Saturday was National Homebrew day so I decided to brew up a quick batch. That combined with the pipeline being low led me to brew an all extract batch, which is something I haven't done in a while. I got a Cooper's Brewmaster selection Wheat Beer. I added 3 lbs of DME and steeped half a lb of carapils for body and head.
I brought 1.5 gallons or so of water up to about 160 and added the carapils for about 20 minutes. Then I brought the water close to 200 and removed from the heat and added the DME. Then I brought that to a boil for about 10 minutes. I removed it from the heat and mixed in the Cooper's wheat extract. I added the wort to the fermenting bucket that had about half a gallon of cold water and then topped of to about 5.5 gallons. My temp was high so I put the bucket in an ice batch and cooled down to about 79 degrees before pitching the yeast. The OG was 1.052, and the wort tasted really good.
.5 lb Carapils (steeped)
3.75 lb Cooper's Brewmaster Selection Wheat
3 lb Briess Wheat DME
Coopers yeast
Monday, May 9, 2011
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Bottling and brewing day!
I have had a busy day off as usual. Today I bottled my Scottish 60 that had been fermenting for two and half weeks. I also am in the middle of brewing my Breakfast Stout. On top of that I had my usual duties of watching the kids.
I have decided to outline my bottling process with words and pictures.
The first thing I do is to gather all the bottles, bottling bucket, bottle tree, sanitizer and other equipment I will need to bottle a batch of brew.
Once everything is out and set up I measure my priming agent, which in this case was 52 grams of dextrose. I add this to a microwave safe measuring cup with 1 cup of water. Then I cover with plastic wrap and microwave for probably about 4 minutes. I like it to boil for at least a minute. Then I take that out and put it in the freezer, still covered with plastic wrap. While this cools I start sanitizing bottles. This batch is five gallons so I did about 52 bottles to be on the safe side. I use a bottle tree with a vinator on top filled with star san. This to me is the fastest way to sanitize. I just give each bottle three pumps on vinator with shoots the sanitizer into the bottle, then I let it drain on the tree. It takes about 5 minutes to do this amount of bottles.
After I have sanitized I then take the sugar water out of the freezer and prepare to transfer the beer into a bottling bucket. I put the primary fermenter on the counter and the bottling bucket on the floor. I use an auto-siphon to transfer the liquid. Once I start the flow I added the priming sugar to the bottling bucket just as the transfer starts. I put the hose in the bottling bucket so the liquid forms sort of a whirlpool as it transfers this mixes the sugar in evenly while not aerating the beer. Oxygen is your enemy at this point, it will stale the beer faster giving it a sort of wet cardboard flavor. So the less sloshing and splashing at this point the better.
My next step at this point is to pour a beer and give the beer a few minutes to settle down. Today I went with a Schwarzbier that is just done with its two week carbing phase. This will get much better with a few more weeks in the bottle.
After I pour the beer I move the bottling bucket on top of the fermenter on the counter. To bottle I had a short length of hose to the spigot and then put the bottling wand right on that. I find this not only keeps things off the floor where little hand like to mess with them, I actually do less work this way. I only have to transfer the bottles once from the tree to the counter and I fill and cap there. I used to add a six foot length of hose and bottle on the floor. This was uncomfortable and not very efficient for me. I stand right at the counter and fill each bottle and then cap in groups of 24 bottles. In other words, I fill 24 bottles and then cap them. Then I get 24 more bottles and then fill and cap them.
Then once all the bottles are filled and capped its time to label, box them up and clean up. I use a sharpie to label each cap with an initial or other mark. This time I chose the number 60 being that this is a Scottish 60\-. These will sit at room temp for about 2 weeks and then I will try one to make sure it is carbed and to judge how much longer I want it to condition. I usually go from 4-8 weeks for conditioning depending on the recipe. Usually the darker the beer the more conditioning it needs.
After I got all cleaned up from making the bottling mess and fed the kids lunch and such. I decided to brew. I have this Breakfast stout recipe that I am looking forward to. It is about 30 minutes into the boil. It will ferment for about two weeks and then be in the bottle for about 5-6 weeks.
I have decided to outline my bottling process with words and pictures.
The first thing I do is to gather all the bottles, bottling bucket, bottle tree, sanitizer and other equipment I will need to bottle a batch of brew.
Once everything is out and set up I measure my priming agent, which in this case was 52 grams of dextrose. I add this to a microwave safe measuring cup with 1 cup of water. Then I cover with plastic wrap and microwave for probably about 4 minutes. I like it to boil for at least a minute. Then I take that out and put it in the freezer, still covered with plastic wrap. While this cools I start sanitizing bottles. This batch is five gallons so I did about 52 bottles to be on the safe side. I use a bottle tree with a vinator on top filled with star san. This to me is the fastest way to sanitize. I just give each bottle three pumps on vinator with shoots the sanitizer into the bottle, then I let it drain on the tree. It takes about 5 minutes to do this amount of bottles.
After I have sanitized I then take the sugar water out of the freezer and prepare to transfer the beer into a bottling bucket. I put the primary fermenter on the counter and the bottling bucket on the floor. I use an auto-siphon to transfer the liquid. Once I start the flow I added the priming sugar to the bottling bucket just as the transfer starts. I put the hose in the bottling bucket so the liquid forms sort of a whirlpool as it transfers this mixes the sugar in evenly while not aerating the beer. Oxygen is your enemy at this point, it will stale the beer faster giving it a sort of wet cardboard flavor. So the less sloshing and splashing at this point the better.
My next step at this point is to pour a beer and give the beer a few minutes to settle down. Today I went with a Schwarzbier that is just done with its two week carbing phase. This will get much better with a few more weeks in the bottle.
After I pour the beer I move the bottling bucket on top of the fermenter on the counter. To bottle I had a short length of hose to the spigot and then put the bottling wand right on that. I find this not only keeps things off the floor where little hand like to mess with them, I actually do less work this way. I only have to transfer the bottles once from the tree to the counter and I fill and cap there. I used to add a six foot length of hose and bottle on the floor. This was uncomfortable and not very efficient for me. I stand right at the counter and fill each bottle and then cap in groups of 24 bottles. In other words, I fill 24 bottles and then cap them. Then I get 24 more bottles and then fill and cap them.
Then once all the bottles are filled and capped its time to label, box them up and clean up. I use a sharpie to label each cap with an initial or other mark. This time I chose the number 60 being that this is a Scottish 60\-. These will sit at room temp for about 2 weeks and then I will try one to make sure it is carbed and to judge how much longer I want it to condition. I usually go from 4-8 weeks for conditioning depending on the recipe. Usually the darker the beer the more conditioning it needs.
After I got all cleaned up from making the bottling mess and fed the kids lunch and such. I decided to brew. I have this Breakfast stout recipe that I am looking forward to. It is about 30 minutes into the boil. It will ferment for about two weeks and then be in the bottle for about 5-6 weeks.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Wednesday Oct 27 2010
I have done a few batches since my last blog post. The Octoberfest Cream Ale actually turned out well. The diacetyl actually conditioned out and I have a few bottles left that have been bottled for 60 days. After the cream ale I did a little experiment for Mr. Beer using a test sanitizer. They sent me the sanitizer and a batch of Bewitched Red Ale w/ mellow amber UME, which I called Mystery Red Ale, in the spirit of the experiment. I brewed that up using the sanitizer they sent with it to test. Everything seemed to work just fine. The batch is in the bottle three weeks today and tastes pretty good. I will wait the full 4 weeks in the bottle before I fill out the questionaire and send it back to them. I brewed this one straight up and fermented in the cooler at about 66-68 degrees. I primed with 1/2 teaspoon of dextrose per 12 oz bottle. The bottles were also sanitized with the test sanitizer.
The next batch was also a Mr. beer recipe, the "May The Schwarzbier With You!". This was also fermented in the cooler at about 68 degrees. It has been three weeks in the keg. I was going to bottle at two weeks, but the gravity was really high at about 1.030. I used Muntons yeast in this because it was all I had. At the two week mark I gently shook the keg to get the yeast stirred back up and it seemed to work. The gravity is down to 1.024 and I will be bottling it today.
On Sunday I went to Great Fermentations, my Local Homebrew Shop. I got ingredients for two very simple, low alcohol recipes. I got a Scottish light 60 recipe and a breakfast stout. These were both recipes I got from northernbrewer.com but I modified them a bit and added some grains I thought would work well with each style. Sunday I brewed up the Scottish 60 and it went well. No issues whatsoever. I used fermcap s in the boil, it helped a great deal in keeping the foam down during the beginning of the boil. I added ten drops to the 2.5 gallons in the boil and the foam was kept to about 1/2 an inch and only covering about half the top of the brew. My initial intention was to get this for high gravity brews to keep the krausen under control so I dont blow the top off a bucket and spew beer all over my daughters closet.
Next up is a Breakfast stout. It will be low ABV as well, probably about 3% or so. I just wanted to get a few batches going as my pipeline was dwindling by the day. The Scottish and the breakfast stout are both 5 gallon batches that cost about 20 bucks each. I am really looking forward to the breakfast stout since it will contain flaked oats and lactose. Both will lend to a nice full, creamy body, but being only 3% abv it will also be easy to drink.
The next batch was also a Mr. beer recipe, the "May The Schwarzbier With You!". This was also fermented in the cooler at about 68 degrees. It has been three weeks in the keg. I was going to bottle at two weeks, but the gravity was really high at about 1.030. I used Muntons yeast in this because it was all I had. At the two week mark I gently shook the keg to get the yeast stirred back up and it seemed to work. The gravity is down to 1.024 and I will be bottling it today.
On Sunday I went to Great Fermentations, my Local Homebrew Shop. I got ingredients for two very simple, low alcohol recipes. I got a Scottish light 60 recipe and a breakfast stout. These were both recipes I got from northernbrewer.com but I modified them a bit and added some grains I thought would work well with each style. Sunday I brewed up the Scottish 60 and it went well. No issues whatsoever. I used fermcap s in the boil, it helped a great deal in keeping the foam down during the beginning of the boil. I added ten drops to the 2.5 gallons in the boil and the foam was kept to about 1/2 an inch and only covering about half the top of the brew. My initial intention was to get this for high gravity brews to keep the krausen under control so I dont blow the top off a bucket and spew beer all over my daughters closet.
Next up is a Breakfast stout. It will be low ABV as well, probably about 3% or so. I just wanted to get a few batches going as my pipeline was dwindling by the day. The Scottish and the breakfast stout are both 5 gallon batches that cost about 20 bucks each. I am really looking forward to the breakfast stout since it will contain flaked oats and lactose. Both will lend to a nice full, creamy body, but being only 3% abv it will also be easy to drink.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Octoberfest Fermentation notes
I brewed the Octoberfest on Saturday night. I am using a cooler with frozen water bottles to control my fermentation temperature. I put the keg into the cooler the first night with 8 water bottles. It kept the temp at about 64 degrees. I have had about an inch of krausen on top of the brew since Sunday morning when I checked the brew. It seems to have taken off sometime in the middle of the night Saturday so the lag time was very minimal. I have been changing the bottles out every 12 hours or so. It has been keeping a pretty steady temp from 61-64 degrees. I have had to drop a few of the bottles as the fermentation dies down.
The frozen bottles after the 12 hrs have been still pretty frozen the last day or so. So I changed them out last night about 10pm and by midnight it was down to 59 degrees in the cooler so I took out three of the bottles and left only three in the cooler. This morning it was 64 degrees.
I plan on leaving this to ferment at least two weeks. Then I will bottle and let it sit at about 70 to carb and condition for 5 weeks, maybe spending the last week in the fridge. I will be drinking these by the very beginning of October.
The frozen bottles after the 12 hrs have been still pretty frozen the last day or so. So I changed them out last night about 10pm and by midnight it was down to 59 degrees in the cooler so I took out three of the bottles and left only three in the cooler. This morning it was 64 degrees.
I plan on leaving this to ferment at least two weeks. Then I will bottle and let it sit at about 70 to carb and condition for 5 weeks, maybe spending the last week in the fridge. I will be drinking these by the very beginning of October.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Brew Day
Yesterday I brewed up a Mr. Beer Recipe called Octoberfest Cream Ale. It is supposed to be a tasty ale version of a classic lager recipe. Im trying my new cooler with frozen water bottles inside to keep the temp down. I added 8 water bottles and the temp is at a steady 64 degrees.
I did pitch the yeast warm at about 85 degrees but I think it will be ok. Im going to let this ferment for about 2-3 weeks and then let it condition for 4-6 weeks.
Octoberfest Cream Ale
Recipe Octoberfest Cream Ale Style Oktoberfest/Marzen
Brewer Scott Batch 2.13 gal
Extract
Recipe Characteristics
Recipe Gravity 1.047 OG Estimated FG 1.012 FG
Recipe Bitterness 13 IBU Alcohol by Volume 4.5%
Recipe Color 14° SRM Alcohol by Weight 3.5%
Ingredients
Quantity Grain Type Use
1.21 lb MrB. Mellow Amber UME Extract Extract
1.21 lb MrB. Octoberfest Vienna Lager Extract Extract
Quantity Hop Type Time
0.50 oz Generic Pellet 0 minutes
1.00 oz MrB. Octoberfest Vienna Lager Pellet 5 minutes
Quantity Misc Notes
1 unit Safale S-04 English Ale Yeast Other
Recipe Notes
Batch Notes
Brewed 08/14/10
I did pitch the yeast warm at about 85 degrees but I think it will be ok. Im going to let this ferment for about 2-3 weeks and then let it condition for 4-6 weeks.
Octoberfest Cream Ale
Recipe Octoberfest Cream Ale Style Oktoberfest/Marzen
Brewer Scott Batch 2.13 gal
Extract
Recipe Characteristics
Recipe Gravity 1.047 OG Estimated FG 1.012 FG
Recipe Bitterness 13 IBU Alcohol by Volume 4.5%
Recipe Color 14° SRM Alcohol by Weight 3.5%
Ingredients
Quantity Grain Type Use
1.21 lb MrB. Mellow Amber UME Extract Extract
1.21 lb MrB. Octoberfest Vienna Lager Extract Extract
Quantity Hop Type Time
0.50 oz Generic Pellet 0 minutes
1.00 oz MrB. Octoberfest Vienna Lager Pellet 5 minutes
Quantity Misc Notes
1 unit Safale S-04 English Ale Yeast Other
Recipe Notes
Batch Notes
Brewed 08/14/10
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
48qt cooler temp control test
I got a free 48qt cooler a few weeks ago. I was thinking of converting this into a mash tun. But I dont really want to do all grain. I decided that I would use this as a temperature control chamber for my smaller batches. I do my smaller batches in Mr. Beer kegs. I really like the size and the fact that they are brown makes them less permeable to light. I also like the fact that there is no airlock. Just a vented lid to let air out but nothing in.
My brewing plans did a complete 180 when I saw Mr. beer was having a sale. Its been a couple years since I have used any of their ingredients. I grabbed up two of their recipes which were on sale. The first one is a schwarzbier. I have always liked this style of beer so we will see how the MB recipe compares. Now it is a lager and it is made with Mr. Beer ingredients. So I don't have super high hopes. But I do really like the Octoberfest Vienna Lager from Mr. Beer, which is the base for this kit.
The other recipe I got was a Octoberfest Cream Ale. This also uses the Octoberfest vienna lager as a base. I also plan to try to ferment these in the new temperature control chamber. I got US-04 for these so hopefully I can get very few fruity esters in these beers.
My brewing plans did a complete 180 when I saw Mr. beer was having a sale. Its been a couple years since I have used any of their ingredients. I grabbed up two of their recipes which were on sale. The first one is a schwarzbier. I have always liked this style of beer so we will see how the MB recipe compares. Now it is a lager and it is made with Mr. Beer ingredients. So I don't have super high hopes. But I do really like the Octoberfest Vienna Lager from Mr. Beer, which is the base for this kit.
The other recipe I got was a Octoberfest Cream Ale. This also uses the Octoberfest vienna lager as a base. I also plan to try to ferment these in the new temperature control chamber. I got US-04 for these so hopefully I can get very few fruity esters in these beers.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
More updates
Its been a while since I have brewed. I did end up doing the Muntons Mexican cerveza. It didn't turn out very good. I want to do some stuff coming up for the end of summer, Oktoberfest, and Christmas. But I need to get on the ball.
I really want to do a true lager Oktoberfest, a Belgian dubbel, and another attempt at an Old Fezziwig clone, along with my normal IPA, and stouts and porters for winter.
Beer just hasn't been tasting really good to me lately and I cant figure out why. I think part of it may be the larger 5 gallon batches. I get towards the end of the two cases of each beer and I cant drink them anymore. I think I may do just house beers like IPA's or brown ales in 5 gallons and then try the seasonals in 2.5 gallon batches.
I really want to do a true lager Oktoberfest, a Belgian dubbel, and another attempt at an Old Fezziwig clone, along with my normal IPA, and stouts and porters for winter.
Beer just hasn't been tasting really good to me lately and I cant figure out why. I think part of it may be the larger 5 gallon batches. I get towards the end of the two cases of each beer and I cant drink them anymore. I think I may do just house beers like IPA's or brown ales in 5 gallons and then try the seasonals in 2.5 gallon batches.
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