DouglassBrewer
Active Member
So the other forums I have been on (not beer related but other hobbies) have a section for project logs. It is a great way to keep track of the work you are doing, as well as get inspiration for work of your own. Since I couldn't find a section here that seemed to fit the bill, I figured I would start my Brew Journal here in the beginners forum, considering I am still quite the beginner.
Here I intend to update the progress of each of my brews: my mistakes, things I learn, new techniques I employ or DIY projects I undertake. For me it will just provide a way to keep track of what I have done, but also get feedback from more experienced brewers, and eventually provide people interested in the hobby with a walkthrough of how it panned out for me.
First let me catch you up on my current brew. I did Angry Monk Belgian Pale Ale from the recipe from our local brew shop. It calls for 4 different grains that need to be steeped before adding to the wort as well as 4 hops additions. This was a change from my first brew which had only the extract and one hop addition.
The grains were the biggest change for me, and I put extra attention on it. The recipe called to steep the grain in only 3-4 quarts of water at the recommended temp. Since I had heard that using more water can improve your results, I did 2 gallons of water in my smaller 4 gallon stock pot. I steeped for the suggested time before straining out the grain and adding it to the main pot with the extract already stirred in.
Another big difference in this brew was the lack of much foam. I don't know why, but there was almost no foaming on top of the boil. This threw me as I was waiting to see some sort of hot break. I ended up waiting 20 minutes for something to happen, before finally starting the hop additions.
The rest of the brew went pretty smoothly, right until the cooling stage. I have yet to construct my copper cooler, so I use the ice bath in the sink method for cooling (which has actually been very successful at cooling my pot quickly). However, I had left my floating thermometer in the kettle as I transferred it to the ice bath. I had done this for the previous batch and didn't have any problems. However this time, either through stirring or temp-shock, the bottom of the thermometer shattered! About half of the weight balls spilled into the wort, but the actual inner tube with the colored fluid seemed intact.
I was instantly in panic. Concerns over the weights being lead, the mercury leaking and shards of glass in my beer drove me here in search of answers. After some quick research I called my brew shop to see what components are in the thermometer I bought. I was relieved to learn it was only steel shot and colored wax, so my only concern was the shattered glass.
I poured my wort through the smallest strainer I had, and didn't pour the last cup or so in. This kept the shot at the bottom and I was able to locate almost all of the glass. To be super 100% sure there is no glass, I am going to rack to secondary through the smallest screen I can buy.
My logic is this: glass sinks, so I'm almost sure any tiny pieces I missed through the first screen will end up in the yeast cake at the bottom of primary. Then the auto-siphon will be off the bottom, and have a micro-screen on it. There is no way any tiny piece of glass could get through that. Let me know what you guys think about it. I just know I will be confident enough to drink the beer.
I'll let you know how everything goes. I plan on racking to secondary later today if time allows.
Here I intend to update the progress of each of my brews: my mistakes, things I learn, new techniques I employ or DIY projects I undertake. For me it will just provide a way to keep track of what I have done, but also get feedback from more experienced brewers, and eventually provide people interested in the hobby with a walkthrough of how it panned out for me.
First let me catch you up on my current brew. I did Angry Monk Belgian Pale Ale from the recipe from our local brew shop. It calls for 4 different grains that need to be steeped before adding to the wort as well as 4 hops additions. This was a change from my first brew which had only the extract and one hop addition.
The grains were the biggest change for me, and I put extra attention on it. The recipe called to steep the grain in only 3-4 quarts of water at the recommended temp. Since I had heard that using more water can improve your results, I did 2 gallons of water in my smaller 4 gallon stock pot. I steeped for the suggested time before straining out the grain and adding it to the main pot with the extract already stirred in.
Another big difference in this brew was the lack of much foam. I don't know why, but there was almost no foaming on top of the boil. This threw me as I was waiting to see some sort of hot break. I ended up waiting 20 minutes for something to happen, before finally starting the hop additions.
The rest of the brew went pretty smoothly, right until the cooling stage. I have yet to construct my copper cooler, so I use the ice bath in the sink method for cooling (which has actually been very successful at cooling my pot quickly). However, I had left my floating thermometer in the kettle as I transferred it to the ice bath. I had done this for the previous batch and didn't have any problems. However this time, either through stirring or temp-shock, the bottom of the thermometer shattered! About half of the weight balls spilled into the wort, but the actual inner tube with the colored fluid seemed intact.
I was instantly in panic. Concerns over the weights being lead, the mercury leaking and shards of glass in my beer drove me here in search of answers. After some quick research I called my brew shop to see what components are in the thermometer I bought. I was relieved to learn it was only steel shot and colored wax, so my only concern was the shattered glass.
I poured my wort through the smallest strainer I had, and didn't pour the last cup or so in. This kept the shot at the bottom and I was able to locate almost all of the glass. To be super 100% sure there is no glass, I am going to rack to secondary through the smallest screen I can buy.
My logic is this: glass sinks, so I'm almost sure any tiny pieces I missed through the first screen will end up in the yeast cake at the bottom of primary. Then the auto-siphon will be off the bottom, and have a micro-screen on it. There is no way any tiny piece of glass could get through that. Let me know what you guys think about it. I just know I will be confident enough to drink the beer.
I'll let you know how everything goes. I plan on racking to secondary later today if time allows.
good news ..i think i would cry if i had to dump a beer
