Sunday, October 28, 2012

American Amber

Two weeks in the secondary so time to bottle.  Won't take hydrometer readings as my hydrometer has a leak and does not read true.

Put 5 oz of priming sugar in 2 cups of boiling water to dissolve.  Let cool for about 15 minutes and add to the bottling bucket.

Filled a bit shy of two cases.  I'm loosing too much along the way.  Need to take care of that.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

American Amber

Check the gravity

T = 78 F
SG = 1.050
ASG = 1.052

I do not believe my hydrometer.

Proceed to rack to a secondary fermentor.

Done.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

American Amber

Fermentation started off well on Sunday, October 7, but it's been cold in the house and the fermentation stuck.  Haven't been able to do much until today.  I've got a space heater to warm up the area where the carboy is kept.  Fermentation is again going, so I'll check the specific gravity and temperature.

T = 67 F
SG = 1.035
ASG = 1.035

Saturday, October 6, 2012

American Amber

This is from a kit from Brewer's Best.

19:50 Put 2.5 gal in brewpot and put on burner

20:18 Water temp = 160 F.  Put grains, 1 lb of Crushed Caramel 80 L into pot to steep.

20:40 End steeping of grain, remove grain bag from wort.  NOTE:  Water temperature did exceed 170 F for a brief time during steeping.

21:09  Add malt extract.
3.3 lb Amber LME
2.5 lb Amber DME

Raise flame to restart boil

21:22 Boil restarts

Add bittering hops: 1 oz. US Brewer's Gold - Alpha 9.9%, Beta 5.5%

21:40 Add 2 tsp each of Irish Moss, Yeast nutrient and Yeast energizer

22:17 Add aroma hops 0.5 oz hop pellets: alpha 4.9%, Beta 3.5%

22:22 Remove from heat and put in cooling bath.

22:27 Transfer to glass carboy.  Temp 100 F.

22:35 Add 2.5 gallons of bottled water

23:51 T = 87 F
OG = 1.072
AOG = 1.076

Pitch yeast WLP060

Install air lock and put in closet










Saturday, December 31, 2011

Pilsner

31-Dec-2011

Ok, today I try a Czech Pilsner.  The grain bill is

6 lb Pilsen light DME
1/4 lb American 2-row
1/8 lb Caramel/Crystal 80 L
5 oz Saaz hops
WLP800 yeast

First I'll bring about 1 gal of water to 200 F to steep the grains.

12:43 Water is at 200 F so I put in the grains for 30 min.

13:15  Remove grains from the water and wash with 1-1/2 pts of water at 165 F (heat in microwave for 3 minutes).  Add this to four gallons of water already being heater on the main heater.  Bring the volume up to 5-1/2 gallons and heat to boiling.

14:40 Boil starts, add 6 lb DME and bring back to boil

14:43 Boil starts again.  Add 1.25 oz Saaz.

14:58 Add 1.25 Saaz

15:13 Add 1.00 oz Saaz

15:28 Add 1.00 oz Saaz plus 1 tsp Irish moss, 2 tsp yeast energizer and 5 tsp yeast nutrient

15:43 Add 0.50 oz Saaz and end boil.  Start cooling the wort in a cold water bath.

16:50
T = 70 F
SG = 1.060
ASG = 1.061

This is a little high for the style, but we'll see.

pitch the yeast.

01-Jan-2012

Fermentation is underway.  Looks good.

12-Jan-2012

Check the gravity
T = 50 F
SG =1.022
ASG = 1.021

This is still a little higher than the expected final gravity, but I still want to leave it to longer fermentation and lagering.  So this is ok.

14-Jan-2012

Gravity
T = 50 F
SG = 1.022
ASG 1.021

Not much change.  Still I'll rack it to a secondary to leave for lagering for a month or more.

28-Jan-2012

Check the gravity again.  I plan to leave it to lager for another two weeks, but let's see where it stands now.
T = 50 F
SG = 1.017
ASG = 1.016

This is within the range I'm expecting, good.  I'll keep lagering for two more weeks as I planned and bottle on 11-Feb.

17-Feb-2012

Check the gravity and transfer to a tirtiary fermenter for a week.

T = 50 F
SG =1.016
ASG = 1.015

Rack to a tertiary fermenter for a few days to improve clarity a bit.

25-Feb-2012

Bottling day.  Got 38 bottles.


Friday, November 25, 2011

Coffee Stout

25-Nov-2011

Today I start brewing my Coffee Stout. This is an extract with grain brew that produces a pretty good stout. The ingredients are:

2 lbs Dark Dray Extract (Munton's today)
6.6 lbs Dark LME (Bries today)
0.5 lb Black Malt (0.485 lb)
0.5 lb Crystal 40 L (0.505 lb)
0.5 lb Roasted Barley (0.51 lb)
1.0 oz Golding East Kent (alpha 5.8%, beta 3.2%) for 60 min
1.0 oz Fuggles (alpha 4.2%, beta 2.5%) for 15 min
WLP004 Irish Ale Yeast

Start by crushing the grains with marble rolling pin on marble rolling board, placing in a sparge bag and putting this in 1 gallon of cold water. I'll heat this to 170 degrees, hold for 1/2 hour and then sparge the grains with a bit more water at 170 degrees.

15:10 Grains have been processed and wort is in the brew pot.

15:21 Fill brew pot to 24 qts (6 gallons) and start flame.

15:58 Brew pot boiling, add ME.

16:12 Boil restarts, add Kent Goldings hops.

16:57 Add Fuggles hops.

17:12 End boil.

19:15 Wort is down to near room temperature. Get the gravity
Temp = 76 F
SG = 1.064 ASG = 1.066

This is in range for what the recipe estimates, although high for the Stout style.

19:30 Pitch yeast.

26-Nov-2011

10:00 Yeast is doing well, fermentation is under way.

2-Dec-2011

I've been storing the fermentor where it is, unfortunately, too cold. What I have now for the gravity is

T = 51 f
SG = 1.042
ASG = 1.041.

I'm moving it to a warming location to see if further fermentation will take place. The gravity ought to be down below 1.011.

10-Dec-2011

I warmed up the fermentor and got the fermentation started again for the past week. Now it looks like fermentation is done, the yeast have all settled to the bottom. So again with the SG.

T = 59 F
SG = 1.025
ASG = 1.025

The gravity is still a bit high, but I'm going to rack it anyway. I just don't think I can get much better. We'll see how it goes.

16-Dec-2011

Now I put 8 oz of coffee into 1/2 of water in a sealed container and let it sit for about 36-48 hours. I'll strain this, boil it and add it at bottling time. This can go in with the priming sugar.

17-Dec-2011

Check the gravity again.

Temp = 51 F
SG = 1.030
ASG = 1.029

Now this is higher than before. Perhaps I misread the hydrometer. Don't know, but in any case there has been no improvement in the gravity. I'll bottle tomorrow in any case.

18-Dec-2011 Bottling day

Strain the steeping coffee and heat to about 200 F.  Also boil some water and dissolve the priming sugar.

All bottled, two cases and a six pack.  Put it away for about two weeks.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Goulash Alt

Ready to bottle

T = 70 F
SG = 1.016
ASG = 1.017
ABV = 4.62%

These numbers are right where I wanted them.

Bottled and stored.