First Lager Starter

I just finished making my first yeast starter for a lager. I used one of my growlers. I decided to give my new chest freezer a try There's my yeast starter chillin at 67 degrees.

Update... Chest Freezer

I've got my barleywine in secondary (2 one-gallon jugs). I tasted it and it's really good already. The IPA for the BBR-BYO experiment is done. It's really good, too (both batches). I preferred the "with trub" half over the "without trub" half. But there wasn't a dramatic difference between the two.
In other news, I bought a chest freezer and external thermostat, finally. I bought a 7.0 cubic foot GE chest freezer from Sam's Club for 200 dollars, and the analog temperature controller from Johnson Controls. I can finally brew lagers. Which is good, because I have ingredients waiting to be brewed. The Surly Smoke kit from Northern Brewer. I plan to make a starter tonight and brew this weekend.
I bought the larger of the two freezers because I eventually want to make it into a 3-tap keezer/kegerator. Later, I plan to buy the smaller freezer, too, and dedicate it for fermentation.

Barleywine done... On to the next.

I brewed my half batch 2012 barleywine last weekend. For some reason the gravity came out really low. Which is weird, because the volume seems pretty low too. I was shooting for an OG of 1.104 and 2.5 gallons, but I ended up with an OG of 1.086 and a volume of around 2 gallons. I'm not sure what happened, but here's the recipe:

10 lbs 2-row
1 lb Malted Rye
.5 lb Caramel 40
.5 lb Caramel 80
-Mashed @ 158F for an hour
1 oz Chinook @ 60 min
1 oz Simcoe @ 20 min
1 oz Cascade @ 7 min
I may or may not dry hop with some Cascade, Amarillo, Simcoe, etc. I'll have plenty of time to decide that.

I fermented at around 68F for the first 3 or 4 days. Then, the temperature dropped when active fermentation was done. Closer to 60F. One thing I learned is that even in a really cold room you can keep your fermemtation temperature stable by wrapping a truck-stop blanket around your carboy. It didn't even drop one degree during active fermentation with that blanket wrapped around it.

Here's my recipe for the IPA I'll be brewing for the BYO-BBR collaborative experiment.
15 lbs 2-row
1 lb Caramel 60
Mash @ 152 for an hour
1 oz Chinook @ 60
1 oz Simcoe @ 20
1 oz Cascade @ 7
(No dry hopping)
1 package of US-05 in each bucket
Ferment @ around 68F for 2 or 3 weeks, then bottle.

IBUs: ~70
Assuming my efficiency is around 62% like it has been, I'll have an OG of 1.069.

In other news, I got The Surly Smoke partial mash kit from Northern Brewer. It was too late when I found out it was a lager... Looks like a chest freezer (with external thermostat) is in my near future.

I was really planning on stepping up my brewing anyway. Hopefully, this year I will:
-Have a dedicated chest freezer for fermentation
-Buy a pH meter (for testing my water, mash pH, and StarSan viability)
-Upgrade the metal parts on my mash tun (to stainless steel)
-Build or buy a stir plate
-Buy a refractometer
-Buy a grain mill (and start buying grains in bulk)
-Start Kegging

Update & Future Brews

It's been about two weeks since I brewed anything. I'll be bottling the oatmeal cookie beer next weekend.
In other news, I have a package en route from Midwest Supplies containing ingredients for two brews: a Sierra Nevada Porter clone, and a pale ale or IPA. I haven't exactly nailed down a recipe yet. I accidentally ordered 20 lbs of base malt instead of 30 (for both beers). And it seems like all the homebrew places are out of Simcoe hops.
I think I'm just going to wait until around Christmas to place another order. I'll get some Simcoe, some more 2-row, ingredients for my (half batch) new years barleywine, and I may or may not buy a grain mill, so I can buy grains in bulk.
So here's my upcoming brew calendar:
Dec 10-11: bottle Ice Cap
Dec 18: brew porter
(around this time I'll place another order)
Dec 23-26: bottle stout
Jan 1: brew barleywine
Jan 8: bottle porter
Jan 14-15: rack barleywine
Jan 15: brew pale ale/IPA

I was planning on fermenting my half batch barleywine in my 5 gallon carboy, but I may do primary in a plastic bucket, and rack to the 5 gallon carboy.

Brewing the Oatmeal Cookie Amber Ale

I got lazy last night and didn't do anything to prepare for today's brew. That was a mistake. Here I am trying to clean my gear, toast the flaked oats in the oven, calculate my mash temperatures and volumes, and I still have to measure out my ingredients. And I have to do all this before my ketttle even sees any flame.

The night before an all grain brew day:

1. Read over the recipe. Make sure there's nothing unusual overlooked or forgotten.
2. Make calculations. Strike water volume/temp. Sparge water volume, etc.
3. Clean your gear. Especially your mash tun and at least one kettle. And a spoon/paddle, and thermometer. (You will use these first.)
4. Measure out your ingredients (Especially your grain and water. Again, you will need these first.)
5. Other things you may have forgotten: Propane, ice (for chilling), yeast starter (if applicable)...

Next day:
After all the frustration at the beginning, everything turned out pretty well. My mash temperature was a little low. It was 150 or 151 instead of 152. The initial temperature was high, and again, I over compensated with 2 quarts of cold water.
Other than that, everything went well. My OG was 1.055. My overall volume was a little smaller than I expected, but I left some trub in the kettle. And now I have some more headspace in the fermenter.

Racking the Stout. New Carboy

Well, I finally got a 5 gallon glass carboy to use as a secondary fermenter. I racked my stout last night and checked the gravity. It's at 1.012 right now, which makes it around 6.9% ABV at the current moment.
Also, I've got the ingredients for my next brew. An iced oatmeal cookie brown ale. I will use actual iced oatmeal cookies in the mash. I've already got the ingredients, and I plan to brew it this weekend.
I got the idea from an episode of Basic Brewing Radio where James Spencer interviewed someone from the Garage Brewers Society (out of St. Louis, I think). It has a 2-row base and 8 different specialty grains, a package of iced oatmeal cookies, an ounce of East Kent Goldings, and White Labs 007 Dry English Ale Yeast.
Anyway, here's a picture of my brand new carboy.

Just In Case

This layer of foam is getting bigger by the hour. So, since I have the proper equipment, I decided to fit a blowoff tube to my fermenter. I made a bleach solution (1 Tbsp per gallon water) in a bucket to run the tube into. I still don't have a way to fasten and secure the tube to the bucket, but you get the idea.
The only other time I've had this happen was with the only other stout I've brewed. In a plastic bucket. During which, the lid blew off and beer was all over the kitchen, including the ceiling.
Maybe it's something about stouts. I mean, the gravity is kind of high. But not that high. It's only 1.064.
The foam should be flowing out of this tube sometime tonight.

Edit: The first picture is from the next morning.