Brown Ale with Persimmons

My neighbors have a persimmon tree in their field that seems to produce quite a bit of fruit each year, to the point where they'll make more than enough persimmon pudding to share, and still have fruit left over.  Last year, I thought it might be an interesting idea to try adding some of the fruit to a beer.  I went back and forth with a couple of different ideas; trying an old style recipe, as well as adding the fruit to secondary for a beer I've made before.  I decided to try adding to something I've done before and landed on my Hobgoblin Ale clone, in particular, the one that I brewed with the Nottingham yeast, as this one seemed to produce the best beer of the three that I tried. The idea is to have a dry yeast that allows the flavor of the malt to come through, and then add the fruit to secondary.  I collected about a cup of fruit mash from my neighbor, and froze it to kill bacteria.  When the time comes to rack the beer to secondary fermentation, I'll bring the frozen fruit mash to room temperature in a water bath, and then rack it into a sanitized fermenter.  Once that's done, I'll rack the beer on to the fruit and let it sit for several days.

I found a number of persimmon beer recipes and thoughts on using the fruit, including here, here, and here.  One old style recipe I found a while back included mashing the fruit, and then gently baking it after mixing it with wheat bran.  The resulting "bread" was then added to boiling water...definitely old school.

Brew Day: 3 Nov 2020

Partial Mash:
8 oz caramunich III
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Golden Light DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops: 14 g Fuggle (@ 20 min)

Yeast: Nottingham

I followed all of my normal procedures through pitching the yeast.

Addendum, 16 Nov: Racked the beer into secondary, on about 2/3 c of persimmon fruit mash.  My neighbor had picked and mashed the fruit, and I stuck the mash in the freezer prior to brewing the beer.  Tonight, I put the container in a warm water bath, and using a sanitized spoon, scooped the mash into a sanitizer fermenter.  I then racked the beer onto the mash, and then gently agitated the beer.  I didn't want to add a bunch of oxygen to the beer, but I just wanted to mix it a little.  We'll see how this turns out in a couple of days.

Addendum, 19 Nov: Bottled beer tonight, using 1/2 c of boiling water (bottled, not tap) to dissolve a bit more than an ounce of corn syrup. I'm going to see if this has an impact on the carbonation issue I've been experiencing. Got 7 good bottles and 2 small, repurposed soda bottles.

Farmhouse Pale Ale

 It's been a while since I've brewed a beer, and I wanted to get back into it with something interesting. Not long ago, I made a visit to my local homebrew supply store, and picked up some Omega liquid yeast along with other supplies.  It's been over a year since the last time I used this particular yeast, but during that time, I'd also tried a Norwegian farmhouse ale from a local brewery and really enjoyed it.  I thought a pale ale using some hops to impart a subtle, fruity essence would be a good way to start back into home brewing.

Brew Day: 25 Oct 2020

Partial Mash:
8 oz 2-row
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops:
7 g US Fuggle (4.3%) @ 20 min
1 oz German Huell Melon (6.1%) @ 5 min

Yeast: Omega OYL061 Voss Kviek

After aerating the wort and pitching the yeast, I wrapped the fermenter in a towel and placed it on a warming plate.  I'll check back in after 3 days, but I'm likely going to leave it for a bit longer this time around; the last time I brewed a beer with this yeast, the beer spent 3 days on the warming plate, and was bottled after 8 days.  The first beer I tried from this batch was "wildly over-carbonated".  

Addendum, 26 Oct: About 12 hrs after pitching the yeast, and the beer is bubbling away quite nicely! It's good to see this reaction (i.e., not a slow start, and not an explosive one!) for my first beer since the pandemic started.

Addendum, 8 Nov: Bottled tonight on 1 oz of table sugar dissolved in 1/2 c boiling water.  Got 7 good bottles and 2 repurposed soda bottles.

Addendum, 16 Nov: I've been checking the repurposed soda bottles regularly, and they remain soft, indicating no or very little carbonation.  This is the same issue I started experiencing this past spring, and I don't know if this is an issue with the water, in that there is an issue with the yeast as it's fermenting or if it's an issue with the water used when priming the beer for bottling, or if it's an issue with the sugar.  

I did have the well check in May as part of the regular maintenance cycle, and found that the water out of the well (raw) had a pH of 6.3, and both iron and hardness were '3'.  After filtering, the pH was 6.6, and both the iron and hardness were 0.

My plan at this point is to prepare some bottling sugar using bottle water and 1 oz of corn syrup.  I've got a 12 ml syringe, so I'll sanitize that and use it to add a small amount of the solution to the bottles, and then wait a bit to see what happens.

Pale Ale

In all the time that I've been home brewing, I've never used the S-33 yeast, so I thought I'd give it a shot.  It sounds like it was good for pale ales, which I'm going to make with some Cashmere hops.  I've used this hop before, including to dry hop a Belgian beer, which my wife really enjoyed.

Brew Day: 26 Mar 2020

Partial Mash:
8 oz 2-row
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops:
7 g Fuggle (@ 20 min)
1 oz Cashmere hops (10 min whirlpool, @ flameout)

Yeast: S-33

Addendum, 8 Apr: Bottled tonight, on 1 oz table sugar dissolved in 1/2 c boiling water.  Got 9 good bottles, and one 12 oz repurposed soda bottle.

Hobgoblin Ale, pt III

So far, I've made two variations of this beer (here, and here), and liked them both, which is kind of odd because I would not normally choose a brown ale, nor an English ale, for myself. If I had to pick one, I'd say that the first one came out better, but that may be based more on carbonation than anything else.  Or maybe the caramel rye added just a bit of spice to the beer.  Regardless, I'm going to try one more time, and then hold off on the Hobgoblin ale clones again until fall.

I thought that this time around, I'd try a different yeast, but also do something I haven't really done yet...document the process, in pictures.  A friend has been asking, again recently, so I thought this would be a good way to document not just what equipment I'm using, but also my process.

Brew Day: 22 Mar 2020

Fig 1: Equipment

Figure 1 illustrates the equipment I use when making beer.  From left to right, there's a tray with a funnel, racking crane, and tubing.  I use the 1 gal thermos for partial mashing, and below that a digital kitchen scale and thermometer.  Next to the thermos is a 1 gal container of water with just a bit more than 1/2 oz of StarSan sanitizer, and below that is the glass fermenter.  Finally, on the far right is a two-gallon brew kettle.

To begin, I bring 3 qt of water to 160 deg F.  Once the water is up to temperature, I pour that into the thermos, and add the grain (see the "Partial Mash" section below), in a grain bag, to the thermos.  The goal is to have the water at about 144-146 deg F, so I get it up to 160 deg F, knowing that the temperature will drop 10-12 deg when I pour it into the thermos, then add the grain.

The grain stays in the thermos for at least an hour.  It can stay longer.

Fig. 2: Ingredients

Partial Mash:
6 oz caramel malt
4 oz Caramunich
2 oz chocolate malt
2 oz flaked wheat

Figure 2 illustrates the ingredients for this beer. There's the grain listed above, in a grain bag.  To the right of that are the two hops additions (see below), and then the DME.  At the bottom of the picture is 4 oz of table sugar, and the yeast packet.



Boil (20 min):
1 lb golden light DME
4 oz table sugar

Before the grain has completed processing in the thermos, I like to start heating 3 1/2 qts of water in the brew kettle, bringing it up to near boiling.  Once the grain is done, I then use thongs to remove the grain bag from the thermos, and then dunk it and remove it from the heated water in the kettle.  This water is at a much higher temperature than the water in the kettle, and as such, there won't be the extraction of sugar from the grain.  After doing this several times (I usually do so three times), I add the wort from the thermos and the other fermentables (DME, sugar) to the brew kettle and bring it up to boiling.  Once the wort begins boiling, I add the first hop addition, and begin timing the 20 min boil.  At 10 min into the boil, I add the second hop addition.

Hops:
7 g Fuggle (@ 20 min)
7 g Fuggle (@ 10 min)

When the boil is complete, I move the covered kettle to the sink, which I've partially filled with water.  I then add ice to create an ice bath, and after about 10 -15 min, begin checking the temperature of the wort...I want it to get to about 80 deg F.  Once that happens, I begin transferring it to a sanitized fermenter.

When the fermenter is between 1/2 and 2/3 full, I stop transferring wort.  I put a fermenter cap on it (the cap has a hole in the middle), and begin shaking it to add oxygen to the wort.  I generally shake it for about 5 min, vigorously, add the yeast, and agitate again for a minute or two.

Yeast: S-04

Once the yeast has been pitched (I tend to over-pitch, adding the entire sachet to the wort), I continue adding the wort until the fermenter is about full to the neck.  I then place a sanitized cap on the fermenter, place one end of a blow-off tube in the hole in the cap, and then put the other end in a Gatorade bottle with a bit of sanitizer in it...just enough to provide adequate cover for the end of the blow-off tube.

Once all this is done, I put a tag on the fermenter (beer name, brew date) and put the fermenter in the shower in the downstairs bathroom.  The temperature is pretty constant down there, and if something happens with the fermenter during fermentation, clean-up is pretty easy.

Addendum, 23 Mar: About 12 hrs after pitching the yeast, figure 3 illustrates that 'current state' of the beer.  It's bubbling quite nicely, and you can see why I like to use a Gatorade bottle as a blow-off bottle.

Fig. 3: Beer 12 hrs after pitching yeast

Addendum, 2 Apr: Bottled tonight, on 2 1/2 T of table sugar dissolved in 1/2 c boiling water.  Got 9 good bottles, and 1 partial fill of a 12 oz soda bottle.

Leap Day IPA

Leap day is a good day to brew an IPA...

Brew Day: 29 Feb 2020

Partial Mash:
8 oz light Munich
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops:
7 g German Perle (@ 20 min)
1 oz Mandarina Bavaria (@ flameout, 10 min whirlpool)

Yeast: T-58

Addendum, 7 Mar: Dry hopped with 14 g German Mandarina Bavaria hops.

Addendum, 11 Mar: Bottled tonight, on 30 ml of light corn syrup, dissolved into 1/2 cup of boiling water.  Got 8 good bottles and 1 partial fill.

Addendum, 26 Mar: Tried one bottle tonight.  After chilling the beer, opened it to a slight hiss, but the beer poured with minimal carbonation.  The taste of the beer was good, but it was almost (not completely) flat.  I did some research and found a couple of options; one is try flipping the bottles over for three days, then turning them up for three days.  Another option is to try uncapping the bottles and adding a grain or two of dry yeast to each bottle, then re-capping, agitating, and waiting.  I'm going to start by rotating all of the bottles, and see how that goes.

Sour IPA

It's about time that I use up the remaining GoodBelly StraightShots, and how better to do that than with a sour IPA?

Partial Mash:
8.5 oz 2-row
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil #1 - 25 Feb 2020 (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar

After the boil, rack the wort on to two GoodBelly StraightShots, in a sanitized fermenter, then place the fermenter on a warmed warming plate, wrapped in a towel.

Boil #2 - 28 Feb 2020 (20 min):

Hops:
7 g German Perle (@ 20 min)
1 oz SA African Queen (@ flameout, 10 min whirlpool)

Yeast: US-05

Addendum, 7 Mar: Dry hopped with 14 g German Mandarina Bavaria hops.

Addendum, 11 Mar: Bottled tonight, on 30 ml of light corn syrup, dissolved into 1/2 cup of boiling water.  Got 8 good bottles and 1 re-purposed soda bottle.

Tasting Notes, 25 Mar: Chilled and opened the soda bottle tonight. Excellent flavor, good body, but only minimally carbonated.  Sours don't usually have much head to speak of, but this beer was very mildly carbonated.  I'm not sure what the issue is, it's something I'm going to need to address.

Honey Ginger Belgian

My wife, who loves ginger Belgians, got me some ginger-infused honey for Christmas, specifically to add to a beer.  So...here it is!

Brew Day: 6 Feb 2020

Partial Mash:
8 oz Munich
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb golden light DME
8 oz ginger-infused honey (flameout)

Hops: 7 g German Perle (@ 20 min)
1 oz thinly-sliced fresh ginger (@ 5 min)

Yeast: BE-134

Addendum, 15 Feb: Racked to secondary.

Addendum, 16 Mar: Bottled tonight, on 30ml of light corn syrup dissolved in 1/2 c boiling water.  Got 9 good bottles.

Tangerine Wheat

Okay, trying again...

Brew Day: 6 Feb 2020

Partial Mash:
8 oz Munich
2.5 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Bavarian Wheat DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops: 7 g German Perle (@ 20 min)
4 g dried orange peel (@ 5 min)

Yeast: US-05

Addendum, 15 Feb: Racked to secondary, on 20 ml of tangerine extract.

Addendum, 20 Feb: Bottled today on 2.5 T of table sugar dissolved into 1/2 c boiling water.  Got 9 good bottles and one partial fill of a re-purposed soda bottle.

Saison Wit

I really enjoyed the Lithuanian farmhouse ale I made not long ago, and wanted to try the recipe with a saison yeast.

Brew Day: 27 Jan 2020

Partial Mash:
8 oz 2-row
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops:
7 g German Perle (@ 20 min)
7 g German Perle (@ 5 min)
2 g sweet orange peel (@ 5 min)
2 g crushed coriander seeds (@ 5 min)

Yeast: Danstar Belle Saison

Addendum, 2 Feb: Transferred to secondary.

Addendum, 12 Feb: Bottled today, on 2 T of table sugar dissolved in 1/2 c boiling water.  Got 9 good bottles, and one partial fill on a re-purposed soda bottle.

Tasting Notes: So far, I've really liked this beer.  It's light, with a good head, and a bit of citrus in the nose.  The flavor is very peppery, which is different.  Definitely a good one to try again.

Another Hobgoblin Ale Clone

The first time I tried this recipe, it turned out surprisingly well.  I can't say that I'm usually a fan of British ales, nor of brown ales, but I have really enjoyed this particular beer. It's been easy to drink, with subtle notes of toffee and chocolate.  I wanted to try the beer with a dry yeast to see if there were any notable or remarkable differences, so I asked for insight from the proprietors of my local homebrew supply store.  Their recommendation was the Nottingham ale yeast, as it would reportedly allow the maltiness of the beer to come through a bit more.  However, Windsor (a bit more dry) and S-04 were also good options; in fact, S-04 may be a good option for a third round of this beer.

Brew Day: 16 Jan 2020

Partial Mash:
8 oz caramel malt
1.5 oz chocolate malt
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops: 14 g German Perle @ 20 min

Yeast: Nottingham Ale Yeast

Addendum, 17 Jan: Maybe 15 hrs after pitching the yeast, I checked on the fermentor and the blow-off bottle was almost full!  The yeast had really taken off!  I used a clean Gatorade bottle with a bit of sanitizer in the bottom for the more active part of fermentation, and ended up replacing the bottle with a new one.

Addendum, 26 Jan: Transferred the beer to secondary.

Addendum, 2 Feb: Bottled on 2 T of table sugar dissolved in 1/2 c boiling water.  Got 9 good bottles.

Tasking Notes: Good flavor, good body.  Smooth, the malt really comes through.  The beer isn't as carbonated as I'd like, though...maybe the beer was in secondary too long, or shouldn't have gone into secondary. 

Combination Ale

I got to the point where I had enough wort from different beers left over to go ahead and make a combination ale.  This one has two sours, two brown ales, and a mishmash of different hops, as well as some dried orange peel and crushed coriander seeds.

Contributions:
Pacifica Sour
Hobgoblin ale clone
Jovaru Wit
Tangerine Wheat
Brown Sour IPA

Brew Day: 17 Dec 2019

Boil (20 min):

Hops: N/A

Yeast: US-05

Addendum, 24 Dec: Transferred to secondary, racked on to 14 g Hallertau Blanc hop pellets.

Addendum, 29 Dec: Bottled on ~1 1/2 T table sugar dissolved in 1/2 cup boiling water.  Got 8 good bottles and one re-purposed soda bottle.

Brown Sour IPA

One of the great things about being a home brewer is that I can not only make beers to have available when what I like isn't "in season", but I can create new beers, as well.  This is one of those beers.

Initial Brew Day: 14 Dec 2019

Partial Mash:
8 oz Special B
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb DME
4 oz table sugar

Racked the wort on to ~1 1/2 Goodbelly Straight Shots, and then placed on a warming plate.  I don't want an over-powering tartness, and this will likely be subtle enough to just give a bit of tartness and let other flavors come through.

Second Brew Day: 17 Dec 2019

Boil (20 min):

Hops:
7 g Hallertau Blanc (@ 20 min)
7 g Hallertau Blanc (@ 5 min)
4 g dried sweet orange peel (@ 5 min)
3 g crushed coriander seeds (@ 5 min)

Yeast: Omega Hot Head

After boiling the wort and pitching the yeast, I placed the beer on a warming plate.

Addendum, 24 Dec: Transferred to secondary.

Addendum, 29 Dec: Bottled on 2 T table sugar dissolved in 1/2 cup boiling water.  Got 8 good bottles and one re-purposed soda bottle.

Addendum, 7 Jan: Put a bottle in the fridge this morning to chill, thinking it would be fine.  The re-purposed soda bottle is clearly under pressure.  However, the beer came out flat, and tasted "off".  I'm going to remake this beer, using US-05 yeast.

Tangerine Wheat #2

The first time I attempted this brew, I wanted to be a "purist"; instead of using extract (I'd read that that's how Lost City made theirs), I wanted to use orange zest.  Which I did.  And it didn't work, at least not in the sense that I'd replicated the flavor.  Not long ago, we'd been to a restaurant that offered the beer, and after tasting it, I thought, "yeah, okay, they use extract."  So, I picked up some Brewer's Best tangerine extract, and decided to give it a run.

Based on some online reading, I'll add about an ounce of the extract to the beer at bottling; put the bottling sugar in the fermenter, add the extract, and then rack the beer onto them both just prior to bottling.

Note: 1 oz ~ 30 ml

Brew Day: 2 Dec 2019

Partial Mash:
8 oz 2-row malt
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Bavarian wheat DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops: UK Fuggle (@ 20 min)

Yeast: Horindahl Kviek

After pitching the yeast, place the fermenter on a warming plate.

Addendum, 3 Dec: It's been about 11 hrs since I pitched the yeast, and the beer is fermenting enthusiastically.

Addendum, 10 Dec: Transferred the beer to secondary, taking it off of the warming plate.

Addendum, 24 Dec: Bottled today, on 3/4 oz of table sugar dissolved in 1/2 c boiling water, and 40 ml of tangerine flavoring.  Got 8 good bottles and 1 re-purposed soda bottle.

Addendum, 7 Jan: I put two regular bottles and the re-purposed soda bottle in the fridge to chill last night, and noticed that the soda bottle did not seem to be under pressure.  I opened one of the regular bottles for my wife tonight, and noticed there was no distinctive escaping of air.  The beer was flat, and even though it had a strong aroma of tangerine, it tasted "off".  I'm going to empty and clean all of the bottles, and then re-do the beer, using US-05 yeast.

JOVARU Wit

I was preparing for a trip to my local home brew supply store not too long ago, and I ran across an Omega Labs yeast called OYL-033 Jovaru Lithuanian Farmhouse.  This sounded very interesting, in no small part due to the fact that a friend of mine spent a great deal of time in Lithuania.  When I got to the store, I asked about the yeast and they said that they'd order some for me.  A couple of days later, I got an email saying that yeast was in.  Fortunately, Omega Labs also has a recipe for a Jovaru Wit beer, and it sounded too good to pass up.

Brew Day: 7 Nov 2019

Partial Mash:
8 oz 2-row malt
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops:
7 g Hallertau Blanc (@ 20 min)
7 g Hallertau Blanc (@ 5 min)
2 g dried sweet orange peel (@ 5 min)
2 g crushed coriander seeds (@ 5 min)

Yeast: Jovaru Lithuanian Farmhouse

I followed all of my usual procedures for cooling the wort and pitching the yeast, and placed the fermenter on a warming plate, wrapped in a towel.

Addendum, 19 Nov: Transferred to secondary.

Addendum, 24 Nov: Bottled tonight; got 8 good bottles and 1 re-purposed soda bottle.  Used just shy of 2 T sugar, rather than a full ounce (~ 2 1/2 T), as the beers have been a little over-carbonated of late.

Addendum, 10 Dec: Tried one of the bottles tonight.  After the initial pour, I got a note of citrus in the nose, and the beer poured with a big, pillowy head that dissipated quickly.  The beer is medium body, with a hint of citrus and pepper.  Very nice flavor, very drinkable beer, and definitely one I'll do again.

Using Chocolate Malt

I have some chocolate malt sitting around from when I tried to make a red ale, and I wanted to use it up.  I'm not a fan of stouts and porters, but I have had a brown ale or two that was pretty good.  This being the fall season, going into the winter, I thought it would be a good time to use the malt up, and so I went looking for a recipe.  I ended up finding a Hobgoblin dark ale clone (scroll down) recipe, and went about collecting the ingredients.

Brew Day: 2 Nov 2019

Partial Mash:
4 oz Caramel malt
4 oz Crystal rye malt
1.5 oz chocolate malt
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb golden light DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops:
7 g Fuggle hops (FWH)
7 g Fuggle hops (@ 10 min)

Yeast: WLP-005 (recipe calls for Wyeast 1187, but this chart let me see an equivalent from White Labs)

Addendum, 3 Nov: It's always interesting to try a new yeast, because you never quite know how it's going to go.  I've used US-05 where it's started active fermentation within 2 hrs of pitching the yeast.  I've also used White Labs yeasts before (WLP-300, -380, etc.), but British ale yeast is new to me.  I had followed the instructions on the packet, and when I went to pitch the yeast, it came out as a sludge.  I hadn't seen that before and was a little concerned, and when I checked on the fermenter last night about 10 hrs after pitching, there was no visible activity.  This morning, however, there is clearly active fermentation.

Addendum, 16 Nov: Transferred to secondary.

Addendum, 24 Nov: Bottled tonight; got 8 good bottles and 1 re-purposed soda bottle.  Used just shy of 2 T sugar, rather than a full ounce (~ 2 1/2 T), as the beers have been a little over-carbonated of late.

Addendum, 16 Dec: I'd opened a bottle last week, and found it to be flat.  I opened a second bottle tonight, and it was similarly flat.  I then opened the re-purposed soda bottle, and it was only very mildly carbonated.  So, it seems that the issue wasn't the bottle caps, or the bottling process, as much as it was a result of this is the first time I've worked with this yeast, and I'd likely left it sitting too long. 

Overall, the flavor is pretty good, a bit of chocolate and toasted toffee.  The body is good, and with the exception of the dearth of carbonation, the beer is actually pretty drinkable and enjoyable, and I'm not a huge fan of brown ales.

Pacifica Sour

I picked up some Pacifica hops not long ago, due to the flavor profile, and I'm really looking forward to trying them out.  I'm going to use them in a sour, but I'm going to back off the bacteria I add, in that I'm going to go with just one GoodBelly Straight Shot instead of two.

For this one, I'd made a run to my local homebrew supply place, and had been leafing through the bin of Omega Labs yeasts...I'm looking to make another tangerine wheat soon, and wanted to get some more yeast.  I ran across the Tropical IPA yeast, and it sounded good, so I'm going to give it a go.  I'm sure that it's going to be hard to pick out the yeast contributions with everything going on...sour, Pacifica hops, and the yeast...but we'll see what comes of this one.

Brew Day: 22 Oct 2019

Partial Mash:
8 oz Munich
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil #1 (20 min):
1 lb golden light DME
4 oz table sugar

Boil #2 (20 min): 26 Oct 2019

Hops:
14 g Pacifica, FWH
1 oz Pacifica, 10 min whirlpool
14 g Pacifica, dry hop

Yeast: Omega Labs Tropical IPA

Addendum, 28 Oct: This is one of those Omega Labs yeasts that reportedly does better at higher temperatures, so I placed the fermenter on a warming plate after pitching the yeast.  I checked on it this morning, and the fermentation is best described as "enthusiastic".

Addendum, 5 Nov: Transferred to secondary today, not so much because I had to for the beer, but because I want to use the warming plate for another beer in the next day or two.  As I was finishing cleaning up after transferring the beer, I realized that it's almost time to dry hop the beer, which I hope to do tomorrow sometime, and then I'll try to bottle it on Saturday.

Addendum, 16 Nov: Dry hopped.

Addendum, 24 Nov: Bottled tonight; got 8 good bottles and 1 re-purposed soda bottle.  Used just shy of 2 T sugar, rather than a full ounce (~ 2 1/2 T), as the beers have been a little over-carbonated of late.

Addendum, 9 Dec: Tried one of these beers tonight.  The bottle opened with a nice escape of gas, and as expected of a sour, the beer poured with good carbonation but no real head to speak of.  The beer itself was mildly sour, not overpoweringly so, with subtle hints of the hops peeking through.  I'm a fan of sour IPAs, and this one did not have the overpowering tartness in previous beers; this time it was much more subtle.  Tasty, easy drinking sour beer.

Yet Another Leftover IPA

Maybe I should call this one "Semper FIPA", as like the Marines, it has contributions from all over, and ultimately comes together to make a pretty darned good IPA.

Contributions
Both of the following wort contributions are pretty close to the same, with the Ginger Belgian having the ginger addition during the boil:
Ginger Belgian
Tangerine Wheat

I also used:
Fruit-forward IPA with Galaxy and Julius hops
Fruity sour IPA (small contribution)

Brew Day: 13 Sept 2019

Boil (20 min)

Hops:
14 g U1/108 Experimental (FWH)
14 g Huell Melon + 14 g Azacca (10 min whirlpool)

Yeast: US-05

Addendum, 15 Sept: I'm thinking that something is amiss with the concoction, as it hasn't started bubbling yet, as if the yeast hasn't kicked off.  I followed all of my usual processes and procedures, from cooling, to aerating, and pitching the yeast.  All I can think of is that maybe I got some old yeast.  Later in the week, I'll have to figure out if I want to try pitching more yeast or just ditching the beer all together.

Addendum, 19 Sept: I had to travel for work this week, and left on 15 Sept.  The yeast hadn't kicked off before I left, but it clearly had done something by the time I checked this morning.  There was no activity this morning, but there were clear indications of something happening while I was gone.  I may rack the beer into secondary here very shortly, just to get it off of the left-over hops material in the fermenter.

Addendum, 20 Sept: Transferred the beer to secondary today, in large part to get it off of the hop debris it's been sitting on.  The beer was yellow-straw in color, and very hazy.  I was pretty interested to see that while there had clearly been some fermentation action, there was not a great deal of material in the blow-off bottle.  It will be interesting to see how this one turns out.

Addendum, 21 Oct: Bottled tonight; got 9 good bottles, and about 1/2 of a re-purposed soda bottle.

Fruity Sour IPA

Back in the early '80s, there was a "Bloom County" cartoon that included a poem that struck me, and I read it during English class as a high school senior.  The poem goes like this:

"I wouldn't mind if I did find a blue whale in my soup
Nor would I mind a porcupine inside a chicken coop
Yes, life is fine when things combine
Like ham in beef chow mien
But, Lord, this time I think I mind
They put acid in my rain"

Yeah, I know...it kind of started out whimsical and then went dark there at the end, but it reminds me of combining things that one might not ordinarily mix.  Also, something I learned in the Marine Corps, while on the rifle range, is "bold dope changes"...basically, if you're going to make a change, make it a big one!  So, I thought I'd do a sour IPA, with a different yeast, and add the mandarin juice I had left over from the tangerine wheat.

Brew Day: 10 Sept 2019

Partial Mash:
8 oz Munich
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min) #1:
1 lb DME
4 oz table sugar

During this process, DO NOT HOP THE WORT!  Once the wort is cooled, place (2) GoodBelly Straight Shots into a sanitized fermenter, and rack the cooled wort on top of them.  Place any left over wort into a sanitized container and refrigerate.  Place the fermenter on a warming plate.

Boil (20 min) #2 (13 Sept):
Boil wort for 20 min to kill the bugs, and add hops at this point.  Once the boil is done, pitch the yeast and place the fermenter back on the warming plate.

Hops:
14 g U1/108 Experimental (FWH)
14 g Huell Melon + 14 g Azacca (10 min whirlpool)

Yeast: Omega HotHead

Once I'd cooled the wort and pitched the yeast, I placed the fermenter back on the warming plate.

Addendum, 23 Sept: Dry hopped today, using 14 g Huell Melon; racked beer onto hops and 12 oz of tangerine juice.

Addendum, 26 Sept: Bottled; 6 bottles, 3 re-purposed soda bottles.

Fruit-forward IPA

I'm a fan of fruit-forward IPAs, and recently ran across the Omega Horindahl Kveik yeast.  Given the description, I thought I'd give it a shot, so I set the yeast out ahead of time to warm up to room temperature, shaking it repeatedly.  I also set the warming plate up ahead of time so that it would be up to temperature for when I placed the fermenter on it.

Brew Day: 3 Sept 2019

Partial Mash:
8 oz 2-row
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Golden Light DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops:
14 g Galaxy (FWH)
1 oz Julius (10 min whirlpool)
14 g Galaxy (dry hop)

Yeast: Omega Hornidal Kveik

Following the boil, I cooled the wort, pitched the yeast and placed the fermenter on a warming plate, wrapped in a towel.

Addendum, 4 Sept: Checked on the beer this morning, it appears that fermentation really took off overnight!

Addendum, 15 Sept: Placed in secondary; I'm traveling, and won't be able to do anything with the beer until later in the week.  As such, I racked it to secondary, and I'll dry hop it when I return.

Addendum, 23 Sept: Dry hopped today.

Addendum, 26 Sept: Bottled; 8 bottles, 1 re-purposed soda bottle.

Addendum, 14 Oct: Opened the soda bottle tonight.  Beer is a golden straw color, pours with a full head of medium bubbles that slowly dissipates.  Citrus in the nose.  Medium body, the beer has a big, sweet fruit-forward flavor with more than a bit of citrus. Big flavor, with little, if any, bitterness.

Tangerine Wheat

My wife found that she really likes the Lost City Tangerine Wheat, to the point where she'll get two cans to take home from the restaurant where we can get it.  She asked if I could make it, and I thought, why not try?  I looked around online and found a good bit of discussion about doing just that, and there were a lot of mixed input and opinion, and I thought, okay, I'll just dive in.

My plan is to use the Omega Voss Kveik yeast for the orange-citrus, and then I'll get about 1/2 oz of tangerine zest, soak it in vodka for 2 days, and then add that to a "dry hop" for two days before bottling.

Brew Day: 22 Aug 2019

Partial Mash:
8 oz crushed Munich
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Bavarian Wheat DME

Hops: 14 g German Perle (@ 20 min)

Yeast: Voss Kveik

After pitching the yeast, I placed the fermenter on a warm (I'd plugged it in earlier in the day) warming plate, and wrapped it in a towel.  I did this to keep the temperature high, and I'll let it stay there through the weekend.

Addendum, 2 Sept: Grated zest off of 4 mandarin oranges to get 1 oz of zest.  Placed the zest in a sanitized container with just enough Titos vodka to cover the zest.  Will let this sit for a couple of days, and will then add the vodka to the fermenter, and add the zest as a 'dry hop'.

Also, I juiced all 12 mandarin oranges, and saved off the juice (~ 12 oz) in a sanitized container.  I placed the juice in the freezer, to kill any bugs.  I don't have a specific beer that I'm going to add this to at the moment, but there may be a juicy IPA in my very near future!

Addendum, 5 Sept: Drained vodka run-off into a clean fermenter; added zest to a hop bag, placed that in the fermenter, as well.  Racked the beer on to the zest and vodka.

Addendum, 9 Sept: Bottled tonight; got 8 good bottles and 1 re-purposed soda bottle.

Addendum, 23 Sept: Tasting night!  Beer poured with a deep amber color and substantial head of medium bubbles, which dissipated in short order.  My wife said that she got a full dose of tangerine in the aroma, full on in the nose, as well as good tangerine flavor in the beer.  She really likes this one, so it's a keeper!