Back in October (2019) I pulled off a little brewing miracle. And one to be repeated, but preferably without the extra pressure of time. Yeah, yeah.
A few months before, I had signed up (again) to serve homebrew beer at a fundraising event: The 10th annual Homebrew Extravaganza at Checkerspot. The brewery, Checkerspot Brewing, located in Federal Hill, downtown Baltimore, opened 2 years ago by the event's originator, Judy Neff.
The gig is a yearly fundraiser for "BARCS," an animal shelter in the city of Baltimore. 40 homebrewers tapping 40 beers. 200+ people pay $10 for unlimited samples and vote for the 2 best. We raised over $2k.
It's Sunday evening, the event is Wednesday eve and I don't have any beer... Better get to it.
Brewing a NEIPA Sunday night/early Monday morning:
Monday morning 12:00 am: Dig up recipe in Beersmith and print.
12:15 am: Heat strike water, add minerals, weigh and mill grain.
12:45 am: Remove flask with crashed yeast slurry from fridge, decant, place in tub with tepid water to speed up acclimation.
1 am: Start the mash timer.
2 am: Start lautering and sparging.
2:20 am: Make yeast vitality starter:
Tuesday afternoon 3 pm: 30 hours after fermentation started, dry hop with 4 oz.
Wednesday afternoon 3 pm: after 12 hours of cold crashing, the beer is ice cold, ~28F. Very hazy of course, but fairly clear otherwise. No yeast in suspension, at least not much.
5:30 pm: Tapping "Ryed Down Under" NEIPA at the event.
A few months before, I had signed up (again) to serve homebrew beer at a fundraising event: The 10th annual Homebrew Extravaganza at Checkerspot. The brewery, Checkerspot Brewing, located in Federal Hill, downtown Baltimore, opened 2 years ago by the event's originator, Judy Neff.
The gig is a yearly fundraiser for "BARCS," an animal shelter in the city of Baltimore. 40 homebrewers tapping 40 beers. 200+ people pay $10 for unlimited samples and vote for the 2 best. We raised over $2k.
It's Sunday evening, the event is Wednesday eve and I don't have any beer... Better get to it.
Brewing a NEIPA Sunday night/early Monday morning:
Monday morning 12:00 am: Dig up recipe in Beersmith and print.
12:15 am: Heat strike water, add minerals, weigh and mill grain.
12:45 am: Remove flask with crashed yeast slurry from fridge, decant, place in tub with tepid water to speed up acclimation.
1 am: Start the mash timer.
2 am: Start lautering and sparging.
2:20 am: Make yeast vitality starter:
- Boil one liter of 1.040 second runnings for 15'.
- Chill in sink.
- Pitch into the awaiting yeast slurry.
- Oxygenate for 8 minutes at 1/16 l/m.
- Let stand for 1 hour, then place on the orbital shaker.
- Brew goes smoothly, hops are bagged and "massaged" during the boil and whirlpool, as usual.
- Whirlpool 2 hop additions. First one for 10' at 170F, second one for 30' at 150F.
- Chilling down to 90F is fairly fast (cold tap water).
- Then single pass (using ice in the pre-chiller) from plate chiller into bucket fermenter. Quite a bit of cold and hot break trub is mixed in and comes down with it, so be it.
- Keep beer at (ambient) 70F.
- Time for a nap.
Tuesday afternoon 3 pm: 30 hours after fermentation started, dry hop with 4 oz.
- Should use double that, but don't want to overdo it due to the short time schedule. It needs to be drinkable in 24 hours.
- Stir up with the back end of a long plastic brew spoon every 2-3 hours for 30-40 seconds through 1" access port in the lid.
- Lid remains on, while streaming CO2 at a good rate through the airlock hole to prevent air ingress.
Wednesday afternoon 3 pm: after 12 hours of cold crashing, the beer is ice cold, ~28F. Very hazy of course, but fairly clear otherwise. No yeast in suspension, at least not much.
- Semi closed transfer into a 100% liquid pre-purged keg.
- Force/burst carbonate (rolling) at 35 psi for ~10 minutes.
- Reduce pressure to 12 psi, pours beautifully, nice and rich aromas.
- Pack keg in 5 gallon gott, add ice, reflectix wrap around top.
5:30 pm: Tapping "Ryed Down Under" NEIPA at the event.
- Perfect pours all night at 10 psi.
- Delicious!