3/8
Yeast starter day.
1. 1.5 quarts of water and 1 cup light DME boiled for 15 minutes. Covered with a sanitized lid to cool.
2. Starter SG = 1.050, temp 60
3. Yeast pitched.
4. I am using a 3L soda bottle and capping it with aluminum foil.
5. Will do intermittent shaking and this should provide ample yeast for pitching into my wort.

3/11
Brew day
Recipe:
-6 lbs Gold LME
-12 oz Caramel 40, 2 oz Special B, 2 oz...

reim0027

Hey "Brewing Log" can be shortened to blog :P

Well, I start steeping and creating the wort tomorrow. My yeasties are bubbling away in the starter and are apparently happy after being stepped up. I'll edit this blog with my brewing notes.

1/21
The wort is in the fermentor, as of 2:30pm today.

I steeped the specialty grains for 30 minutes.
I brought it to a boil
Took it off the burner and added about 25% of the LME, stirring...

reim0027

I finally got a rule-of-thumb for reduction of my hops. 25% LME to start with, decrease the bittering hops by 25%, then add the remainder of the LME 15 minutes before the boil is over. Make sure to take the pot off the burner when adding the remaining LME. Add the regular amount of floral hops at their regular time.

So many changes. I'll have to refer to my blogs to remember them.

reim0027

Feels good to be brewing again. I did a Mr. Malty calculator today, and to my surprise, I needed to increase my starter volume. I wonder if that was needed in my previous batches? Anyway, I had a slight problem. My flask is too small to make the 1.2L starter. So, I had a few options. First is to use a 2L soda bottle. The other was to do the starter in steps. After recieving advice from the members here, I decided on the latter.

I adjusted my recipe to do 24 ounces for the...

reim0027

Well, I ordered my next batch. Since I don't have any LHBS, I have to order it online. I bought a Liberty Cream Ale Extract recipe kit (White Labs Yeast). I already know most of the changes I will make. The hardest decision is: do I cold crash the carboy or cold condition the bottles?

I'll keep scrounging around the forums for hints. Some people say they have no problems carbonating after cold crashing the carboy. Others have had poor carbonation. I probably won't decide until...

reim0027