Beer 1 – Approaching the end
Posted By sunsetslave on May 8, 2009
Only 2 beers left, one for Andy and one for Damien.
Jackies brewing next probably some sort of IPA.
Beer 1 – "Heady Potent Seductive"
Posted By sunsetslave on March 7, 2009
Notes:
So, having done a bit of math according to my hydrometer and my best remembrances of temperatures my beer is roughly 6.5% alcohol but the way it goes straight to your head I’m pretty sure it’s a decent amount higher. The recipe says it should be 8-9%.
My thoughts:
Beginning at the end, An extremely mild bitterness in the after taste. Preceded by a deep leafy herbal flavor. As it hit’s the tongue it is very lite and with a lot of carbonation that brings the aroma right up your nose. Jackie can describe this better than I can, check out what she thinks.
Jackie’s thoughts/ review:
Hey all. So I just tried Stacey’s first beer. I poured it into a fancy 13 oz glass, super gentle because Stace mentioned it had a lot of carbonation – turns out he just shook his. : ) The head on mine is very thin, mostly white with yellow hints, visible bubbles. Very strong aroma of molasses with a hint of licorice. Taste is at first almost minty, a bit like cola. Moxie, maybe? Mouthfeel is not as heavy as I expected – the color is so dark I was expecting a stout-type heaviness, but it’s actually pretty light in texture. Really sparkly carbonation. Lingering aftertaste of orange zest, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Overall it’s really pretty good, very complex. Not the type of beer I generally go for, but definately well done, especially for a first brew! : )
Beer 1 – IT'S BEER!!
Posted By sunsetslave on March 3, 2009
The beer has been in bottles for about a week, which is apparently enough to carbonate it. I cracked one open last night (it’s early I know) and it was pretty good. I’ll write up a full description in a week or so when my beer is the first of the evening and not the 4th.
Hoping my bottles don’t explode
Stacey
Beer 1 – Bottling
Posted By sunsetslave on February 24, 2009
Bottling day has arrived! So, I filled the bottling bucket with water and mixed in sanitizing solution and used the bottling wand and hose to fill the bottles with sanitizing solution. I boiled my 5 oz of priming sugar in 2 cups (1 Pint) of water for 5 min.. poured the still hot (a little worried about that) priming sugar in my now empty bottling bucket and used the Alton Brown inspired spigot to drain the fermenter into the bottling bucket. I let the first bit flow into a pint glass to check for excess sediment. Once that was done I sanitized my hydrometer and took a final gravity reading of 1.022 a bit high for the recipe but it should be OK.
In the end I was able to fill:
2 750 ml bottles
3 20 oz Bottles
and 32 12 oz bottles
I tasted the beer at this point it is very different from the wort, it’s smooth and sweet it also has sort of an elixir flavor like Moxie.
Onward to carbon nation,
Stacey
Beer 1 – Fermentation
Posted By sunsetslave on February 16, 2009
The airlock has basicly stopped bubbling, I’m still gonna let it sit for another week to let as much sediment stttle as possible.
Wort worth waiting for,
Stacey
Beer 1 – Fermentation
Posted By sunsetslave on February 12, 2009
Bubbles about 40 seconds apart.
Slowly bubbling away,
Stacey
Beer 1 – Fermentation
Posted By sunsetslave on February 10, 2009
My blow off tube has stopped spewing ick and puss so it’s back to the three piece airlock. That happened faster than I thought it would.
Been about five minutes, seems to be going well. The water is still clear and the bubbles are only a second or two apart.
Brew bubbles blow off,
Stacey
Beer 1 – Fermentation
Posted By sunsetslave on February 9, 2009
Holy crap!!
Just got home from work, went to listen to the airlock (the fermenter is in a box to keep the cat away) and I didn’t hear a nice little bubble but a horrendous hiss. I opened the box to find a completely clogged airlock, it had overflowed and the hiss was high pressure gas making its way around the airlock.
The first thing I did was start to take the top off the airlock, I was then greeted with a rush of CO2, after waiting for that to clear out I removed the airlock to clean it. As I pulled out the airlock I was showered with foam (I think there is still some in my hair). So I cleaned out the airlock as quick as I could, turned around to find the airlock hole foaming over so I crammed the airlock back in the hole. It worked for about a minute and was clogged again.
Off to the internet I ran. A quick search taught me that this is common with small (exactly 5 gallons) glass fermenters and was actually a sign of strong yeast and a good fermentation. So using directions intended for a glass fermenter (mine is plastic) I used my bottling hose in the air lock hole and put the other end in a glass of water (in a mixing bowl) on the floor. This method is called a blow off tube.
So, very good fermentation makes a mess. It should slow down in a few days then I can go back to the normal 3 piece airlock, until then I have to find a way to store my new contraption (and keep the cat away).
Brewing with bubbles,
Stacey
Beer 1 – Fermentation
Posted By sunsetslave on February 9, 2009
The airlock has started bubbling.
Brewing with bubbles,
Stacey
Beer 1 – Brew Day
Posted By sunsetslave on February 9, 2009
The Brew:
Beginning my brew day I fit together all the important parts; the spigot went into the bucket and the airlock into the lid. Both were a very tight fit, the airlock was actually too tight… I accidentally tore the rubber grommet. So now, after a quick trip to the hardware store, I have a grommet that fits the airlock very well but the hole in the lid is too small. Using a small sharp knife (I don’t own a drill) I made the lid hole large enough for the new grommet.
The two cans of malt extract are in my largest (still too small) mixing bowl with hot water flowing over them so that when the time comes the malt should flow out of the can easily.
Now a break to eat so I can think better and not rush through the brew… ahhhh that was tasty.
Note: buy a manual can opener, malt extract is a bitch with an electric… the can is too big and heavy!
Grains steeped at the lower end of the recomended temp almost exactly 160 F
My stove is small it’s taking a very very long time to get from 160 to a boil (bottle for size reference)
Wort finally boiling, hops in, timer set
I’m having difficulty maintaining a boil with the lid off , now using the lid partially on so I can watch for foam build up and retain heat at the same time.
Timer went off. Pulled off the lid, put in the finishing hops and spice pack. Smells a little like apple pie after about 2 minutes. The aroma is mostly (but not entirely) taken over by the hop aroma.
Jackie very graciously filled the bath tub with cold water in preparation for the end of the boil.
The cinnamon is forcing its way back into the aroma of the steam, 3ish minutes left on the boil.
Got the wort in the fermenter, sealed it up, was about to water the air lock and then realized… beer needs yeast. I popped the bucket back open, took a hydrometer reading (alomost forgot that too), scooped a little out with my sterilized glass and sprinkled on the yeast.
1.070 initial gravity right on target with the low end on the printed recipe.
The wort is a bit, well, disgusting. It smells a bit like mild mollases and tastes like a dirty pinecone. It’s dark brown and (only 5 minutes after going into the fermenter) my little sample has a lot of sediment. I think it’s mostly pelletized hop residue and cinnamon.
I hope the fermentation does good things for this beer, like mellowing the hop aroma and smothing out all the maltyness. I’ll post about more stuff as it happens, at the very least in 2ish weeks when bottling day comes around. See you then.
Bros can’t brew,
Stacey