bernerbrau
Well-Known Member
I'm enjoying a pint of my house APA that I brewed two weeks ago last Sunday. I'm having a hard time getting over the fact that (OK, not really, but I'm pleasantly surprised) it's delicious, yet it took so little time to get this way.
The only factor I can attribute this to is that I fermented it at 62°F for 14 days in my new temp controlled freezer before kegging. Prior to this, I controlled my temps by sticking the fermenter in a spare tub filled with 2" of water, draping a shirt over it, and adding the ice from my freezer when I remembered to do it. It would take at least 4 weeks (usually more) to get to the point where I liked the flavor enough to go to bottle.
Then of course there's the kegging. I kegged 2 days ago after deciding the hydro sample was good enough to drink, cranking the gas up to 40 PSI and connecting it to the beverage out line, waiting for the bubbles to stop, shaking it around a bit until the bubbles resumed, and repeating. I left it at 40 for about 4 hours before turning it down to 12, and had the keg freezer at 34°F. I spent 2 days getting nothing but foam and scouring HBT for keg advice. After deciding 12PSI was too much for my house APA anyway, I dialed it down to 8PSI. Still nothing but foam. So I turned it down to 6 and voilà, delicious carbonated beer.
Granted, I'll need to gradually raise the pressure to 8 or so over the next few weeks to keep it carbed, but I consider this a rousing success.
(I took the attached photo after finishing this post, so unfortunately the beer level is a little low.)
The only factor I can attribute this to is that I fermented it at 62°F for 14 days in my new temp controlled freezer before kegging. Prior to this, I controlled my temps by sticking the fermenter in a spare tub filled with 2" of water, draping a shirt over it, and adding the ice from my freezer when I remembered to do it. It would take at least 4 weeks (usually more) to get to the point where I liked the flavor enough to go to bottle.
Then of course there's the kegging. I kegged 2 days ago after deciding the hydro sample was good enough to drink, cranking the gas up to 40 PSI and connecting it to the beverage out line, waiting for the bubbles to stop, shaking it around a bit until the bubbles resumed, and repeating. I left it at 40 for about 4 hours before turning it down to 12, and had the keg freezer at 34°F. I spent 2 days getting nothing but foam and scouring HBT for keg advice. After deciding 12PSI was too much for my house APA anyway, I dialed it down to 8PSI. Still nothing but foam. So I turned it down to 6 and voilà, delicious carbonated beer.
Granted, I'll need to gradually raise the pressure to 8 or so over the next few weeks to keep it carbed, but I consider this a rousing success.
(I took the attached photo after finishing this post, so unfortunately the beer level is a little low.)
