Weekend Beer Tasks

Didn't brew this past weekend, but took the time to move some beer around.

Saturday
If you remember from my Irish Red brew day pics, I mentioned that it was my first time using my new MLT with a false bottom and had troubles with very fine pieces of grain matter getting through into the kettle. When I opened up the fermenting bucket, there was a bunch of grain bits sitting on top:


Close up:


Racking away:


And I might have pulled a sample of my Apfelwein to take a reading and taste. I meant to take a picture with the hydro in the beaker, but I took too big of a sip after the reading and it wouldn't float anymore :cross: Anyhow, it read .998!


Curt

Sunday
On Sunday, I decided to bottle my one gallon experiment batches. These were a bitter and a blueberry ale that have been sitting in secondary for two weeks.




After I racked the bitter, I couldn't believe how fast it cleared up, it is definitely my clearest beer to date.

Prepping some 12oz Fischer ceramic tops that I confiscated from my Dad's basement , peeled off and replaced the old crusty washers, now they're like new!


After bottling the bitter:


I used munton's carb tabs on these batches, my first time using them. In this beer, I put 4 tabs each.


Moving on to the Blueberry Ale, Holy smokes it's purple! Reminds me of Wild Blue Blueberry Lager, for anyone who's had that, I just hope it tastes a heckuva lot better.


All bottled up, I only put 3 tabs per bottle for this batch:


The aftermath:




Hope you enjoyed!

Curt

Right on.. Good pics! How many lbs. of blueberries did you put into that one gallon batch? I was actually looking to do a Wild Blue clone for the SWMBO (not my type of beer) and needed some guidance on how much fresh fruit to use.

rsmith179 said:

Right on.. Good pics! How many lbs. of blueberries did you put into that one gallon batch? I was actually looking to do a Wild Blue clone for the SWMBO (not my type of beer) and needed some guidance on how much fresh fruit to use.

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I used 1lb in this batch. The sample tasted quite tart which I like better than the sweetness of Wild Blue. I'm hoping as it conditions in the bottle the tartness will mellow a bit and it'll be a tasty brew.

Curt

That blueberry ale looks fantastic! What method did you use to sanitize the blueberries before racking onto them?

SeamusMac said:

That blueberry ale looks fantastic! What method did you use to sanitize the blueberries before racking onto them?

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It was a bag of frozen blueberries. All I did was thaw/heated them up in a pot but did not let them get to a boil.

Curt

Great pics! Got a recipe for that blueberry ale?

onelegout said:

Great pics! Got a recipe for that blueberry ale?

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Sure, just some knuckleheaded thing I put together messing around:

Starting water: 4.75 quarts
.5oz Cascade (7.5% AA) (added at 60 min)
1.5lb Light DME (all added at 20 min left in boil)
Cool to pitching temps after 60 min boil.

(1/2 pack) Safale S-04, rehydrated with a small amount of water.

Mine sat for 8 days in primary.

Racking:

Thawed 1lb bag of frozen blueberries on stove with very small amount of water, not boiling.
Add blueberries and associated thaw juices to secondary, rack on top of the berries.


OG: 1.070
Racking Gravity: 1.020
Bottled Gravity: 1.014


In a couple more weeks I'll report back on how it tastes too.

Curt

Any updates on the blueberry ale? I'm thinking about doing a batch of it (or something really close)

conpewter said:

Any updates on the blueberry ale? I'm thinking about doing a batch of it (or something really close)

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Sorry for the delayed response Con, I've been out of town. Ok, update on the blueberry, I bottled the beer on 5-31-09 and opened the first bottle on father's day, 6-21-09. It wasn't very good. It was very tart and kind of winey? Not my favorite, so I haven't touched it since. I just put another bottle in the fridge and I'll drink it tonight. I'll report back tonight or tomorrow morning whether or not another 3 weeks has helped.

Curt

maybe just a tad more hops would balance it out better?

Just finished up a bottle of the blueberry ale. I still don't think it's very good, it's drinkable, but I wouldn't brew it again.

It is more mellow than 3 weeks ago, but it's still quite tart, so maybe couple more weeks will help out.

The beer is deep purple with a very light purple head that dissolves quickly, here's a photo:



Curt

I love the look of it! Just need to make it taste good Maybe I can take a pale ale recipe and throw in just a few blueberries to give it a nice color and just a touch of flavor.