4 Dog Brewery

This is another pilot brew. Made this in 2019 and I said it was bland. I want bland now. The last one tasted way too strong. Although it took a couple of weeks to show up. I hope to get a balanced beer that doesn't taste too strong and astringent. This water profile is way lower than the last one. Almost 3 times as less brewing salts. I want to wait until this is kegged and aged a bit to give it a good taste to see if this is where I want to be. Ingredients 11 lbs. Rahr 4 ozs. Crystal 40 12.2 g Citra at FWH 56 g Citra at 0 min. 85 g Citra -  Dry hop 3 days before kegging. US-05 - 28 g ( 176 billion cells ) O.G. - 1.044 F.G. -  1.008 % -      4.7 SRM - 4 BU - 20 Mash Water - 4.75 gallons Mash Salts Gyp - 1.3 g CI - 1.6 g Eps - 1.5 g .2.7 ml Lactic Acid in Mash Boil Salts Gyp - 1.4 g CI - 1.7 g Eps - 1.6 g Sparge Water - 5 gallons .2 ml Lactic Acid in Sparge CA - 50 MG - 8 S04 - 75 CI - 59 PH - 5.30                   ...

The last of my bag of Rahr 2 row. No idea when I will buy another sack of malt or even what kind. Most likely Pilsner Malt. This is a lighter IPA as I am kind of sick of darker beers for now. Still working on the recipe because I need to weigh out the grain as it is the last of it in the sack. Do not need or want beer, but I usually brew this time of year anyway. A Xmas thing. I am using Lactic Acid for all PH adjustments now. Brewing this because I am out of DME for a lager starter and of course need to use up my hops. They are 2019 now. This makes an easy brew day too. This is the last of my malt and I don't need any more until these 3 batches are almost drank, or tossed. I think I can start jogging soon and work on clearing up my current beers and brew sometime either in late January or sometime in February. Have to buy a sack though since shipping on separate batches is stupid. My last sack is $30 shipping now. Christ, when will this bullshit ever end? Cheaper to buy it, well n...

This is another pilot brew. This batch will tell me what I can brew and what I can't brew.  This has to be good or I will definitely be done with lagers. Will go with Kolsch beers and even go with 75% RO water and 25% spring water. Clear and filter if needed. Done. That will be my goal for 2023. I think I will let this go a little longer before raising the fermentation temp. I will go 7 full days and then slowly ramp up by 10 F a day. Do what Brulosophy says in his lager method.  Summer of 2018 Ingredients 11 lbs. Rahr 2 row 8 ozs. Munich 6 5 ozs. Acid Malt ( I am going with lactic acid in my mash water for now on. ) 60 g Hallertauer at 60 min. 30 g Hallertauer at 15 min. WLP830 - 4 L starter with over build and after evaporation got 3.5 L. ( pitched @ 8:30 am )                   on Nov. 26. 52F. Make a 4 L starter with 383 g of DME. Don't forget to save a litre for an over build. Made this on Saturday, Nov. 19 at 12:30 pm. Should b...

Costco Wine Kits The last of the kits. A red and a white. These 2 wine kits are Marty's wine kits. I am out.                                                                   PITCHED YEAST AT 10 AM Day 1 - Put it all together and pitched the yeast. Heat is on, will adjust when necessary. Day 2 - Bubbling slowly the next day. 70F. I think the temp will get higher as it picks up activity. Day 3 - 72 F. Perfect. Day 6 - 74 F. May turn down base board heater. The one closer to the heater is warmer              than the one that is not. Day 10 - Check gravity and rack if it is at 1.010 or lower.  Gravity on day 10 of Merlot - 0.998 Gravity on day 10 of White - 0.998 Hopefully it will go down to 0.995 in 8 days in carboys according to the sheet. It should.  The oak chips are plugging up...

 Finally getting around to making this. Took awhile but better late than never.  Ingredients 11 lbs. Rahr 2 row 1 lb. Brown Malt - ( 8% ) 28.35 g Special III 29g Challenger hops at 60 min. 50 g Challenger hops at 15 min. Wyeast Thames Valley 1275 I should of kept the Brown malt below 5%. I used 8.3%. I forgot all about that part. Hopefully it will mellow out in time. I will add gelatin and let it sit in the keg for as long as it needs. This is my last beer of this style anyway as I am concentrating on Kolsch and Lagers for now on. I have bought a few beers of this style at the LCBO and they were kind of astrigent or grainy. Did not like them. O.G. - 1.045 - 77% F.G. - % - SRM - 11 BU - 30 Water Profile - 4 Dog Brewery ( Amber Dry ) CA - 50 MG - 13 S04 - 104 CI - 51 PH - 5.51 Mash  Gyp - 2.1 g CI - 1.7 g Eps - 3 g Baking Soda - 1.2 g Boil Gyp - 1.8 g CI - 1.5 g Eps - 2.5 g Sparge Only - .2 ml Lactic Acid Mash - 6 gallons Sparge - 5 gallons         ...

Making 2 batches just before we go to Quebec and this should be ready to rack when we get back.                                                 Wine Yeast Pitched on Thursday, Sept. 22 Day 10 - Not sure I can rack it today, but it is ready to rack. Maybe tomorrow morning. Sunday, Oct. 2 - Racked to carboys. Got it all too. Gravity was 1.010. Perfect.                                                  RACKED WINE AND DEGASSED ( Oct. 12 ) The chitosan works fast. Next day it is all pulled down and looks ready to filter.  Bottled both batches on Oct. 29. Had a hard time keeping air out of the line out from the filter. Just regular hose and with a clamp. Never had a problem with beverage hose though. May have to order some on my next OBK order. I ...

                                                      Ingredients 7 lbs. Pils  3 lbs. Munich I 2 lbs. Vienna 2 ozs. Special III ( should of not used any of this malt ) 2 ozs. Acid Malt 10 g Magnum at 60 min. 47 g Hallertau at 60 min. 35 g Hallertau at 5 min. WLP830 German Lager ( make a starter on Oct. 17. ( 3 step starter with over build ) Yeast Specs - 56F to 64F Step 1 - .75 L - use 72 g DME Step 2 - 1.25 L - use 120 g DME Step 3 - 2.25 L - use 216 g DME Made the step 1 starter on Oct. 17. Made the step 2 starter on Oct. 23. Made the step 3 starter on Oct. 26 O.G. - 1.048 F.G. - % - SRM - 8.9 BU -    40 Water Profile - The Electric Brewery MASH SALTS Gyp - 1 g  CI -   2.2 g Eps -  2.2 g BOIL SALTS Gyp - 1 g CI -    2 g Eps -  2 g LACTIC ACID IN SPARGE  .2 ml CA - 50 MG - 10 S04 - 70 CI - 70 P...

This yeast, ( WLP080 ) is not my usual Kolsch yeast, but it is all I had available at the moment. I have decided to brew just Kolsch style beers next year. I will over build this yeast until Xmas if I can and then hopefully I can buy some Kolsch yeast and go with that. 2 row for now but I am going to go with Pils malt when I start to brew my Kolsch. It has that spicey, Pils malt taste of course that you will never get with 2 row. I will get 2 kegs from this and will toss one upstairs in the pub fridge and CPBF the other one in the PET bottles I have never used. I will be doing this all fall and winter until I fill all of my bottles. I do have 60 Beaus bottles that I want to save for my Stouts. Like, just do it... Even though some of my beers just don't taste right, I am still staying the course. If I go back to 75/25 I will have no PH control and that makes clearing the beer almost impossible. I will stay the course and see what happens. I am definitely going to give a lager anothe...

 This beer had a high FG using that stupid MJ yeast. Tossed the remaining yeast out. This will be a fuller bodied beer and it is all I have at the moment. Way too busy to brew but will try to brew something. Next up is House Dust IPA. Will post a tasting of this beer around August 25 or so.                                                               Taste After Clearing - Sucks so far Carbed up a 2 L bottle just to have a taste to see if it is any good to serve Les on Sept. 2nd. Not very good at all. Again, that strange taste is there just like my lager had. The only beer that seems normal is my AIPA beers. I guess I will just make them and over build my yeast for my bitter and give it a shot. If it sucks, I will not continue to make it and just go with AIPA beers. Hope it changes. I have around 11 days to get this to turn arou...

 Using a ton of hops in this brew. I think I have enough though, 677g. I will have enough for a 5.5 gallon batch but just a session IPA. Not buying any more C hops at least for this year. This is a big beer, at least for me. 6%. Ingredients 12 lbs. Barke Pils malt 13 lbs. Golden Promise 1 lb. CaraAmber 1 lb. Carapils 1 lb. Wheat 3 ozs. Special III 17 g Citra at 60 min. 60 g Citra at 20 min. 150 g Citra at 10 min. 226 g Citra at 0 min. 226 g Citra - 113 g in each keg for dry hopping. Nottingham ( 4 ) * Brewers Friend says I need 4 sachets * O.G. - 1.058 F.G. -  1.010 % -      6.33 SRM - 8 BU - 50 PH - 5.45 Water Profile - 4 Dog Brewery Mash Gyp - 14.6 g CI - 3.3 g Eps - 8.4 g Lactic Acid - .6 ml Boil Gyp - 12 g CI - 2.7 g Eps - 6.8 g Sparge Lactic Acid - .3 ml Mash Water - 11 gallons Sparge Water - 9 gallons CA - 111 MG - 20 S04 - 275 CI - 53 A change of plans because I have to work around the rainy weather. Friday is rain and cooking chicken in the Roaster witho...

Conical This is beer for the end of July. It will have a full month to ferment, but we won't be here for 16 or so days of that. After this I am using all of my C hops up and will decide what to brew after that. This is the last day I can brew this before we go camping. I might not have time to do a proper ramp down so I am leaving it for a month in the primary. It will be around 66F for 3 weeks. I read that no problems with it. We will see. If for some reason this beer turns out fine, I am going to brew this style most of the time. Use up my dry yeast and C hops and concentrate on this style as I like it the best. I changed my mind, Kolsch beers are what I am going to focus on for now on. I will have to get a water profile that is fool proof. I can't seem to nail one down so far. The Mags Ingredients 22 lbs. Barke Pils Malt 1 lb. Munich I 1 lb. Wheat 131 g Tettnanger at 60 min. WLP860 Munich Helles Water Profile -  4 Dog Brewery CA - 21 S04 - 31 CI - 39 PH - 5.30 Mash and Boil ...

Definitely a pilot brew. Any harsh or grainy flavours with this beer and something is definitely wrong with my procedure. I am busy this summer and I need to get these off flavours under control. Nothing to hide in this recipe, either good or bad and that will be that. Robobrew Ingredients 11 lbs. OIO 8 ozs. Wheat 63.5 g  Tettnanger at 60 min. Nottingham - ( decided to go with one sachet and didn't notice any difference ) 6.25 gallons mash water 2 gallons sparge water Mash Salts  Gyp - 1.3 g CI - 2.5 g EP - 2.5 g Lactic Acid - 2.2 ml Boil Salts Gyp - .4 g CI - .8 g EP - .8 g Lactic Acid in Sparge - .1 ml O.G. - 1.050 - 88% F.G. - % - SRM - 3.2 BU - 25                                                            BREW DAY NOTES A ton on trub after it cooled. Not sure if that is a good sign or a bad sign. Will know in 2 weeks or so. T...

Still using up my hops I bought a year ago. Getting there, although, I do like the style but you use a ton of hops to make this. I ran out of Chinook. The one that was inside had Tettnanger in it. Good, now I can make a Kolsch after this one. Ingredients 11.50 lbs. Simpsons Golden Promise 4 ozs. Munich I 4 ozs. C 40 .75 ozs. Special III 260 g of Citra and Chinook  Nottingham ( 2 sachets ) Mash Water - 25 L Sparge Water - 2 gallons DRY HOPPED IN THE FERMENTER THE LAST 7 DAYS OF FERMENTATION ( APRIL 28 ) O.G. - 1.048 F.G. - % - SRM - 7 BU - 50 PH - 5.33                                                                 Brew Day Mashing at 150 F. Not using my big sparge tank as the 2 gallon mark is below the element. Heating the sparge in my pot on the stove. Not an issue. Threw my back out, so this is a very painful brewday. ...

Marty's Merlot O.G. - 1.092 R.G. - 1.010 F.G. - .992 % - 13.6 Chris's Chardonnay O.G. - 1.092 R.G. - 1.010 F.G. - .992 % - 13.6 Temperature is 68 F, a little low. I like to be around 72 F. Turned on portable heater but it has no temperature control so I will have to check it often. Wall heater not hooked up yet. Rack both wines to carboys and add stuff as per instructions. Check gravity around May 1st or so which is 8 days after racking to carboys. After all the additions are done, 11 days will be past and I can go ahead and filter and bottle. That will be around May 13 which is when I want to open the pool. I will figure something out. Most likely open the pool and filter wine while it is clearing. I got a lot of trub in my carboy when I racked it. Only takes a small shake of the wand and you are screwed. I finished it but got more trub than I wanted. However, it only sits on it for 10 days. Try to be more careful with Marty's wine when you can't see shit when racking....

Mr. Robobrew Watched Brian from You Tube and he did this on his Robobrew. I may as well try it now since I have nothing to lose. Mash is way higher and the Sparge is way lower. Here goes nothing. I definitely won't over sparge with only 2 gallons of water. I have to heat up 5 gallons of water in my sparge tank or I will be below the element. I will heat to 168 F, remove 2 gallons and add .8 ml of lactic acid and sparge to grains. I went to another brew day on you tube and he basically used the same water ratio in that recipe. Ingredients 12 lbs. Simpsons Golden Promise 6 g each of Citra and Chinook at 60 min. 10 g each of Citra and Chinook at 20 min. 25 g each of Citra and Chinook at 10 min. 30 g each of Citra and Chinook at 0 min. 56 g each of Citra and Chinook dry hop for 5 - 7 days 22 g Nottingham - Pitched @ 11 am. Water Profile - 4 Dog Brewery Mash  Gyp - 8.8 g CI - 1.9 g Lactic - .6 ml Boil Gyp - 2.7 g CI - .6 g Sparge  Lactic .1 ml CA - 111 S04 - 200 CI - 51 PH - 5.30 O...