FOOLCiRCLE

So last Wednesday (04.16.08) I brewed another batch on a weekday night, it went about as well as the first one did on Monday.

So, the Wednesday brew was unique in a few ways. First, I used whole hops, which I normally use pellet, to test out how the Bazooka screen does with whole hops. Second, I used a single variety hop, which I have done in the past, but not as a standard. And third, I used no bittering hops, just weird. I must say, the Bazooka screen worked like a charm with whole hops, much, much better than it did with pellet hops. I’m assuming the whole hops set-up there own filter bed based around the screen similar to grains in a mash tun, but whatever, it worked. Also, I used only Pacific Gem hops, which is a new variety to me, which I received from Garrett after he bought a pound I think. I don’t remember what he used it in, but I’m sure it was good regardless. And, these hops were like 16% alpha acid, which is huge, so I was curious if I added the hops at non-traditional times if the estimated IBUs would still make up for a non-traditional bittering hop addition. I added first wort hops(FWH), 30 minute hops, and zero minute hops – that’s it.

This batch just so happens to also be a “starter batch” for a 20 gallon batch of American Wheat beer Garrett and I are planning together for this Sunday the 27th. That too is part of the reason I wanted to use whole hops and the Bazooka screen – if it worked I would get very clear wort so most if not all of my trub would be healthy yeast to use in the Wheat batch, but if that all back-fired I’d probably have more “chunky” trub than usual, so you gotta gamble some. In the second picture above you can see how much material was filtered out of the carboy between the Bazooka and the whole hops, sweet! So technically I should go home with 10 gallons of American Wheat wort on Sunday. I am planning on doing 5 gallons traditional and 5 gallons fruited, anyone have any suggestions for a fruited wheat they’d like to drink this summer? Watermelon? Pomegranate? Cranberry? Let me know.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 9:46 am and is filed under Homebrew. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.