Appearance: Dark yellow, orange highlights. Cloudy. White, creamy, pillowy head, but short-lived. Probably needs at least a week of additional conditioning. Some hop flakes in this bottle (it was the last one I bottled, hopefully the others will be cleaner).
Smell: Rich, fruity Amarillo character. Smells sweet. Little malt aroma (likely because all extract, no steeping grains). Perhaps a few notes of agave!
Taste: Moderate perceived bitterness, very juicy and resinous hop flavor. Sweet.
Mouthfeel: Aqueous, as Greg from Craft Beer Radio might say. Light-bodied, but the hop character is sticky.
Drinkability: A little sweeter than I would like, but light bodied and bitter enough to carry it. Medium drinkability.
Overall: I like it, I think it came out pretty darn well. Next time, more agave and maybe a yeast with higher attenuation. I'll also brew more of it.
More notes to come as it conditions more.
Haven't posted in a while because I haven't been brewing a whole lot. Here's what I've done since the last post:
Tried brewing another batch of MSB. I tried sticking with the original recipe, but somehow it ended up a lot darker and more hoppy than the first batch. Really more of a hoppy English brown ale than an ESB. Since that style doesn't actually exist, I'll be accepting licensing fees from anyone else who wants to brew one. Contact me for payment details. Anyways, only one bottle left of it.
Fooled around with an IPA. I didn't write down the exact recipe for some reason, but basically it was 6 pounds of light liquid malt extract, about a cup of light dry malt extract (whatever was left in the bag I had), one pound of Crystal 20 malt steeped in the kettle, Galena for bittering, Cascade in the middle and at flameout, and an ounce of whole-leaf Cascade in the secondary. MW bought a kegerator, which is awesome, and I bought a cornelius keg so we can use it for homebrew. I put most of the batch in there, but bottled 6 bottles. Problem is, the kegerator CO2 leaks from the tank fitting when the gas is on, so I can't use it to force carbonate or dispense the beer. So the IPA is just chilling in its keg for now. The bottled IPA is really, really bitter, and it foamed up like my chocolate porter did. Decent nose though. Might be more mild in the keg, since it's been cold conditioning for so long.
Still haven't gotten a false bottom for my mash/lauter tun, so the all-grain batches are on hold for now. But I couldn't go this long without brewing anything, so I brewed an experimental batch today. I got a 3 gallon carboy recently so that I can mess around with 2.5 gal batches of strange things like this one. I got the idea from two beers, one I have tried, and one I haven't. The first is Gumballhead, from Three Floyds Brewing in Munster, Indiana. Three Floyds isn't distributed around here, but Pizzeria Paradiso in Georgetown got some recently. Didn't get to try their Alpha King (grr), but I did try Gumballhead. It is fantastic, nice refreshing wheat beer with a ton of Amarillo. The second is Breckenridge's Agave Wheat, which I heard described on Craft Beer Radio. Seemed like a cool concept. Agave nectar is like honey in that it is primarily simple sugars, but it has a much different flavor. It is also much less viscous, and pours easily. Doesn't crystallize, either. It costs more than honey though, and it isn't found as widely, but I've seen it at my local Giant supermarket. If you can't find it at your regular supermarket, try a Whole Foods, an organic market, or any other food place run by hippies. You can also find it online, of course.
I love wheat beers, I think wheat flavor is fantastic in beer, and really refreshing. However, the banana and clove flavors in Bavarian hefeweizens aren't very refreshing, as tasty as they are. And I think standard American hefeweizens like Widmer are kind of dull. Wheat beers also have a heavier body than I usually want on the hottest days of summer. This recipe should address all of that. I'm calling it Goma Cabeza North American Wheat, because it has the strong Amarillo presence of Gumballhead, but should have a lighter body from the amber agave nectar (product of Mexico, hence the spanish in the title). Here's the recipe:
Goma Cabeza North American Wheat (2.5 gal)
3.3 pounds (one container) Briess Bavarian Wheat Malt Extract (liquid)
11.5 oz Madhava Amber Agave Nectar
0.5 oz 8% AAU Amarillo pellets (60 min)
0.5 oz 8% AAU Amarillo pellets (5 min)
1 oz 8.4% AAU Amarillo plugs (dry hopping)
Wyeast American Wheat (1010)
Brewed this inside, which heated up the place pretty well on a hot day like today, but I didn't want to get stuck running out of propane (we're kind of low). I added the agave nectar right before I pitched the yeast, just squeezed out the contents of the bottle without obsessing over each drop. Still, wanted to know how much was in there, so I weighed the bottle before and after. I put the primary fermenter in our laundry room, which is much cooler than the rest of the house. I put a wet black tshirt over the bucket, which is a technique I read in a brewing book I got for Christmas. As the water evaporates, it will cool the fermenter, hopefully keeping the fermentation temp lower than I usually ferment at. This should reduce the yeast character and allow the rest of the ingredients to come through.
I'm planning to transfer it to the secondary late on Wednesday if the fermentation is finishing by then, and keeping it in the secondary for at least 10 days with the Amarillo plugs. It will be my first time using plugs for anything, and they should work well for this. I'll prime with light agave nectar and keep it in the bottles for another two weeks, but I'll probably taste it sooner.
When I finally get set up for all-grain, my next two batches will be a coffee porter and an American barley wine. Can't wait.
| Date: | 2007-11-11 09:06 |
| Subject: | Beer Juju |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: |  thirsty |
I use the term "beer juju" because Beer Advocate already uses "Beer Karma." By beer juju, I mean the beer-related positivity or negativity created and distributed through the beer-related acts of beer-involved people. This weekend, I've encountered a bit of both, but definitely more bad beer juju. But I plan to give the story a happy ending.
On Saturday I went to my new local brew store, my LHBS in Falls Church, with my new facilities manager, MW. It is a nice store, well-stocked and right off the main road, and the people there know their stuff. I had already ordered most of the ingredients for my next two batches from Northern Brewer, but I needed hops and yeast. They had everything I needed, which was awesome, because most places are completely out of hops. However, because of the shortage, they have a policy that hops can make up no more than 50% of your total purchase. That's fine with me, most people are buying ingredients for a whole recipe at once anyway, and it would be stupid if people started hording hops--apart from being a dick thing to do, hops eventually go stale. Still, he wasn't very nice about it. Whatever.
I got the exact hops I needed for my MSB and a ton of American hops for the next batch. Also got a Wyeast smack pack of English ale yeast (I'll post the exact one in the next MSB entry) because my LHBS doesn't carry White Labs, and a packet of dry ale yeast for the next batch (gonna make a starter). Also left with a shiny new 5 gallon glass carboy, carboy bung, new airlock (bubbler style for secondary fermentation, not 3-piece), and a new muslin bag that I might actually use for dry hopping. Fun times.
After we went to the brew store, we went to Rick's Wine and Gourmet in Alexandria. Their food and wine selections look great, but I've only ever been for the beer. Good selection. I had been wondering if Rick's was going to carry Sam Adams Utopias. Not that I was, um, *cough* planningtospend$150-200onabottle, but these things are good to know. My question was answered by the very bitter-sounding sign next to their beer guy, who was pouring samples of some local stuff: "Looking for Sam Adams Utopias? We were too." Apparently their distributor promised them a few bottles, but then screwed them over. Sampling beers is fun, but when the beer guy is pissed off (and for good reason), it becomes less so. He gave MW and I his business card, and on the back it has the contact info for Premium Distributors (227-1200) and the food and drink writer with the Washington Post (Greg Kitsack, food@washpost.com). Anyway, I'll probably just end up going to one of the restaurants that's offering it and trying a glass for like $25.
Anyway, enough with the beer negativity. I'm going to brew another batch of the amazing MSB as soon as my ingredients come in, but that's not all. I also ordered ingredients and equipment for a coworker of mine who wants to start homebrewing, and we're each going to bring a bunch into our office for a homebrew happy hour. Awesome. Also, with the carboy, I now have what I need to start making some more serious beers. I can go high hop, high gravity, jet black...I can do just about anything except a lager, and once it snows I'll even be tempted to try that by leaving my fermentor/carboy outside or on our back porch.
I am very excited about my next two beers, and they will have their own entries later. But I will close this entry with this announcement: I am planning for these two batches to be the last batches I make with malt extract. After this, I'm building a lauter tun and going all-grain.
Oh yeah.
| Date: | 2007-06-18 13:28 |
| Subject: | Next beers! |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: | thirsty |
Like I said, after my success with the MSB, I'm pretty sure my next batch is just going to be another batch of that. While it would help me to learn and explore more by trying another style, this beer was so good that I really just want more. However, I'm already starting to think about what beers I want to make after that. Here are some of the things I'm thinking:
Smoked raspberry porter, medium-high gravity
Scottish wee-heavy
Belgian trippel
American pale ale, west coast style
American india pale ale, west coast style
Sour cherry ale with wild yeast, high gravity
Oatmeal stout
California common (steam beer)
Alas, this batch has come and is basically gone (except for JSM's private reserve, but that's all his), and I am only writing about it now, but give me a break: I had to graduate and relocate.
My first crack at an ESB (might have been closer to a special bitter, but whatever), my Model Special Bitter, named for my former roommate and brewed for his birthday/Christmas gift, was widely considered a raging success. After a few weeks of aging, this batch ended up fantastic. I was thrilled that my last Cambridge batch ended up so popular and so tasty, especially because I agonized over so many factors.
My former roommate loves beer, and is one of the people who got me into it in the first place. But we have somewhat different tastes. While I am a bonafide hophead who can suck down IBUs with abandon, he has a much more subtle palate, and dislikes very strong hop flavors and aromas. My previous batches all emphasized malt or yeast, and the key to a good ESB is balance. According to the Beer Judge Certification Program (BCJP), they are supposed to have medium to medium-high levels of bitterness with low to moderate malt sweetness. The hop bitterness and flavor should be noticeable but not dominant. They should be very balanced in all aspects and, above all, very drinkable. It is very clear why I thought this style would suit my roommate, but I was afraid from the beginning that this batch would require a level of finesse and accuracy that I did not possess.
However, it turns out that I had little to fear. Not because I am particularly skilled, but because of the many brewers that have come before me. Like the chocolate porter, I decided for this batch that I would modify an existing recipe. Again, I chose to modify one of the recipes that Modern Brewer has posted on their website, the Fat Cat ESB. I had read that many attempts at ESBs end up poorly balanced in one direction or the other: they end up far too dark, far too malty, or far too hoppy. The latter was my greatest concern, but I also wanted to make sure that I actually produced something in the bitter family, not a pale ale, brown ale, mild, or anything like that. The Fat Cat recipe calls for two cans of light LME, one pound of light DME, one pound of Crystal 60L, 1/2 tsp of Irish Moss, 1.5 oz of Cascade and 1.5 oz of Chinook. I thought that this would make the beer way too dark and way too hoppy. Plus, Chinook and Cascade aren't English hops, and I wanted to make this as British as possible. I had never used Irish Moss before, and I was very pleasantly surprised by how well it worked, but I might have used more than necessary: I ended up using two teaspoons, not half a teaspoon.
Anyway, here's the recipe I used. I thought it was going to end up too light, without enough malt backbone (more like a pale ale than a bitter), but it was certainly in the bitter family, not the pale ale family.
Model Special Bitter
3/4 lb Crystal 60
1/4 lb Crystal 20
3.3 lbs (one can) light LME
3.3 lbs extra-light LME
1 lb + 1.5 cups extra light DME (1.5 cups extra light DME for priming, instead of corn sugar)
1 oz Fuggles for 60 minutes
1/2 oz Fuggles for 20 minutes
1/2 oz Kent Goldings for 20 minutes
2 tsp Irish Moss for 20 minutes
1/2 oz Kent Goldings for 7 minutes
1/2 oz Kent Goldings for 0 minutes
1 vial of White Labs 002 (English Ale Yeast...my yeast starter didnt start growing until the day after I brewed the batch...typical)
This needed about 3 weeks in the bottles before it was perfect. I'm pretty sure that for my next batch, I'm just going to make this same thing again. Brewing is on hold for a while while I look for a job, but I'll let you know how my next batch of MSB comes out.
Well, that's what I'm calling it. I thought it was going to be a caramel porter, but all the chocolate malt gave it way more chocolate flavor than the caramel flavor from the Crystal 60 and Special B. I would give you a summary of how brewing this went...but C. already did so. Check it out:
http://beak3chimps.blogspot.com/2006/12/homebrewing-proving-that-not-all.html
The only differences between the recipe I posted in the previous entry and what we actually used were that we used Crystal 60L instead of 80L, Bramling Cross instead of Chinook hops, and WLP #026: Premium Bitter Ale Yeast instead of the WLP #002 (I think C. has this wrong in her entry). Otherwise, her entry is awesome, and comes with photos! I guess Blogger > LJ in this regard. I'm not paying for a premium LJ account.
This beer came out really well. I know it came out well because people drank it so quickly. I have only two bottles left, and I'm going to use the yeast sediment from them to cultivate yeast for my next batch: an ESB for JSM. But I digress.
I guess I should not have obsessed so much over what hops to use in the porter; the bittersweet chocolate and slight caramel notes were at the front of this beer. It had a slightly burnt quality to the chocolate flavor, but it did not approach the roasty qualities of a stout. I was proud that I actually made a porter and not a stout on this one. The line between the two can be very fine. The guys at Craft Beer Radio (www.craftbeerradio.com) say that porters usually have an astringent quality that stouts lack, while stouts have a roasty quality (from roasted barley and black patent malt) that porters lack. The chocolate porter was slightly astringent and not roasty at all, so it is solidly a porter. Medium body, nice and creamy. Very dark brown, and nearly opaque. Awesome sweet coffee, chocolate, and yeasty aromas. Oddly, it developed a crazy amount of head, and you had to pour it really slowly. The head was really sticky, but left a light lacing. I think I left too much protein in the beer; the foam reminded me a bit of meringue in its stickiness. Still, probably my favorite batch to date.
Next batch: Bill's Brewing Company Batch #6: MSB (Model Special Bitter). I am aiming for a well-balanced ESB without a lot of sharp hop flavor. I am not just trying to clone a Fullers; Fullers ESB is an amazing beer and widely considered the benchmark of the style, but I want to go for something different. I am once again going to alter a Modern Brewer recipe. Their Fat Cat ESB looks great, but a bit simple. Here's how I'm thinking of doing it:
¾ lb. Crystal 60L
¼ lb. Crystal 10-40 L
3.3 lb extra light liquid malt extract (john bull, coopers, or similar)
3.3 lb light liquid malt extract (john bull, coopers, or similar)
1 lb. light dry malt extract (plus extra 1 lb. LDME for yeast cultivation and for 1 cup for bottling...I want to try this instead of corn sugar because ESBs aren't supposed to have a ton of carbonation)
~3 oz. English hops. Exactly what kinds will depend on what Modern Brewer has when I go there, but I'm looking at:
Target, Challenger, (bittering, 1.5 oz for 60 min), Fuggles, Bramling Cross, and Kent Goldings (finishing, 1 oz for 7 min and 0.5 oz for 0 minutes)
1-2 tsp. Irish moss (last 20 min of boil...I want to try using this to clarify and hopefully lighten the beer a bit)
Yeast starter cultivated from BBC #5 (That yeast was awesome, no reason to buy another vial when I can cultivate more from my existing beer, and I want to try using cultured yeast. Failing this, I'll buy another vial of WLP #026 or #002.)
I considered using water salts, but I read that they aren't really necessary if you are extract brewing. I might still use Burton salts (or gypsum, or something) if I feel compelled to ask the guy at the brewstore what he thinks, but I don't know. I'll let you know how this works out.
After consulting with my facilities manager (my friend C.; I'll be brewing at her apartment), I've decided that my fifth batch of beer is going to be a porter. I'm planning to brew it on Dec 2, and if I bottle it by the 8th or 9th, it will be ready right around the time we're all stressing out about exams and stuck in the middle of another freezing cold January. Timing seems right.
I've done some more reading (really just today), and I think I understand at least part of the reason why the Irish Ale did not turn out as I had hoped. The instructions were weird, and they confused me. They combined the mashing technique with the extract and grain technique. Basically, when you use the mashing technique, you use an all-grain recipe with no malt extract. That means you can more finely control how the beer turns out by manipulating the pH, temperature, mashing time, etc. The problem is, you have to finely control the pH, temperature, mashing time, etc. The instructions I had were for a simplified version of this, and I think it was too simple. Or I just messed it up. Or both. Anyway, basically I was in over my head, trying to control a delicate process without the skill or equipment to do so.
The extract and grain technique is what I started with; I did the Irish Stout this way. It is the "intermediate" technique (the beginner technique being an all-extract beer, like the Brown Ale and the Hefeweizen), but it isn't hard. All you have to do is steep grains in the water before adding the extract to the pot. Adds an extra half hour to the process. When you mash grains, you allow the enzymes in the barley to convert the starches into fermentble sugars. When you steep them, this doesn't happen very much; all you do is allow what fermentable sugars (along with elements that add flavor) that are already in/on the grain to dissolve/wash off into the water. Mashing adds another full hour and a half to the process.
I might have to wait until I have a kitchen of my own to mess up before I can try the all-grain technique. The extract and grain technique is much easier, and will allow me to better tweak my beer without having to consult a chemistry textbook or monitor temperatures to the nearest degree.
The good news: it shouldnt be very hard to tweak recipes if I use the extract and grain technique. I found a good-looking porter recipe (here, the Edger Allen) that I've tweaked a bit. I'll probably end up making it, though I might change my mind. This recipe is good though--not too complicated, but with some good subtle characteristics. Here is my version:
Bill's Porter (to be Batch #5)
1/2 lb Crystal 80L
3/4 lb Chocolate Malt
1/4 lb Special B (220L)
7 lb amber malt extract
3/4 ounce Galena hops
3/4 ounce Chinook hops
1/2 ounce Cascade hops
(1/2 ounce Galena and 1/2 ounce Chinook for full hour, 1/4 ounce Galena and 1/4 ounce Chinook for last 30 min, Cascade for last 5 min)
WLP 002 British Ale Yeast
3/4 cup corn sugar for bottling (possibly a little less, actually. EDIT: I might use 1/2 cup of light brown sugar here instead.)
The Special B will add a "roasted nutty-sweet" flavor that sounds fantastic, and taking out some of the chocolate malt will allow it to shine through more. To balance this sweetness, I want to adjust the hops by using a blend of Galena and Chinook instead of just Galena; the Chinook will add a bit more of a hop kick, but the crystal and chocolate malts will really take the center (this isn't going to be a very hoppy beer at all; the hop-averse can relax). I was going to use a different type of yeast that would be less finicky about temperature, but it wouldn't leave the residiual sweetness that I am going for.
After Thanksgiving, I'll be making another fun trip to Modern Brewer. Sweet.
Links:
http://byo.com/referenceguide/hops/
http://byo.com/referenceguide/grains/
http://www.modernbrewer.com/recipes/index.htm
http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/homebrew_strains.html
http://www.howtobrew.com/section2/chapter12-1.html
http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter14-1.html
My fourth batch is ready for tasting. Some of you may have tried it already. I brewed it at home this summer, getting the ingredients from a brewstore in Northampton, MA. It was supposed to be an Irish red ale (think Killians), but it came out completely different. It is a very dark brown ale, malty and a bit roasty. Better by far than the first brown ale I made, but it is understandably too heavy for many (and has a significant alcohol content that is difficult to taste since it has aged). As the weather gets colder and more damp here in Cambridge, it will be nice to sip indoors while staying warm (I intend to enjoy some as I do homework).
The ingredients were packaged together in a kit, but it was the workers at the brewstore that put the kit together. It came out well, but not at all as advertised. I like it, but I don't think I'll be brewing it again. I will list the ingredients when I find the recipe: it included both grains and liquid light malt extract. I used White Labs yeast (WLP004 Irish Ale Yeast to be specific) and was pleased--I think I will be sticking with White Labs from now on. Its liquid yeast is easy to use and provides excellent results, though it costs more than dry yeast.
I will soon be meeting with the Facilities/Equipment managers to determine when I can brew my fifth batch of beer. It may be a variety of bitter, such as an ESB. Ironically, bitters are not as bitter-tasting as the other beers (porters and stouts) in the same family. They are generally mild tasting, somewhat malty, and very drinkable. While the Irish Brown Ale is a beer to sip slowly while relaxing in a comfortable chair, I hope that my next beer will be a more social "session" beer, easy to enjoy. I am not wedded to a bitter though. Suggestions are appreciated as always.
| Date: | 2006-08-01 16:44 |
| Subject: | Summer brewing! |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: | thirsty |
No updates since the batch of hefeweizen, I know. Haven't been able to brew since then, but now that I'm home for most of the rest of the summer, I'm going to try to brew another batch or two before returning to Cambridge. I'm brewing one more batch of hefeweizen, keeping as close to the Batch 3 recipe as possible, since it was so good and so popular (and because I don't have any more of it). Might be able to bring some to Cambridge in September (if any is left).
But I also want to make at least one other batch, and maybe two others. I'm looking for suggestions on what I should make. I was thinking a lager of some sort, but the best ones I can find require a lot of aging, so I'd prefer something that would be completely done in 4-5 weeks. Any thoughts? I might do an amber ale, bitter, or IPA, but I really don't know.
I'm planning to go to the brew store in Northampton on Thursday, so suggestions before then would be appreciated. Hope everyone is doing well, enjoying the summer, and occasionally enjoying a good beer.
Here's where I tried to be brave and make a batch without a kit. Thankfully, the guy at the brew store was awesome and showed me everything I needed. One bottle of White Labs Hefeweizen Ale yeast (WLP300), two containers of bavarian wheat malt extract, two ounces of hops...I listed these ingredients a couple of entries ago, didn't I? Moving on...
The guy at the brew store even wrote the times on the packages of hops. By "times," I mean the points during the one hour boil at which the hops should be added. I had waited a while before brewing the Hefeweizen, so I was a little confused as to whether the time listed meant "add at the fifty minute mark" or "boil these hops for fifty minutes." I was pretty sure it was the former, so I did that.
I also realized that when the wort is initially added to the fermenter, it shouldn't be siphoned in gently. It should be poured in vigorously so that it aerates. After it is fermented, it should not be aerated much anymore, because the yeast might be reactivated too strongly in the bottles. This could make them explode. Bad news. Anyway, I poured in the wort instead of siphoning it, which works well, but can be messy if you are a bit clumsy (like me). Pitching the White Labs yeast was easy as can be.
I bottled the hefeweizen in 22 oz bottles again. Much easier than the 12 oz bottles. I dont think I'll go back to the 12 oz bottles, though if I brew a batch for the photo board of the Crimson, I might do it in 12 oz bottles so that it will go around more. Easier to decant in small bottles too. It is harder to pour one bottle into multiple cups or glasses, and you need a pretty large glass for a 22 oz beer. Still, 22 oz is a pretty good size for a beer, if you ask me.
I let it age for a week after it finished conditioning. I really have no idea how long Hefeweizen is supposed to age. When I tried it, I thought the hops came on a little strong, but in more of an herbal way than a bitter way. Still, the subtle banana flavor and even more subtle clove flavors were there, but you had to be expecting them in order to notice. In general, it made a very smooth, refreshing, tasty beer. Much lighter than the brown ale.
I want to give it a bit more time to see if it improves. I don't know how the hefeweizen yeast changes with time, but it shouldn't hurt. EDIT: The hefeweizen got much better after another week and a half or so. It's great now. Not as herbal, and the banana flavor is clearer but not overwhelming.
There is still plenty of the hefeweizen left, and there is plenty of brown ale too. The brown ale is fully mature, but the hefeweizen is anyone's guess. EDIT: I guess the Hefeweizen is fully mature now. I don't really know, but it tastes great to me. Irish stout is all gone.
I don't know what I want to do for my next batch, but it will be something a good bit lighter. Whatever it is, I might do two batches--one for the Crimson, and one for my friends and me. That is, if I have time this year...might have to wait quite a while.
This is going to be a summary entry, because most of how the brown ale was made was very similar to how the Irish stout was made.
The kit for brown ale was very similar to the kit for Irish stout. Can of liquid malt extract, two pounds of dry malt extract, two ounces of Cascade hop pellets. However, the liquid malt extract was unhopped, unlike the extract that came with the stout kit. Also, there were no grains--it was an all-malt kit. No grains, no steeping bag. So, the process was identical to the process for brewing the stout, except I didn't have to do the first step of steeping the grains.
Brewing all beer at home involves the same process, basically. You make the "malt soup," as I call it, by steeping the grains and/or stirring malt extract into hot water in your brewpot. Then you let it boil for an hour. At various points, depending on the recipe, you add hops. Different types of hops added at different points during the boil have different effects. I think the timing is as follows: Adding hops really early adds bitterness. Adding them towards the middle adds the hop flavor. Adding them toward the end adds hop aroma. At the end of the hour, you have wort. You cool the wort and add it to your fermenter with some extra water (to create a five-gallon batch). Then you add yeast, let it ferment for a while, add priming sugar, bottle it, and let it carbonate and age. Then you have delicious beer. Simple.
The brown ale was much easier to make because I was much more relaxed about it, having done the stout. Quick and easy. Both recipes called for adding the hops early. I believe this contributed to the bitterness of the Irish stout. A lot of people commented about the bitterness, and some didn't like it. I think it is just a characteristic of that particular style. I enjoy it, but I see the argument. It might be somewhat less pronounced with the brown ale because the malt extract was unhopped and there were no roasted grains. The roasted barley also contributed to the bitterness of the stout. I think the brown ale will be similar to the stout, but it won't have as strong of a flavor.
Bottling the brown ale was easier too. We used 22 oz bottles instead of 12 oz bottles, so we only filled 25 bottles (two cases of 22 oz bottles plus one champagne bottle) instead of 45. Also didn't have trouble with the bottle filler this time--it sealed up properly. No spilling, very little mess to clean. Also did the smart thing of filling the bottles outside of their boxes and on a towel. This way, the boxes wouldnt get messed up like last time.
Brown ale was bottled Feb 3rd. Will be ready for consumption Feb 17, and fully matured March 3rd.
So, I went to the brew store yesterday (Modern Brewer, 2304 Mass Ave, Cambridge) to get bottles for Brown Ale. It has been waiting in the fermenter for a while for us to bottle. We'll finally do it tomorrow (details on brewing and bottling it to come). We got 24 bottles this time, 22 oz bottles. Should make bottling a lot easier. And hey, I like a healthy sized beer. Also good sizes for sharing.
Anyway, the guy who was working there at the time was really amazing. I think he was the owner or manager or something like that. Anyway, he knew his shit. I told him what I was working on, and that I was worried about how it would turn out. I said I thought it got messed up, and he said, "What did you do, drop a dead cat in it?" He assured me that it is very hard to mess up, and that he had brewed well over four hundred batches of beer and only had to toss a handful. So, I felt much better.
I also told him that I was thinking of brewing a Hefeweizen (German-style wheat beer). I didn't have a recipe, but I didn't need one. He asked me a few questions about my preferences and got me two containers of malt extract with wheat, two ounces of hops (one ounce Hallertau and one ounce Tettnang), and a bottle of liquid Hefeweizen yeast. I haven't used liquid yeast before, and my book says that it is trickier than dry yeast, but the guy at the brew store told me to just warm the bottle in my pocket while I was working on the wort, shake it up, and pour it into the wort when it's ready (adding yeast is called pitching, I don't know if I've mentioned that). Using this type of yeast is apparently very important to making good, interesting Hefeweizen. Good German Hefeweizens have yeast that produces chemicals called phenols that add a clove flavor. The yeast also produces esthers--these add flavors of banana, bubble gum, and vanilla. That's why Hefeweizen is so lightly hopped and is never filtered, not even commercially. You don't want to eliminate these flavors. American wheat beer uses a different yeast that doesn't create these flavors. I'll of course let you know when I brew the Hefeweizen. It will be sooner rather than later.
Great news that concerns you--I told him that the stout had been in the bottles for two weeks. He said I should try some, that it is fine to drink! The stout is ready! He said that it would improve, so I don't want to drink it all now, but I did taste some. It came out great! Very heavy, rich, and malty. The hops produced a nice bitterness, but the aroma was from the malt. It tastes a bit better when it warms a few degrees too. I'm no good at this flavor profile thing, but trust me. If you like dark beer, you will probably like the Irish stout.
Coming up: details on the brewing and bottling of the brown ale. Coming sometime soon: Hefeweizen.
http://www.germanbeerguide.co.uk/hefeweiz.html
We bottled the stout on Wednesday, Jan 18. We were going to bottle on Sunday, but a gravity reading of 1.020 made me think that fermentation hadn't finished. We also broke the hydrometer on Sunday while washing it, and the new one we got was the wrong kind (calibrated for hard alcohol...I don't know why they sold it at the brew store). So, we decided that a couple more days would do it, and we bottled on Wednesday.
First, we sanitized everything. Bottling requires more equipment and such than brewing, evidently. We sanitized the bottles (48 of them, plus a champagne bottle--took a long time), a little over 50 caps, the capper, the bottle brush, the auto siphon, its tubing, the bottle filling tube, and the bottling bucket and spigot. The bottling bucket is just like the fermentation bucket--says "Ale Pail" and everything, but it has a hole drilled into the side near the bottom for the spigot.
We siphoned the stout from the primary fermenter into the bottling bucket (making sure that the spigot was closed!), using the handy extra table we had. As the beer started to flow in, we added our priming sugar--dextrose. 8 oz (I think, I'll check this later) dissolved in a cup of boiling water. When it cooled, we poured it into the bucket as the stout started flowing.
Again, siphoning is not hard, but one needs to be careful not to draw sediment into the siphon. The siphon has a tip on it to reduce sediment intake, but the stout had accumulated a layer of sediment over an inch thick. Too thick for the tip to do anything. I had to just be careful to hold the siphon above the sediment layer. I still pulled in some sediment. Not the end of the world. This is why you dont drink home brew out of the bottle--you decant it into a glass. Sediment won't kill you, but it leads to bloating and gas. Hot. There is always some sediment left in home brew, from what I have read. But minimizing it is a good thing. Siphoning at this step is also important for minimizing agitation and oxidization. Oxygen hurts the flavor of the beer, and too much will make the yeast overcarbonate the bottles, which might make them go kaboom.
We then filled the bottles. The bottle filler made this easier, in theory. It is a thin, rigid plastic tube that you affix to the rubber tubing--the other end of the tubing goes on the spigot. It has a valve at the end with a stem sticking out of the bottom. When you press the stem into the bottom of the bottle, the valve opens, and beer flows. When you lift, the valve closes, and the flow stops. In theory. We still had a few overflows and had to redo a few bottles. No biggie.
Capping was a two person job because our capper requires two hands to operate. The other person held the bottle steady on the tabletop. A mounted capper would rock, though it would require bolting stuff into non-existent counter space. The best solution is Grolsch-style bottles, with caps that have gaskets and metal levers that hold them on. I'm looking for a supplier that won't require me to buy a gross of them. Anyway, this was kinda tricky, but not too bad. We had enough beer left after spillage and such to fill 45 bottles (we didnt fill the champagne bottle). EDIT: I also tasted some of the beer at this time. Happy to say that it did not taste like it was infected with nasty stuff, but it did not taste very strong either. There was definitely some alcohol present, but I can't really tell how much. The taste should be better defined when it is finished.
The bottles went back in their boxes and require 1 week to condition (carbonate) and 3 weeks to age. They will be ready on FEBRUARY 15. Mark your calendars.
On Sunday, I started my first batch of beer, using a kit of ingredients to make stout (True Brew Irish Stout). Before I started, I went to the local brew store and picked up the last few things I needed, along with some goodies I didn't really need: a five-gallon brewpot, a long strong plastic stirring spoon, another box of 24 bottles, a pound of extra caps, and a labeling kit (blue labels). Here's how I started once I got back:
I put 1.5 gallons of water (I used bottled water, because Cambridge water has a lot of chlorine) into my brewpot and set the flame to high. I also put my can of malt extract into another pot of water and set it to boil, in order to warm the syrup to make it easier to work with. While the pot was heating up, which took a while, I cleaned and sanitized my fermentation bucket and lid, airlock, hydrometer, and stirring spoon. I also added 6 oz of crystal grain and 4 oz of roasted grain to my steeping bag and tied it off. I was told that in a pinch, one can use a sock, but I was glad to have a steeping bag. The roasted grain was very dark and smelled amazing, like roasted coffee. After the pot came to a boil, I turned off the heat and placed the bagged grains into the pot, and I covered it. After 30 minutes, I removed the steeping bag and turned the heat back on, bringing the pot to boil.
I turned the flame off again. Much of the brewing part of the process, the part that creats wort, involves boiling the liquid and turning off the heat to add more ingredients. I slowly added the hopped dark malt extract, the syrupy stuff from the can. Very heavy smell. Normally I would be tempted to taste some, but I didn't. I also stirred in the two ounces of hop pellets and the two pounds of dark dried malt extract at this point, and I stirred until I dissolved everything.
This part was strange, but did not take as long as I thought. I brought the pot back to boil. As the directions said it would, it foamed up. As per the directions, I turned off the heat so that the foaming would go down, then I turned it back on again. I repeated this process until the foaming stopped--it took about 5 minutes, but the directions made me think it would take much longer. Once the foaming stopped, I set it to boil for another half hour.
While it was boiling, I cleaned and sanitized my auto siphon and the tubing that goes with it. I didn't want to wait four hours or so for the liquid to cool enough for the yeast to be okay, so I cooled the pot in a sink of cold water for a little while. I only wanted it to cool enough to transfer. I didn't want to transfer too much sediment into the fermenter, so I used the autosiphon and tubing. Very easy--I set the fermenter on the floor under the sink, and used the autosiphon to start the suction in the tubing.
Then, I poured more bottled water into the fermenter. This made wort, or unfermented beer. This is the part I screwed up badly. One would think that pouring bottles of water into a bucket would not leave much room for mistakes, but I managed to mess this one up. The water bottles I was using (gallon jugs of Hood, in case you were wondering) have screw-on caps that attach to plastic rings set underneath the mouths of the jugs. As I was pouring, two of them managed to fall into the bucket. This really upset me, because the bottles weren't sanitized. I fished out the rings quickly, but they probably infected the batch, and at a really bad time--the wort wouldn't be boiled any longer. Also, I made the much dumber mistake of adding an extra gallon of water. We had six jugs, and instead of only using what I needed, I just used them all. I am not very bright.
Next, I measured the specific gravity of the wort with my sanitized hydrometer. I dropped it into the brew and spun it to dislodge air bubbles. Here I also messed up--I guess I pushed down a bit as I spun the thing, and the top (where my hand was) dipped into the wort. My hands were clean, but I wasnt wearing gloves or anything. This also may have infected the wort. In any case, the specific gravity reading was 1.040. The instructions said it should have been at 1.043-1.045. But wait! The wort was at 75 degrees at the time. As you remember from school, temperature and density are related. The hydrometer is calibrated to be read at 60 degrees. At 75 degrees, it will read about 1.5 degrees too low, according to my book. So I believe the actual beginning specific gravity of my wort was 1.0415 or so. I'll say 1.042. Final gravity is supposed to be 1.010-1.012, according to the directions. So, if you subtract the final gravity from the initial gravity, you get 0.032. Multiplying this by 105 gives you the alcohol content by weight, which I anticipate to be 3.36 percent. To get percent by volume, you multiply by 1.25. I anticipate the final alcohol content by volume to be 4.2%. That's 8.4 proof. To put this in perspective, Guinness Draught, the most famous stout on the planet, is 4.0% alcohol by volume. Guinness Extra Stout is 5.0% alcohol by volume. (Incidentally, Budweiser is also 5.0% alcohol by volume.)
My reading confused me because I thought I messed up big time with the extra gallon of water. Perhaps I did not.
After taking this reading, I sprinkled the packet of brewers yeast over the top of the wort. I gently stirred it into the wort "with one or two strokes of the spoon," as per directions (I used two strokes). Then, I put the airlock onto the lid of my bucket, put some water in the airlock, and put the lid on the bucket. Should be ready for bottling next Sunday.
This morning, I checked the airlock, and it has started bubbling. It is bubbling right now. This means that fermentation has begun, and it will continue for a few more days. The yeast is digesting sugars. The waste products it produces are CO2 and alcohol. The CO2 is bubbling away through the airlock (which is a good thing to have, because if the gas built up in the bucket, the bucket would pop), and the alcohol is hanging out in the beer. I only hope that the yeast is the only thing feeding on my beer's sugars right now. I will be able to let you know in about a month.
Next week: bottling! I'll need lots of help.
EDIT: Check out my yahoo! page for photos of the brewing! http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/juiceino2007/album?.dir=/ba57
Also on the facebook, if you are so inclined:
http://harvard.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2008944
Thanks for checking out my beer blog. If you've read my info page, you know what my plans are: to brew various types of wonderful beers with the kit my wonderful girlfriend got me for Christmas.
I'm at school now. Our schedule is really weird--we have a few weeks off of classes, but we are supposed to be on campus to study for exams and write papers. So things are hectic. But the plan is to start my first batch of beer on Sunday.
In addition to the equipment, I got an ingredient kit designed for making Irish Stout. That will be my first batch. New brewers' first few batches suck from what I've been told, but I hope mine doesn't. I really like stout, and it will be great for this time of the year. Shouldn't be too tough to ferment at the apartment either. We'll be able to keep it in a dry, dark place at room temperature, which should be just fine for fermentation of ale.
I still have to go to the local brewing store for a large brewpot (3+ gallons, or whatever they have/recommend), a few more bottles, and perhaps a long metal stirring spoon. I'll do that in the next couple of days. I want to get some big bottles, like champagne bottles that take caps. That way I can give away a good amount of beer to friends without making them deal with lots of 12 oz bottles. Like giving bottles of wine, you know?
Okay, I'll let you know how things work out on Sunday. Cheers.
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