It's been a year...

It's been a year since my last post on my brewing adventures so I figure I might as well update the blog. It's been a good year of brewing. I have been using the Pico C almost exclusively and since they now have manual brew options I am able to get more creative again and get back to brewing my own recipes.

The Pico C has had some issues this year where I've had to have replacement units. The first was last fall after my last blog post. I brewed the Denny Conn Bourbon Vanilla Imperial Porter. somewhere during the mash the machine clogged up and something broke (I honestly can't remember what at this point it was). Pico sent me several replacement units as all of them had one issue or another. I was down until Christmas time brewing. Once those issues were straightened out, i got back to brewing kits and really had some great success. Some of the kits I  made were the best I've ever made since I've been brewing.

Pico introduced a way to finally do manual brews along with the ability to cold brew coffee. Pretty slick! I made a batch of coffee which turned out great. I then went on to make some manual brews. One turned out really well, the other had something wrong with it. I don't think it was an infection but it had the sour apple taste so i am assuming I left it too long on the yeast or transferred some of the yeast into the keg when i kegged it. I ended up dumping that batch totally. I made a batch the same day as the cold brew and had continued problems. The Pico C ended up blowing some sort of part inside which caused a loud pop and for water to go everywhere. All the troubleshooting narrowed it down to a pump issue so Pico thankfully and generously issued a replacement. The replacement unit had some sort of leak issue also. Pico walked me through several different things to try and one of them finally worked. Seems there was some grain clogging one of the lines. Once that cleared, I have been able to make brews without issue on this particular unit.

I have 4 more kit beers to get through and then I will start working on a Juicy IPA house recipe using the manual brew method. It's my favorite style but i haven't had much success in trying to brew a good one. I can seem to make IPA's just fine, but the juicy ones are escaping me in process. More research is needed on the steps, when to hop, and best types of hops to use. I have been focused on Citra and El Dorado but need to branch out and try some others.

Here are some of the kits I have brewed this year:

Denny Conn Bourbon Vanilla Imperial Porter (double batch)
Pico Anniversary Double IPA
Ubahdank IPA
Harlem 125 IPA
The Red Queen
Hop Bang Boom Imperial IPA
Hop of The Walk IPA
Hop Session
Upslope Brown Ale
'Murica - American Pale Ale
Lid Ripper - Hazy IPA
Amber Waves - 100 mile beer
Otis Oatmeal Stout
Belgium is a Country IPA
Habitus Double IPA