ekoman
Member
Recipe was a "brown ale" kit I got from Rocky Top Home Brewing supply in Olympia, WA.
[Would insert recipe here, but it was just one of their standard kits, nothing special.]
Performed standard steps, transferred it into first glass carboy. SG = 1.021
Lots of activity, seemed to be doing well.
Checked on carboy after first week. (SG = 1.011 after 4 days, 1.010 after 7, figured it was done fermenting) Saw that there was a *ton* of green crap floating on the top of the carboy. Tasting these, realized they were the hops (bittering and other) floating on the top. This was because I had forgotten to FILTER the wort when I poured it into the first carboy.
Transferred to second carboy (filtering it this time!). Made second mistake of adding my 3/4c priming sugar to this carboy.
Activity was immediate. Put fermentation cap on it, let it set for 2 weeks.
Checked secondary fermenter after two weeks, SG = 1.008 for two days running. Added 3/4c additional priming sugar, bottled using the bale-style ("Grolsch") bottles. 22oz + 2 x 2l growlers. (5 gallons total bottles, all except one of the growlers were filled properly.
Waited 1.5 weeks, test opened one of the 22oz bottles. Good carbonation, good solid head, clear brown color. Very hoppy for a brown ale, tasted fairly strong, but I haven't taken a ABV reading yet. (suspect it's between 5-8% due to me "triple fermenting" it) The hoppyness is a direct result of my error in not filtering when putting it in the primary carafe, the ABV is probably because of the added sugar. All my SG measurements for this beer are most likely way off because I forgot to filter it (particulates, extra sugars, operator error, among other things, probably threw the SG off a bit.) But since this was my first time, I was mostly concentrating on the process, the second batch I have in my carboys is a bit more exact.
All in all though, tasted AWESOME for a first attempt, and what is likely a "green" beer. I look forward to drinking it during Super Bowl weekend.
Total time: Few hours to make it, 10 days in primary, 17 days in secondary, and at least 21 days in bottle.
Probably going to bottle my "Scottish Brown Ale" SB Sunday (5 weeks in primary, already smells really good.)
[Would insert recipe here, but it was just one of their standard kits, nothing special.]
Performed standard steps, transferred it into first glass carboy. SG = 1.021
Lots of activity, seemed to be doing well.
Checked on carboy after first week. (SG = 1.011 after 4 days, 1.010 after 7, figured it was done fermenting) Saw that there was a *ton* of green crap floating on the top of the carboy. Tasting these, realized they were the hops (bittering and other) floating on the top. This was because I had forgotten to FILTER the wort when I poured it into the first carboy.
Transferred to second carboy (filtering it this time!). Made second mistake of adding my 3/4c priming sugar to this carboy.
Activity was immediate. Put fermentation cap on it, let it set for 2 weeks.
Checked secondary fermenter after two weeks, SG = 1.008 for two days running. Added 3/4c additional priming sugar, bottled using the bale-style ("Grolsch") bottles. 22oz + 2 x 2l growlers. (5 gallons total bottles, all except one of the growlers were filled properly.
Waited 1.5 weeks, test opened one of the 22oz bottles. Good carbonation, good solid head, clear brown color. Very hoppy for a brown ale, tasted fairly strong, but I haven't taken a ABV reading yet. (suspect it's between 5-8% due to me "triple fermenting" it) The hoppyness is a direct result of my error in not filtering when putting it in the primary carafe, the ABV is probably because of the added sugar. All my SG measurements for this beer are most likely way off because I forgot to filter it (particulates, extra sugars, operator error, among other things, probably threw the SG off a bit.) But since this was my first time, I was mostly concentrating on the process, the second batch I have in my carboys is a bit more exact.
All in all though, tasted AWESOME for a first attempt, and what is likely a "green" beer. I look forward to drinking it during Super Bowl weekend.
Total time: Few hours to make it, 10 days in primary, 17 days in secondary, and at least 21 days in bottle.
Probably going to bottle my "Scottish Brown Ale" SB Sunday (5 weeks in primary, already smells really good.)
