Homebrew et al.

Brew #140 Belgian Pale Ale

2010-07-01T22:43:00.007-04:00

This brew was inspired by the MLPA. I went ahead and used a pound of various crystal malts and used Wyeast's 1762 Belgian Abbey II.

The yeast was about a month old but it smelled good. I added about a cup of slurry to the cooled wort so I'll report back on how this turns out.

140_BelgianAbbeyAleII

A ProMash Recipe Report

BJCP Style and Style Guidelines

16-B Belgian & French Ale, Belgian Pale Ale

Min OG:	1.048	Max OG:	1.054
Min IBU:	20	Max IBU:	30
Min Clr:	8	Max Clr:	14	Color in SRM, Lovibond

Recipe Specifics

Batch Size (Gal):	5.50	Wort Size (Gal):	5.50
Total Grain (Lbs):	8.75
Anticipated OG:	1.045	Plato:	11.11
Anticipated SRM:	8.7
Anticipated IBU:	25.4
Brewhouse Efficiency:	80	%
Wort Boil Time:	60	Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar

%	Amount	Name	Origin	Potential	SRM
2.9	0.25 lbs.	Crystal 20L	America	1.035	20
2.9	0.25 lbs.	Crystal 40L	America	1.034	40
5.7	0.50 lbs.	Crystal 60L	America	1.034	60
5.7	0.50 lbs.	Wheat Malt	America	1.038	2
82.9	7.25 lbs.	Pale Malt	USA	1.035	4

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.

Hops

Amount	Name	Form	Alpha	IBU	Boil Time
0.50 oz.	Northern Brewer	Pellet	9.00	20.1	60 min
1.00 oz.	Mt. Hood	Whole	6.50	5.3	10 min

Yeast

WYeast 1762 Belgian Abbey II

Trying to figure out how to post

2008-05-15T16:32:00.000-04:00

kegarator

2006-06-18T01:03:00.000-04:00

With the help from Paul (who did it all and a wonderful job to boot) I now have a very handsome Sanyo 4911 dual tower kegerator.

Two Beers in Secondary

2006-06-10T12:21:00.000-04:00

I have two beers in secondary (a ryePA and a brown). Need to keg these soon.

Two More Beers, a label, and a name for the Brewery

2006-05-26T01:55:00.000-04:00

I have brewed two beers and bottled the Belgian - T (after the T58 yeast used). First I brewed a version of the brewboard's summer community beer. I kegged this one already and am not too satisfied with it. Second, I also mashed and feremented 11.6# of assorted grains. This has since been bottled and it has a strong taste of tobacco. Maybe it'll be the tobacco beer. That is the last time I volunteer to save grains from the trashcan. I look forward to brewing beers I like (APAs, IPAs, browns, and the occasional stout/porter) and am less likely to experiment any more than I have to.

Above is the draft of a label. While it is currently called Malcolm's Sweet Pale Ale, I am thinking of dropping some Beano tablets in the keg to break down the complex sugars and then changing the name to the more appealling Malcolm's Pale Ale.

Brewed my "Belgian History X" 4/22

2006-04-25T20:33:00.000-04:00

11.5# MO
.75# Crystal 40
.5# Aromatic Malt
1oz N. Brewer (60)
1oz Fuggle(30/15)
T-58 yeast/OG 1.062

The only thing that makes this brew a Belgian is the "Belgian" yeast strain that I used. We'll see how it turns out.

Brewed a Brown Ale (4/8)

2006-04-25T20:22:00.000-04:00

6# MO
4# Pale Malt
1# Crystal 60
.5# Chocolate Malt
1oz N. Brewer (60)
1oz Willamette (30)
1oz Willamette (15)
S-04 yeast/OG 1.051/FG 1.018

This turned out to be a very good beer. I kegged it on 4/19.

This is a very tasty beer. I made some carbonator (for carbonation) caps to free up some kegs. In the carb'd two liter is the remnants of the milk stout I brewed in February. I have 4 two liter bottles.

Another Pale Ale (brewed 4/1)

2006-04-25T20:11:00.000-04:00

12# MO
12oz Crystal 60
8oz Carapils
8oz Oats
1oz Willamette (FWH)
1oz N. Brewer (60)
1oz Amarillo (30)
1oz Amarillo (15)
1tsp IrishMoss
S-04 yeast/OG 1.058

Again, I mashed at a temp that is way too high, 160F. This beer is in secondary right now. I added racked this beer only to find the gravity at 1.028. I added dry champagne yeast in hopes of getting the gravity down some. I'll have to keg this beer for sure if the gravity fails to come down some more.

Mash Temps: Too High

2006-04-25T20:08:00.000-04:00

I mashed the Stout at about 160F, the ideal is 150 or so. This means that I converted the fermentable sugars into dextrins, unfermantable sugars. The stout fermented out to a whopping FG of 1.028. I kegged it on 3/24/06 and we'll just call this the "Uber Sweet Stout." It has a slight tobacco of burnt off flavor to it, we'll let it age a bit and see how it comes out. Nonetheless, it is still a very drinkable beer.

Brewed a stout/porter (AG)

2006-03-24T22:04:00.000-05:00

Still not sure what distinguishes a stout from a porter, I am sure there are differences. Here is what I brewed and maybe someone will chime in with an answer of what type of beer this might be.

10# Maris Otter base malt
1# Belgian Carapils
1# Crystal 60
1# Roasted Barley
.5# Chocolate malt (has nothing to do with the cocoa bean)
.5# Oatmeal (Instant)
.5 oz Willamette (FWH)
.5 oz N. Brewer (FWH)
1 oz N. Brewer (40 minutes)
2 oz EKG (20)

I batched sparged with 7 gallons strike water (about 180F witha a grain bed temp of 160) and about 3 gallons of sparge water. I had a 7 gallon boil. The strike water and grain bed was a little high but I figured so the ABV will be low but with a richer body. I also was more reserved with the amount of sparge water so I didn't have left over wort.

I used English (WLP002) slurry and a packet of S04 yeasts strains. The sg wast 1.052. I hope this to be a good brew.

Brewed an Ordinary Bitter (3/18)

2006-03-21T20:38:00.000-05:00

As a departure from all the pale ales I have been brewing, I decided to make an English style session bitter.

8# English Pale Malt
8 oz Oatmeal (for tecture)
"" Carapils
"" Crystal 120
1 oz EKG (FWH)
1 oz EKG (60)
1 oz Fuggles (30)

The starting gravity for this brew was 1.040 at 78F (corrected is about 1.042), currently fermenting in the big glass carboy.

Bottled the Hoppy IPA (3/14)

2006-03-21T20:28:00.000-05:00

I realize that I brewed a bunch of IPA's recently. I really enjoy a good hoppy brew. The hoppy IPA was inspired by HBA's JPA. It is more of a 60 minute IPA where hops are added every 10 minutes of the 60 minute boil. The final gravity was 1.012.

The yeild was on the low side with 36-12 oz bottles and 7-16 oz Grolsch type flip cap bottles. I do love those flip cap bottles.

Amarillo IPA (3/16): Kegged

2006-03-21T20:21:00.000-05:00

The Amarillo IPA taste great and is now in the keg. I put in the keg and set the regulator at 20 psi or so for two days. Then I lowered the PSI to 15 psi.

2/28 Brewed another IPA (AG)

2006-03-21T20:01:00.000-05:00

I brewed another IPA on 2/28.

Recipe was:
12# 2Row
10 oz Carapils
4 oz Aromatic
6 oz Crystal 120
2.5 oz of Amarillo (60)
2 oz of N. Brewer (30)
1 oz of Cascades (FWH)

Starting gravity was 1.052. I racked this beer on 3/14 (gravity at transfer was 1.012). I noticed that the airlock was almost dry. Not quite sure how this happened. Upon racking I tasted the beer and it tasted fine. I might note that this might not be my best IPA. Hopefully the 4.5 oz of hops and the alcohol in the beer killed off whatever airborne microbes to which the beer was exposed.

As you can see to the right the IPA is on the bitter side, somewhere between fruity and malty.

Brewed an all Amarillo Pale Ale, AG

2006-02-28T10:16:00.000-05:00

I brewed my first IPA all grain beer. That is, I turned cracked seeds (grain) into a uber-sweet wort that is now sitting in a fermenter bubbling away. The ingredients were:

12 # 2 row pale malt
8 oz CaraPils
12 oz of Crystal 60

HOPS:
1 oz Amarillo (first wort hop)
2 oz " " (60 minutes)
1 oz (30)

1 oz (15)

The picture shows the mash-tun. Where the hot water is introduced to the grain so that the grain will release it sweet goodness. I batched sparged got a little bit less than 2 gallons on the first running (water at 165F and the bed was at 156F for 1 hour). I then sparged, rinsed the grains of the rest of their sugars, with 172F water (bed stayed at 156F) and ended up with 6 gallons of wort. After pouring the hot water on the grain bed (sparging) I mixed it really well, waited 10 minutes, then proceeded to drain the mash-tun (the cooler).

I took many cues from instructions posted on the web.

The OG was 1.050 (at 100F) the corrected gravity is 1.056. I didn't check the gravity before the boil, so I am not sure I know my efficiency. From what I am told, batch sparging is pretty inefficient.

I used S-04 dry yeast, first time using dry yeast, and some WhiteLabs yeast nutrient. It is supposed to be like the whitelabs' english ale yeast.

It takes a bit more time but the getting the wort out is so rewarding.

Transfered hoppy IPA

2006-02-28T10:07:00.000-05:00

I transfered the Hoppy IPA. This IPA has a lot of hops, about 7 ounces total. I transfered it today (OG = 1.062/FG = 1.016). I have always disliked wheat beers but when added as a part of a non-wheat, it really adds something to the flavor. I tasted the hydro sample and it is about the best flat, room temperature beer I have ever drank. This recipe was inspired by HBA's CJ's JPA recipe. I took some liberties with it, however.

Pictured is the mash-tun I built using an old cooler and excellent instructions. Going all grain, baby; all grain.

Kegged the Bitter Sweet Milky Stout

2006-02-23T22:20:00.000-05:00

The Stout ended its fermentation with a gravity of 1.018 (abv ~ 4.4%). I tasted the hydrometer sample and it was very good. I also kegged the IPA (abv ~6.3) about 5 days ago. I have forced carbonated all of the beers. I hit the IPA with 20 psi, the Stout (at room temp) with 35 psi, and the SOB is sitting pretty at 12 over the last week or so.

The stout is in the keg on the right, the IPA is center, and the SOB is on the left.

Very cool. Wish Saul was here.

Brewed a hoppy IPA (2/14)

2006-02-19T23:22:00.000-05:00

Maybe calling this the Valentine IPA wouldn't be such a bad idea. It had:

4# of light DME
3# Wheat DME
12 oz CaraVienna
4 oz. CaraMunich

N. Brewer served as the bittering hops (60 minutes)
Then I added a combination of Amarillo, Cascae, and Willamette every 10 minutes.

I pitched it onto the yeast cake of the English Yeast from the IPA. Didn't get as good of results this time and I don't think I'll try that again. I hear you can get a bunch of off flavors from doing that.

Finally I took a big step and am now a hardCore hobbyist. I have a 3 keg system with 5# cylinder. I force carb'd the Beligerent SOB (a Stone Brew clone). I haven't quite figured out the logistics of force carbing but as one CBMer told me, "It's not rocket surgery." That made me laugh.

Bitter Sweet Milky Stout cont.

2006-02-10T23:29:00.000-05:00

I brewed the beer below tonight. Hopefully my slurry/yeast harvesting "trick" works to get this wort fermenting soon. Also, I cold - pitched the yeast at about 69F; ie, I added the slurry straight from the fridge into the wort. Should be good if it ferments okay. I'm going to go to AltBev in the morn to pick up some more dry yeast.

Bitter Sweet Milky Stout

2006-02-10T23:23:00.000-05:00

Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
6.00 lb	Dark Dry Extract (17.5 SRM)	Dry Extract	75.0 %
0.50 lb	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)	Grain	6.3 %
0.50 lb	Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)	Grain	6.3 %
0.50 lb	Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)	Grain	6.3 %
1.00 oz	Northern Brewer [7.00%] (60 min)	Hops	25.4 IBU
1.00 oz	Northern Brewer [7.00%] (15 min)	Hops	12.6 IBU
1.00 oz	Williamette [5.50%] (5 min)	Hops	4.0 IBU
0.50 lb	Milk Sugar (Lactose) (0.0 SRM)	Sugar	6.3 %
1 Pkgs	California Ale (White Labs #WLP001)	Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.057 SG

Measured Original Gravity: 1.010 SG

Est Final Gravity: 1.013 SG

Measured Final Gravity: 1.005 SG

Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.8 %

Actual Alcohol by Vol: 0.6 %

Bitterness: 42.0 IBU

Calories: 43 cal/pint

Est Color: 33.2 SRM

Color:

Color

Age for: 28.0 days

Hoppy Amber bottled 2/10

2006-02-10T23:06:00.000-05:00

I bottled the "HopBomb Jambalaya" brew and found that the pre bottled sample I drank tasted great. I realize now, after corresponding with SHTZ folks and reading Palmer's chapter on hops that my hop schedule made no sense but over all, I was lucky - this might be a pretty good bitter beer. The yeild were the cases of Paulaner and Victory (the guy at the liquor store set me up with his nicest boxes once I told him I needed them for homebrew), plus a 4 pack which I put in my brew closet/pantry.

The golden carboy is the 5 gal carboy that contained the "HopBomb Jambalaya;" dryhopped with Fuggles. After cleaning and scrubbing it out with my carboy brush I filled it with an Iodophor sollution.

Pitched Dry Yeast on the Bastard

2006-02-10T22:51:00.000-05:00

In the nearest fermenting bucket is the both transfered and repitched new yeast in this beer. The story is that the gravity stalled out at about 1.022. I transfered it and got it off its yeast cake (trub - pronounced troob) and repitched US-56 by Fermentis dry yeast. With the yeast cake I poored about 24 oz of cooled boiled water over it, swirled the bucket and then poored those into four washed and sanitized (via Star San solution) glass jars; each has about 1.5 cups of slurry in each jar. I am hoping to re-use this yeast slurry (WLP-001/California Ale). Further, I hope to get the gravity of the Bastard ale down to about 1.010 or the mid teens would be great.

English IPA

2006-02-03T01:01:00.000-05:00

Brewed an English IPA tonight. I utilized a new method and recycled my yeast from the Hoppy Amber after I transfered it. After I racked the Hoppy Amber I quickly dumped a new wort onto the Amber's yeast cake. (It's already bubbling. I also added a yeast nutrient, not servo.)

I used some very cool hop combinations; 1 cup of Amarillos at 60, 1 cup each of Amarillos and Northern Brewer at 15 and 1 cup of Willamettes at 5. I'll be sure and dryhop this with cascades if I can get my hand on them. The original gravity was 1.064. If the gravity gets down to 1.010 I'll have a 7.13 ABV beer.

Hoppy Amber Brewed 1/28/06

2006-02-03T00:46:00.000-05:00

I had some extras laying around and went ahead and brewed a "jambalaya" beer. They are:

4 # of light DME
1 # of amber dme
1 # of biscuit
1 # of special

1 oz of Centennials
3-.75 oz of K. Goldings

I added the Centennials at 60
Then the Goldings at 50, 40, and 30.

Brewed it up and boy is it a bitter wort. I had a pretty low gravity too (rechecked at 1.032). I hope that the bitterness will level out. I wondered if there were post boil additives (honey, maple syrup, etc) that I might use to level out the the hop bitterness but decided against them. I racked it today (2/2/06) and had a 1.008 gravity (ABV=3.14). I also dryhopped it with Fuggle type hop plugs which I initially made a hop tea by steeping the plugs in 165F water. I then stuffed the plugs and the tea into the secondary fermenter.

Gravity Still Too High II

2006-01-27T20:31:00.000-05:00

I checked the gravity on the Belligerent SOB and it was around 1.030, still way too high to transfter to secondary. While I had it opened I went ahead and disturbed (scooped up) the yeast cake at the bottom of the fermentor and shook the bucket up afterward. After 2 weeks, the gravity is still higher than I'd like (1.020, at least).

Bottled the APA today

2006-01-26T22:09:00.000-05:00

I bottled the APA. In what was a troubling discovery at bottling time was that the gravity at bottling time was 4 points higher than at racking time (1.012-1.016). The Willamettes imparted a nice floral, perfumey aroma. Let's hope that subsides a little. The yeild was about 2 cases, exactly.

Racked & Dryhopped the APA

2006-01-19T21:14:00.000-05:00

I racked and dryhopped the American Pale Ale (APA). The gravity at racking time was 1.012 which means the ABV is about 6%. I dryhopped with an ounce of leaf Willamette hops and you can see them floating at the top of the carboy. I hope that they can get incorporated throughout the whole beer.

I tasted this beer at transfer and I can't say I was thrilled about it. It wasn't bad but it was not all that great. Maybe it is just green and needs to develop a little more.

Tasting

2006-01-17T20:50:00.000-05:00

I tried some of my homebrews tonight. Pour 1 and 3 is the Special Bitter. It is a good session beer. And taste really good. I look forward to it developing in to a more fizzy drink. When I brew this again I hope to add more priming sugar to give it more bubble and more head, if possible. Pour 2 is the Wee heavy and it is developing into a nice caramel sipping beer. Wow. If he flavors develop as I hop the burnt caramel flavors will intensify leaving the ripe B-A-N-A-NN-A flavors behind. That would be great.

I am also considering going all grain. Don Osborn has a great page on how to convert an ice cooler into a mash/lauter tun and a nice diary of how he did his all grain beer. I saw this and thought, "I can do this; and save money, too."

Arrogant SOB

2006-01-13T21:14:00.000-05:00

I brewed a very heavy Stone Brew clone. HBA's staff copied this very fine brew. I just hope I come close to the original.

It is a huge beer with 8 lbs of DME (4 amber/4wheat) and a huge grain bill. It uses three doses of high alpha hops (Magnum, Columbus, and Cenennial). Plus, I get to dryhop this beer with an ounce of Centennials. It is currently fermenting in the plastic bucket fermentor. Should be good!!

Bottled the "Malty" Boston Stock Ale

2006-01-13T21:03:00.000-05:00

Bottled the malty stock Ale last night. The only outstanding thing about the bottling process this last time is that I abandonded the bottling bucket and used the autosiphon with the bottle filler attachment. While I still made a mess it was a big improvement to using the bottling bucket. The final gravity on this beer was 1.009 (abv ~5.2%). The yield on this batch was 40 twelve ounce bottles and 4 sixteen ounce Grolsch style bottles.

Chico says, "Yo quiero cerveza buena."

First Beer

2006-01-10T19:35:00.000-05:00

I kind of jumped the gun and opened one of the TSBs. It was not all that carbonated but it tasted like beer. It was surprisingly clear as I thought it would be more cloudy. I also chilled and opened one of the wee heavies and found that it was decent but there some stuff going on. First, it has a very fruity (banana and pear) flavor to it; meaning that I might have not aerated the beer enough. On the other had, fruity flavors are also desired in some styles. The fruity flavors are usually becuase of esters which are a byproduct of the fermentable sugars and the yeast. Second, it might be that these flavors will develop into more cheesy flavors which means I picked up some sort of infection along the way. Finally, I think it probably needs more time to mellow. Heavy brews (7% abv) usually need a lot of time to mellow. The flavors involved need time to meld together. I hope it is the third reason.

I also bought more whole leaf Willamette hops at HomeBrew Adventures (1 oz. about $1.50). The guys there let me crush different types fo leaf hops to figure out which aroma I liked the most. I am planning on dryhopping the American Pale Ale I made this last Friday. Maybe in a couple a week or two I'll transfer that brew.

American Pale Ale in the fermentor

2006-01-09T20:42:00.000-05:00

7 lbs of Light DME
1/2 lb of Carapils
1/2 lb of Crystal 20
1.5 oz. Cascade Hops for Bittering
1 tsp Irish Moss
1 oz Willamette Hops for flavoring
1 oz Willamette Hops for aroma

This wort tasted pretty good before I added the yeast. A couple of things I did different was that I steeped the specialty grains for 30 minutes in about 1.5 gallons (heated to 165 F). After the 30 minutes I put the spent grains in a strainer and poured hot water (about 2 quarts) over them in a process I will call faux sparging. During the steep, I had mixed the DME into about 1.5 gallons of cold water. I merely dumped the DME into the hot wort in liquid form. I am not sure if this was better but it took some of the stress out of dumping that much DME into hot water.

I also added the Cascade boil at the initial boil then added flavoring Willamette hops 45 minutes into the boil then again 60 minutes into the boil. The last set of Willamette hops took the boil for 2 minutes and should provide a nice aroma. I am thinking of stopping by the local homebrew store (LHBS) to buy another ounce of hops to dryhop the beer once I transfer it to the conditioning vessel.

The original gravity was 1.058 (1/7/06). Should be a good beer.

Bottled the Wee Heavy

2006-01-07T14:36:00.000-05:00

I bottled the Wee Heavy last night. The FG was a bit on the high side (1.018) ; the a.b.v. is about 7%. I am still working on learning how to bottle. I picked up a new tip via the homebrew forums. This time I bottled over the dishwasher door. This makes for less sticky beer on the floor. The big mistake I made this time however was that I tightened the spicket too much and blew out the gasket. I had to speed bottle because the spicket was leaking all over the place. Hopefully I didn't pick up any nasties. The leaky spicket also made for a low yeild, a little less than 2 cases.

Bottling Day and Transferred the malty ale

2006-01-05T23:17:00.000-05:00

Today I bottled the Thomas Valley Special Bitter. The gravity at bottling time was 1.010 and the yeild was about 21 large (c. 22 ounce bottles) and 8 1/2 twelve ounce bottles.

I used a 3/4's cup of corn sugar for priming. I really disliked the bottling process. It is a very messy. I hope to streamline it in the future but I'm not sure how exactly I'll can make the process more efficient.

I also transferred the malty ale to a secondary, for conditioning. I dry hopped it with a 1/2 ounce of Saaz pelletized hops. The gravity of the malty ale at transfer time was 1.009, a very respectable gravity.

Brewed a "Malty" Boston Stock Ale

2005-12-16T19:21:00.000-05:00

I picked up a recipe kit from Alt Bev. I brewed their Boston Stock Ale, but I added a few twist. First, to make it maltier I added an additional pound of Crystal 60L to the grain bill. Then I saved about a 1/2 ounce of Saaz hops to dryhop the brew a couple of days before bottling.

Compared to HBA, the Alt Bev recipes are packed in a more retail friendly manner but their directions are not so good. I adapted the directions to fit the HBA mold, with which I am more comfortable. Nonetheless, both shops are staffed with great employees.

1. Heated the water to 165 F and added the grainbill for 30 minutes.
2. Pulled out the grainbags and then added the 5 lbs of light DME and brought the mixture to a boil.
3. Once boil was achieved, I added an ounce of Kent whole flower hops (5.9 alpha) for bittering and set the timer for 35 minutes (pictured upper left). This was the first time I used whole flower hops.
N.B. The Alt Bev instructions suggested the Saaz hops for bittering. But at 3.6 alpha, I decided to take Palmer's advice and use higher alpha unit hops for bittering and use the "better" Saaz hops for aroma/dryhopping.
4. Added Irish moss then set the timer for 15 minutes.
5. Add Servomyces and the immersion ciller and set the timer for 10 minutes.
6. Added aroma hops, 1 ounce fof Fuggles (5.6 alpha) and 1.5 ounces of Saaz; set the timer for 2 minutes. The Saaz hops were peletized (upper right).

After I topped off the fermentation bucket I checked the gravity and it read 1.050 (at 70 F). If I do the corrected score (since hydrometers are calibrated at about 60 F), the SG is 10.60. I then added the yeast (Whitelabs WLP008).

Throughout this process I had to reference Palmer's book several times to check which, and how much, hops to use at what point. I also referenced the instructions that came with the HBA kit.

I don't think that dryhopping is consistent with this style but, hey, that is why we brew our own beer. Right?

Finally racked my beers

2005-12-16T00:03:00.000-05:00

I finally racked my beers. I got some advice from the Brewboard that I should just rack, since enough time had elapsed. A couple of strange things to note. The hydrometer readings after the rack were, at least for the special bitter, 1.008. Was I taking bad samples? I really don't know what is going on. Nonetheless, I took a sample from the bottom of the carboy and I had a ten point difference. When I transferred the wee heavy I tried to take a sample of beer with my wine theif and broke the hydrometer that I left inside as I was bouncing the thief in the beer. I hope I didn't contaminate the brew. I am hoping that the shards of glass stayed in the thief, and the auto siphon was placed at the other end of the fermentation vessel (plastic bucket).

Common New Brewer Mistake

2005-12-15T08:53:00.000-05:00

I have read about a common brewer mistake - checking the gravity too many times. I checked the gravity on my "wee heavy" and it was at 1.020ish. It still needs to come down about 10 more points. I shan't be racking (brewer-speak for transfering the beer from vessel to vessel) today.

Gravity Still Too High

2005-12-13T19:47:00.000-05:00

I was thinking of transfering my special bitter to the conditioning vessel but when I checked the gravity I was still about ten points off (1.020). I have resorted to putting the fermentors in the hall to heat them up. I guess the yeast just don't like the cold. Come Friday I am transfering to the second no matter what.

Scored a bunch of bottles

2005-12-11T18:10:00.000-05:00

While bottling my homebrew is about a month away, I have been acquiring bottles slowly. What I do is I throw them in the dishwasher (the heat cycle actually sterilizes everything) then I put foil over the tops to make sure nothing (dust, bugs, mold) gets into the bottles. I'll soak them in Star San before I bottle.

Brew Radio

2005-12-10T12:01:00.000-05:00

Learn about homebrewing at BasicBrewing Radio. Very informative radio show.

The Brew Pantry

2005-12-09T19:47:00.000-05:00

I wrapped the plastic fermentor in a blanket and secured it with a bungee cord (not seen).

Wee Heavy Scotch Ale

2005-12-09T19:23:00.000-05:00

I brewed HBA's Wee Heavy Scotch. It was much easier than the first time.

First a few notes about the brew. According to HBA the wee heavy is: Creamy, very chewy, slightly smoky example of Strong Scotch Ale. A wee tad less hoppy than Scottish Export (while considerably maltier), similar in flavor to Bitter family. Addition of peated malt enhances smoky character of this "session beer."

The two sacks above are eight pounds of malt extract that make up the wort. As I stated above, this brew session was easier. This time I used my immersion chiller; I didn't have to get all stressed out about an ice bath. I also used a plastic fermenting bucket instead of a glass carboy.

Each time I hope to correct some mistakes. Last time I forgot to sanitize the outside of the gallon jugs that I poured into the fermenting vessel to make the 5 gallons of wort. This time I sanitized the gallons but I think I added too much water because I missed the target gravity of 1.077. My SG was 1.070, meaning I dilluted the mixture too much. It should end up with a FG of 1.010. In the future I should add about half or 3/4 of what I think I need then check the hydrometer reading.

Another point to worry about is that I reused my Star San sanitizer from my last brew. I hope that it worked and killed all the possible nasties. I did throw out what I used today, though. My hands feel very dry (like they do after I use Star San) so I am thinking I'll be okay. I'll have to keep an eye on that, but the makers of Star San claim that it is effective until it turns cloudy. At which point you have to make a new batch (1 oz. to five gallons of water).

Cold Carboy = Slow Fermentation

2005-12-09T19:09:00.000-05:00

I figured out why the special bitter's gravity level was too high. It is becuase the carboy was too cold (about 62 degrees Fehrenheit). I went ahead and put one of my jackets around the carboy. Now, not only is the fermentation going strong, but the carboy is styling.

Starter

2005-12-08T20:02:00.000-05:00

I brewed up a yeast starter for my next beer. The Carolina Brewmasters' website has a nice "how to" or education section.

The fact that the "wee heavy" has a lot of fermentable sugars means that I have to give the yeast (in this case Wyeast 1728/Scottish) a headstart to build up its cell count so that when I pitch it into the wort they'll be ready to start converting the fermentable sugars, very cool.

First Post Pitch Hydrometer Reading

2005-12-08T17:08:00.000-05:00

Used my Fermtech Thief to check my fermenting brew's gravity. Much to my chagrin my current reading was 1.022. My target is twelve points lower at 1.010. I wonder if I have stalled fermentation, the krausen has settled back into the wort and I guess I'll just have to wait and see. I wanted to brew a wee heavy Scotch ale tomorrow but if the gravity is not ready I guess I'll have to wait.

First Attempt (Dec 2)

2005-12-08T07:35:00.000-05:00

My first attempt has been HBA's extract recipe called "Thames Valley Special Bitter." HBA's description is:

Another Amber Ale related to Pale Ale family. Maltier and hoppier and with higher alcohol content than Ordinary Bitter. Special Bitter is just the ticket for someone searching for a more flavorful Bitter.

A couple of newby mistakes I made were that I added the first set of bittering hops in a muslin bag cut in half. I found that this didn't give the hop pellets room to expand and get fully wetted. I am afraid that the hops didn't have enough contact with the wort and that they kept their precious oils all to themselves. The cooling of the boiling wort was also a mess and I have since invested in an immersion cooler. I know what you are saying, "but you're only doing partial boils." I know, but cooling 3 gallons of boiling wort in an ice bath was so messy and makes things only more susceptable to infection.

I added servomyces (a yeast nutrient) to better insure a healthy fermentation and WhiteLabs yeast (strain WLP002). I also sanitized everything with Star San, a comercial no-rinse, acid-based sanitizer. The Star San made everything really slippery. You really need to let the stuff dry for a while when using Star San.

Ultimately I ended up with an original gravity (OG) of 1.050. The finishing gravity (FG) should be about 1.010. The gravity readings (done with a hydrometer) are a method of measure the density of the wort. In this case, we're measuring the amount of fermentable sugars. After letting the yeast work, converting fermentable sugars to alcohol, there should be less sugar in the wort. After all, the yeast at all the sugars. Which is to say, amazing.

Pictured to the right is the fermentation pantry of doom.

The Set Up

2005-12-08T07:12:00.000-05:00

Here's the equipment. I am such a gadget-monger so homebrew fit my needs to acquire gadgets and do something that is steeped in fascinating history (our history) but is also fun and scientific.

The equipment I bought was the "deluxe" system, with two fermentation vessels that allows for a clarification stage. The result is a cleaner, less yeasty beer.

So what is dry hopping?

2005-12-08T06:56:00.000-05:00

So what is dry hopping? Dry hopping is a technique used by the British to preserve beer for the long trip to India. It was accomplished by adding hops to the kegs/barrels and what emerges is a citrus-like aroma beer.

Since I was going to "blaugh" about my homebrew experience, I thought I'd call it something homebrewy.

Pictured above is Malcolm Reynolds, the cat, staring at Aflack, the duck, and her friends.