Tag Archive: beer
Charlie Is Right. RDWHAHB.
The words of Charlie Papazian in his book, The Complete Joy of Homebrewing
My last brew is one that was… interesting. It was my first all-grain brew, and it was big. I also messed up a few places, I forgot to add the lactose until into the boil. I didn’t get the yield I wanted (and didn’t sparge to get it, even though I should have). My OG was high.
Fermentation was interesting, too. I split the batches, which resulted in about 2.25 gal (8.5 l) of wort once boil was over. I used Wyeast 1968, with a starter, which may have gone according to plan. I fermented one in a carboy and one in a bucket. The carboy bubbled and bubbled. In fact, I let it ferment an extra week because of how bubbly it was! Even with the FG settled at 1.034 (readings taken over a week apart, not just 3 days), it was still bubbling like it was fermenting. The bucket didn’t start bubbling at all. At one point I thought maybe it needed to be aerated and I shook (sort of) the bucket. It bubbled then (and only then) and so much so it pushed all the sanitizer out of the airlock. It’s FG settled to nearly the same as the carboy.
I will admit, I was worrying. The samples were a little thick and too sweet. I don’t care much for sweet beers. Two nights before bottling, I added a shot of vanilla tincture to one. The night before bottling, I added around 8oz of cold coffee to the other. I bottled them on the day before Thanksgiving, not without a minor issue.
“Check the spigot, dummy!”
I try- but never succeed- in giving beers a full two weeks of bottle conditioning. I put one of each batch in the fridge 10 days after bottling, and cracked one open as a nightcap after one of my kids’ birthday party. It was the vanilla, affectionately known as E=1/2mvStout (yes, I’m an engineer). I was still concerned that it would be thick, sweet, and not good.
I was wrong!
It was good. The vanilla was not as strong as I wanted (but perhaps I could have that as a play on the ‘1/2’ in the kinetic energy formula). The head is not what I wanted, but it’s a starting point, and a damn good one.
So the next evening I tried the coffee one, E=MCStout. I was concerned all along that the coffee flavor could overpower this one, as I have had coffee stout beers that were just too powerful with the coffee. At this point, though, I knew it was at least a 3.5 star beer, so I was less apprehensive about trying it.
It was better. Better than the vanilla stout.
The moral of the story: Mr. Papazian is right. Relax, don’t worry. Have a homebrew.
Prost!
Relax. Don’t Worry. Have a Homebrew.
Mash Sparging Sprinkler
Edit: I’ve decided that this is a bad idea. There is a TON of heat loss through this. Don’t do it unless you have a way to maintain temperature in the mash tun.
I have a brew in the fermenters, and my first all-grain batch is going to be … interesting.
My first mash
One of the reasons why it will be interesting is because of the lack of a good way to evenly sprinkle water into the mash. So I fixed that problem.
In place and ready
Ready for me to add the hose barb connector.
There’s a ton of holes off the bottom of the holes (I say off the bottom because I drilled at about a 30-45 degree angle from the bottom, this would hopefully equalize pressure. I won’t be pushing a lot of water through this, as it will be coming from the hot liquor tun through 5/16″ hose with only gravity as pressure.
Next brew day is coming up. I can’t wait.
/A
First Homebrew Bottled!
It’s been two weeks (at the time I’m typing this) since I brewed the very first batch. I’ve learned a ton since brewing, and a ton since trying to do things like check gravity. On that last thought, I bought a wine thief to make checking gravity easy, but even after getting acclimated to using it.
September 19, 2014: Checked gravity, got 1.014. Tasted beer. Initial flavor very citrusy (specifically orange), followed by a bitter slam.
September 21, 2014: Checked gravity, got 1.012. Tasted beer. Citrus flavor more subdued, and bitter slam gone.
September 22, 3014: Checked gravity, got 1.010.
September 23, 2014: Checked gravity, got 1.010. Ready for bottling!
I don’t know if bottoming out the wine thief on the bottom of the ale pail made any difference, but the flavor change after ~36 hours was pretty substantial. I had a ton of stuff to do on September 21, so the gravity change was well timed.
Evidence of fermentation!
The color is about right for a pale ale.
In other news, I was given birthday money (kinda weird feeling to still get birthday money when you’re 36), but I decided to spend it on a handful of homebrew things – a cooler to be used as a mash tun, a spare airlock, another lid (since I’m using my bottling bucket for sanitizer for now and want a lid on it to keep dust out), and some tube. Through reading one of the forums or Reddit or something, I saw someone post that they use a spray bottle of sanitizer with things like checking gravity (when removing the lid). I decided that I should do the same.
In addition to buying more stuff, I cleaned up an area in my basement that will ultimately be used for brewing. I do want to get an electric boiling kettle that I can use down there as opposed to using my stove. I also want to build an exhaust hood that would cover that area so when I’m boiling I can exhaust the steam as opposed to letting it go through the house – this is especially important in my basement as there is no air return duct in the basement, only a supply duct.
The food dehydrator is dehydrating hot peppers, which is why there is an airlock on the bucket marked ‘sanitizer’.
Bottle supply.
Bottling Day
There’s not much to talk about with bottling except that I was reminded of something – that little hole on the bottling bucket spigot is important.
Yeah, that little hole.
…and that’s why.
1.010. Pretty much right in range of where it was expected.
42 bottles of made-my-own 6-pack.
Cheers!
The First Batch is in the Fermenter!
Since it feels nice outside, I decided it was the day.
I’m not going to go into specifics, just the things I learned:
- My wife does not like the smell of wort.
- I love the smell of cascade hops.
- I need to prepare several bags of ice for cooling. I used up the ice maker tray, but wished I had more.
- Alternating sinks of cool water worked well; just next time I should have more ice (a la above) ready and not drain my sanitizer for it.
- I need a better thermometer – one with a long stem.
- I probably need to buy a turkey fryer and boil outside. If I do that, I should probably consider an immersion chiller.
- The Mason jar worked well for a yeast starter, but I should use a bigger one next time.
- Make sure to fill the test tube enough when getting an IG reading. “less than 1.050” is not an accurate reading.
- Obviously I took a sip of the wort from the test tube. Not bad, maybe a tad bitter. Of course it isn’t fermented yet. I’m okay with bitter beer.
I probably should have taken more pics. Anyway, the Ale Pail is in the basement fermenting, and since I am typing this and looking things up it sounds like I need to switch the airlock with the other as there is a little bit of krausen in the airlock.
I am really looking forward to bottling and drinking this!
/A
New Blog: What You’ll Find Here…
…is a lot of stuff about running. And a lot of stuff about beer.
I am a runner. I became a runner at around 30 years old, so a bit late to be any sort of champion, prodigy, or coach. I may never run Boston, I’ll probably never win my age group in a race (unless I’m the only runner in my age group).
Running somewhat caused me to become a better beer drinker. For a few years, the only race I ran was a memorial run in mid-August. After some downright horrid times (by my standards), I decided to actually compete and improve in running. I had one failed attempt where I started to run 9 weeks before the August race and stopped running after the race. The second time I kept going through the winter. The following year, I branched out in terms of races (more on that in a sec). At the same memorial run, I won my class- the “Clydesdale Class” for people heavier than 220 pounds. The following year (we’re up to 2014, BTW), I was no longer eligible to defend my title because my weight had fallen to 216 pounds. I ran a 27:01 5k.
Little Kings Mile. No Cream Ale to be found at the finish, though. Had to ‘settle’ for Hudepohl Amber.
Running into Beer Drinking
When I started branching out in races, I stumbled on the Bockfest 5k. It was a cold day and I knew nothing of the sweetness of bock beer on a chilly spring morning following a great 5k. Later that day, I went out and purchased two 6-packs of Bock Beer (Yuengling Bock and Hudepohl Bock). The spiral of drinking less Yuengling Lager and Budweiser and drinking more craft beers had begun.
Beer Drinking to Beer Exploration
I had, over the course of a handful of months, went from a beer drinker – one who drinks beer – to a beer explorer. I made it a goal to unlock badges in Untappd based on how many unique beers I’ve drank. I realized that my pallet, which at one time was apprehensive of Stone’s Arrogant Bastard Ale because of the text on the back of the bottle, now looked forward to trying different styles of beer and different brewery’s take on those styles. I had attained the level of “I fear no beer”.
…and I’m 23 away from 200…
Fast forward to now, I’m beginning to get into brewing my own beer. I may at some time grow my own hops (growing peppers and carrots in the garden has worked well for me, and hops are much more useful 🙂 ).
“Make your own 6-pack” has quite a ring to it when the bottles in the holder are ones you’ve brewed!
So What Is This Blog About Again?
Beer brewing and running. I’m an expert at neither. I’ll be posting about my experiences – successes and mitsakes.