I think I finished my first all-grain...

All right, after putting together my marvellous brewing machine from a fermentation bucket, a kettle element and some silicone, I set out on my quest to make a Dirty Monk Golden Strong Ale. I learned many things during all of this.

The mashing went... so-so. I don't have a thermostat yet, so I had to manually check the temperature. While stirring and keeping track of everything. I had also broken my hydrometer, so I couldn't actually check the gravity. Plus, the nylon bag I used for the grains wasn't properly protected against the element, weakened by the heat, and broke. I've got to build some kind of cage for the element.

Still, I THINK I managed to successfully extract sugars. It's fermenting on nicely, anyway. After that came the boil.

"****, I haven't checked if I need to rig the element to not stop."
After paining through the odyssey of getting 2200 watts to boil 6 gallons, I found out that I really did need to rig the element. I attempted to hotfix it, but I only damaged the integrity of the seal in the process. I'll have to fix it later, and I also need to put another element in, wired to another fuse.

Oh well! I transferred it all to my largest pot (not terribly large - 3 gallons) in intervals, and did the boil on the stove. First with the hops for 90 minutes, then just a boil through the hot break for the rest.

Then I chilled it with my counterflow chiller, abused my siphon when transferring the hot wort (it's a little bent now) and into the fermentation bucket, pitched 3 packs of yeast, diluted to the proper volume... and it's been fermenting vigorously for 3 days now.

Yep.

Tubba said:

I don't have a thermostat yet, so I had to manually check the temperature.

Click to expand...

How do you manually check the temp without a thermometer?



Sounds like you had quite an adventure but it'll be beer of some sort or another

Ahahaha, this cracked me up. I hope you the best, and if your beer turns out tasty, it's proof that you don't have to be a perfectionist to make good beer.

Now, replicating the beer if it turns out awesome... You might be SOL.

Sounds like a bad brew day. You just need to practice more.

Tubba said:

Still, I THINK I managed to successfully extract sugars. It's fermenting on nicely, anyway.

Click to expand...

It sounds like you did manage to extract sugars - without them, the yeast would have nothing to do.

You sound pretty upbeat, considering all that went wrong. Treat it as a learning experience and plan for your next brew. I like that attitude.

griffondg said:

How do you manually check the temp without a thermometer?



Sounds like you had quite an adventure but it'll be beer of some sort or another

Click to expand...

Oh - I used an oven thermometer. I've been looking at one of those universal thermostats, which is a power switch connected to a thermometer. That way, you can focus on stirring, etc.

KISS Brew said:

It sounds like you did manage to extract sugars - without them, the yeast would have nothing to do.

Click to expand...

The recipe includes 2lbs of caster sugar, so they'd have that if nothing else. Still, given how it's been fermenting, it should've burned all that up by now.

You sound pretty upbeat, considering all that went wrong. Treat it as a learning experience and plan for your next brew. I like that attitude.

Click to expand...

Oh, that's the only way to deal with things that go wrong.

Okay, the most vigorous fermentation has stopped, so I had a sample.

A buttery taste, that will probably settle after conditioning. Light, sweet, with a prominent alcohol taste. I had to substitute a few hops (randomly, frankly, I picked once I had that smelled nice), but it has a sweet taste reminding me of spring. Smells very Belgian. Colour is what it should be, a bright golden.

I think this will turn out well. It has a sharp alcohol taste, indicating I didn't fail in my mashing.

But the twist comes! I'm going to infuse it with plums from my garden, once they are ready, which they should be in a week or two. Yum!

Buttery is usually diacetyl which gets worse over time.

Not if it's the result of normal fermentation. According to Palmer, letting it sit on the yeast and occasionally rousing the yeast for a while will get rid of most of it, as the yeast consumes the diacetyl.

True, but his is already bottled. It usually sticks around I thought.

As far as I can understand it tends to stick around if you've underpitched (which I definitely haven't) or if it's the result of a bacterial infection.

Some of it will be there, of course - it's a characteristic of the yeast. I think some of the buttery taste is also simply the taste of the yeast cells.

I can't tell if you've already bottled. If you haven't, raise the temperature up to 70+. This will help the yeast clean up the diacetyl a bit.

I haven't bottled, it's going to go into a secondary once the plums are ready.

All right, I'll bring it upstairs, the A/C malfunctions here and there are lots of computers.

The rousing seems to have done something for the fermentation, anyway. It's bubbling now, and I think it's been bubbling too long for it to be just CO2 that was dissolved in the wort.

Hmm, had a look at the plum trees. Doesn't look like they will give as much this year (as is often the case). I'll pick the first tree (it matures faster), crush and freeze them, pick the second, and see how much I get. If it's not enough I'll get some at the supermarket.

Okay, the wort having warmed up, it's bubbling a bit more calmly now than initially, 1-2 plops per minute. I couldn't keep good track of it downstairs, so it might not be a big change. It's been going for 6 days now, so I'm expecting primary to be truly finished in a few days (though given the gravity it can take up to 2 weeks), which will fit my schedule nicely.

As you go through a few brews you will find things that will increase your productivity. When I first began brewing all grain almost 2 years ago I ran into so many problems that some brews took me 6-7 hours start to finish. For the most part they all turned out to be good, some even great, but you will find your groove as you brew more and find different techniques that work for you.

Yeah, this was much of a test run. I'm not sure why I did something with 15lbs of grain for a test run, but there you go.

I think I'm going to make an ESB next. A nice 5% thing.

Had a second sample today. Diacetyl is no longer noticeable. Fermentation seems to have stopped, with only the bubbling that seems to be from remnant CO2. I've been rousing it a bit to get rid of that.

My hydrometer is broke, as I said, but I tried to make some measurements using my quite accurate and precise spice scales... unfortunately they told me it was a good deal lighter than water. I gave up that line of inquiry - I'd need a sample that's too large for my good scales to handle for any useful results.

But it tastes great. A dominant pilsener taste, and a nice hoppy nose. It tastes like a strong, and really "soft" pilsener, somehow combining the crispness of a Czech lager and the fullness of a trappist Ale.

Hmm, my garden plum trees don't look too happy.

Luckily, the local supermarket had a sale on good tasting plums. I've now moved to the secondary, with plums added. I'll give it about a month, I reckon.

Don't know if you did this, but if you freeze your fruit and then add it to your secondary vessel, you will maximize the amounts of flavor you will have in your final product. I'd say about a month or two will do that very nicely.

Yeah, froze the plums before adding.

OK, after about a month in the secondary (15/8 - 13/9, I think) I bottled it. Now, 10 days later, I've had my first bottle.

Notes:


Head retention is excellent, colour is a deep orange with a blue-red tint.

The pilsner malt is dominant in the nose, and also present on the palate. A strong ethanol bite is present, indicating that it's probably at least 8-9%. The plums have left a tart, slightly astringent flavour, which makes this a very unique experience.

The yeast flavour is still dominant, however. I'm going to give this one or two weeks more conditioning, and maybe 2 weeks in the fridge (to let the yeast settle properly) for my next bottle.

As it heats up from fridge temperature, the plum aroma becomes more notable and pleasant.