A very busy week

[smccarter]

Bottled 2 beers - A red ale and an IPA recipe I'm developing.

Purchased an 8 gallon hot liquor tank and added a Blickman Thermanator to it.

Purchased grain for the following brews:

1. A Belgian Trippel recipe I developed
2. A Blond Ale recipe I developed

Got a promotional offer from Norther Brewer - buy 2 all grain kits, get one free.. So here are the 3 kits I ordered

3. German Alt
4. Belgian Trippel
5. Surley Cynic Pro - English Bitter

I have 20 gallons in secondary. Not sure what I'm going to do with all of this beer. Drink it - eventually - I suppose. Had no intention of brewing this much, but the buy 2 get 1 free offer was too good a deal to pass up.

I'm excited about the new kettle and the kits I have coming. I'll have 55 gallons of beer to drink. I like aged beer I guess, so this is probably a good thing.

 

[fermentinginpa]

Sounds like a pretty fun couple of weeks ahead!

 

[smccarter]

It should be. I'm anxious to brew with the liquor tank. I've always had to use 2 pots for hot liquor and neither had a spigot. This one is 8 gallons, has a thermometer and spogot. Should cut some time from the brew day.

 

[Malty_Dog]

Good problem to have . I give a fair amount of beer away to friends. I always look forward to their feedback. That is a busy week. My busiest times have been "double batch days". Long brew days but very rewarding.

 

[smccarter]

Finished the first brew day last night (Friday) at around midnight. Brewed a Belgian Trippel and a Blond Ale. Used Pilsner Malt in both batches... just want to see what kind of difference it makes. Woke up to a very aggressive fermentation on the Trippel. Went to the LHBS and purchase a blow off head for my carboy. First Time I've had to use one. That beer should be a bit over 9% ABV. 1.082 OG. While at the brew shop, I purchased some 2 row and am brewing the blond ale again using it instead of the pils malt. Can't wait to see what the difference will be.

I've got the other 3 kits coming from NB next week. Hopefully I'll be able to brew of an evening this week... if not, it's going to be a busy weekend next week.

I've always brewed dark or amber beers. Not sure why... I suppose I just wanted to see something in my glass that didn't look like Bud. The Trippel and Blond ales are my first light colored all grain beers. Can't wait to see what they're like.

 

[smccarter]

Blonde Ale 2 row - Blonde Ale (6B)

Batch Size 4.734 gal Boil Size 5.628 gal
Boil Time 60.000 min Efficiency 70%
OG 1.067 FG 1.017
ABV 6.5% Bitterness 30.5 IBU (Tinseth)
Color 4.5 srm (Morey) Calories (per 12 oz.) 222
Fermentables

Total grain: 12.125 lb

Oats, Flaked Grain 1.125 lb 80% 1.0 srm
Briess - Wheat Malt, White Grain 1.000 lb 86% 2.6 srm
Briess - 2 Row Brewers Malt Grain 10.000 lb 80% 2.0 srm

Hops
Hallertau 4.5% 1.250 oz Boil 60.000 min Pellet 18.4
Hallertau 4.5% 0.750 oz Boil 20.000 min Pellet 6.7
Hallertau 4.5% 1.000 oz Boil 10.000 min Pellet 5.3
Hallertau 4.5% 1.500 oz Dry Hop 7.000 day Pellet 0.0

Yeast
Safale S-04 Ale Dry 0.388 oz Primary

Mash
Mash In Infusion 3.000 gal 164.608 F 152.000 F 60.000 min
Final Batch Sparge Infusion 4.264 gal 180.823 F 165.200 F 45.000 min

 

[smccarter]

Finished Blond Ale #2 last night. It's fermenting away along with Blond Ale #1 and the Belgian Trippel.

I need to bottle beer so that I'll have the carboys for the 3 NB kits I have coming. It's Sunday morning, I need to bottle beer and mow the grass. But what I really want to do is play a round of golf... hmmm.... tough choice.

 

[smccarter]

Bottled 10 gallons today. 5 gal English Bitter, 5 gal Red Hook ESB clone. Tasted both. I believe the Red Hook recipe is spot on. I'll post the recipe here once it's carbonated and has a bit of age to it if it is as close as I think it's going to be.

The 2 I bottled were brewed with Safeale dry yeast. I duplicated these two recipes, and fermented with Wyeast liquid yeast. I still need to bottle those 2. I want to know how much/what/if there is a difference. I'll post that here as well.

I have a deep freezer, a temperature controller, and 8 cornie kegs, but I really prefer beer that's been aged and conditioned in a bottle. I'm seriously thinking about the kegs again. Bottling is so much work. I do have a neighbor who loves my beer. I think I'm going to enlist him on bottling day as a tariff for drinking my beer.

Went golfing, but a thunderstorm rolled in so I stopped, came home, and bottled. Didn't mow the grass.

 

[smccarter]

Forgot to mention... I put 1 each of the beers I bottled earlier this week in the freezer and cooled them down for a taste... Both were very good. The Red Ale is a bit green still, even though they both spent about a month in secondary. The IPA is very balanced. It's a recipe I've been developing. I use only 2 Row and Vienna malt. The Vienna really adds so much to it. i get a great malt flavor - not cloying - but a really good flavor. I'm trying different types and amounts of hops to brew with. This time I used Cascade. I can definately taste the Cascade. The flavor is very balanced though. Malty, but not cloying... hopy, but not so bitter that I wouldn't drink one or two and switch to a different beer.

 

[smccarter]

Bottled the last 2 beers this evening. English Bitter and the Red Hook ESB clone. These 2 were brewed with Wyeast British Ale II. I now have 383 beers in the bottle. Bottled in less than a week.

So... to this date, 6 days in, I've bottled 30 gallons, brewed 15 gallons, and have grain coming from NB for 15 more gallons. I'd like to have the last 3 in primary by the end of the week. That'll be 6 brewed and 6 bottled in under 2 weeks. Along with a full time job, golf, lawn mowing... etc...

Should be set for a good long time though.

 

[smccarter]

Thursday evening I dry hopped the 2 Blonde Ales.

Friday evening, I brewed the Surly Cynic clone. I believe the yeast was dead on arrival though. Not fermenting. The Wyeast bag didn't bulge much during the 4 hours after I broke the nutrient bag inside. Oh well, I'll just pitch some Safeale - 05 and see how it goes. I've always just pitched dry yeast right into the wort, but I'm going to rehydrate the yeast today. It should be interesting to watch the yeast come back to life in a mixing bowl.

I'm brewing a German Alt now and will do the Belgian Trippel afterward. It's going to be a double batch brew day today, but that will be the end of my brewing for awhile.

The Belgian Trippel that I brewed last week may have finally stopped fermenting. It was a very agressive fermentation.

I have a small analog thermometer, and an analog thermometer on each of my kettles. I started noticing discrepencies in the temps last week and thought that I had dialed them all in to within a degree of each other. I used a Thermenator that I had just bought as the standard. I was having trouble with the mash temp of the Alt this morning. It just wouldn't get up to mash in temp. I had to boil about a gallon or so of the liquid from the mash tun and put it back in to get to 152. Once I was satisfied, I hopped in the car and drove to Halls Hardware and purchased a nice digital thermometer. I checked the mash temp when I got home and the digital read 160..... So I cooled it down to 152 and started the timer again. I suppose a little heaviness in the beer won't bother me. Was hoping to have a thin beer this time though. I think digital will be the way to go from this point on. I'm tired of fighting the analog thermometers.

I've had a couple of the beers I bottled 2 weeks ago. The Red Ale and my Pale Ale. Both are very good. The Red ale was a True Brew partial mash kit. I really do enjoy that beer, but the kit costs 50 bucks, so I may have to either find it online or just not brew it any longer. It is a good beer though, and very easy to brew, which is nice. The Pale Ale is great. It's a very balanced beer. I mash it at about 156 so it's malty and is a heavy beer. I do enjoy the flavor of the beer, but the next time I think I'm going to use either wheat or rye grain instead of the vienna malt that I've been using to see what the difference will be. I use 10 lb 2-row pale malt and 1 lb vienna. I hopped with Centenial only on this batch and it really comes through.

The ESB clone and English Bitter are probably ready for a taste. I might pop a couple in the freezer this evening to see how they turned out, but I plan on leaving them in the bottle for a month or so before really starting to drink them. I keep the house between 68 and 70 degrees. I really don't have a large cool place to put them, like a huge refrigerator, so they'll just have to be kept where they are.

 

[smccarter]

I rehydrated some Safeale-05 to pitch into my Surly Cynic. Just as I was preparing to pitch the yeast, I noticed that the beer had started fermenting. No harm no foul. I'm using the same yeast for the German Alt that I'm brewing now - 5 minutes left in the boil. I pulled about 1/2 cup of wort from the brew kettle, cooled it down, and put it into the yeast for a starter.

I broke the nutrient bag on my Trappist Ale yeast at 7:30am. It's 12:17 and nothing yet. Not sure if the yeast survived shipping... but I guess the other one did, so I'm going to pitch it anyway. I'll give it 48 hours and if it doesn't start fermenting, I'll pitch the standby Safeale-05.

 

[ronjonacron]

Geeze, been busy man. Im about to grab a couple digital thermometers myself, i also noticed that halls has big pots with ball valves on them.

 

[smccarter]

Geeze, been busy man. Im about to grab a couple digital thermometers myself, i also noticed that halls has big pots with ball valves on them.

I bought that one a few weeks ago. It's a Bayou Classic. I bought one on Amazon.com awhile back with a very thick bottom. The one I got at Halls is as thin as the walls. It's a really good HLT. Saves me a ton of time. I brew on an electric stove and I've noticed that if I bring the water up to temp, turn the burner off, and put the lid on the kettle, it hold temp for a long time. Makes it easier to time things. Because of that though, I'm thinking of trying to mash in the kettle. Maybe some time in the future.

The digital thermometer that I bought is a meat thermometer for around 11 or 12 bucks. Seems to be working well, except it beeps when I breach the temp for a rare steak.... "Alert"... lol. I set it on well done and it seems not to complain as much.

 

[ronjonacron]

I just have the academy sports bayou classic aluminum setup. Would you recommend upgraded to one with the more sturdy bottom? Mine is already slighty warped. Still sits.flat, but i can tell when i clean it and put it on a really flat surface.. not the propane stand. I dont think i could get SWMBO to approve a big brew item purchse for another month or two though >&#890;<

 

[ronjonacron]

Where did you get the thermometer? The ones at lbhs are like 20-25 range.

 

[ronjonacron]

Just got back from target in pace, they had one on sale for 8.99

 

[smccarter]

Mine did the same thing - the new brew kettle. It warped, but when I have 7 gallons of water in the kettle it sets flat, so I don't really mind.

I did brew in it the first time I used it. It did as good a job as the other one. I think the one that I bought on Amazon was a "brewing kettle". Not just a brew kettle. If that makes sense. Made specifically for brewing. That was how it was marketed - as a beer brewing kettle.

The Therminator I got from Northern Brewer. I had to drill a hole in the kettle. I bought a step bit to do that. It's very simple... start drilling, steps to the smallest circumferance... continue drilling... steps to the next, then the next... until you get to the circumferance that you want. In my case it was 1/2". I then used the same bit to clear the shards of metal from the hole. The thermanator fits perfectly now.

Give me a call the next time you brew. I'll join you. We may be able to share info with one another. I have no doubt you do some things better than I do and visa-versa. I'm always interested in learning how to make the brew day go a bit faster.

Started at 7:30 this morning and finally finished at about 4:30... 9 hours... eek. But I did brew 2 five gallon batches.

I still need to clean the mop bucket, but that's all there is left to the day, so technically, I'm not finished.

One more thing. The Wyeast never did start flocuating. The yeast was d.e.a.d. I believe. I didn't use it. The wort is in the carboy... I just didn't feel like re-hydrating yeast. I'll do that tomorrow. I'll probably pitch 2 packets of Safeale-05 in it. Not necessarily the yeast that the monks use in their trippel, but... it's homebrew... the worst thing about this problem is that I'm going to have 5 gallons of beer to drink. I'm not going to hate that.

So... I have just short of 400 beers in the bottle and 30 gallons in primary.

What a week.

 

[smccarter]

Just pitched 2 packets of Safeale-05 in the NB Belgian Trippel. Time to call this brewday (weekend) over.

I'll rack 3 next week, and the other 3 the following week. About 2-3 weeks each in secondary, then bottle it all and fine'.

 

[smccarter]

2 days and no brewing, bottling, cleaning, etc.... I feel like I'm on vacation.

I'll rack the first 3 tomorrow or Thursday. The other 3 this weekend. Then 2 weeks in secondary... then bottling. Not my favorite thing, but a necessary means to an end.

I'm drinking my IPA and the Red Ale. Very good beer. I do enjoy beer. This is a hobby with very nice benefits.

 

[smccarter]

I really need to rack some of this beer to secondary, but had to build a shed. Worked on it yesterday, finished it today. Started cleaning the garage a little bit... will probably finish the grage tomorow.

Still need to rack some beer. Life gets in the way of the hobbie sometimes.

 

[ronjonacron]

I just bottled my first wine this afternoon noon, bottling my honey blonde ale after the kids go to bed tonight.

 

[ronjonacron]

What kimd of shed did you put up?

 

[smccarter]

It's a Rubbermaid Roughneck 7'x7' shed. Not really what I wanted, but 500 bucks beats the 2000 that I'd have spend for the wood shed that I wanted. I poured an 8x12' slab 15 years ago and just never go around to building the one that I wanted. I've re-claimed a good bit of my garage though, which was the point. And it looks good. Changed the entire look of the back yard.

 

[smccarter]

I racked 4 beers today.....

Blonde Ale - Pilsner malt

Very good. It'll be around 7% alcohol. The taste was great,
but I really tasted the alcohol. It's a very pale beer and not
much in the way of malt flavor. It's all alcohol and hops.

Blonde Ale - 2 row pale malt

Very similar, but a lower alcohol volume.... 4.3%. The taste
was a better flavor. More malt and less alcohol. I'm liking
this style, but I think I'll try for a better balance with a higher
alcohol content. Somewhere around 7-8% with enough malt
flavor to make it interesting.

Surly Cynic clone - Pale Ale.

Very - VERY good beer. Low alcohol content at 4.68%, but
very flavorful. Very well balanced.

My Belgian Trippel

WOW. This one comes in at 9.1%. I can taste the alcohol,
but can also taste the malt, the coriander, and the sweetness
of the candy sugar in the recipe. This one is going to be
a great beer. One that will be on my normal rotation.

I've got 2 more to rack, but they're still fermenting. A German Alt,
and a Belgian Trippel recipe that came from Northern Brewer. It
is going to be a significantly lower ABV, but I'm still interested in
trying it.

 

[smccarter]

Racked the NB German Alt and the NB Belgian Trippel. Gravity readings were at 1.015 and 1.016 respectively. Both taste really good at this stage.

So I have 30 gallons in secondary. 20 I'll bottle in a week or two, the other 10 a week or so later.

Harvested yeast from the German Alt.

Good day in the brew house (kitchen).

 

[smccarter]

Brewing again... 2 Old Ales today. The recipes differ only with 2 lbs of grain. One with 2 lbs Wheat, the other 2 lbs Munich.

15 lb 2-row
2 lb Wheat/Munich
1 lb carared

Using Hallitau throughout... 2 oz at 60, 1 oz at 45, 1 oz at 20, 1 oz dry hop for 7 days.

Had 2 empty carboys and it's raining today. No golf = a brew day.

Took my Cocker Spaniel Jack to the brew shop. The humans like my dog... their dogs don't really seem to. After quite a bit of sniffing and being nosey, Jack had to go to the truck and wait for me to finish up inside.

Brewing now... first batch is boiling with about 30 minutes to go. Heating the water in the HLT for the second batch now.

Beer is good.

 

[smccarter]

Bottled the Surly Cynic and the German Alt this evening. FG 1.008 and 1.016 respective. Tasted the samples and I believe I have two very tasty beers in the bottle. Can't wait to drink them.

 

[smccarter]

Bottled the two Blonde Ales this evening..... Big difference in the two.

Brewed one with 2-row, the other with Pilsner malt. The pils is about 2% higher ABV. I brewed as closely to identical as I could... mash temps, yeast, etc... I have to say that as of this evening and after tasting the samples I took, I am going to lean toward the pilsner malt in the future. Not only the higher ABV, but the flavor is much more pronounced. Sweet alcoholic goodness in a bottle.

I have to say though, that the 2-row yeilded 4 more beers, so there was 48 ounces more in the fermenter than there was in the pilsner fermenter. Could make up for some of the ABV. I suppose the mash temps could have been different, but the effort was to make sure they were the same.

Can't wait to taste the four beers that I've bottled so far from this particular batch.

I still have to bottle the 2 Belgian Trippels. I'll probably bottle them later this week. The two old ales are still fermenting just a little ... ever so slightly. I plan to dry hop these two for a week with an oz of Hallitau each once fermentation stops.

Used the two fisted bottling bucket again this evening. I have to say that it really makes a difference. I'm bottling 48-ish beers in no time. It's all of the other tasks that I need to work on. Bottling is a chore.

Still have a bit of clean up to do in the kitchen... I hate the clean up.

 

[smccarter]

Man oh man... do I have a couple of really good beers to drink.

Put one of the German Alts and one of the Surly Cynics in the freezer today after work. Hell yes!! is my reaction.

Both are superior beers. I thought the German Alt was great, then I tried the Cynic. The Cynic is an "I can't believe how good this beer is"... kind of beer. Seriously. I would put on a pair of floaties and jump in a vat of this beer... float and drink until the vat was empy kind of beer. This recipe is one that I will study.