I pitched an activator smack pack from May that didn’t swell into my stout that I brewed on Sunday. On Monday morning there was still no activity in the carboy so I went back to Midwest and bought a newer smack pack. In fact, the date on it was Sept 09.
That thing puffed up nice and when I checked the carboy the next morning there was krauesen coming out of the airlock! Now that was some fresh yeast! I can’t wait until that one is ready. It has been years since I’ve run a stout properly.
With the start of school season and cooler weather, I’m hoping things will slow down enough that I can make some time to tackle that all grain project I’ve been planning. As I posted months ago, I picked up a 16gal keg that I will cut open and use as my kettle, I have a large cooler that I will convert into my mash tun and I should be rolling right along into all grain, batch sparging soon.
Those two kits that I purchased last spring finally got brewed this last week, I did the lemon coriander wiess on Wednesday and the Irish Stout yesterday. I have a little over a month to get the beer fridge drilled for the stout gas to sit outside and I’ll be in business.
My planned project time is when both kids are in school, our youngest has preschool for 2.5hrs twice a week. That should give me enough time to get the holes cut, get the keggle made and finally finish the drip tray I started three years ago!
Hopefully that will keep my blog going for a while and maybe even get more readers. Thank you to those of you who are still out there. It was a nice respite!
