Author: Andrew May 1, 2015

The Hops…

So I figure I’m going to make a lager at the end of summer when those Tettanang hops are ready.

The Brewery

I was reading up in Mastering Homebrew and noticed that the Wortsplosion was probably caused, in part by using vinyl tube instead of silicone tube… I think.  I need to check, and probably still need to see about either getting some hose clamps or just replacing the fittings with something more heat resistant.

I’ve been at work on a fermentation chamber controller.

After a little false start with a sensor that absolutely will not work with 3.3v, I found a sensor that does work and I think I have a solution in mind.  The RFduino might be a better way than an ESP-8266, but we’ll see.  I still have the option to use this sensor and the Raspberry Pi.  Also on that thought, I updated the Brewery IoT page.  Even more so, the behind-the-scenes stuff works, too – with encryption, even.

Brewing

Tomorrow (by the time this posts) is Brew Day.  It’s also the day between the Little King’s Mile and the Flying Pig Half Marathon.  I am going to be resting, since I already figure that a lingering injury may make my half a very painful experience and if there’s a snowball’s chance in Hell that I might be miraculously healed I want to be at my best.  I might see about brewing the following weekend.  I hope everyone taking part in Brew Day has a wonderful time.

In related thoughts, I just (before typing this) drank an amber ale that I think had too much caramel malt in it.  I also saw something recently (I don’t recall where) that indicated an over-reliance on caramel malts in general, so I think my next brew – probably another IPA – will have no caramel malt.

Another thing I want to do is to dry hop Bud Light to try some hops by themselves.   I know for sure I’d want Amarillo, Chinook, Columbus, Centennial, Cascade, Mosaic, Equinox, Fuggle, Liberty, Northern Brewer, Simcoe, Williamette, and Green Bullet (list subject to change).  Bud Light has so little flavor that the hops shine through really well ;-).

Cheers!