b[rew]log #8: Adventures in Brewing

So.. that alcohol taste in beer #2 got even stronger. To the point where it is undrinkable. It tastes more like rubbing alcohol than beer. Unfortunately, it will have to see its way to the drain. It's my first casualty of brewing.

The good news is that batch #3 is already well on its way. When I was buying supplies, I bought the wrong kind of malt. I didn't let it stop me though, and I went ahead and brewed anyway. So, I'm not really sure what style this new beer technically is, but I've got more hope for it. I sampled it as I transferred it into secondary this afternoon, and it tasted good. The strangest thing is that it was supposed to be a golden ale, before I fucked up the recipe, and now it is a deep reddish color, so we'll see how it ends up. I'm intrigued by it. I also decided to dry hop with a half ounce of Saaz hops that I had on hand. More on that later.

b[rew]log #7 – Note

Lemon Weiss was transferred to secondary on Monday, and some additional lemon zest was added. However, there was a bit of an alcohol taste when I tried it. We'll see how this one pans out.

b[rew]log #6 – Finished!

W Breweries is proud to present

Genesis Ale
Honey Amber Ale

3.2% ABV

b[rew]log #5: The Sweet Taste of Victory

A few days ahead of schedule, I decided to sample my first brew. Here's the good news: it's beer!

As I poured, I noticed it has a notable honey aroma (when I drink the last Hopslam I have, I'll compare the strength of the aroma). It tastes like beer, except the bad news is, it is too sweet. I had a Bell's Amber prior to this just so I was familiar with the amber taste, and it's definitely there in my beer, just with a strong hand of honey as well. The honey must not have fermented out entirely, so it's got a notable honey taste. So it's sweet, with a fairly low ABV (3.2%), which makes it easy to drink, which is a good thing I guess.

Kudos to beer! Now I can finally RDWHAHB.

b[rew]log #4 – The Second Batch Begins

Since the first batch is bottled and carbonating, I figured it would be a good time to move on to my next batch. This was another recipe kit from Midwest, this time for Lemon Coriander Weiss. I got myself a new brew kettle last week so I could do a four gallon boil, as opposed to two and a half in my dad's chili pot like I did for the first batch.

In our kitchen, we have a flat top electric stove. It has a sensor in it to prevent each individual burner from getting too hot. So, that means with four gallons I ultimately have some issues reaching a boil with four gallons. I went to the internet for some help with this, and found I could have the kettle straddling two burners, so it is still being constantly heated. It worked but it took forever. I started the brew at 3PM and didn't take it off the stove until 10:30PM because it took so long to reach the boiling point. It could not break 208 degrees without the lid on, which was slightly hazardous since I couldn't see the water, and had a small boilover at one point.

I got it done eventually, and I'm pretty excited to see how things turn out. I broke from the recipe a bit and threw in a little lemon and orange zest as well during finishing, then it says in a week I'm supposed to rack to secondary and add some lemon and orange zest in the carboy. I won't add it as early because I don't want the flavors to be too strong, but we'll see what happens.

b[rew]log #3: It’s bottlin’ time!

This past Wednesday, while I was without my computer, I took the opportunity to bottle my beer, as it had now spent 10 days in the carboy during secondary fermentation. I'm kinda cutting things close on the fermenting times for this first beer, but I'm really anxious to see how it turns out. I took another taste test this time, and it still tasted like flat beer, so I'm assuming that's a good sign. I'm going to give it a full two weeks and some change for carbonating. I also did a 22oz. bottle that I'm going to set aside and age for a little while longer, just to see what happens. I ended up with 45 twelve ounce bottles, and I'll put out word in the near future for a tasting.

Case #2! Enjoy the irony of the fact that it's stored in a Bud Light case.

The kitchen after I bottled.

b[rew]log #2: To the carboy.

So Brew #1 was sitting pretty in the primary, and had been for about a week. I wanted to prepare for my next batch, which I will detail more later on, so I decided to pick up a carboy from Cap-N-Cork and transfer the first batch into secondary. Also, I figured it couldn't hurt to get it away from the yeast after the very tumultuous origins it had. It had settled at it's final gravity of 1.011 for a couple days, so I sanitized everything and siphoned it into the carboy. For some reason, the siphon stopped pulling from the pail with a little left, so I figured it had done its job and tossed the airlock and stop into the carboy and threw it into the closet in the spare bedroom.

From that little bit that remained in the bottom of the bucket, I dropped in a plastic cup to take a taste. Good news was that it tasted like beer! Flat, warm beer. Hopefully after secondary for a week or two, and then bottling it will taste like real beer. Now, next step is to clean off my backstock of bottles. Can't do that without properly cataloging them though.

b[rew]log #1: Crisis in Yeastonia

So, I started my very first homebrew last Wednesday. My inaugural ale is an Autumn Amber Ale that came with the kit I purchased through Groupon. I cracked open a Short's Sustenance and got to steeping some grains in my the chili pot I borrowed from my dad. Added some hops and some honey (mid-boil for flavor and again at the end for aroma), and I was ready to move on to the next step. I chilled the wort by using ice in my top-off water. So far, so good.

I went to take a hydrometer reading, but got my finger into the wort, and then kinda freaked out cause I knew that the beer shouldn't come in contact with contaminants. I forgot to actually take the reading. Oops. After the internet assured me that I was OK, I pitched the yeast

After this, I fit the lid with the airlock and put it all in place. I took it into the man cave (read: basement) and propped it up on some cardboard so it wasn't sitting on the floor. Temperature read 54 degrees at this point, due to the ice. The next day it was up to 60. The day after that, it was still around 60. So, I took it out of the basement, and brought it into the half-bath, since it has an open space next to the sink just about the same size as the pail. The temperature slowly raised over a couple days, getting up to 68 degrees a couple days ago. However, no bubbling or signs of fermenting.

In a move of desperation, I visited Cap-N-Cork Homebrewing Supply to see if I could get assistance.  According to the wise old monk who I spoke with, there was a chance I used water that was too hot when pitching my yeast, or the wort had not cooled before I pitched it. Simple solution: Pitch again. I went to take a hydrometer reading before pitching again, and was shocked to see a thick head of foam on the top of the wort, and it smelled like beer! So, a full week after the initial pitching of the yeast, I finally got activity. I wanted to take a picture, but I already put the lid back on. Now that the nervous moment has passed, we'll see how this turns out.