s going to go really well with the malt contribution from Maris Otter and Crystal malts. 

I went with 11 gallons distilled water for this recipe. That’s more water than I really need but I want to make sure my volume into the fermenter is as close to 5 gallons as possible. I'm also going to keep a close eye on boiling vigor so that I don’t end up with overly 

Target OG 1.052

Target FG: 1.013

IBU: 24

ABV: 5.1

7 lb 1oz Crisp Maris Otter

11 oz Crisp Brown

11 oz Crisp Crystal 60

3 oz. Simpsons Pale Chocolate

1g BrewTan B (Mash)

2 oz. East Kent Goldings (60 min)

4.66g BCAA (10 min)

Yeast Nutrient

Whirlfloc

Zinc Buddy

Lalbrew Verdant IPA

Mash for 60 minutes at 152°F. Ferment at 65°F for 10 days.

Water Profile

Target Water Profile
Ca	Mg	Na	SO4	Cl	HCO3
50	10	27	70	55	90

To 11 gallons RO/distilled water, add the following:

• 1.87g Gypsum
• 4.73g Epsom salt
• 4.73g Calcium chloride
• 4.4g Baking soda
• 0.99g Chalk

Brewing Notes

A couple minor issues today. One of my temp probes, the one I was using on the BK developed a short, so it was reading sporadic temps. I was able to position the wire in a way that it started reading consistent albeit a little lower than actual temps (196 vs 207). The other issue, I had this blog post open on my tablet and my phone and I didn’t realize it wasn’t saving my gravity and pH readings for the middle measurements, so those were from memory and may not be entirely accurate. 

Other than that, things went well. Chilling also worked well again. The post-boil gravity read ~ 13.8/1.054 on the refractometer whereas the Tilt put it spot on at 1.052.

Session Readings
Beginning mash pH	5.18
Ending mash pH	5.20
1st running gravity	16 (1.064)*
Pre-Boil gravity	9 (1.035)*
Pre-Boil pH	5.2*
Post-Boil gravity	13.8 (1.054); Tilt=1.052
Post-Boil pH	5.13

Wort has been oxygenated, yeast pitched, Zinc Buddy pitched, and it’s in the ferm chamber sitting at 64F.

Update 12/8/2025

Gravity is reading 1.042 this morning on the Tilt. It started showing signs of gravity change about 5-6 hours after pitching, so it seems the yeast pitch was quite healthy and things are moving right along.

I forgot to mention one thing. I bought this app called Multi Timer that's kind of cool. I got it more for coffee roasting, but it essentially lets you set multiple timers, group them, and start them all at once. I've screwed up a couple coffee roasting sessions because I stepped away and forgot what I was doing, or I miss-timed one of the steps. I think it could well for brewing, especially if you have multiple hop additions you're trying to keep track of. This British Brown Ale was super straightforward, but here's an example of how I used it. 

Update 12/9/2025

Gravity is currently reading 1.020. Fermentation has been super active causing the Tilt to wobble and record measurements ranging from 1.020 to 1.035 in a matter of hours. It seems to be settling down today showing more consistent measurements. 

Update 12/14/2025

Gravity is currently sitting at 1.010 per the Tilt. That’s a little lower than I was anticipating so I’ll confirm with a hydrometer and/or corrected refractometer reading when I keg the beer. 

Update 12/22/2025

I'm hoping to get this beer kegged tonight. Gravity per the Tilt is reading 1.008, lower than the listed recipe FG, but within the limits in the style guidelines. I haven't tried a sample yet but I'll do that when I keg it.

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Irish Extra Stout 2025

Thanksgiving weekend brew day! I mostly keep base malts on hand but I've acquired a bunch of specialty grains in judge swag bags, as competition prizes, etc. I decided I better brew some recipes to use up some of these grains rather than perpetually storing them.

For today's beer, I'm brewing an Irish Extra Stout. This recipe is based on one of the medal winning recipes from NHC, specifically Paul’s Irish Extra Stout by Paul Sorice Jr., gold medal winner from 2022. I haven't had a chance to meet Paul yet, but he's in the Pinellas Urban Brewers Guild, the same club I just joined a couple weeks ago. I'm modifying the recipe slightly, including the brewing water (I'm using the Black Balanced (Over 31 SRM) water profile in Beersmith). I don't believe I've ever brewed anything specifically intended to be an Irish Extra Stout, so I'm looking forward to giving this one a try. It's my first time using Coffee Malt in a recipe. The 2021 BJCP style guidelines describe this style as follows:

A fuller-bodied black beer with a pronounced roasted flavor, often similar to coffee and dark chocolate with some malty complexity. The balance can range from moderately bittersweet to bitter, with the more balanced versions having up to moderate malty richness and the bitter versions being quite dry. 

I'm not shooting for an overly dry and bitter version. I'm hoping the selected grain bill and water profile will result in a nicely balanced beer. Here's the recipe as I'm brewing it today: 

Target OG 1.058

Target FG: 1.014

IBU: 36

ABV: 6

7 lb. 14oz Maris Otter pale malt 

6 oz. Carafa III malt (Cold steeped and added to BK during sparge)

6 oz. Simpson's Pale Chocolate malt

6 oz. Briess Victory malt

6 oz Simpson's Coffee malt

3 oz. Simpson's Double Roasted Crystal malt

1.25 oz. (35 g) Cluster, 6.5% AA @ 60 min

0.5 oz. (14 g) Cluster, 6.5% AA @ 15 min

4.66g BCAA (10 min)

Yeast Nutrient (Flameout)

Whirlfloc (Flameout)

Zinc Buddy (Added at pitch)

Fermentis Safale S-04

Mash at 153F. Ferment at 64°F for 12 days. Raise to 68°F on day 13 and hold for 3 days.

Water Profile

Target Water Profile
Ca	Mg	Na	SO4	Cl	HCO3
50	10	33	57	44	142

As mentioned above, I'm deviating from the water profile listed on the AHA's website. To 10 gallons of distilled/RO water, add the following:

• 5.4g Epsom salt
• 3.3g Calcium chloride
• 5.2g Baking soda
• 2.7g Chalk

Brewing Notes

No issues other than my gravity is a few points high. I believe this is due to more boil off than I was anticipating rather than higher than normal efficiency. So, I still need to dial that in a bit. I’m happy to say I think I’ve figured out my chilling process. Essentially I’m chilling down to about 99F with groundwater temps. Then I turn the pump on for the pre-chiller setup which is a Blichmann plate chiller connected to an ice water reservoir. With this setup, I was able to chill down to about 57F. I still had quite a bit of ice left too, so I think I could have easily gotten it down to 50F.

Session Readings
Beginning mash pH	5.18
Ending mash pH	5.18
1st running gravity	16.8 (1.067)
Pre-Boil gravity	10.5 (1.041)
Pre-Boil pH	5.18
Post-Boil gravity	15.5 (1.061)
Post-Boil pH	5.09

One thing worth mentioning, my Tilt Hydrometers' batteries both died on me before I moved to Florida. I figured I'd address that once I got settled in Florida. I'm happy to say I replaced the batteries, recalibrated both Tilts, and will be using one on this brew. I find Tilts most useful for lager fermentations as it helps me decide when to perform a diacetyl rest, but I use them in my ale fermentations as well. The only time I don't use them is in wild/mixed fermentations, but I may try that at some point if I can find someone looking to offload one for cheap. In Utah I used an old cell phone for logging, but I decided to buy a Tilt Pico to use in place of the phone. The Tilt Pico is a Raspberry Pi-based device that functions as a Bluetooth to WiFi bridge and eliminates the need for a cell phone. The cell phone solution worked ok, but my phone would periodically crash or reboot after an update and I'd lose logging data until I managed restart the Tilt app. I'm hoping the Tilt Pico is more stable.

Update 11/30/2025 7:15AM

Things are moving along today. The current gravity reading is 1.053 and temps are holding at 64F, although temps got as high as 66F for a short period. I may need to recalibrate the probe on my temp controller. I forgot to mention, I added White Labs Zinc Buddy to this batch. I didn't realize WL was selling this product and it was a little hard to find, but a friend of mine uses it and recommended it (more on his beer in an upcoming post). It's basically a sterile zinc solution that you can add directly to your fermenter and it supports yeast health. Here's a link to more info on WL.

Update 12/1/2025 8:00AM

Fermentation is still chugging along. I ended up dropping the temp controller one degree, just in case the probe was slightly off. Current readings from the Tilt are 1.025 and 64F with an average temp of 63.9F. The Tilts do wobble during active fermentation, so it likely isn’t exactly 1.025, but very close to it; for example, there are a couple readings where it recently read 1.027, then 1.024, then back to 1.027 then the most recent at 1.025.

Update 12/2/2025 9:45AM

Fermentation seems to be winding down. I went ahead and raised the temp setting on my controller to 67F and I'm letting it free rise. Current readings are 1.020. I'm hoping to get closer to the stated FG for the recipe, 1.014.  

Update 12/3/2025

Fermentation has definitely slowed, but gravity is still dropping a little bit. Today the tilt is reading a hair below 1.020 at about 1.019551. Yesterday's 1.020 was actually measuring at 1.020580, so about a 1 point drop.

Update 12/7/2025

Today we're at 1.018522 on the Tilt, so still dropping albeit very slowly.

Update 12/14/2025

Gravity is at 1.018522 per the Tilt, so I think fermentation is complete. FG is a little higher than I was shooting for, but I tried a small sample and it doesn’t taste overly sweet or cloying. I’m cleaning a keg and will hopefully get it kegged by end of day.

Update 12/16/2025

I kegged this beer tonight and it was dosed with Biofine. It's supposed to be down in the 50s tonight, so I left the keg under pressure on my back porch. In the morning I'll transfer it to my ferm chamber to continue cold conditioning.

Update 12/22/2025

I poured a little beer off today to get rid of any finings and sediment, then tried a sample. Not gonna lie...I like it a lot. I would say it falls into the bittersweet category. I'm getting lots of dark chocolate character with noticeable coffee notes. Head is tan and persists. Body is full but I don't think it's too full or indicating an attenuation issue, so that's a huge relief.  I'm going to free up some tap space on my kegerator, clean the lines, and put this one on soon.

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Barrel Washing Rack

***This is a previously unpublished draft that I wrote up back in 2018. I was doing some work to support a new craft brewery in Utah, specifically on their barrel program. This rack was built to make it easier to rinse barrels after emptying.

Today's post isn't exactly for homebrewing, or at least not for most homebrewers (there's probably one person out there with a forklift, doing 60 gallon Solera projects), but I thought homebrewers might find it interesting. This is an equipment build I'm doing for my gig managing the sour beer program, and to an extent, the barrel-aged clean beers at a local brewery. This is a cleaning rack to assist with rinsing barrels between fills.

The way it works is after the barrels are emptied, a standard double barrel stacking rack is lowered onto the cleaning rack. As the stacking rack is lowered, the casters engage the barrels and the stacking rack drops out of the way and rests on the cleaning rack. With the barrels suspended on the casters, you can easily rotate the bungholes to the 6 o'clock position for dumping sediment and rinsing the barrels. Long story short, it makes the barrel cleaning process much quicker and easier.

We have two types of barrel racks. The overall dimensions are basically the same but the construction varies slightly in that some have two crossbars, but most have four. This isn't a huge issue, it just means some of the stacking racks rest lower on the cleaning rack than others. Stacking rack dimensions tend to be 44.5" wide x 30.75" deep x 14.125" tall.

To build the cleaning rack, I used 1.5 x 2.5 - 14 gauge rectangular steel tubing. Materials and cuts are as follows:

• (4) Outer posts at x" long (I forgot to measure these and I no longer have access to the rack)
• (2) Long horizontal beams at 48" long
• (4) Inner posts at 12" long
• (2) Short horizontal beams at 19" long
• (8) Casters

The pieces were assembled as shown in the pictures below. There's enough clearance to slide a bucket under the barrels during rinsing. This is important because while clean barrels will most likely be rinsed in the brewery, sour barrels will likely be rinsed outside to minimize contamination risk in the brewery. We'll need to be able to capture the wastewater and properly dispose of it, so clearance for a bucket is key.

The sizing noted above will give you a couple inches of clearance side to side and front to back. That said, it does require some precision to use, so you need some decent forklift skills to load barrels onto the rack. I also added some rubber pads where the stacking rack rests on the horizontal beams. Hopefully these will avoid damaging the paint and keep it rust-free longer.  I added the same rubber on the bottom of the legs so they don't damage the floors in the brewery.

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Kamado Controller

***This is a previously unpublished draft that I wrote up back in 2018. I gave the Kamado away when I moved, but kept the controller to use on a future Kamado.

In addition to homebrewing, and sometimes related to homebrewing, I really enjoy BBQ and smoked foods. Smoked beers, like-minded cheese, brisket, I dig all of it.

I picked up a Vision Grills Kamado a while back (clearance at Sam's Club) and I love it. Kamados are versatile because you can cook low and slow over indirect heat, or you can open the vents and crank up the heat for some high temp grilling. There's quite a bit of mass, so temps tend to stay fairly constant. That said, The temperature can fluctuate over extended cooks. To remedy this, I decided to build a digital temp controller that controls a small 12 volt fan to regulate the airflow into the firebox. This it's basically the same concept that a lot of people (including myself) use for fermentation temp control. Instead of controlling a refrigerator, I'm controlling a small fan. Essentially what happens is if the temp drops below the setpoint, the fan turns on, stoking the fire and increasing the temp. It is a PID controller, so it will cycle the fan on and off as it approaches the setpoint. This helps keep you from overshooting your target temperature. With this approach, I should be able to maintain constant temps until the fuel runs out. PIC

Here are the components I used for my build:

• (1) Ceramic adapter from BBQ Guru
• (1) Pit Viper Fan from BBQ Guru
• (1) Inkbird ITC-106VL PID Controller
• (1) 12VDC Power Adapter
• (1) Project box
• (1) Panel-mount K-type socket set
• (2) 12VDC female power connectors
• Misc supplies and wire

This particular model of Inkbird controller runs on 12VDC and the output rating is also 12VDC, so the wiring couldn't be more simple. 

The fan from BBQ Guru is nice because it incorporates a very functional housing that  provides protection from the heat and incorporates a damper for fine tuning the airflow. It took a little bit of adjusting to get the fan damper and upper lid damper set correctly on the first use, but once dialed in, it worked awesome.

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Potato Pavé

New food recipe. I'd seen some IG Reels where someone said Potato Pavé was one of their family's favorite comfort foods. It sounded and looked pretty amazing...I mean, who doesn't love potatoes? 

Most recipes call for using heavy cream but I didn't have any and didn't feel like running to the grocery store, so I used half and half. Some recipes also incorporated in buttermilk in place of some of the cream, so there's room to experiment. Some recipes called for different herbs, but I have a pot of rosemary in the back yard, so that's why I went with it.

A couple other notes, a lot of the recipes also tell you to trim your potatoes into rectangular shapes. This helps ensure your slices are more uniform which makes things easier when you get to the layering step. I trimmed my first few but towards the end I was mostly just peeling them. It actually worked out well as I needed some different widths and lengths to fill in my loaf pan.  

One last note, this recipe isn't hard but it takes some time to make. Plan ahead, or like in my case, make it day 1 and serve it day 2.

Here's the recipe as I made it today.

Ingredients

1.25 to 1.5c Half and half, or heavy cream, or a blend of the two. Optionality, substitute some buttermilk for part of the cream. 

2T Fresh rosemary, finely chopped

2t Garlic, minced

1t Kosher salt, heaping 

3-4 lbs Russet potatoes (preferably large with similar size and shape)

1/4c Butter, melted

Black pepper

Olive oil

Directions

1. Combine cream, rosemary, garlic, and salt in a large bowl.
2. Prepare potatoes by washing, peeling, and trimming to uniform lengths. 
3. Preheat oven to 350.
4. Using a mandolin slicer, slice over the bowl containing the cream mixture. Remember to occasionally stir them to make sure each side is coated with the cream mixture.
5. Once all potatoes are sliced, line a loaf pan with parchment paper and begin layering the thin potato slices. Do your best to keep the layers as uniform as possible.
6. Every 3-4 layers, drizzle about 1 tablespoon of melted butter over the layer, then add a pinch of salt and black pepper. 
7. Repeat step 6 until you've used all potatoes.
8. Fold parchment paper to cover the last layer, or trim it to be level with the top of the loaf pan. 
9. Cover the loaf pan tightly with aluminum foil, then bake at 350F for 1 hour and 20 minutes. 
10. After 1:20, remove from oven and use a skewer, fork, or knife to check to make sure the potatoes are fully cooked in the middle of the pan. If they're not, put them back in the oven for 10 minutes then check again. 
11. Once fully cooked, you're going to press the loaf and allow it to cool to room temp. The easiest way is to use a second loaf pan filled with weights (e.g. cans of vegetable) to gradually press down on the layers as it cools.  Remember to place a later of parchment between the potatoes and the second loaf pan. I also lined the second loaf pan with a kitchen towel to insulate the canned vegetables from the potatoes. Allow it to cool to room temp (a small fan blowing on the pan will help).
12. Transfer the whole setup (second loaf pan plus weights) to the fridge and chill for several hours or overnight. 
13. After chilled, remove the potato loaf from the pan using a spatula to loosen it along the edges.  
14. Discard the parchment and slice the loaf into 1" thick slices.  You can also slice these in half for smaller serving sizes. This will yield blocks about 1" wide x 1.5" long x 2" deep (or however deep you layered them).
15. Heat a pan over medium-high heat with a thin layer of olive oil. 
16. Place the potato blocks in pan (it should immediately sizzle) and cook bottoms until golden brown, 1-2 minutes. 
17. Carefully turn and cook all sides until golden brown, about 1-2 minutes per side.
18. Serve and enjoy.

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Another Shrimp Ceviche Recipe

It’s no secret I love Mexican food. I posted a ceviche recipe recently thatI’ve made a few times now and it turns out great. My only complaint with that one is it’s a little light on juice/liquid in the finished ceviche. My wife also loves avocados and asked me to find one that includes avocado. So I stumbled across this recipe that had great reviews and seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. I love cilantro and a whole bunch may seem like a lot, but it works. The peppers will give it a nice medium spice level. 

Pro tip, I use this style vegetable chopper gadget that my wife got off Amazon. It’s awesome for quickly preparing things like salsa, pico, ceviche, etc. 

Here’s the recipe as I made it. 

1# Gulf shrimp, peeled, deveined, and tails removed 

Juice of one whole lemon plus enough lime juice (~9) to measure a total of one cup combined juice

1 Bunch cilantro 

4 Serrano peppers

2 Roma tomatoes, diced

1/2 Medium-large Red onion, diced

1 Jalapeño pepper, diced

1 Medium cucumber, peeled and diced

1 Avocado, diced

1T Clamato

Salt and black pepper to taste

Sugar to taste

Marinade

1. Juice lemon and limes so that you have 1 cup of combined juice.
2. Roughly chop cilantro and transfer to blender.
3. Add a pinch or two of salt to blender.
4. Remove stems from Serrano peppers, roughly chop, and add to blender. 
5. Add enough juice to the blender to allow you to blend the cilantro, Serrano peppers, and salt (I used about 5oz). Pulse the blender a few times, but you don’t want to make a purée; you still want good sized pieces of cilantro leaves.
6. Cut the shrimp into small pieces (I usually cut them into thirds) and transfer to a glass bowl.
7. Pour the blended juice, Serrano, and cilantro over the shrimp along with the rest of the juice, and stir with a spoon until well mixed.
8. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge to “cook” for 20 minutes.

Prepare Remaining Ingredients 

1. Finely chop the following ingredients: tomatoes, onion, jalapeno, and cucumber.  Combine in a large bowl.
2. Add Clamato.
3. Check the shrimp to see if the cooking process is complete; they should be opaque. If they’re not done yet, give them a stir and put them back in the fridge for another 10 minutes.
4. Once the shrimp are fully cured, transfer the shrimp and all liquid/marinade to the bowl with the remaining ingredients.
5. Add black pepper and salt to taste. Optionally, you can also add sugar to tame the acidity, but I didn’t add any.
6. Stir to mix well. It’s pretty much ready to serve at this point, but I usually give it another 15-20 minutes for the flavors to meld. 
7. Dice the avocado and add it right before serving.
8. Serve with tostada shells or your favorite corn chips.

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Grain Mill 2.0

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, we moved to Florida and I had to leave certain things behind; this includes the cart/stand for my grain mill. I took off the important parts like the bare bones mill, the motor, the sheave, etc. with the plan to rebuild it in Florida. After finishing rebuilding the brew stand, I turned my attention to the grain mill and decided I wanted to change things up. Instead of the guillotine-like sheave, I decided I wanted to use a gear motor in more of a direct drive orientation. More details below.

Gear Motor

I was planning on buying a cheap gear motor on Amazon that included a speed controller. Currently these models sell for around $100-$130 on Amazon under various brand names and all appear to be made in China. Final drive RPM and torque vary quite a bit but I found one that seemed to fit the bill. The only problem was none of these motors had many (some had zero) reviews. The ones with reviews seemed to consist of five star reviews completely lacking details, or one star reviews describing all kinds of issues from the speed controller not working correctly to motors burning out once any kind of load was applied. Long story short, I decided the Chinese motors were questionable at best and to try to find a different solution. 

Thankfully I stumbled across some new old stock Bodine gear motors on eBay. These motors are manufactured in the U.S. and have a reputation for being really well-made and dependable and have been used in lots of grain mill builds. They’re also usually pretty expensive, retailing anywhere from $350 to over $500. Fortunately I was able to pick one up for a little over $100 and with free shipping. The model I got has a 15:1 gearbox, a final drive speed of 115RPM, and 68 inch pounds of torque. This is a slightly slower RPM than my old motor, but likely a lot more torque. I looked up the serial number on Bodine’s site and it appears this motor was a custom design intended to drive conveyor belts in a manufacturing setting. The motor can be run in both CW and CCW direction by wiring in a selection switch, but I decided to only run it CW. I did have to reach out to Bodine support for the correct wiring connections because since it was a custom spec motor, it used different wire colors than other gear motors in the same series. 

Bare Bones Mill

The bare bones mill is still the same Crank and Stein 2D mill that I used in my original build. Crank and Stein no longer sells this model, but they do sell a similar geared model. I replaced the original wooden mill top/hopper holder with a 3D printed one a few years ago. The printed one seems to be working great, so I decided to reuse it. I’m also reusing the hopper from the original build.

Mill Frame/Table

Like the previous version, the mill table is made from 1.5” square steel tubing. The top is made from 3/4” red oak plywood. I omitted the lower shelf where the motor was mounted and held the bucket to catch the milled grain. Instead, the bucket simply rests on the floor below the mill.

Build Details 

It’s a pretty straightforward build. The pictures show most of the details, but I’ve included some key points below:

• The mill and motor are mounted to the plywood top.
• The frame has six simple brackets for attaching the plywood top to the frame.
• The output and input driveshafts are different heights, so I made a spacer out of red oak to raise mill height. This spacer is permanently attached to the plywood top.
• The motor has a 3/4” keyed shaft and the mill has a 1/2” non-keyed shaft with machined flats. Linking the two was done using Lovejoy couplers and spiders. It’s important to note, these couplers will naturally handle slightly misaligned driveshafts, but you want to get them as close to perfectly aligned as possible to minimize wear and tear.
• I used polyurethane to seal all the plywood and wood surfaces.
• I welded three guides/stops to the frame to ensure the bucket is centered directly below the mill when milling. 
• I reused the same switch and power cord from the old mill.
  
• One other difference from the original build, this mill does not have casters. The “feet” are simply tubing plugs with rubber self adhesive pads.

To use, I simply slide a bucket under the mill table, fill the hopper with grain, then flip the switch. The motor seems to have plenty of torque and can be started full. Speed seems great and it does a really good job of breaking up the grain, separating it from the hull, while leaving the hull intact. For anyone interested, I use the default 0.045” gap. Historically, my efficiency is usually right about 83-85%. I’m pretty excited to have this mill back up and running. I have quite a bit of specialty grains on hand and plan to formulate recipes around them. I’ve also included a few build pics below.

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Experimental Thiol Beer

Today I'm brewing an experimental beer making use of one of Omega's Thiolized yeasts as well as Phantasm powder. Both of these products have been available in the homebrew world for awhile, so I realize I'm a little late to the party. I love hop-forward beers like IPAs, but I don't brew them all that often for two main reasons:

1. There is no shortage of fresh commercially brewed IPAs. In fact, the last time I went to GABF in Denver, at least half the menu boards in a lot of the taprooms listed so many IPA and NEIPA beers that it was almost hard to find anything but an IPA. I think you could argue the saturation level of IPAs has caused lots of issues for the craft beer industry, but I digress.
2. IPAs have a relatively short shelf life compared to many other styles. They can still be great, but I have a hard time finishing a keg before I start to notice hop character falling off, and that really bums me out. I tend to only brew IPAs when we have something going on where I know there will be more people around.

So those are the reasons why I don't typically brew IPAs often. So why am I brewing one today? Omega Yeast released their thiolized yeasts a while back and I'd always wanted to try brewing with them and just never got around to it. They recently announced that they're pulling these strains from the homebrew market, so if I was ever going to do it, it needed to be very soon. On that same note, Phantasm powder was released a while back as well. This product is from New Zealand and is made from white grape skins containing high levels of thiol precursors. I bought a small packet of Phantasm over a year ago with the intent of using it in an IPA, and I just recently bought an additional pound of Phantasm at a highly discounted rate (likely due to the Omega strains being discontinued). I'm curious as to how it could be used in sour beers as well, but bought it to be used in hop-forward beers. So here we are, about to brew an experimental "IPA-ish" beer.  

There is a lot of info about brewing with both products, so I'm not going to go too deep into either other than to say these products can bring out fairly intense fruity, especially tropical fruit character in your beer. A lot of the modern trademarked hops that are so popular today also feature similar fruity flavors and aromas. The thought is that pairing thiolized yeast with products like Phantasm powder can bring out tons of fruity character in a beer without having to use huge, arguably wasteful, hop additions...fingers crossed!

One thing that I look for in beers, especially hop-forward beers, is the complimentary layering of hop flavors and aromas. Almost everything I've read indicates the character from the thiolized yeast is pretty surprising, but at the same time they're not all saying they love it. I've heard some comparisons to body odor and others saying it's reminiscent of lemon-scented cleaners...neither is what I'm after here. I'm going to try employing a couple measures to help ensure I end up with something complimentary without it being a one note wonder thiol beer or something that wrecks your palate.  

This definitely is an experiment. I've read through numerous blog posts, including one from Scott Janish that got very technical. I've talked with some commercial brewers that have experimented with both products, one in particular that I really trust because he has a very balanced approach to the beers he brews. So here are my plans for the first attempt:

• Star Party (SP) is the strain I'm using and it's known to produce much higher thiol levels than the first thiolized strain that Omega released, Cosmic Punch (CP). CP is reportedly around a 5x multiplier of thiols, whereas SP may be up to a 300x multiplier. I'm going to try using a blend of US-05 and SP to restrain things a bit and see where that gets me.  
• Normal dosage rate of Phantasm powder is between 1-2.5oz per 5 gallon batch. I'm going with the low end at 1oz for this batch.
• According to what I've read, bract (vegetative matter) from hops can negatively impact thiols, especially when added via dry-hopping, more so late vs. early in the fermentation process. I'm using a reduced amount of Phantasm powder and a blend of yeasts, but I'm still hoping for some noticeable thiol character, so I'm going to try using all Cryo hops (reduced bract) without any dry-hop additions in this beer. There will be a small hop shot addition for bittering, flame out additions, and whirlpool (sub isomerization) additions.
• I've seen a few comments indicating a slightly sweeter beer works better with thiolized yeast. I've also seen that some have indicated the malt profile seems to disappear. Because of this, I'm shooting for a water profile more typical for a NEIPA with a higher chloride to sulfate ratio to emphasize malt character over bitterness.

The grain bill for this beer is based on Juicy Bits from WeldWerks, but I've changed up the hop additions substantially from the published recipe I found. So just to be clear, this isn't intended to be a clone recipe, this is just what I thought might be a good base beer for trying this experiment. Here's the recipe as I'm brewing it today and I'll be sure to post follow-up comments after tasting.

Target OG 1.062

Target FG: 1.012

IBU: 46

ABV: 6.5%

3.5625# Proximity 2-row Pale Malt 

3.5625#  North Star Pilsner Malt

0.875# Rahr Dextrine Malt 

0.625# Flaked Oats

0.625# Flaked Wheat

0.625# Rahr White Wheat Malt

1g BrewTan B (Mash)

6oz Dextrose (Boil)

2ml Hopshot (60 min)

4.66g BCAA (10 min)

Yeast Nutrient

Whirlfloc

9g Mosaic Cryo (Flameout)

9g El Dorado Cryo (Flameout)

1oz Phantasm (Whirlpool)

19g Mosaic (Whirlpool, after temp is below 160F)

19g El Dorado (Whirlpool, after temp is below 160F)

Blend of US-05 and Star Party 

Water Profile using Epsom Salts and calcium chloride 

250 chloride

80 sulfate

Mash at 149F, 90 minute boil, chill to 65F, ferment at 67F.

Water Profile

Target Water Profile
Ca	Mg	Na	SO4	Cl	HCO3
141.1	20.9	0	82.4	249.7	0

To 10 gallons of RO/distilled water, add:

• 19.6g Calcium Chloride
• 8.0g Epsom salt

Brewing Notes

No real issues, although I forgot to take my pre-boil pH and gravity reading because I was making some minor changes to my chilling hoses. On that note, my chilling setup worked much better this time. I chilled down to about 90F before turning on my prechiller. This time I was able to chill down to about 71F. 

I also dialed the measured boil temp down to 209F on my controller. This gave me a nice rolling boil with less boil off. I still ended up with a little less than 5 gallons in the fermenter and one extra gravity point over target. 

This is the first brew session with my re-built and upgraded grain mill. I'll be creating a post for it in the not too distant future. In the meantime, here's a link to my original grain mill build. 

Session Readings
Beginning mash pH	5.09
Ending mash pH	5.06
1st running gravity	19.2 (1.077)
Pre-Boil gravity	X (missed)
Pre-Boil pH	X (missed)
Post-Boil gravity	15.9 (1.063)
Post-Boil pH	4.92

Update 8/30/2025 8:19PM

Wort is at temp (65F), so I aerated and pitched both yeasts. I did a big starter of Star Party and saved two vials for future use. 

I forgot to mention, I used to run my blow-off hose from the fermenter into an open top bain-marie pot or a cup. It's so humid here that the evaporator plate had a tendency to ice up with the previous batch. I made a double airlock using an acrylic container I got off Amazon. It has two grommeted holes in the lid; the blow-off tube from the fermenter goes into one hole and a 3-piece airlock goes in the other, then the container and airlock get filled with sanitizer. I'm hoping by eliminating an additional source of humidity will eliminate any icing issues.

Update 8/31/2025

Fermentation is very active this morning. The double airlock setup seems to be working well. I’m bumping the set temp to 67F and will allow it to free rise.

Update 9/2/2025

Fermentation activity seems to be slowing down compared to two days ago. I'll probably pull a small sample towards the end of the week to see how it's progressing. Temps have been holding really consistent and I haven't seen the icing issues inside the ferm chamber that I saw with the previous batch. The double airlock seems to be helping to reduce humidity inside the fridge, so I'll call that a win.

Update 9/5/2025

I pulled a small sample this morning. Wow…the tropical fruit aroma is amazing on this beer. The fruity component really reminds me of some of the character I got with the Acid Tripp brew I did awhile back. I think dialing the Phantasm back to 1oz per 5 gallons, and co-pitching with US-05 helped keep the thiols in check where they’re complimentary but it’s not a thiol-bomb. I don’t pick up any BO character and it definitely doesn’t taste like furniture polish. I’d also seen comments indicating the thiolized strains tend to throw off a lot of sulfur during fermentation, but I really didn’t notice abnormally high levels the few times that I opened the ferm chamber. I’ll probably let this go a week in primary before I keg it and start carbing, but I’m super happy with the way it turned out. I’m interested to see how this fruity character expresses itself after being carbonated. Not having to waste a ton of hops dry hopping is an added bonus.

Update 11/13/2025

I've had this beer on tap for a little while. One interesting thing, the flavor and aroma compounds seem to be more temperature dependent than typical hop forward beers. By that I mean it doesn't have much flavor/aroma when it's too cold; but it definitely comes out as it warms. Flavors and aromas becoming more prominent at higher temps is nothing new, but it definitely seems more so with this beer. 

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Florida Lawnmower Beer - American-ish Lager

If you've been following any of my posts, you know I moved from Utah to Florida a little over a year ago. I did some homebrewing-related activities (e.g. blending barrel-aged beer), especially leading up to our move, but it's literally been 527 days since my last brew session. I'm super excited to get back to homebrewing despite feeling very rusty when it comes to my procedures and processes. Hopefully this first Florida beer doesn't turn into a disaster.

I had to leave a few things behind when I moved, including my brew stand and my mill stand. I've rebuilt my brew stand and the post prior to this one is dedicated to it.  

Regarding the brew stand, there are a few changes. Probably the biggest change is I no longer had access to natural gas, so I had to redo my boil setup. Long story short, I've gone full electric including incorporating a 240v/5500w element into my boil kettle. I also converted from my homebuilt 120v/2000w HERMS heat exchanger to a 240v/3500w Blichmann RIMS Rocket to maintain mash temps and perform step mashes. I've done one dry run on the updated system, but today is the inaugural Florida brew session. 

We live in Clearwater near Tampa and in July it's hot and humid. Tampa's claim to fame is it's never been over 100F, but the heat index definitely makes it feel over 100F; this week my phone said the temp was 93F but "feels like 104F". Because of this, I decided to brew a hoppy American-ish Lager, something that should be easy drinking and refreshing after mowing the lawn, hanging out by the pool, etc. The grain bill on this beer is super simple, considering of mostly Pilsner malt and a touch of Crystal 10. There's also some Rice Syrup Solids and Corn Sugar to help dry things out for this crispy lager. Hops-wise, I'm going with Sterling and Motueka at a much more elevated rate than is typical for an American Lager. Yeast-wise, I'm doing a split batch using 34/70 at traditional lager temps, and Lutra Kveik at warmer ale temps. Lutra is said to be very clean and can be used to create pseudo lagers. I've never tried it before, so this will be a fun experiment to compare the same base beer fermented with different yeasts at different temps. 

One other thing, I haven't been able to find an RO water supplier that doesn't add a small amount of minerals back into their RO water. I'm going to try this first batch using the RO with minerals added, while also adding my normal salt additions...and hope for the best. At some point in the future I plan to add an RO system at home (our tap water is really hard and sulfury) but I haven't had a chance to do it yet.

Target OG 14 Brix (1.056)

Target FG: 1.010

IBU: 19.3

ABV: 6.1

10 Gallon Batch

15# Weyermann Barke Pilsner

0.5# Briess Crystal 10L

2ml Hopshot (60 min)

1# Rice Syrup Solids (5 min)

1# Corn Sugar (5 min)

28g (1oz) Sterling Hops (10 min)

28g (1oz) Motueka Hops (10 min)

Wyeast Nutrient

9g BCAA (Dissolved in warm water, 5 min)

1 Whirlfloc (Flameout)

56g (2oz) Sterling Hops (Whirlpool)

56g (2oz) Motueka Hops (Whirlpool)

34/70 Yeast

Lutra Kviek

Mash at 150F. Collect 12 gallons of wort. 90 minute boil.

For the 34/70 Split - Ferment at 54F -56F for 4 days before doing diacetyl rest.

For the Lutra Split - Ferment at 70-72F.

Water Profile

Target Water Profile
Ca	Mg	Na	SO4	Cl	HCO3
58.7	8.4	0	89	62.5	0

To RO or distilled water, add:

• 0.38g/gallon Gypsum 
• 0.32g/gallon Epsom Salt
• 0.49g/gallon Calcium Chloride

Brewing Notes

Thankfully, no real issues. The biggest issue...it was crazy hot and humid today. The guys at my LHBS said hardly anyone brews in the middle of summer here, and I can see why. I was definitely moving a little slower since it had been so long since I brewed and I wanted to make sure I didn't make any mistakes. I think I'd sweated through my shirt within the first 20 minutes or so.

One thing, I knew chilling was going to be a different experience here in Florida where the groundwater temps are somewhere between 80-90F (compared to 50-60F in Utah). I acquired a Blichmann Therminator that I'm using as a pre-chiller for the hose water running through my counterflow chiller. On the pre-chiller circuit I'm recirculating ice water from a 5 gallon reservoir. It ended up taking four total bags of ice and even then I only got it down to about 73F. One mistake I think I made was starting the ice water recirc too early. In the future I think I'll take it as low as I can with ground water temps before recirculating the ice water. I also think it'll work better on a 5 gallon batch. I currently have the 34/70 portion chilling in my fermentation chamber and hopefully I'll be able to pitch tomorrow morning. 

My OG came in a couple points higher than target. I had the boil target temp set at 210 which may have been a tad high as the boil was really rolling, so that may have resulted in a little more boil-off.

Session Readings
Beginning mash pH	5.30
Ending mash pH	5.36
1st running gravity	19.4 (1.078)
Pre-Boil gravity	10.6 (1.041)
Pre-Boil pH	5.50
Post-Boil gravity	14.9 (1.059)
Post-Boil pH	5.32

Update 7/30/2025

Fermentation is moving along although I did have a couple hiccups on the 34/70 half. I ended up pitching the yeast the next day when temps were approximately 60F; my ferm fridge was definitely having a hard time getting down to 55F. I had a large fan blowing on the fridge to try to remove some of the heat emanating from it, but I think this was actually causing more problems than it was solving. I also was seeing ice building up in the ferm chamber. I ended up turning off the fan and I ordered an Eva-Dry dehumidifier to remove excess humidity inside the ferm chamber. After turning the fan off and adding the Eva-Dry, the fridge was working much better at maintaining temps. Unfortunately this was a little too late to hit my target temps, so it definitely fermented warmer than is typical when I brew a lager. I'm hoping the relatively large pitch will help curb unwanted esters in this beer, but time will tell.

Update 8/5/2025

The Lutra half was kegged today. Unfortunately something happened to my Biofine Clear (it turned into a solid block) so I wasn’t able to add any finings. 

Update 8/15/2025

The 34/70 half went in the keg today. I got my hands on some Biofine so this portion was dosed with Biofine Clear on transfer. This was the second half out of the kettle and I ended up with about 4 gallons in the fermenter. So I absolutely had a little more boil off with the electric setup vs my old NG setup in Utah. This definitely surprised me as I would have expected the lower altitude and higher humidity to reduce boil off, but it was boiling pretty vigorously. Next batch, I'll dial the set temp back a little and see if that changes things. 

Also, the Lutra half is fully carb'd and I've had a couple pints. It's a good beer but not the best beer I've ever brewed. No off aromas or off flavors that I can detect, but not as clean as lager yeast either. I'd like to try the experiment again as I think I've figured out some of the chilling and cooling issues. One other thing, I can tell I'm getting better hop utilization at lower altitude as the bitterness in the Lutra half is noticeably higher compared to similar beers I brewed at altitude in a Utah.

Update 9/6/2025

This isn't a bad beer but there's definitely higher bitterness than I was shooting for. This could be related to the higher hop utilization and/or the water profile. Regardless, I'd recommend dialing the bittering hops back a little bit if I were to rebrew, and/or a higher chloride to sulfate ratio.

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