The Official MWGL Homebrew Thread....

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My pumpkin spice wort going into the kettle from the sparge.
 
sunvalleylaw said:
It is chugging away this morning. My original gravity came out just a bit above what I wanted. I was going under 1.060 and it was 1.063, but hopefully it will be ok and the yeast will not be too stressed. The sample from the hydrometer tube tasted real good!

Oh, also, I ended up using the hops I had dried previously (in reduced amounts than if truly wet off the vine) because when I went to pick fresh ones, some aphids had showed up and there were some, not many but some, crawling around in the box I was throwing the fresh hops into. I maybe could have used the wet hops anyway, but I did not want to deal with it even if the boil would kill off and sanitize whatever little critters ended up in there. The hops I had dried on a window screen with a fan a week or two ago smelled awesome!
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Ok, today after about three weeks in the primary, I transferred into a glass secondary and dry hopped with an ounce of the fresh dried hops from my yard.
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The sample from the hydrometer tube tasted really good. Maybe a hint of fruitiness, but basically like a really nice pale ale. The gravity was at 1.011 so it fermented out pretty well from 1.064 OG. It's color looks pretty good too. Not too clear yet, but it may settle some in the secondary.
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The color in person is a bit more vibrant gold than this phone pic. @Lerxst , thanks for all the help!
 
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And here it is! First bottle after aging 3 weeks from bottling! I bottled one week after dry hopping in the secondary as posted above. Tastes really good and compares well to the Deschutes Chasing Freshies fresh hops offering I had last night, which to me is a pretty good thing. :) No excess fruitiness. Crisp, good fresh hops aroma but not overpowering, nice crisp hop finish, but again not overpowering. Like a fresh hop pale. Nice and carbonated, good head with aroma. Clean finish. I am pleased! @Lerxst , again, thanks for the help!

Also, looks like I need to clean the lens cover on my life proof phone case. My phone takes better pictures than this.
 
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Lerxst said:
Good work!
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Thanks!! I am glad I took your advice and dialed back on the fermentable sugars/gravity. A bigger beer would have overwhelmed the aroma of these fresh hops. If I wanted to make one that is bigger, using my hops, I would have to use more commercial hops for buttering/flavoring, and I think the aroma and flavor of the home grown hops might not have been as prominent. I have a bunch left in the freezer after drying them out nicely. I have to decide whether to try them in the black IPA (again, not too, too high and OG planned on this beer. Focused more on the hops and grains) or do another pale or IPA. I am tending toward the black IPA.

Unfortunately, I did not save any yeast from this batch. I just got intimidated about trying to store it. I am thinking I may use dry yeast (US-05) in the future, in sufficient quantity so as to avoid under pitching, and avoid having to buy multiple smack packs or mess with starters.
 
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