Has anyone been brewing lately? Most of the bars and taprooms throughout the world are shut down right now. Almost nowhere to get fresh beer on tap unless you have some good homebrew on tap!

I brewed a Hazy IPA two weeks ago and kegged it yesterday. My front 5 taps are still full with other beer, but my Rauchbier and APA are almost gone, and the Hop Head Pale Ale is just behind them. For now I set the Hazy IPA up with a picnic faucet and out CO2 on it. I did not force carbonate it so it’s not really ready yet.

Pilsners, especially German Pilsners are some of my most popular here. Before Christmas I had about 8 1/2 gallons of two German Pils versions in 2 kegs, and my daughter and her husband came home for Christmas for 8 days. In addition to other things drank, I may have had 1 gallon remaining. How did that happen!!! Think I drank a lot, and son-in-law even more than I. Well, glad he likes my beer.

Glad I regularly work out as I do drink a lot of beer.

What’s up next for me...? Maybe a Vienna to replace the Rauchbier. Haven’t brewed one for a couple years now. And then maybe an American Pale Ale - another popular style at my house.

Anyone else brewing out there? What is your brewing situation?

Cheers, and hope all is well with all of you.
Scott

PS Happy Easter!

Scott, I am.
After reading about kveik and finding tons of info on facebook (larsblog, brewing with kveik, milk the funk, etc.) I gave it a try. First up, a variation on Norwegian raw ale. I admit that I used juniper berries, not branches. It was a no-boil recipe. That means that after a 90 minute mash at 67 ºC and 10 minute mashout at ~74 ºC, I heated the kettle up to 81 ºC for two minutes and then turned the heat off. Pasteurization temperature, no boil, no hot break. The kettle was allowed to passively cool to 35 ºC (95 ºF) when I pitched one packet of liquid Voss kveik yeast. In three hours, the airlock was busy, in three days @35 ºC, it was done. It's a long story, but I bottled it on day 10 and it was drinkable shortly after that. No cold break either, so all those proteins are still in the beer, giving great body. It was cloudy for three weeks, but is clearing nicely now. It tastes like a farmhouse ale, but different, in a nice way.
With a sample of kveik from top-cropping on day 2 of above, I pitched again at 35 ºC in a black IPA recipe. Boiled 90 minutes, this time. Same speedy fermentation. I racked to a secondary and checked Specific gravity. Not great attenuation, it stalled at 1.027 from OG of 1.078. There are techniques to get it going again, but I eventually went ahead with batch priming (fingers crossed) and bottled. A sample tasted great, with body like a stout. Another example of call it what I made, rather than call it what I set out to make.
Now I will try to focus and make a less extreme ale using Voss kveik so that I can actually see what it can provide. I didn't get the purported orange flavor in #1, couldn't expect much detection of it in #2. I made a 'sourdough' starter (levain) from a sample and baked a loaf of bread that did have an orange marmalade note. Time and temperature are key, as always.
I intend to use kveik again. It is amazing in that you pitch at high temp, keep it there and it is done in short order. I'll figure out how to get better attenuation next time and let you know. So much new to learn, I must narrow things to where true comparisons can be made. An enthusiastic beginner can be both confused. and confusing.

I will soon order recipe ingredients and then wait for delivery (days longer than it used to take). Not much else to do but wash hands and look out the window.

[Meteor strikes Earth]
Dinosaur: Oh no, the economy!

Thanks Bob. Interesting to hear... I remember you mentioning trying or experimenting with some Norwegian beer yeasts that had different characteristics. That's like a whole different world to me, much like the Belgian beer thing seemed 6-8 years ago. (And I still haven't brewed a Belgian beer, but would be closer to wanting to do so now).

Appreciate the response. Reminds me of that old "Rudolph the Red Nose Rain Deer" cartoon from the 1960s, where Rudolph gets back to the North Pole, wanders into his home, and nobody is there… And then - think it was Santa that came in and told him, "they are all gone Rudolph"... They were out looking for him. I had the sudden thought of "I'm all alone here".

My last purchase from Local Homebrew Shop I had to order online, and then driver there and they came out and delivered to me in my truck. Made sense; seemed fair. But then now they have gone to making home deliveries if you within a certain distance from their shop in Salem, Oregon - and I am about 5 miles too far away. Oh well... Sure we can figure something out if / when I need more supplies. Thankfully on most things I am fairly well stocked.

Anyone else doing some brewing...?

I brewed up my Gulf Coast IPA on Monday. I'm still able to work . Auto mechanic and went 2 weeks straight.. Finally said I need a couple of days off. Scott , my LHBS does the same , call and order and she brings it out and sets on the shipping dock when you get there. I just miss crushing my own grains but she does well . Was concerned because I had to wait a week before I could brew. Of course, low and behold a X-beeriment popped up on my phone about how they waited 6 months with crushed grains and no problem. Only thing that was different from a normal brew was the Safale US-05 exploded on day 3. never have needed to use a blowoff tube using it before. OG was only 1.054 . Guess I'll wait to see the FG ends. Should only come down to 1.013 . Fermenting has slowed on day 5 to more of a normal . But had to clean airlock 5 times yesterday .. Now..... I wait.
J

Hey @jhough , very nice to hear you are still brewing!

I had a blown over fermentation last time too. Trying to maximize capacity of fermenter with 9 gallons... It went crazy and over the top into my fermentation chamber. Big mess!

Hope it all worked out well and you have good beer as a result.

Checked 2 days ago , yesterday and 5am this morning. Came down to 1.018.. Still wondering..Had to go to N. Fla. To see an Uncle that's not doing good. Put in fridge to cold crash. Taste and bottle this week and give a report back later.

Tony , well at least you got to taste... Let us know how the Kviec does the next time you use it. I checked with my LHBS and found out that the US-05 yeast I bought is fresh as heck. exp date of 5/2022 . But still.. Bottled on Monday and didn't have any off taste or aromas sooooo its 2 weeks I wait.
j

@Am33106 interesting that you and @ShorePoints are both playing with that Norwegian Voss Kveik yeast strain. Yeah, in the next couple months we should have more info from both of you. Bob has had some successful brews already with it.

I brewed again (second time in the shutdown) 2 weeks ago tomorrow...so that would have been April 25th. Yeast again was super aggressive and blew over top of fermenter like the batch did last time, and @jhough had last time. It seemed to finish early... Left in fermenter a little longer anyhow, just to make sure it finished up. Only 10 days in fermenter without raising temperature to speed up fermentation. Used Imperial L17 Harvest, which is supposed to be the Augusteiner yeast from Munich. Only 70% attenuation. It is a Vienna, as noted previously. Taste out of the fermenter was good. Kegged 5 gallons, put 2 gallons in the Beer Fridge / Overflow Fridge to add when the keg gets low, and bottled 3 large bottles...plus drank a few while doing the operation. Went out to pour myself a glass last night and...my beer gas had all ran out. 10# bottle of CO2, so that's good - doesn't run out often - but when it does it's still a pain. May have to get a backup bottle.