Magical Mystery Brew!

Set to begin tomorrow...AHS 'Shot In The Dark' kit...So a bunch of pictures! No need to tell what each is, it is pretty evident and readable in the picture(I made sure of that)...Makes me wonder what kind of beer it will make..Directions leave a LOT for me to decide as far as hop dropping during the boil..So, onwards to the picture overload..and then a couple questions for pointers/advice, etc...

more pictures...

Specialty grains?

If not it's totally a Liberty SMaSH. Love making that. Never tried it partial mash though. Should be great.

So, there you have the complete kit..As seen there are 2oz of Liberty hops, going to have to research and see what properties this style of hops produces..Main query right now is how and when I should add them during the 60 minute boil? What I am thinking is adding 1oz 10-15 into the boil, add 1/2oz at 30 and the remaining 1/2oz at 5..Then will be adding the whirlfloc and yeast fuel at 15 and then the booster and malto-dextrin at flameout..

I am guessing that with a pilsen light DME that it won't be a very dark beer, more of an amber?

Guesses welcome as to what this will produce(besides beer)..LOL

Adventure begins tomorrow! Tune in for the excitement!

FloppyKnockers said:

Specialty grains?

If not it's totally a Liberty SMaSH. Love making that. Never tried it partial mash though. Should be great.

Click to expand...

Nope, no specialty grains..Yeah, does look like a SMaSH partial mash(try saying that 3 times fast!LOL)...

My vote:
1 oz @ 60
1/4 oz @ 15
1/4 oz @ 5
1/2 oz Dry-hop

Pantherjon said:

Nope, no specialty grains..Yeah, does look like a SMaSH partial mash(try saying that 3 times fast!LOL)...

Click to expand...

Can't even read it in my head one time at normal speed

Okay, with only 1 suggestion, I will be going with FloppyKnockers' suggested hop schedule..Dry-Hop will happen when I transfer wort to secondary..

Okay then...Sorry for the delay in posting this, get the beer brewed and in fermentor and then got wrapped up in 'game night' RPG based on Fallout..Anyways everything is set to go..

That is a big ball of grain!..LOL

Getting the water up to the appropriate steeping temperature of 155...

Then the grains go in to steep for 45 minutes...

After 45 minutes of steeping, and occasional 'bobbing' of the bag to get liquid through the grains, the grain bag is lifted into the basket to drain..

And then the wort is brought to its first boil...After which, kettle is removed from the heat and the DME is mixed in thoroughly..

The kettle is then put back on the heat and brought to a 2nd boil..At this time I added 1oz of the Liberty hops and started the timer for 60 minutes...at 15 I added 1/4oz for flavoring along with the whirlfloc and yeast food..The at 5 minutes I added 1/4oz for aroma...At conclusion of boil I added the booster and the malto-dextrin...

And then as soon as boil was complete the kettle is put in sink ice bath to bring the temp down quickly..With the help of a bag of ice temp was brought down to 70F in a little over 20 minutes..Then it got busy and picture taking stopped..Poured cooled wort through the strainer into the fermentor.Water level was topped off to 5.25 gallons..Then to aerate the wort I poured it back and forth between the fermentor bucket and bottling bucket 4 times..Got it nice and 'frothy' with oxygen and then tossed the yeast in. Secured the lid tightly and installed airlock..And I JUST NOW realized I did not take an original gravity reading-DOH! Dang...Oh well, not the first time I go to put the beer to ferment without doing that...Like the name implies it is A Shot In The Dark...LOL..Fermentor is in my nice dark cool closet right now, should start and be bubbling by the time I get up in the morning!

Airlock is still bubbling away! Can't wait to see what I hit with my 'Shot In The Dark'..

Looked in on this when I woke up this morning...Airlock still bubbling away! WOW! Been bubbling since Sunday morning! Sunday it was like 4-6/second, it has slowed, but still about 1 every 4-5 seconds..

Subbed.

I brewed the same kit and I'm very interested to see how yours finishes.

Still biding my time on it..Airlock activity has pretty much stopped..But I know that there is still more work the yeast is doing right now..So, going to give it time and will rack to secondary(yeah, I can hear the groans..LOL) on the 20th or 21st-depends on how late I get home..

I compared your pics to what I remember mine looking like and I think we had the same kit ingredients. Certainly had the same hops, DME, and yeast.

Just wanted to ask you a question about your fermentation. After 3 days of a seemingly normal fermentation cycle, mine has now taken off like a rocket - so much so that I had to put on a blow off tube. Did yours do that?

CJ-3 said:

I compared your pics to what I remember mine looking like and I think we had the same kit ingredients. Certainly had the same hops, DME, and yeast.

Just wanted to ask you a question about your fermentation. After 3 days of a seemingly normal fermentation cycle, mine has now taken off like a rocket - so much so that I had to put on a blow off tube. Did yours do that?

Click to expand...

Not that I recall..I know that from Sunday to Wednesday of the week after I had brewed it that the airlock was constantly going..No foam or anything was coming into the airlock so I let it run its course and by Thursday morning it was a 'bloop' every couple of seconds..Maybe you got some extremely active yeast cells?

Can't wait til Saturday when I rack it to secondary so I can SEE what it looks like and take a gravity reading and steal a taste!

Had a little bit of time as I was fixing my brunch before heading to work and as I was tinkering around at my kegerator I opened the freezer and saw a baggie..Whats this? Well, it was an ounce of Columbus hops that was to be dry hopped....3 days ago! DOH!..Well, fixed that this morning by placing hops in a little hop bag and plunking it in the fermentor.. Will let that ride in there until this coming Tuesday and will take a gravity reading and will probably keg..I know it smelled awesome for the brief moment I had the lid up..

I went ahead and bottled mine today. You are in for a nice taste test when you finish dry hopping.

Did a gravity check on this, and it gave me the opportunity to steal a taste.. And boy did it taste awesome! Nice!..Well, take a look at picture 1, as I see it it is either reading 1.005 or 1.004..With that reading and the taste being so pleasing I went ahead and racked it into my keg! gas line is hooked up and will let it carb up the 'old fashioned' way, slowly..Regulator is set to 12psi and I will just let it sit there in the 35 degree kegerator..Don't have the out line hooked up and it won't go on until next Tuesday at the earliest..Man, can't wait til I pull the first pint off this keg and see how well the carbonation adds to the already awesome flavor!

Well, just a quick update on this...Haven't tapped into it yet..Moved it out to my closet after being on gas for a little over a week to free up the gas line for my Wild Card mystery kit brew..I am thinking about swapping them out again and tapping into it tomorrow night..

Okay, update time...I had the keg in my closet for a little over a week, thinking that it would be good to go..I checked on it to make sure it still had CO2 in it by pulling the pop off valve, and all I got was silence..Uh-oh..Dangit!...Took it back to the fridge. Swapped lines with the Wild Card Ale, hooked up the gas line and gas came pouring out the lid! Oh, geeze...Unhook the gas and fiddled with the lid to get the seal to sit properly..Hooked the line up and opened the valve, no leak...This was a little over a week ago, I wonder what damage it did to my beer...Just pulled a glass tonight..First thoughts- not much head, doesn't seem to be much carbonation either(it has been on steady pressure of 12psi)..If I swirl it around in the glass I get bubbles...Now, the big test is the taste...Not bad..Nothing to rave about..Something I would call a 'session IPA', you can certainly taste the hoppiness in there..I will give it a pass with a grade of a C..Maybe it will get better as I pull more out of the keg as my Irish Stout did..Only time will tell...