Racking batch #2

Last night I racked the latest batch from the primary fermenter to the carboy. It was about 5 gallons of brew into a 6 gallon carboy, so there is about 4 inches of head space. Hopefully this does not negatively impact the taste of the beer. I may need to get a 5 gallon carboy.

Home brew batch #2

On Sunday I attempted to make another batch of home brew. This time I used ingredients as opposed to a kit. I am trying to make an English bitter. Here are my notes:

HOME BREW (May 23, 2010)

Beer attempted: Palace Bitter (Papazian page 170)

Extract: 2kg light dried malt extract
Malt: 1lb Crystal Malt 70/80L
Hops: Fuggles (5.1) and Northern Brewer (8.9)
Yeast: Nottingham Brewing yeast (dry)

Notes:

Recipe called for Crystal 60 and Kent Goldings hops. Substituting the Northern Brewer. Result should be a hoppier beer than as per the recipe

STEPS

11:00 am: added 12.1 oz Crystal Malt to 1.5 gallons water @ about 70 degrees C

Note: the temp got up to about 77 degrees. Hope that causes no ill effects

11:30 – strained out the malt

11:36 added the malt extract. Has to stir quite a bit due to clumping

11:54 – boil over (dammit – busy combing dog) Added hops

12:24 – added 7 grams each of Fuggles and Northern Brewer

12:39 – added 14 grams Northern Brewer

12:52 – added 14 grams Northern

12:53 – suspended about 14 grams yeast in 8 oz water

12:55 – placed the wort pot in ice water

13:45 – strained wort into primary fermenter. Added about 3.5 gallons cold water, and poured back and forth between pot and fermenter (once).

14:00 – added yeast and water mix

OG – between 1038 and 1040

Bottling the brew

Last night I bottled the home brew. Step 1 was about 2 hours of sanitizing all the bottles and equipment. What fun. Next step - rack the beer from the carboy back into the primary fermenter. With the auto-siphoner this was quite simple! Add some dextrose disolved in water, stir gently, and it is ready to go. I filled about 40 bottles of various sizes. Now, to wait 10 days and try the brew, and keep my fingers crossed it does not taste like ass...

I am an idiot

Solution to the siphon problem: auto-siphoner!

Why am I an idiot? It turns out I had one all along...

sigh

Home brewing step 2 -Day 3

All I can is @#@^%! The kit I am using calls for primary fermentation as well as secondary fermentation. This requires siphoning the wort from the bucket to the carboy. Easy to say, pain in the ass to do! After sterilizing all the equipment, I am left with this basic problem: how do you siphon something without sucking on the hose? (stop that snickering). After all the warnings about sanitation and germs, I was desperately trying to think of a way to do it without creating a vacuum in the hose. Well, nothing doing. I suspect my attempts to submerge the hose in the wort may have ruined the batch. Grrrrr. If the beer survives it will be a miracle. I will let you know in a month.

Bah!

Home Brew!

Ok, I realize I have not posted in a ridiculously long time. In fact, it was about 180 types of beer ago! Ye Gods. Anyhoo, I have decided to expand my beer universe by trying to home brew beer.

Step 1: I ordered three books from Amazon:

How To Brew by John Palmer

The Complete Joy of Home Brewing (3rd ed.) by Charlie Papazian

Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels

I have read a good chunk of the first two. I must say at times they read more like chemistry textbooks. Well, if I get beer of it - so be it!

Next I picked up a home brew set from the Vinyard. Well, I actually joined the Cowtown Yeast Wranglers next, but I haven't got my membership card yet.

I wanted to follow a recipe from one of the books to start, rather than work from a kit. However, on the advice of the men from the Vinyard, I opted to try my first batch using a kit. I purchased the Red Ale Kit made by Brew House.

Day 1 (April 25): Spent about an hour cleaning all the equipment. They say sanitation is the most important thing, due to the susceptibility of home brew to bacteria, etc. The only living thing you want in there is the yeast!

Next, I had to wait an hour for the water to warm up to room temperature. This at least gave me a chance to enjoy a brew ("Total Eclipse of the Hops" by Howe Sounds Brewing). I followed the directions set out in the kit; however, I am concerned that the water/wort mix was a lot foamier than I expected when I added the yeast. I hope I did not ruin it. Also, I admit I peaked in a few times to see how it was doing. This is a no-no, but again, I hope no real ill comes of it.

Now I let it sit until Wednesday, when I will rack it into the carboy. See you then!

The Road to 500 - 498

Marston's Oyster Stout. According to Michael Jackson's Great Beer Guide: "This does not contain oysters, but is offered by the brewery as the perfect accompaniment to the shellfish". To be honest, I am not a huge oyster fan, but this beer is excellent. I found it had a slight hint of chocolate, and Sith@Heart liked it too.