St. Patty's Swamp Water (green beer thread)

[TwoFortySX]

At this point you probably want to get it as clear as possible and drop everything out before adding more dye. Have u considered cold crashing it for a few days, or adding some gelatin at secondary?

The beer is still fermenting, I just put it in the primary on Saturday night. I really haven't considered cold crashing or using gelatin to clarify this beer.

 

[amc22]

Man, all your gear is gonna be stained green (along with your teeth, hah). (=

 

[jgbrown]

I have had luck bleaching my plastic buckets in the past. Just make sure you rinse out really well.

 

[TwoFortySX]

I decided to do the whole fermentation in my glass carboy because I feared staining my primary with the food coloring. As of right now the only thing I have that got a little stained is a stopped I used. The stopper has came fairly clean so I am not worried about it.

I am a little worried that I will stain my bottling bucket bucket when I bottle this. However, if I stain some tubing that's no big deal to replace and I figured I could always bleach the bucket if it stained.

On another note, the beer is towards the end of fermentation. A lot of the green color has dropped out. The beer is slowly turning a straw color like it originally should. I am unsure how much green coloring I want to put back in this at bottling. I am going to let it sit another week before I bottle.

 

[jhenderson27]

As for all the people spewing garbage you said it reminds you of a db frat party, well you probably were at one of those in your life. Don't hate, this guy has done something most don't agree with but hell what would beer be like if others hadn't. Im not down for the green sh*ts but oh well. Keep us all updated. I might do this next year just because I can and all my buddies would get a rise out of it. As a matter of fact im gonna go one step futher, im going to do what you did but do pink for my buddies diaper party for his upcoming daughter in a month and a half. Thanks for the great idea! Brew on my friend.

 

[brrman]

yeah I don't want to bash this idea but I will say that I "grew out" of wanting to drink green beer on St.Patty's day when I **** green the next day.
...
I tend to associate green beer with that of drunken Frats/****** baggery now.

You don't want to bash the idea, but you go right on to do just that... lol
People that can't handle ideas beyond their own narrow view should get off of internet forums and stick to traditional published works for their reading enjoyment. Wow - I think we can all point to the real evidence of ****** baggery in this thread.

 

[KYB]

You don't want to bash the idea, but you go right on to do just that... lol
People that can't handle ideas beyond their own narrow view should get off of internet forums and stick to traditional published works for their reading enjoyment. Wow - I think we can all point to the real evidence of ****** baggery in this thread.

Like green beer is anything new and groundbreaking...

I would like the idea more if it was a decent beer. I'd rather have a green saison or something than a green "american light". Might as well get some green miller lite.

 

[TwoFortySX]

Like green beer is anything new and groundbreaking...

I would like the idea more if it was a decent beer. I'd rather have a green saison or something than a green "american light". Might as well get some green miller lite.

I see that this thread has taken a negative turn which I really didn't want but I kind of expected it. But Mr. "ODaniel", that comment is such a joke that I can not even take it seriously. You get called out for your previous post so you decide to back off the original insult and shift your attempted bashing to the fact that its an american light style beer? Are you hoping that other members support bashing the style of beer since no one backed your initial insult?

Homebrewing is homebrewing regardless of the style of beer you are making, the equipment you are using or how experienced you are. If you really loved homebrewing you would spread knowledge not negativity.

 

[Runyanka]

Like green beer is anything new and groundbreaking...

I would like the idea more if it was a decent beer. I'd rather have a green saison or something than a green "american light". Might as well get some green miller lite.

By the looks of the beers in your signature, you don't know what new and groundbreaking is... Just sayin

 

[jhenderson27]

Like he said early on. Why waste a very high quality homebrew to get half in the bag. You can't call yourself a beer lover if you dismiss another style out of personal opinion. I personally hate wheats and saisons. Im not slamming you. If there can't be a positive comment made, move onto a different thread. There are plenty, let us enjoy a spirited holiday dumb fratboy tradition in our own way. Brew on.

 

[Runyanka]

Like he said early on. Why waste a very high quality homebrew to get half in the bag. You can't call yourself a beer lover if you dismiss another style out of personal opinion. I personally hate wheats and saisons. Im not slamming you. If there can't be a positive comment made, move onto a different thread. There are plenty, let us enjoy a spirited holiday dumb fratboy tradition in our own way. Brew on.

Party on Wayne, party on Garth!

 

[jhenderson27]

Ahh wyanes world what a classic. I will now go sing bohemian rhapsody in a amc gremlin!

 

[TwoFortySX]

March 2, 2011 UPDATE

Today was 10 days since I brewed this beer. The beer reached its FG of 1.009 in 4 days and had about a week to sit on the yeast and clear up a bit. I wouldn't say that 10 days in the primary is enough for me BUT I want this for St. Patrick's Day so it will have to do. I know the cons and am sure there will be some negative feedback but ohh well.

Getting ready to bottle

Cleaning the bottles

Transferring to the bottling bucket

Capping....

Here is an idea of the color that the beer ended up

 

[TwoFortySX]

I decided not to add anymore coloring to the beer. I really liked the color that the beer ended up being. It is really hard to get a picture of the true color of the beer. I wouldn't say that is an overwhelmingly green color but there is a green tint to it that I like. I am really excited to see what kind of color this ends up pouring.

As for the taste, the color had no adverse effects on it. The beer itself tastes somewhat like your typical BMC light beers. I was expecting some green flavors because of the relatively short time in the primary but I am pleasantly to say that I didn't notice much. It has a nice crispness even warm and flat so it should do the trick perfectly in about 2 weeks.

And lastly I wanted to add that none of my equipment is stained green. Everything came very clean and had no adverse effects from using the food coloring.

 

[TwoFortySX]

I guess since I am posting about my bottle day I will show some pictures of my Vanilla Coffee porter that went into the secondary after about 3 weeks in the primary. This is a brewers best robust porter kit that I added 6oz of cold steeped coffee and 4oz of vanilla to after a week in the primary.

The color is nice. The beer's taste is a little thin at this point. The coffee flavor is very nice. the vanilla comes through in the smell more so than the taste. I am hoping after some time in the secondary and bottle aging that this beer will thicken up a little bit. If it does that then I am excited to have myself a good Vanilla Coffee ROBUST porter but as this point is is just a vanilla coffee porter

The FG of this guy rested at 1.012

Thanks,
Jimmy

 

[Hellfish76]

Thanks for those updated pics. Glad to hear that you didn't end up with green stained brewing materials!

I want to see the finished product when you open your bottles.

 

[oldmate]

This is so great, I should do something like this for my birthday (although it will have to be next year) - which is the 17th

Can't wait to see the first pour!

 

[jhenderson27]

I can't wait to see the first car bed pour.

 

[Buck33]

Yeah you got one think right us Pittsburg boys enjoy the st pattys day, beer looks nice, Im gonna try this one out just for ****s n giggles

 

[jhenderson27]

I got a Vanilla robust porter in my secondary sitting on madagascar vanilla beans. Smells amazing. Original gravity of 1.09 and its around 1.024 now. Can't wait.

 

[cappy]

I wonder if you added enough green food coloring to a stout if it would create a green foamy head? Any takers?

 

[jhenderson27]

Might kill the head. That much needed could affect things.

 

[TwoFortySX]

March 11, 2011 *UPDATE*

Summing up the situation so far:
Primary: 10 days.
No Secondary
Bottled: 10 days

This beer will go from brew kettle to glass in about roughly 21 days. I have just moved the beer from my spare room to the refrigerator which gives it 1 day to cool down before it gets drank. Again, I know that this is normally not a good move to only give them a day to cool before you drink them but I have stated the plan for this beer already. So on with the update!

I was having a few beers on Monday night when I decided to crack one open after about a week carbonating and "aging" if you want to call it that to see what was going on.

My first impression was, first and foremost, that its BEER. Drinkable BEER too! I guess that is always the question I ask myself when I open the first bottle of any given beer.

The beer has a mild alcohol smell but its not that bad at all. The flavor is slightly thin but a little bit more flavorful that a typical BMC beer, although the flavor is VERY similar. The head of the beer is actually very nice, surprisingly nice to be honest. There is even some lacing.

I feel like i did a very good job of racking and bottling this beer. I left more beer than usual in the primary when I racked it to the bottling bucket. It helped to keep the sediment out since I wasn't using a secondary. I covered the bottling bucket for a while and gave any sediment in the bucket a little bit of time to fall. I also put some sanitized cheesecloth over the inside of the spigot to keep larger sediment out of the bottles. Needless to say, the beer is very clear for being so young.

The big question is the color and well the color IS tinted green but its a subtle green. The head even has a bit of a green tint to it.

Tomorrow I will take some pictures of the finished product and re-analyze the beer after it has had some time to cool and settle.

And for research and learning reasons I have left a few bottles to age for an extended time period, as I do with most the beers and ciders that I make. There is a nice little box that i will bring out around the holidays so I can retry all of the things I have made over the year!

 

[Cascadegan]

I wonder if you added enough green food coloring to a stout if it would create a green foamy head? Any takers?

hmmm, this is something i really want to do... i think it might have to wait until next year

 

[RMitch]

It turned your bottles green!

 

[TwoFortySX]

It turned your bottles green!

I thought it was only fitting that I used green bottles for this brew.

 

[fivehoursfree]

Freetail Brewing in San Antonio makes a Spirulina Wit that is naturally green. I haven't had it, but they brew it up this time of year.

 

[TwoFortySX]

Freetail Brewing in San Antonio makes a Spirulina Wit that is naturally green. I haven't had it, but they brew it up this time of year.

Thats crazy that they brew with spirulina. I wonder how they add it? It is a blue-green algae that I familiar with from when I worked at GNC. It comes in a powder that they might add to the beer prior to bottling.

I never really though about adding a "natural" green color to the beer for color. That might be my project for next years beer.

 

[TwoFortySX]

The POUR!

Okay Ladies and Gentlemen, Here is the much anticipated pint picture!

 

[jwatkins56550]

Nice. I have a German Vienna I'm kegging today, but I'll be adding food coloring to each pint glass rather than a whole keg.... Because let's face it, who wants green beer after st pattys day??

So if I remember correctly, blue and yellow make green right? So what about using blue food coloring in my yellow beer?