My friend Frank is visiting again from Mexico, and so I thought I'd take him by the local brew store. We checked 0ut the kegging systems, and talked about different types of beer that we could brew.
Being the good host that I am, I gave Frank the option, and he chose stout. To be specific, he took the standard Irish dry stout as opposed to an Imperial stout.
As we got the boil going, my wife came in and made a request for coffee. So as we were brewing a pot of coffee, it clicked. I used to enjoy the Red Hook Espresso Stout; why not bring it back in an un-official capacity.
I do a partial boil, so once that was in the carboy, I added a liter of freshly brewed strong coffee, and then the rest of the water. Then I added about 5 tablespoons of coffee grounds into the carboy before adding the yeast.
I got this crazy idea about brewing an iced mocha stout, and had ground up some cocoa nibs, but we had a change of heart. As it turns out, adding chocolate to the primary fermentation inhibits the yeast and could spoil the beer. Luckily, Frank has culinary expertise and was there to keep me grounded. So what I might do is add cocoa powder to the priming sugar, and introduce the chocolate in the conditioning phase.
Frank and I did the brew on Sunday (yesterday), and as of this evening the yeast are exuberant. They seem to be sharing the top with the coffee grounds without complaint so far.
I'll do another post to detail the conditioning and provide measurements if I decide to go for the Ice Mocha Stout.
As my eldest son is turning 7 and having a lego party at the house, I will also brew some cream soda this weekend.
Cheers!
Monday, May 25, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Keg Is King
As time goes on, I am noticing that home brew loses it's hoppiness. No preservatives, and over time, I guess, even beer gets old.
Some observations.
I spent some time collecting bottles. First it was getting larger bottles to reduce the amount of work for bottling. Then it was swing tops. I found some clear 33.8 oz bottles. I found brown 33 oz bottles. I even found a half-gallon bottle that held some German winterbrew.
I have come to the conclusion that when it comes to bottling, size counts. against you. I posted earlier that the flavor in the 25.4oz Martinelli's bottles was not crisp. My theory was that the green glass was letting in light that was spoiling the beer.
So what happens when you use the larger brown bottles? Same thing. The taste is just not there like it is in the smaller bottles.
Conclusion: Go with 12- 20 oz bottles. The crisp flavor is worth the extra cleaning bottling and capping.
****
My neighbor down the street brews as well, and he came by and invited me over the following Sunday. He and his buddies were gathering for the opening day of the Formula One series in Australia, and they were kicking things off with their first attempt at kegging.
I like the idea of kegging, but my concerns are: (1) How long will the beer keep once you've cracked the seal, (2) It's spendy for the gear and (3) It can be hard to keep track of how much you drink.
Sunday came around, and I swung by. We exchanged some brewing experiences and best practices. It was nice to know I shared some common challenges with other brewers.
As I tried to glean what knowledge I could about F1 racing before the start of the race, they cracked open the keg. What came out of the tap was a resolution to keg.
My neighbor had brewed an IPA with a full fruity body behind it. But equally impressive was the freshness. You really can't beat draft beer. I tried the same beer in a 12 oz bottle, and it still had all the flavor, but that draft freshness really elevated the experience.
So apparently you can keep the beer in decent shape for about a month. But of course, I will have to research it myself, before posting it as ipso facto on "My Brewed".
I am in the process of pulling coins out of the furniture and my wife is amazed at my sudden interest in laundry. I will slowly amass my fortune in spare change and turn it into pure amber gold.
I have resolved to keg.
It will cost me about $185 plus cooling to start. This will give me the refurbished soda keg (5 gallons), regulator, Co2 tank, tubing and spigot. For cooling, the plan is to get a mini-fridge I can use to keep kegs cold (no room in the fridge without massive reconfigs, and I actually do eat more than just beer). Should be able to find one on the cheap on Craig's List. And then when the time comes, with a few more bucks, I can convert it into a full kegerator. With two towers.
Some observations.
I spent some time collecting bottles. First it was getting larger bottles to reduce the amount of work for bottling. Then it was swing tops. I found some clear 33.8 oz bottles. I found brown 33 oz bottles. I even found a half-gallon bottle that held some German winterbrew.
I have come to the conclusion that when it comes to bottling, size counts. against you. I posted earlier that the flavor in the 25.4oz Martinelli's bottles was not crisp. My theory was that the green glass was letting in light that was spoiling the beer.
So what happens when you use the larger brown bottles? Same thing. The taste is just not there like it is in the smaller bottles.
Conclusion: Go with 12- 20 oz bottles. The crisp flavor is worth the extra cleaning bottling and capping.
****
My neighbor down the street brews as well, and he came by and invited me over the following Sunday. He and his buddies were gathering for the opening day of the Formula One series in Australia, and they were kicking things off with their first attempt at kegging.
I like the idea of kegging, but my concerns are: (1) How long will the beer keep once you've cracked the seal, (2) It's spendy for the gear and (3) It can be hard to keep track of how much you drink.
Sunday came around, and I swung by. We exchanged some brewing experiences and best practices. It was nice to know I shared some common challenges with other brewers.
As I tried to glean what knowledge I could about F1 racing before the start of the race, they cracked open the keg. What came out of the tap was a resolution to keg.
My neighbor had brewed an IPA with a full fruity body behind it. But equally impressive was the freshness. You really can't beat draft beer. I tried the same beer in a 12 oz bottle, and it still had all the flavor, but that draft freshness really elevated the experience.
So apparently you can keep the beer in decent shape for about a month. But of course, I will have to research it myself, before posting it as ipso facto on "My Brewed".
I am in the process of pulling coins out of the furniture and my wife is amazed at my sudden interest in laundry. I will slowly amass my fortune in spare change and turn it into pure amber gold.
I have resolved to keg.
It will cost me about $185 plus cooling to start. This will give me the refurbished soda keg (5 gallons), regulator, Co2 tank, tubing and spigot. For cooling, the plan is to get a mini-fridge I can use to keep kegs cold (no room in the fridge without massive reconfigs, and I actually do eat more than just beer). Should be able to find one on the cheap on Craig's List. And then when the time comes, with a few more bucks, I can convert it into a full kegerator. With two towers.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Three Batches Later
Where do I start?
I guess the first question is whatever happened with the Bass? First the pour. Still darker than Bass, aroma was right. Then the taste. Yeasty, but in a fresh bread kind of way. A bit of a bite. Nice malty...sweetness. Adequate. Clean finish. Need another sip. The sweetness is not the caramel flavor, and kind of subltle. Very adequate!
As it turns out, it wasn't as good as the ESB. But it was very drinkable. It seemed to take on more of the caramel flavor you get with Bass when the temperature rose. So it could be consumed either way.
In the meantime, I made another venture outside the world of kits and used a recipe from Food Network's Alton Brown. In his show "Good Eats", Alton Brown features an episode called "Amber Waves". After watching this initially around 3 years ago, I was left with the feeling that I could brew beer. My wife got me a mini kit from Bed Bath & Beyond. In 4 short weeks I would have a six pack of beer!!
I made my wort per the instructions, cooled it, added my powdered yeast and..... nothing. No bubbling, no fermenting. It actually took a month or two before I came to the realization that it probably wasn't going to happen. The "I can do it" feeling subsided, and the idea faded with time.
Thank God for TiVo. A couple years later I got the bug again when I reviewed "Amber Waves" from the DVR (you think I'm a packrat with the shows, you should see my garage). This time, I hinted Santa might look at a big boy brew kit, and I even stopped by my local beer store and picked up a brochure to help clarify the hint. And I circled the kit in the brochure. Then brought it to her attention. Twice.
Anyways, here is the recipe:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-brew-recipe/index.html
Some of the user reviews are a bit rough, regarding his process, but the important thing he impresses on you is the necessity for being fanatical about sanitation.
So I used his recipe. I meant to get light liquid malt extract, but I accidentally got extra light. Also the recipe called for Crystal Malt but was not more specific. I used 40L.
Fast forward 2 weeks, and one of my friends, Marcos, is flying in from Alaska for his birthday (for accuracy's sake, his birthday is the day after Christmas, however he has rejected this and replaces it with the Oakland A's season home opener). He has requested IPA. "It's all I drink" he writes.
So Saturday I bottle the Alton and on Sunday I brew the IPA. I could have gone two directions. There was a Brittish IPA, that is brewed using oak chips, and there is an American IPA that has a nice full flavor with a fruity finish. I like the idea of the oak chips, but I have kicked this thing off with 3 consecutive Brittish recipes, so I decide to go with the American IPA.
After brewing and cleaning up, I am feeling brewer's fatigue, and decide to take a break from brewing. I decide I may try the Brittish IPA or something completely different. In a few weeks.
Two weeks later, the Alton Amber is ready. First taste, very hoppy. A bit bitter, and kind of a watery finish. Company is coming over Friday with expectations (that I set) of fresh home brew. That Thursday, it is the same way. There is a bitterness and still a lack of body.
In the meantime, I have discovered that the few bottles of ESB that I had hid away, had lost some of their hoppyness, and there was kind of an odd taste that I could only classify as "old". I had been saving these for special occasions, and now they were stale and past their prime.
Strike Two. It's Friday.
I open the Alton, and it's simply a different beer. The hoppy bitterness has blended into a nice sharp bite and a very flavorful malty finish. Smooth, and body is well provided by the equilibrium of malt and hops. Day saved. The lesson learned is that 3 weeks in the bottle is better than two. A beer is just not ready until it is ready. I recommend this recipe.
The larger Martinelli's bottles are lagging behind. In fact with both the Bass and the Alton, the flavor is a little different in these dark green bottles. Not as crisp. I decide they are good for bottling soda, but not beer. I vow to replace them and never to use them again.
I make a run to BevMo looking for brown swing tops, find that Groelsh is bottling beer again, and find a few other swing's to bottle with.
But for the IPA it is too late. I have a wife and two kids, no longer in college, no longer young, and am unable to consume enough beer before bottling day. So the Martinelli's bottles go back into service.
Next post will cover a discussion with a neighbor that turned into a resolution, and Marcos arrives from Alaska. Will the IPA be ready? Will it turn out OK? Will he be thawed out enough to drink it??? You'll just have to wait. It'll be shorter that 3 months this time, though.
I guess the first question is whatever happened with the Bass? First the pour. Still darker than Bass, aroma was right. Then the taste. Yeasty, but in a fresh bread kind of way. A bit of a bite. Nice malty...sweetness. Adequate. Clean finish. Need another sip. The sweetness is not the caramel flavor, and kind of subltle. Very adequate!
As it turns out, it wasn't as good as the ESB. But it was very drinkable. It seemed to take on more of the caramel flavor you get with Bass when the temperature rose. So it could be consumed either way.
In the meantime, I made another venture outside the world of kits and used a recipe from Food Network's Alton Brown. In his show "Good Eats", Alton Brown features an episode called "Amber Waves". After watching this initially around 3 years ago, I was left with the feeling that I could brew beer. My wife got me a mini kit from Bed Bath & Beyond. In 4 short weeks I would have a six pack of beer!!
I made my wort per the instructions, cooled it, added my powdered yeast and..... nothing. No bubbling, no fermenting. It actually took a month or two before I came to the realization that it probably wasn't going to happen. The "I can do it" feeling subsided, and the idea faded with time.
Thank God for TiVo. A couple years later I got the bug again when I reviewed "Amber Waves" from the DVR (you think I'm a packrat with the shows, you should see my garage). This time, I hinted Santa might look at a big boy brew kit, and I even stopped by my local beer store and picked up a brochure to help clarify the hint. And I circled the kit in the brochure. Then brought it to her attention. Twice.
Anyways, here is the recipe:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-brew-recipe/index.html
Some of the user reviews are a bit rough, regarding his process, but the important thing he impresses on you is the necessity for being fanatical about sanitation.
So I used his recipe. I meant to get light liquid malt extract, but I accidentally got extra light. Also the recipe called for Crystal Malt but was not more specific. I used 40L.
Fast forward 2 weeks, and one of my friends, Marcos, is flying in from Alaska for his birthday (for accuracy's sake, his birthday is the day after Christmas, however he has rejected this and replaces it with the Oakland A's season home opener). He has requested IPA. "It's all I drink" he writes.
So Saturday I bottle the Alton and on Sunday I brew the IPA. I could have gone two directions. There was a Brittish IPA, that is brewed using oak chips, and there is an American IPA that has a nice full flavor with a fruity finish. I like the idea of the oak chips, but I have kicked this thing off with 3 consecutive Brittish recipes, so I decide to go with the American IPA.
After brewing and cleaning up, I am feeling brewer's fatigue, and decide to take a break from brewing. I decide I may try the Brittish IPA or something completely different. In a few weeks.
Two weeks later, the Alton Amber is ready. First taste, very hoppy. A bit bitter, and kind of a watery finish. Company is coming over Friday with expectations (that I set) of fresh home brew. That Thursday, it is the same way. There is a bitterness and still a lack of body.
In the meantime, I have discovered that the few bottles of ESB that I had hid away, had lost some of their hoppyness, and there was kind of an odd taste that I could only classify as "old". I had been saving these for special occasions, and now they were stale and past their prime.
Strike Two. It's Friday.
I open the Alton, and it's simply a different beer. The hoppy bitterness has blended into a nice sharp bite and a very flavorful malty finish. Smooth, and body is well provided by the equilibrium of malt and hops. Day saved. The lesson learned is that 3 weeks in the bottle is better than two. A beer is just not ready until it is ready. I recommend this recipe.
The larger Martinelli's bottles are lagging behind. In fact with both the Bass and the Alton, the flavor is a little different in these dark green bottles. Not as crisp. I decide they are good for bottling soda, but not beer. I vow to replace them and never to use them again.
I make a run to BevMo looking for brown swing tops, find that Groelsh is bottling beer again, and find a few other swing's to bottle with.
But for the IPA it is too late. I have a wife and two kids, no longer in college, no longer young, and am unable to consume enough beer before bottling day. So the Martinelli's bottles go back into service.
Next post will cover a discussion with a neighbor that turned into a resolution, and Marcos arrives from Alaska. Will the IPA be ready? Will it turn out OK? Will he be thawed out enough to drink it??? You'll just have to wait. It'll be shorter that 3 months this time, though.
Monday, February 23, 2009
The Root of my problem
Bottling went well with the Bass-clone. The yield was 1 clear 33oz bottle with swing top, 12 25.4oz crown top (re-purposed Martinelli's bottles), 3 22oz. brown swing top bottles, 1 16.9oz crown, and two six packs of standard 12oz. bottles.
The following day I decided to brew the rest of the root beer. If you recall my post from a few weeks ago, I wished I had added more honey instead of sugar. I vowed to adjust the recipe to add honey. And I did. But this time, the root beer flavor was not as strong. Diagnosis: uneven split of the extract from last time to this time.
I actually measured it on a digital scale the first time, but assumed the remainder would be equal. It wasn't. The flavor otherwise was pretty good, but not totally root beer. So my conclusion is that I will brew the entire 5 gallons of soda at once.
I tried it with all sugar; I tried it with honey. Now I aim to sample some different types of sugars.
My wife is into food product development, so I am exposed to different varieties of sugars. I get sent on these missions to Whole Foods with wacky shopping lists. I usually have to drag one of the clerks into my obscure food puzzle. I once walked in with a shopping list that included Evaporated Cane Juice.
I started in the juices aisle, then by the evaporated milk, confused at least two clerks until it occured to one of us (probably not me) that it might be in the sugar aisle. For those not already laughing at me, evaporated cane juice is evaporated. Not like the milk. Definately not like juice. Like sugar. Granulated. Except the crystals are bigger.
There is also turbinado sugar, which is slightly browner and with even bigger crystals. There is also Agave syrup, which is like honey but thinner and not as sweet. I will have to sit down (with supervision, of course) and sample different sugars and figure out what might be added to the soda's to give them some unique flavors.
But back to the root beer cause analysis... If I don't split batches and brew 5 gallons at a time, then I have a new challenge. I will end up with 45 bottles that need refrigerating within 2 or 3 days. So I will have to find volunteers up front who will take soda home to their fridges. I'll also continue to use more plastic containers to mitigate risk of shards of glass appearing suddenly.
The next batch won't be for a while, but it will be cream soda. Get your orders in now....
Next time, the great boil from this past weekend, using Alton Brown's English Ale recipe.
The following day I decided to brew the rest of the root beer. If you recall my post from a few weeks ago, I wished I had added more honey instead of sugar. I vowed to adjust the recipe to add honey. And I did. But this time, the root beer flavor was not as strong. Diagnosis: uneven split of the extract from last time to this time.
I actually measured it on a digital scale the first time, but assumed the remainder would be equal. It wasn't. The flavor otherwise was pretty good, but not totally root beer. So my conclusion is that I will brew the entire 5 gallons of soda at once.
I tried it with all sugar; I tried it with honey. Now I aim to sample some different types of sugars.
My wife is into food product development, so I am exposed to different varieties of sugars. I get sent on these missions to Whole Foods with wacky shopping lists. I usually have to drag one of the clerks into my obscure food puzzle. I once walked in with a shopping list that included Evaporated Cane Juice.
I started in the juices aisle, then by the evaporated milk, confused at least two clerks until it occured to one of us (probably not me) that it might be in the sugar aisle. For those not already laughing at me, evaporated cane juice is evaporated. Not like the milk. Definately not like juice. Like sugar. Granulated. Except the crystals are bigger.
There is also turbinado sugar, which is slightly browner and with even bigger crystals. There is also Agave syrup, which is like honey but thinner and not as sweet. I will have to sit down (with supervision, of course) and sample different sugars and figure out what might be added to the soda's to give them some unique flavors.
But back to the root beer cause analysis... If I don't split batches and brew 5 gallons at a time, then I have a new challenge. I will end up with 45 bottles that need refrigerating within 2 or 3 days. So I will have to find volunteers up front who will take soda home to their fridges. I'll also continue to use more plastic containers to mitigate risk of shards of glass appearing suddenly.
The next batch won't be for a while, but it will be cream soda. Get your orders in now....
Next time, the great boil from this past weekend, using Alton Brown's English Ale recipe.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Bottling Day - Bass 1
The pictures to the left are the start and the end of the brew day for Bass 1. Above left is the fermented brew awaiting bottle sanitation. Below left is the beginning of the mash for the grain portion of the boil, done on Superbowl Sunday.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Dark Bass aint that bad
The condensation turned out to be nothing to be concerned about. A neighbor of mine, who has a two year head start on me has been kind enough to answer such questions as they come up.
The color was concerning, but even if it didn't come out tasting anything like the brew it was inspired by, it would probably be good in it's own right.
Earlier tonight, I got the specific gravity meter out and gave it a test.
Color still dark, aroma not bad. I marked the reading as 1.009, and poured the contents into a drinking glass. Better get this over with.
OK It's a little hoppier than Bass at first taste, but definately mellow after that. Missing the caramel flavor in between. I believe by overcooking the sugar it not only turned the beer darker than it was meant to be (through carmelization) but it also dulled the sweetness a little. It's still got the sweetness you don't find in a brown, though. Not that bad, but not as good as the first batch.
I will bottle it on Sunday (tomorrow is Valentines Day; the wife likes beer, but not that much). We'll see what it tastes like after conditioning, carbonating and cooling down. More to come on that.
I may also try for the root beer on Sunday as well, using the honey and dissolving the yeast in warm water first.
The color was concerning, but even if it didn't come out tasting anything like the brew it was inspired by, it would probably be good in it's own right.
Earlier tonight, I got the specific gravity meter out and gave it a test.
Color still dark, aroma not bad. I marked the reading as 1.009, and poured the contents into a drinking glass. Better get this over with.
OK It's a little hoppier than Bass at first taste, but definately mellow after that. Missing the caramel flavor in between. I believe by overcooking the sugar it not only turned the beer darker than it was meant to be (through carmelization) but it also dulled the sweetness a little. It's still got the sweetness you don't find in a brown, though. Not that bad, but not as good as the first batch.
I will bottle it on Sunday (tomorrow is Valentines Day; the wife likes beer, but not that much). We'll see what it tastes like after conditioning, carbonating and cooling down. More to come on that.
I may also try for the root beer on Sunday as well, using the honey and dissolving the yeast in warm water first.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
I'm Back!
Alright already, I'm back.
So much has happened, but life has taken precedence until now. The latest happenings: Dr. Cherry, ESB (if the pictures didn't let the cat out of the bag), brewed some cola, and started a second batch of beer.
At least one person was waiting with baited breath to find out what happened with Dr. Cherry. My final analysis was 1) Not properly activating yeast before adding to the soda mix and 2) It was January. I tested the activation theory by using the same yeast in a batch of cola, but activating it in warm water for 5 minutes first. I also placed the case of bottled soda under a heater vent for good measure. It was ready in 3 days, but more on that later.
The Dr. Cherry suffered from the long carbonation period, and came out tasting like cough syrup. Live and learn; no need to dwell on that.
Now for the ESB. The tasting I did before bottling was spot on, but with carbonation. I found it sharp and flavorful on the front, and nice and smooth going down. If anything it needed a little more on the back nine, so the next time I brew it I will use more malt.
I decided to have a Superbowl party to release it to the public (although I gave my wife, the pastry chef, an advance tasting and made sure she didn't turn green first). It seemed to go over well.
Once I decided to have the Superbowl party, I figured I needed to have some soda there for the drivers, kids, and those not daring enough to try something that sat in my closet for a month. So I used a pre-packaged soda from Homebrew. The 2 oz bottle boasted a 4 gallon yield, and I opted for a half batch. In addition to activating the yeast at precisely 89 degrees for 5 minutes, I decided to vary my sugars.
The recipe called for 4 cups of sugar, so I used half sugar and half honey. For the honey I went with good ol' Sue Bee as a baseline. A pre-bottling taste left me wishing I had not included so much honey, but after carbonating and cooling down for a couple days it almost tasted exactly like Pepsi. For the next batch I will use 2 1/2 cups of sugar and 1 1/2 cups honey to see how it works out.
The nice thing about the honey is that it lingers longer than the sugar, which is dominant at first taste. The sugar blends nicely into the honey. I am interested in trying other sugars, but will aim to nail this down first. Overall, I was very pleased with the soda. I will continute to tune this one.
Another thing that occurred to me in pondering Superbowl Sunday was that most (if not all) of my first brew would be cashed out by my guests, and that I would need more beer. The challenge with home brew is that a beer run is a 28-day process.
So I went back out to More Beer (http://www.morebeer.com/) and started poking around. I had a Newcastle clone in hand and got talking to the guy about keggerators. My ideal keggerator has two spigots; one for a bass clone and one for a guiness clone. I am limited with present gear to carbonated beers (not nitrogenated ones like Guiness), and ales at that, since I don't have the temperature control for lagers, and.... wait.... Bass is an ale, right?
So they don't have an off the shelf Bass clone, but they had enough staff to where they guy could help me throw one together. So he pulls a recipe off the web, and we go in the back room. For the first time, I feel like a real brewer; I have entered the hallowed "back room".
I see bins filled with different types of grains. He takes 3 different types and weighs them out. Then they go in the miller, where the grains are cracked. We pick up some malt, some sugars. Now I am brewing Bass.
My first mistake was to do it the morning before Superbowl. I figured I'd have my brother over to help with the brew. I learned about all the different prop bets one could make. Somehow, he walked into a casino in Vegas after the first week of the season and took the Arizona Cardinals as a 50-1 to win the Superbowl. He also had James Harrison as 35-1 to win the MVP (who was the lineman who intercepted a pass in the end zone and rambled all the way for a touchdown just before half).
So needless to say I got a little distracted. The core problem was that I was sure I had kept the instructions from the first batch, but I never double checked. And I didn't have them. And since this was a custom batch there were no instructions. But I remembered the process with enough detail I felt I would be fine.
Start with cold water, steep the grain in a grain bag as the water gets to 170 degrees in 30 minutes, take the grain out, bring to a boil, turn off heat, add malt extract, bring to boil, add bittering hops, then add other hopping steps per the specific beer requirements. After an hour boil, put the pot in an ice water bath to cool it down, and keep the lid on to keep away vermin, then pour through funnel into fermenter, take temp, add yeast at the proper temp (<90 degrees), shake vigorously, and put in closet.
I would have been fine, but the Bass came with Dried Malt Extract (DME) and corn sugars (no, not including the priming sugar), and I wasn't prepared to deal with that, since it wasn't part of the ESB.
Issue #1: Bass is not as dark as soda. I've tried it, and it has a caramel color. My version is not. I suspect I put the sugar in too early (I decided to put it in with the malt extract) and/or it took too long to get back to a boil. One "upgrade" I tried was starting the boil with 3 gallons of water instead of 2 1/2; it took longer to get to a boil, so I may have had the stuff on the stove too long.
Issue #2: Why is there condensation in my carboy? The temp seemed OK, and it is definately fermenting so the yeasties are happy. Maybe something in the vigorous shake I gave it vs. last time, or maybe something with the sugar. Or, gulp, contamination? Not sure what to make of it.
Issue #3: I squeezed the grain bag on the way out. My mum was english, and you put the tea bag on a spoon, and tied the string around it to squeeze out a bit more flavor. But given that I repeated a mistake of not using high enough heat for the steeping, I may have squeezed bitter tannans into my brew.
Issue #4: I failed to sterilize a tasting spoon or utensil for gathering the specific gravity sample ahead of time, so I couldn't take the reading or a taste test. I won't know for a few more days until I take a baseline gravity sample to make sure it's safe to bottle. I can only wonder until then.
Thanks to all who tasted and enjoyed the first attempt at brewing. All the bottles have been enjoyed or spoken for, so I will have to wait 3 more weeks.
My upcoming projects:
As I am regaining a good supply of bottles, I think I will have another run at root beer. As noted earlier, I will include honey. recipe and outcome will be posted.
I have to have IPA brewed in April for a specific visitor from Alaska, who has made it clear he will drink nothing but (I will slip him an ESB and see if he notices). I think that leaves me one more batch between. I think I will revisit the Newcastle. It had quite a lot of malt, so it should be a nice change of pace. For the IPA, I am toying with the thought of some apricot flavoring- just a hint to enhance the bitterness of the hops. Maybe a drop or two of malt to feed the yeast.
More to follow! Until next time, cheers!
So much has happened, but life has taken precedence until now. The latest happenings: Dr. Cherry, ESB (if the pictures didn't let the cat out of the bag), brewed some cola, and started a second batch of beer.
At least one person was waiting with baited breath to find out what happened with Dr. Cherry. My final analysis was 1) Not properly activating yeast before adding to the soda mix and 2) It was January. I tested the activation theory by using the same yeast in a batch of cola, but activating it in warm water for 5 minutes first. I also placed the case of bottled soda under a heater vent for good measure. It was ready in 3 days, but more on that later.
The Dr. Cherry suffered from the long carbonation period, and came out tasting like cough syrup. Live and learn; no need to dwell on that.
Now for the ESB. The tasting I did before bottling was spot on, but with carbonation. I found it sharp and flavorful on the front, and nice and smooth going down. If anything it needed a little more on the back nine, so the next time I brew it I will use more malt.
I decided to have a Superbowl party to release it to the public (although I gave my wife, the pastry chef, an advance tasting and made sure she didn't turn green first). It seemed to go over well.
Once I decided to have the Superbowl party, I figured I needed to have some soda there for the drivers, kids, and those not daring enough to try something that sat in my closet for a month. So I used a pre-packaged soda from Homebrew. The 2 oz bottle boasted a 4 gallon yield, and I opted for a half batch. In addition to activating the yeast at precisely 89 degrees for 5 minutes, I decided to vary my sugars.
The recipe called for 4 cups of sugar, so I used half sugar and half honey. For the honey I went with good ol' Sue Bee as a baseline. A pre-bottling taste left me wishing I had not included so much honey, but after carbonating and cooling down for a couple days it almost tasted exactly like Pepsi. For the next batch I will use 2 1/2 cups of sugar and 1 1/2 cups honey to see how it works out.
The nice thing about the honey is that it lingers longer than the sugar, which is dominant at first taste. The sugar blends nicely into the honey. I am interested in trying other sugars, but will aim to nail this down first. Overall, I was very pleased with the soda. I will continute to tune this one.
Another thing that occurred to me in pondering Superbowl Sunday was that most (if not all) of my first brew would be cashed out by my guests, and that I would need more beer. The challenge with home brew is that a beer run is a 28-day process.
So I went back out to More Beer (http://www.morebeer.com/) and started poking around. I had a Newcastle clone in hand and got talking to the guy about keggerators. My ideal keggerator has two spigots; one for a bass clone and one for a guiness clone. I am limited with present gear to carbonated beers (not nitrogenated ones like Guiness), and ales at that, since I don't have the temperature control for lagers, and.... wait.... Bass is an ale, right?
So they don't have an off the shelf Bass clone, but they had enough staff to where they guy could help me throw one together. So he pulls a recipe off the web, and we go in the back room. For the first time, I feel like a real brewer; I have entered the hallowed "back room".
I see bins filled with different types of grains. He takes 3 different types and weighs them out. Then they go in the miller, where the grains are cracked. We pick up some malt, some sugars. Now I am brewing Bass.
My first mistake was to do it the morning before Superbowl. I figured I'd have my brother over to help with the brew. I learned about all the different prop bets one could make. Somehow, he walked into a casino in Vegas after the first week of the season and took the Arizona Cardinals as a 50-1 to win the Superbowl. He also had James Harrison as 35-1 to win the MVP (who was the lineman who intercepted a pass in the end zone and rambled all the way for a touchdown just before half).
So needless to say I got a little distracted. The core problem was that I was sure I had kept the instructions from the first batch, but I never double checked. And I didn't have them. And since this was a custom batch there were no instructions. But I remembered the process with enough detail I felt I would be fine.
Start with cold water, steep the grain in a grain bag as the water gets to 170 degrees in 30 minutes, take the grain out, bring to a boil, turn off heat, add malt extract, bring to boil, add bittering hops, then add other hopping steps per the specific beer requirements. After an hour boil, put the pot in an ice water bath to cool it down, and keep the lid on to keep away vermin, then pour through funnel into fermenter, take temp, add yeast at the proper temp (<90 degrees), shake vigorously, and put in closet.
I would have been fine, but the Bass came with Dried Malt Extract (DME) and corn sugars (no, not including the priming sugar), and I wasn't prepared to deal with that, since it wasn't part of the ESB.
Issue #1: Bass is not as dark as soda. I've tried it, and it has a caramel color. My version is not. I suspect I put the sugar in too early (I decided to put it in with the malt extract) and/or it took too long to get back to a boil. One "upgrade" I tried was starting the boil with 3 gallons of water instead of 2 1/2; it took longer to get to a boil, so I may have had the stuff on the stove too long.
Issue #2: Why is there condensation in my carboy? The temp seemed OK, and it is definately fermenting so the yeasties are happy. Maybe something in the vigorous shake I gave it vs. last time, or maybe something with the sugar. Or, gulp, contamination? Not sure what to make of it.
Issue #3: I squeezed the grain bag on the way out. My mum was english, and you put the tea bag on a spoon, and tied the string around it to squeeze out a bit more flavor. But given that I repeated a mistake of not using high enough heat for the steeping, I may have squeezed bitter tannans into my brew.
Issue #4: I failed to sterilize a tasting spoon or utensil for gathering the specific gravity sample ahead of time, so I couldn't take the reading or a taste test. I won't know for a few more days until I take a baseline gravity sample to make sure it's safe to bottle. I can only wonder until then.
Thanks to all who tasted and enjoyed the first attempt at brewing. All the bottles have been enjoyed or spoken for, so I will have to wait 3 more weeks.
My upcoming projects:
As I am regaining a good supply of bottles, I think I will have another run at root beer. As noted earlier, I will include honey. recipe and outcome will be posted.
I have to have IPA brewed in April for a specific visitor from Alaska, who has made it clear he will drink nothing but (I will slip him an ESB and see if he notices). I think that leaves me one more batch between. I think I will revisit the Newcastle. It had quite a lot of malt, so it should be a nice change of pace. For the IPA, I am toying with the thought of some apricot flavoring- just a hint to enhance the bitterness of the hops. Maybe a drop or two of malt to feed the yeast.
More to follow! Until next time, cheers!
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