So as my first post here I decided it was probably a good idea to have lots of info so a week ago Bill and I did our first all-grain brew with the leftovers from my uncles metric shit-ton of brewing equipment and goodies that he gave me.
"Deadeye Stout" (or Shortin' Stout, haven't decided yet)
7.5lbs Cargil Idapils (yeah I know its a light pilsner malt, but its what I had)
8 oz. Roasted Barley
8 oz. "Special B" (Dark Carmel Malt. Google it)
12 oz. Oatmeal flakes
1 oz. Perle Hops (Whole leaf 8.2% Alpha - added 1 hour boil time)
1 slap pack of Brewers Best Irish Ale Yeast
Yields 5 gallons
-We started off milling the malt at a medium grind at about 4pm .
-Single infusion mash in 3 Gal of water at 160°F for 1 1/2 hours.
-Laurtered for 50 minutes.
-Guilt tripped Bill for 20 minutes for breaking my thermometer in the sparging water, causing us to dump out the lead pellets and re-heat the water.
-Sparged for 45eque minutes (until we hit our final boiling limit (roughly 4ish gallons)
-We ended up boiling in 2 pots for 1:45 (note to self: buy a 6 gal propane turkey fryer)
-Post boil we cooled off the wart with a couple of gallons of sterilized water that we put on the front porch to get cold, half of it was ice by this time).
-Everything was still way to hot to pitch the yeast so the only thing we could really do was cover the bucket with clingwrap and let it sit overnight to cool off.
-Sunday I had to do family stuff up in IL all day so I asked Bill to rack the wort over into my 6 1/2 gal carboy and pitch the yeast which he did awesomely, and took an initial gravity reading of 1.042 (thanks bro, I appreciate it again)
The carboy was under the table at a nice, comfy 72°F. About 16 hours after pitching it wasn't just bubling, the airtrap was rattling like it was an old coffee pot percolating. It kept that up for a day or so and slowed down to a nice bubble every couple of seconds. We left it in Primary until last night (Friday - 5ish days) when we racked it over into my 5 gal carboy for secondary. Second gravity reading is showing 1.003 so we're looking at right around 5% alcohol content.
And of that reading, we got our first taste test. It was a little lighter than a Guiness, but still very tastey. Yep its a stout.
I'm going to leave it in secondary for about a week before I bottle condition it, that will give me some time to find more 12oz bottles.
Next project is an Irish Red (like Killians)
Side note: We have a lot of Keystone light left from the game of "Beer Hunter" we played around New Years. And unfortunately it is currently the only beer in the house. So we braved it. 2 1/2 cans fit into our Viking mugs, and we tried to stomach it. Someone take it from us or we're throwing it away.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Brewing and bottles and rackings! Oh my!
OK! Quickie entry!
James and I brewed beer! Film at eleven! (not really)
Fun with whole grains and sparging and such.
Afterwards, I bottled the Maple Cinnamon Mead with one Campden tab (I'm calling it MCM from now on).
4.5 bottles (I had a 375ml bottle shapped like a cat and painted black[it was a real pain in the ass to fill because I couldn't see the level in it at all until it ran up to the top]).
- It's a medium bodied mead that is still pretty immature or 'green' tasting right now. Definitely gonna let it sit for a while.
Then, I racked the Apple Lager of some KING into two of the gallon jugs. I put one outside in the garage and one in the minifridge in the basement. The fridge will start at 55F and I'm gonna decrease it 2-4 degrees per day. The spot in the garage at the moment is 40F. Being that it's right up against the door, it only gets down to about 32F at the lowest.
THEN, (I was bored tonight, can you tell?) I racked the wassail with three campden tabs. I managed to leave MOST of the fruit debris and lees behind, but still got a fair amount of it. I'll rack again fairly soon.
James and I brewed beer! Film at eleven! (not really)
Fun with whole grains and sparging and such.
Afterwards, I bottled the Maple Cinnamon Mead with one Campden tab (I'm calling it MCM from now on).
4.5 bottles (I had a 375ml bottle shapped like a cat and painted black[it was a real pain in the ass to fill because I couldn't see the level in it at all until it ran up to the top]).
- It's a medium bodied mead that is still pretty immature or 'green' tasting right now. Definitely gonna let it sit for a while.
Then, I racked the Apple Lager of some KING into two of the gallon jugs. I put one outside in the garage and one in the minifridge in the basement. The fridge will start at 55F and I'm gonna decrease it 2-4 degrees per day. The spot in the garage at the moment is 40F. Being that it's right up against the door, it only gets down to about 32F at the lowest.
THEN, (I was bored tonight, can you tell?) I racked the wassail with three campden tabs. I managed to leave MOST of the fruit debris and lees behind, but still got a fair amount of it. I'll rack again fairly soon.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Lager checkup
I looked at the bucket this morning and nothing seemed to be going on yet.
I was a little concerned, but decided to not worry about it for now.
I looked again tonight, and there appears to be a couple of bubbles sitting on the surface, but still very little activity. Now, I know that this lager yeast will sit on the bottom and ferment, and I know that it will be a slower ferment than an ale or wine because it's a cold fermentation, but this is till bugging me.
We might have pitched the yeast too hot and killed it, so, I added another packet of the same Saflager S-23
A couple of hours later, and there are noticeable patches of foam starting to form. It's alive! ALIVE!!
The temperature in the corner is going to flux anywhere between 52F and 60F. A stroke of luck had the drier, hot water heater, and furnace on the other side of the room all running at the same time and it got as warm as 60F. I still think this is as good as any of a spot for primary fermentation.
I was a little concerned, but decided to not worry about it for now.
I looked again tonight, and there appears to be a couple of bubbles sitting on the surface, but still very little activity. Now, I know that this lager yeast will sit on the bottom and ferment, and I know that it will be a slower ferment than an ale or wine because it's a cold fermentation, but this is till bugging me.
We might have pitched the yeast too hot and killed it, so, I added another packet of the same Saflager S-23
A couple of hours later, and there are noticeable patches of foam starting to form. It's alive! ALIVE!!
The temperature in the corner is going to flux anywhere between 52F and 60F. A stroke of luck had the drier, hot water heater, and furnace on the other side of the room all running at the same time and it got as warm as 60F. I still think this is as good as any of a spot for primary fermentation.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Apple Lager! of some kind...
I don't like that title..
We'll call it : APPLE LAGER!! Of Some King
There, that's better. Paul was taking notes for me while I was brewing and he was watching anime.
- 2 gallons of water
- 2.5 lbs of dry malt extract
(55% wheat / 45% barley)(this stuff turns to glue when the concept of moisture is simply thought of in it's presence)
- James farted!
- 2 tbsp moe-lasses
- 1/4 lb Belgian Candy - ed. note: Are we selling this to InBev?
(this was added about ten minutes into the boil after a gravity reading showed 7%)
- 1/2 hour initial boil - removed from my upper-left thigh
- 1/4 oz Sterling Pellet Hops (6% alpha acid)
- Bill eats the rest of Leigh's fries
- 20 minute boil
- 1/4 oz of the same shit on the last line that starts with "1/4 oz"
(no more heat)
- 1 gallon of cold apple juice, added for cooling
- put pot in the sink w/ ice to help cool it
- cooled to about 110F (gravity showed 7%)
- poured wort into bucket
- pitched yeast (Saflager S-23)
- stirred vigorously to aerate
- covered with two layers of plastic wrap and James tied a wire around the lip of the bucket to hold it closed
- put in the back corder of the basement where its 55F - 58F
The plan is to let the primary fermentation run in the bucket in the cold part of the basement. Then, for secondary fermentation, I'm going to split the batch. I'll put half of it in the garage right by the door to the house (it was 45F when it was below freezing outside). The other half I'll put in the minifridge in the basement and slowly drop the temp from around 55F, down to 34F about 2-4 degrees per day.
We'll call it : APPLE LAGER!! Of Some King
There, that's better. Paul was taking notes for me while I was brewing and he was watching anime.
- 2 gallons of water
- 2.5 lbs of dry malt extract
(55% wheat / 45% barley)(this stuff turns to glue when the concept of moisture is simply thought of in it's presence)
- James farted!
- 2 tbsp moe-lasses
- 1/4 lb Belgian Candy - ed. note: Are we selling this to InBev?
(this was added about ten minutes into the boil after a gravity reading showed 7%)
- 1/2 hour initial boil - removed from my upper-left thigh
- 1/4 oz Sterling Pellet Hops (6% alpha acid)
- Bill eats the rest of Leigh's fries
- 20 minute boil
- 1/4 oz of the same shit on the last line that starts with "1/4 oz"
(no more heat)
- 1 gallon of cold apple juice, added for cooling
- put pot in the sink w/ ice to help cool it
- cooled to about 110F (gravity showed 7%)
- poured wort into bucket
- pitched yeast (Saflager S-23)
- stirred vigorously to aerate
- covered with two layers of plastic wrap and James tied a wire around the lip of the bucket to hold it closed
- put in the back corder of the basement where its 55F - 58F
The plan is to let the primary fermentation run in the bucket in the cold part of the basement. Then, for secondary fermentation, I'm going to split the batch. I'll put half of it in the garage right by the door to the house (it was 45F when it was below freezing outside). The other half I'll put in the minifridge in the basement and slowly drop the temp from around 55F, down to 34F about 2-4 degrees per day.
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