BUMPER'S FLOG

Tinnie · Apr 3, 2015

Lookin good there Bumper.

Yeah roo prices have skyrocketed the last coupla years, its ridiculous. I use to buy a kilo of roo mince for the pooch for $5, i thinks its around $12 now.

Bumper · Apr 3, 2015

Tinnie said:
Lookin good there Bumper.

Yeah roo prices have skyrocketed the last coupla years, its ridiculous. I use to buy a kilo of roo mince for the pooch for $5, i thinks its around $12 now.

It's a bit of an experiment, but the flavours work in a bunch of other dishes, so I figured why not.

I mean, really, you drive around Canberra early enough and you can usually spot a freshy on the road, there are so many of them, and its not like the sellers are farming them, raising them like beef - they just employ crack shooters who can get consistent head shots to keep numbers down. The round steak was less per kg than the kangaroo. WTF.

I blame paleo and cross fit.

Bumper · Apr 3, 2015

Ok it is a meat feast this weekend.

In addition to the jerky, I am going to do some beer braised, cherry and hickory wood smoked beef ribs, just picked up 5 pounds this morning, couple of friends coming round for lunch on Monday. Big, meaty ribs they are too.

About to marinate 2 pounds of wings 2 ways for dinner and left overs, like the last batches I did in the wings thread:

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Photos of the beef tomorrow as I do stage 1 beef braising.

grantmichaels · Apr 3, 2015

pssst, Bumper - where's the BEER?

lol

UPDATE: you cross posted wings while I was typing the post above, haha ... nice wings!

Bumper · Apr 3, 2015

grantmichaels said:
pssst, Bumper - where's the BEER?

lol

UPDATE: you cross posted wings while I was typing the post above, haha ... nice wings!

Too many jobs handed to me this week to get one going, plus needed to set up the T5 light rig for the seedlings.. ingredients are all there ready to go. Sunday is cook up and brew day, so will post up a step by step for you tomorrow night (my time)

grantmichaels · Apr 3, 2015

Bumper said:
Too many jobs handed to me this week to get one going, plus needed to set up the T5 light rig for the seedlings.. ingredients are all there ready to go. Sunday is cook up and brew day, so will post up a step by step for you tomorrow night (my time)

Cool ...

I'm spying rigs for larger batches ...

Tinnie · Apr 3, 2015

Bumper said:
It's a bit of an experiment, but the flavours work in a bunch of other dishes, so I figured why not.

I mean, really, you drive around Canberra early enough and you can usually spot a freshy on the road, there are so many of them, and its not like the sellers are farming them, raising them like beef - they just employ crack shooters who can get consistent head shots to keep numbers down. The round steak was less per kg than the kangaroo. WTF.

I blame paleo and cross fit.

Lmao a "freshy" :rofl:

I blame the advent of masterchef and the wave of pretentious knobs that followed in its wake. Woolies and Coles have cashed in big time in recent years.

Your wings look a million bucks

is that yellow manzano's in your salad?

Bumper · Apr 3, 2015

Tinnie said:
Lmao a "freshy"

I blame the advent of masterchef and the wave of pretentious knobs that followed in its wake. Woolies and Coles have cashed in big time in recent years.

Your wings look a million bucks

is that yellow manzano's in your salad?

Lol! No, I wish, just some standard yellow capsicum. I'll be growing some manzano next spring though, keen to try them.

grantmichaels said:
Cool ...

I'm spying rigs for larger batches ...

2 brews down and he want's to go bigger. Where is that 'we told you so' emoji? :rofl:

Crown 40L urns will turn out 5 gallon batches easily if you want to keep it cheap and scale up. You can always use it as your Hot liquor tank for a 2-3 pot rig later if you want to.

I am already looking at my T5 shelf build and thinking I can get another shelf in there to double the spring growing capability..

Such is life.

grantmichaels · Apr 3, 2015

Bumper said:
Lol! No, I wish, just some standard yellow capsicum. I'll be growing some manzano next spring though, keen to try them.

2 brews down and he want's to go bigger. Where is that 'we told you so' emoji?

Crown 40L urns will turn out 5 gallon batches easily if you want to keep it cheap and scale up. You can always use it as your Hot liquor tank for a 2-3 pot rig later if you want to.

I am already looking at my T5 shelf build and thinking I can get another shelf in there to double the spring growing capability..

Such is life.

Have you seen the amount of hops for a gallon? ... I feel like I'm making homeopathic beer ...

In all seriousness, I am finding that when people/friends find out you are brewing beer, they are MUCH MORE EAGER than when you are cooking ...

I was worried I wouldn't have something to do w/ it all, now I'm worried I won't have enough ...

But also, like soap, it seems kind of easier w/ a lager batch ...

Bumper · Apr 4, 2015

grantmichaels said:
Have you seen the amount of hops for a gallon? ... I feel like I'm making homeopathic beer ...

In all seriousness, I am finding that when people/friends find out you are brewing beer, they are MUCH MORE EAGER than when you are cooking ...

I was worried I wouldn't have something to do w/ it all, now I'm worried I won't have enough ...

But also, like soap, it seems kind of easier w/ a lager batch ...

Lol you should see how much I put in for a double batch of my Imperial Pale Ales!

I haven't made soap, but I have seen Fight Club... :shocked:

With whole flowers, I can go through 3-4 bags of 70g for 5 gallons of my fresh cascade APA as well. It is all flavour! You don't need much for the dark beers though, or belgians, or lagers, or wheat beers etc.

I grow my own and supplement with a few bought specialties. My homegrowns include Chinook, Cascade, East Kent Golding and Saaz. I have most of the bases covered with these. I got a 5 gallon pale full of cascade this year.

I have a couple of beers a night, and with few interested friends you start brewing every second weekend to keep yourself in stock! That's why I bought my big 80l pot, as my Dad likes a couple of cases every now and then too.

Bumper · Apr 4, 2015

So I'm going with this recipe for the ribs. Only changes will be a longer braising time (2 1/2 hours not 1 1/2 - that is just too short) and some cayennes added to the pot along with the jalapeño. It's for friends so have to dial the heat down rather than up though. Smoking with hickory and peach wood tomorrow.

http://www.weber.com/recipes/beef/beer-braised-and-mesquite-smoked-short-ribs

Today's beer is my Oatmeal Stout. Apologies for the metric but have a bunch to do today and you can do the math.

450g rolled oats, lightly toasted in the oven at 150c for 30 minutes and cooled. Stir them around a couple of times to get an even toast
5.2kg Marris Otter
120g roasted barley
200g chocolate malt
100g midnight wheat
200g crystal medium
100g carafa I
35g East Kent Goldings hops at boil
English Ale yeast.

Mash @ 67c for 90 minutes
Boil for 60 minutes
Ferment @ 19c

Photobombs at the end of the day, including Jerky.

grantmichaels · Apr 4, 2015

2 brews down and he want's to go bigger. Where is that 'we told you so' emoji?

Such is life.

It was only really on my mind well into drinking, yesterday ...

Bumper · Apr 4, 2015

Righto stage 1 complete. Mash is ticking over for the next 90 minutes.

So.

Key bits of gear, including my electric winch. You will see this in use later in the play.

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Grain mill, water bucket with measurements (makes it easy to get your volumes right each time). Notice the urn is on bricks (well and the gas burner for the big pot). The bricks are there to give you enough height to run the final wort off into the fermenter without having to lug it around.

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Can't do BIAB without a bag. I have two, one for grain and one for hops. This bag does a double batch no problems.

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Yeast and hops fridge

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Mash in temp - this will drop a degree and a half during mash in, and I will lose a little under 0.5 degree over the mash period, so this is just fine.

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Bag in and clipped on. I have turned the heat off before putting the bag in, otherwise you will scorch it. Turn it off at the mains, or be sure your temp setting is at zero so it doesn't fire up during the mash.

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Tip the grain in in stages, and stir as you go to get rid of little grain balls that may appear - they are harder to extract sugars from. Give it a good stir.
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Put this baby to bed - be careful not to deploy the tap - messy clean up and no more brew day! The doona keeps the mash temp constant.

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More to come

Oh and Grant, not a single thing sterilised yet.

grantmichaels · Apr 4, 2015

Cool, yeah, BIAB is the route I'm spending the most time checking out right now ...

D3monic · Apr 4, 2015

Bumper said:
I blame paleo and cross fit.

I was paleo for a good year. Between that and P90x and insanity I lost like 60lbs. Fell of the wagon with a back injury and divorce though. Weight is slowly creeping back on. If I could afford it I would go paleo again in a heart beat.... just gotta kick the soda again. Always the hardest part. My boys have gluten and dairy allergies so it would be beneficial to them if I did because every meal I cook would be safe for them... for me on the other hand I developed allergies to shellfish, almonds, coconut ect ect. ... damn you paleo I miss my sushi

Bumper · Apr 5, 2015

D3monic said:
I was paleo for a good year. Between that and P90x and insanity I lost like 60lbs. Fell of the wagon with a back injury and divorce though. Weight is slowly creeping back on. If I could afford it I would go paleo again in a heart beat.... just gotta kick the soda again. Always the hardest part. My boys have gluten and dairy allergies so it would be beneficial to them if I did because every meal I cook would be safe for them... for me on the other hand I developed allergies to shellfish, almonds, coconut ect ect. ... damn you paleo I miss my sushi

Life can through some curve balls, so long as you keep moving forwards you'll get back on the diet and exercise. I have given up on a six pack (unless it involves beer) but try and exercise regularly and keep portions of carbs down reasonably low.

Bumper · Apr 5, 2015

Phew. Brew day done.

Draining and sparging after bringing the grain in temp to 73c. I heat the kitchen kettle up to 75c and pour it in the top of the bag

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Electric winches rock!

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I scoop most of the scum off the top. Hop bag with EKG hops goes in and we boil for 60 minutes. Looking like stout now!

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I add these 15 minutes before flame out (heat off).

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In goes the chiller to bring it down below 30c as quickly as possible.

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Mine circulates from the water tank through the chiller and back into the tank. You can also do recirculating system using ice, or putting the pot in ice until it comes down as far as it will go.

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I sterilise a spoon :rolleyes:

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The sweet spot to turn off the chiller - 24-27c

The break - why you are chilling it as fast as you can. You don't want this in the fermenter if you can avoid it. It won't damage the beer, but clearing it will be harder.

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Whirlpool!!!! And leave it to sit, lid on, for 20 minutes.

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No starter today, just using up some dried yeast. cleaned and sanitised glass jar, with 28c water taken from the kettle after a boil and allowed to cool down. Leave it to sit for 15 minutes, and then give it a good swirl.

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Hey presto, clear, silky black stout wort.

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Into the sanitised fermenter she goes. I draw off 500ml first as the cold break comes through initially before clear wort.

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See how the break gets sucked down to the bottom from the whirlpool
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Into the fermenting fridge she goes, heat belt round the bottom (never use a heat pad, bad for bottom feeding yeasts!) and thermometer strapped half way up for more accurate fermenting temps

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Yeast is looking creamy and ready to eat that wort

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this will come out around 6.2 to 6.3% abv

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In the meantime, Jerky went well too. I reckon I need 1/2 the blueberries, they are pretty strong, but it is delicious.

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Over a pound of jerky…… should keep us going for a week or so!

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grantmichaels · Apr 5, 2015

Cool, I def could have tried harder to not let the break into primary than I did ...

I can probably sanitize a jug and re-rack though, using a siphon, avoiding as much from the bottom as possibly, I guess ...

Looking forward to following this one, as stout's are my pref!

Cheers!

Bumper · Apr 5, 2015

grantmichaels said:
Cool, I def could have tried harder to not let the break into primary than I did ...

I can probably sanitize a jug and re-rack though, using a siphon, avoiding as much from the bottom as possibly, I guess ...

Looking forward to following this one, as stout's are my pref!

Cheers!

Seriously, I wouldn't worry about it. If you do that, you are more likely to introduce an infection. Your first few beers are going to be cloudy anyway. If you put it in the fridge once it has finished fermenting, it will settle out pretty well on the bottom, and you can siphon the beer off it when its ready.

Oatmeal stout is my autumn go to. Belgian triples are my winter fav.

grantmichaels · Apr 5, 2015

Probably the thing I'm most curious about ...

I have 8 yrs experience assisting in operating suites for intraocular surgeries (endophthalmitis is often blinding, and blinding malpractice is amongst the most expensive payout) - and we were VERY careful in this regard ...

I hope I have a little bit of an advantage over the everyday folk in this regard, in terms of brewing, but we'll see - certainly ...

I "scrubbed in" to brew