8
12
2008
Well, I finally kegged my Oatmeal Stout (McQuaker’s Oatmeal Stout from Jamil’s Brewing Classic Styles book). Unfortunately, the fermentation halted at 1.028. Temp was at 68F. First, I stirred up the slurry at the bottom. Tested a week later, and nothing. I pitched another sachet of SafAle 04 English yeast. After 1 week, I tested and was still at 1.028. So- I decided to make a 1L starter. I pitched the whole thing and waited another week- and it dropped- all the way to 1.026! At this point, since it had been fermenting for a month, I decided to keg it. I figured it would be a bit more full bodied than it should be, but the tastes during the hydrometer readings we pretty darn nice.
After 1 week in the keg, there wa reasonable carbonation- although not as much as there should be. That’s ok- more time will fix that. In the meantime, I brought a growler to my company party (we are small- and only 3 or 4 beer drinkers) and it got good reviews. Time should enhance it and I’ll be brewing another batch to see if I can ferment it all the way out. One change I will make- I wil create a starter for pitching.
Share on Facebook
Tweet This Post
7
11
2008
Well- it’s been quite awhile since I posted (or anyone posted for that matter). While I haven’t written in awhile, I certainly have been brewing. Since I last posted, I’ve brewed multiple Pale Ales, IPA’s, a Pumpkin Spice Ale, and most recently, an Oatmeal Stout. The Oatmeal Stout was brewed along with my friend John for
“Teach a Friend to Brew” day. This is going to be a short post- just wanted to get back. I’ll be posting a bit later with more details about the Oatmeal Stout, the brewfest, and more.
Share on Facebook
Tweet This Post
20
07
2008
I’m excited! I just received news from the organizers of the Ohio Beer Week homebrew competition that the belgian dark strong ale I submitted took best of show! That means that out of all the beers that placed in the competition, this one was judged the best! This is definitely a surprise. When I was at the NHC a homebrewer local to OH offered to transport beer to the competition so far-away people like me wouldn’t have to mail our beer via UPS. I sent in 3 beers to the competition, the belgian dark strong, a maibock, and a rye IPA. I don’t have all the results yet so I don’t know if anything else placed or what scores and comments they got, but they were nice enough to tell me of the best of show. The prize is a $50 gift certificate to a homebrew shop and a plaque! I can’t wait to see the results. I’ll be submitting this same belgian dark strong to the NHC (National Homebrewers Convention) competition next year, at which time it’ll be a year and a half old. Can’t wait!
Gerry
Share on Facebook
Tweet This Post
17
07
2008
I finally broke down and bought my first keg.
Noho Beer & Wine has them for $29.99 each- and I was reading earlier about naturally conditioning beer in kegs. That was my biggest concern- the expense of CO2 regulators, tanks, etc in order to properly force carbonate. BUT- after reading, at least for now, I figure I can naturally carbonate (should be about the same wait time as with bottling), and use the type of CO2 attachment one would use at parties to dispense the beer (a
CO2 Injector). All I’ll have to do is chill the keg, attach the CO2 and attach
this, and I’ll be enjoying my beer.
BUT, me being me- I was excited about having my keg. So, I went about cleaning it (PBW/water soak). I was able to pull off the 3 pin post, and disengaged the long stainless steel tube that goes all the way down to the bottom. I figured I’d be super efficient and just leave that tube loose inside the keg with the cleaning solution. I put the post back on, and snapped the top back on the keg. After shaking it up, I turned the whole thing upside down and left it for an hour. I went back to pop the top, and lo and behold- the top was JAMMED! It seems that my bright idea of leaving the tube inside was not too bright- it wedged up against the inside of the top, and I could not loosen it. Well, thanks to my wife- she calmed me down enough to avoid mass destruction of my keg, and I checked with the rest of the crew. Zee came up with a good idea- he suggested I put hot water into the keg through one of the valve openings. I did so this morning, and voila! Open keg!
Thanks guys…
A couple of notes:
1) My keg is the pin lock type. The rest of the crew has ball lock. I can’t find anything that says one is better than the other- but the parts are not interchangeable. So I won’t be borrowing parts, and vice versa.
2) The 3 pin valve (post?) came off pretty easily with just an adjustable wrench. The right side (2 pin) would not. I am going to get a fixed wrench for that one. And if that doesn’t work, I’m going to just break down and get the deep socket that is meant forthe pin lock posts.
3) DON’T put the long stainless tube into your keg loose, and seal the top!
Share on Facebook
Tweet This Post
9
07
2008
Belgian Beer Dinner at the Half Door in Hartford
A Mid Summer’s Night’s Beer Dinner
Sunday, August 3rd 2008 – 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The Menu
Amuse Bouche
La Ramee Cheese and Pickled Shallot on a Round of Summer Sausage
De Ranke – Double XX Bitter
First Course
Mussels w/ Shaved Fennel, Roasted Tomato on Grilled Garlic Toast
Silenrieux – Sara Buckwheat Ale
Second Course
Plum Soup w/ Honeydew Tarragon Ice
Regenboog Brugge – Vuuve
Third Course
Salad of Rocket, Tangerine, Castello Blue, Citrus Balsamic Dressing
Brasserie de La Senne – Taras Boulba
Fourth Course
Sandwich of Smoked Salmon, Poached Lemon & Chives w/ Belgian Frites and Dill Mayo
Kleinbrouweru de Glazen Torren – Jan de Lichte
Fifth Course
Endive and Apple Raviolis w/ Prosciutto, Wilted Swiss Chard and Brie Cream Sauce
Regenboog Brugge – BBB Ourgondier
Sixth Course
Roasted Pork Tenderloin w/ Pear and Vidalia Onion Relish, Haricoverts & Leek and Garlic Gorgonzola Gratin of Potato
Liefman’s – Goudenband
Seventh Course
Molten Chocolate Cake, Belgian Waffle Pizzelle, Slivered Almonds, Strawberry Coulis, Champagne Reduction
Picobrouwerij Alvinne – Podge Imperial Stout
Share on Facebook
Tweet This Post
8
07
2008
Sunday was my first brewday since the week before Memorial Day – which means I’m running low – and vacations are coming up, along with some birthdays and holidays. After checking inventory, I decided to brew a nice wheat beer from
BCS. Essentially, 6 lb wheat, 6 lb 2-row, some Willamette and Centennial hops. I tossed in 1/2 lb rice hulls for good measure in order to avoid a stuck sparge. I must say, overall this was a good brewday. However, it started on an iffy note. When I was weighing out my grains, my scale crapped out, so I had to go buy a new one. Also, as this was my first brew since I bought my
Barley Crusher, I ran into an issue- my cordless 18v drill didn’t have enough torque to begin crushing a full hopper of grain. Looks like I’ll need to buy a cheap corded drill. In the meantime, I had to hand crush 12 lb of grain. Suckage! Additionally, I was not very organize, so little things like my timer, and my pitcher for recirculating, were not where they should have been.
On to the brew- it went very smoothly. After preheateing my MLT, I heated 4 gals water to 163 F to mash for 60 mins at 152 F. I tested the temp of the grains after 20 mins and was right on. My recirculation was pretty quick- the wort was flowing very clear VERY quickly. The 4 gallons yielded 2.5 gallons of wort. I then batch sparged with 5 gallons of 170 F water. My yield from this was 4.5 gallons, for a total into the brewkettle of 7 gallons. The recipe called for a pre-boil gravity of 1.044 (11 P) but I was a little high at 1.048 (12 P). After 60 minutes boil, I had about 6 gallons, with a gravity of 1.055 (13.8 P). A bit high still- but too much volume to allow me to dilute in order to drop the gravity.
Since I have a 5 gallon fermenter, I ended up with little headroom and decided to use a blowoff tube to catch the excess. I used SafALE US-05 yeas which I dehydrated Sunday evening. Unfortunately, tossing the yeast in the water to rehydrate, I fell asleep on the couch (it was about 10:00 pm at this point). So- Monday morning is when I actually pitched the yeast. Good thing I used a blowoff tube- I actually had to change overflow containers this morning!
I am very happy with both my volume, and my numbers. A couple of things were very different for me this brewday which affected how things went- the first is that I crushed my own grain. Not sure how much different my crush is than the
local brew shop‘s crush- but it does appear that my crush is finer, and that may bump the sugars. Secondly- I drained my sparge water slower. Normally, I run it as fast as it willdrain, but after some reading and listening to one of the
Sunday shows at
The Brewing Network, I decided to slow down the flow to allow more sugars to be drained. At some point I’ll want to do a side by side comparison and see what the difference is.
One plan I have for this batch is to brew another batch of something to toss right onto the left over yeast at the bottom of the fermenter after bottling this batch. We’ll see how that goes…
Share on Facebook
Tweet This Post
30
06
2008
Last night, I decided to crack open another bottle of the Special Bitter. While my palate isn’t very well trained, I think I detected a bit of tartness- at first I thought it was due to tannin extraction, but chatting with the guys, the consensus is that the beer might be infected. I hope not- but I’ll bring a bottle and have zee and snafui taste it to confirm. Damn- I was looking forward to this one.
In the meantime, I need to try to figure out how it got infected. This was the only batch I fermented in a bucket, and since it was stuck- I had to open the top multiple times to test it, stir it, etc. That is where I think the infection came from- if in fact, it is infected and I just don’t recognize and expected flavor in a special bitter.
Also, the frequency of posting has not been consistent nor often enough- something that I hope to remedy.
Until next time…
Share on Facebook
Tweet This Post
11
06
2008
Well, we’ve been drinking the Mild Ale for a little while, and it seems to be aging nicely. I do need to get some bottles over to some of the other Beer League guys for their assessment. last night, though, I dropped by my neighbor’s house with a bottle of the Mild, a bottle of my Harpoon IPA clone, and the Special Bitter I have been struggling with. The Mild was very good, the IPA, while still a bit young (I bottled the IPA and the SB 5 days ago) was good- nice bitterness, good hops aroma and a good head. The Special Bitter, however, is apparently following its path of taking a verryyy looong time to go anywhere. While I know 5 days in the bottle is way too short- I’ve tried every beer I’ve bottled so far at around 5 days to check progress, and the bitter is the only one that still tasted more like wort than beer. We actually dumped it.
However, I must say that there are some really nice lower layer flavors there- so I am pretty hopefull that a few weeks or months out- the Special Bitter will taste really nice. Just not right now.
Tonight, it looks like I’ll be bottling my American Pale Ale – it’s hit a FG of 1.012 (target is 1.013) so it’s time- andshould be nice and smooth for some nice summer tasting.
Share on Facebook
Tweet This Post
