bbenesh
Active Member
Hello everyone. For years and years and years I always wanted to brew my own beer and this year was the year I finally decided to go for it. I have a birthday coming up at the ass end of July, so I decided to start brewing up mid June.
Naturally - I started with a Mr. Beer kit, I also purchased the ever popular How To Brew by Palmer. It's a great read, if not a bit overly meaty for a newbie like myself.
Anyway, I "did" my first batch of Mr Beer - Blonde Ale... That was fun, but it wasn't 20 pages into the book that I had the urge to actually "brew" something. So, a couple of days went by and I decided to go out and buy a small $40 Brooklyn Brewshop kit. Even being just a one gallon kit, the process seemed much more rewarding and fulfilling then just pouring a can of slop into hot water and adding yeast. I also picked up some assorted items - stock pots, hydrometer, grolsch style bottles, more sanitizer, etc, etc.
...meanwhile, I also forgot to mention that after brewing the Mr Beer kit, I quickly ordered up some more Mr Beer ingredients... Yes, at times I can get a bit overly enthusiastic about the prospects of something - but, it's beer; can you blame me?
So, that takes me here to this question I have here:
I'm not entirely sure I did this wrong, but I'm not entirely confident I did it correct at all.
Beer Batch #3 - Blueberry Oatmeal Stout.
1 - can UME Creamy Brown
1 - can HME Oatmeal Stout
1 - can Oregon Blueberries
1 - Liquid London ESB yeast
1/2oz - Columbus hops
1 - cup brown sugar
This is where things get tricky for me. I'm going to explain the process as I understand it, and I would be delighted to hear feedback of any kind of where I went wrong - because I'm pretty sure things are heading for the danger zone.
Originally in the MR Beer kit, you. Get water up to a boil with booster, remove it from heat, add HME. Being that i didn't have booster, just sugar and extracts, I added the sugar first. Got up to a boil, removed from heat and added the two cans of extract. Of course, since I didn't have much of a boil process at all, I didn't really have much of a "boil" for my hop additions. So, I just chucked them in after the cans. Pretty sure that was a mistake. (Do i even need to add hops, if I have one can of HME in there?)
Meanwhile, I'm blending my blueberries in a sanitized blender. I've read adding fruits to wort that is too hot will release some baddies into the wort and it's better to add the blueberries to the fermenter, though the flavor is more subtle... Thats what I want though. So, I chuck my wort into the fermenter, add the blueberries and take a reading.
In theory,the ABV should be around 6.7% if I've done my math - but, I'll point out that math wasn't my subject of choice in school.
The wort was about 100F degrees , so after adjustments, the OG reading was 1.046. My yeast, I should mention, had been smacked the day before hand, left in the fridge overnight to activate or whatever they do in that foil bag. Once my wort got down to about 80 degrees(pretty quick in an ice bath), I pitched the yeast, shook it up a bit and set it in a cooler that I've managed to find a way to keep at 68 degrees.
...that was just over 40 hours ago.
After my first batch of MR Beer turned a bit sour-y and with an alcoholic bite, I figured it was because I was not monitoring the temperature of the fermenter as vigorously as I should. So, I've checked this batch every 12 hours - by checking, I mean, monitoring the ambient temp in the cooler, not the fermenter. I've not broken the cardinal rule of opening the lid.
Where was I...oh, yes, 40 hours ago. There has been zero signs of fermentation in the Beer jug. Temperature has not risen above 70, nor below 62. The bottom of the fermenter looks like a cake of what I imagine is sugar, yeast and blueberry scum. It was then and there that I decided I do not like Mr. Beers fermentation jug. At least the Brooklyn kit has an airlock AND I can see inside the bottle, which I find incredibly exciting - especially for a new brewer.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to my Brooklyn Everyday IPA, which should be bottled sometime next week. As for Mr Beers Oatmeal Stout concoction - I'm eager for any thoughts.
I do have a few questions As well:
In the future, what is the process for UME? Do I boil it for an hour if I want to add hops? I think I totally screwed up my thought process for this by jumping from Brooklyn's all grain style to mr beers "Just Add Water!" style. Not to put down Mr Beer - just pointing out I may have jumped the gun a bit.
I have these remaining ingredients:
1oz Glacier pellets
1/2oz Columbus pellets
3 packages dry yeast(Mr Beer style)
1 can Black Porter HME
1 can oatmeal stout HME
1 can Creamy Brown UME
Various sugars, honeys, etc...
I would appreciate if anyone would care to outline a process of something I could make with those ingredients. I understand that is asking a lot - I'm just trying to learn is all.
Also, I want to point out that though not stated, I would like to think I operated with medical grade sanitation. I tried at least. Also, i typed this on an iPad so I apologize for autocorrected tenses and words... Thanks everybody!
Naturally - I started with a Mr. Beer kit, I also purchased the ever popular How To Brew by Palmer. It's a great read, if not a bit overly meaty for a newbie like myself.
Anyway, I "did" my first batch of Mr Beer - Blonde Ale... That was fun, but it wasn't 20 pages into the book that I had the urge to actually "brew" something. So, a couple of days went by and I decided to go out and buy a small $40 Brooklyn Brewshop kit. Even being just a one gallon kit, the process seemed much more rewarding and fulfilling then just pouring a can of slop into hot water and adding yeast. I also picked up some assorted items - stock pots, hydrometer, grolsch style bottles, more sanitizer, etc, etc.
...meanwhile, I also forgot to mention that after brewing the Mr Beer kit, I quickly ordered up some more Mr Beer ingredients... Yes, at times I can get a bit overly enthusiastic about the prospects of something - but, it's beer; can you blame me?
So, that takes me here to this question I have here:
I'm not entirely sure I did this wrong, but I'm not entirely confident I did it correct at all.
Beer Batch #3 - Blueberry Oatmeal Stout.
1 - can UME Creamy Brown
1 - can HME Oatmeal Stout
1 - can Oregon Blueberries
1 - Liquid London ESB yeast
1/2oz - Columbus hops
1 - cup brown sugar
This is where things get tricky for me. I'm going to explain the process as I understand it, and I would be delighted to hear feedback of any kind of where I went wrong - because I'm pretty sure things are heading for the danger zone.
Originally in the MR Beer kit, you. Get water up to a boil with booster, remove it from heat, add HME. Being that i didn't have booster, just sugar and extracts, I added the sugar first. Got up to a boil, removed from heat and added the two cans of extract. Of course, since I didn't have much of a boil process at all, I didn't really have much of a "boil" for my hop additions. So, I just chucked them in after the cans. Pretty sure that was a mistake. (Do i even need to add hops, if I have one can of HME in there?)
Meanwhile, I'm blending my blueberries in a sanitized blender. I've read adding fruits to wort that is too hot will release some baddies into the wort and it's better to add the blueberries to the fermenter, though the flavor is more subtle... Thats what I want though. So, I chuck my wort into the fermenter, add the blueberries and take a reading.
In theory,the ABV should be around 6.7% if I've done my math - but, I'll point out that math wasn't my subject of choice in school.
The wort was about 100F degrees , so after adjustments, the OG reading was 1.046. My yeast, I should mention, had been smacked the day before hand, left in the fridge overnight to activate or whatever they do in that foil bag. Once my wort got down to about 80 degrees(pretty quick in an ice bath), I pitched the yeast, shook it up a bit and set it in a cooler that I've managed to find a way to keep at 68 degrees.
...that was just over 40 hours ago.
After my first batch of MR Beer turned a bit sour-y and with an alcoholic bite, I figured it was because I was not monitoring the temperature of the fermenter as vigorously as I should. So, I've checked this batch every 12 hours - by checking, I mean, monitoring the ambient temp in the cooler, not the fermenter. I've not broken the cardinal rule of opening the lid.
Where was I...oh, yes, 40 hours ago. There has been zero signs of fermentation in the Beer jug. Temperature has not risen above 70, nor below 62. The bottom of the fermenter looks like a cake of what I imagine is sugar, yeast and blueberry scum. It was then and there that I decided I do not like Mr. Beers fermentation jug. At least the Brooklyn kit has an airlock AND I can see inside the bottle, which I find incredibly exciting - especially for a new brewer.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to my Brooklyn Everyday IPA, which should be bottled sometime next week. As for Mr Beers Oatmeal Stout concoction - I'm eager for any thoughts.
I do have a few questions As well:
In the future, what is the process for UME? Do I boil it for an hour if I want to add hops? I think I totally screwed up my thought process for this by jumping from Brooklyn's all grain style to mr beers "Just Add Water!" style. Not to put down Mr Beer - just pointing out I may have jumped the gun a bit.
I have these remaining ingredients:
1oz Glacier pellets
1/2oz Columbus pellets
3 packages dry yeast(Mr Beer style)
1 can Black Porter HME
1 can oatmeal stout HME
1 can Creamy Brown UME
Various sugars, honeys, etc...
I would appreciate if anyone would care to outline a process of something I could make with those ingredients. I understand that is asking a lot - I'm just trying to learn is all.
Also, I want to point out that though not stated, I would like to think I operated with medical grade sanitation. I tried at least. Also, i typed this on an iPad so I apologize for autocorrected tenses and words... Thanks everybody!