Andy's Brewing Blog

Socks-Off IPA

2011-12-27T23:59:00.000-08:00

This IPA is so-named because it will "knock your socks off", between the hops and the potential alcohol content. My wonderful spouse got me a "home-brewed" IPA kit from our local small brew store (i.e., one thrown together by the owner) for Christmas, so I decided to brew it up tonight, with a few minor modifications for what ingredients I had on hand and wanted to use up.

Socks-Off IPA

0.66 lbs. Munich malt
3.75 lbs. Pale Malt, Maris Otter
3.3 lbs. Briess Amber Liquid Malt Extract
3.3 lbs. Briess Golden Light Liquid Malt Extract
3.3 lbs. Briess Bavarian Wheat Liquid Malt Extract
3 oz. Cascade hops (whole)
1 oz. Hallertauer hops (whole)
1 oz. Sterling hops (whole)
1 oz. Saaz hops (whole)
1 tsp. Irish moss
2 oz. Cascade hops (pellets)
1 package London Ale III yeast (Wyeast Labs #1318)

Steps

I heated 3 gallons of tap water to 154° F, and steeped the grains for one hour (between 154° and 156° F). Then, I sparged the grains with one gallon of water at roughly 160° F, to bring the total volume to 4 gallons (or just a little over).
After bringing the mixture to a boil, I turned off the heat and added the liquid malt extracts. Then, I heated the kettle back to a boil (again) and added the whole Cascade, Hallertauer, and Sterling hops.
After 45 minutes, I added 1 tsp. of Irish moss.
After 55 minutes, I added the Saaz hops.
After 60 minutes, I removed all of the hops and chilled the wort. Once it had gotten down to an appropriate temperature, I added the wort to my fermenter. The volume at this point was 3.5 gallons, so I topped up with cold tap water to roughly 5.25 gallons.
The temperature of the wort was 76° F. I pitched the yeast, sealed the lid, and let the yeast do its thing.
Starting gravity was 1.072 - right at the upper of end of the American IPA style. BeerSmith estimates the bitterness at 59.3 IBU, color at 11.7 SRM, and ABV at 7.1%.
In a week or so, I'll move the mixture over to my secondary fermenter, and add the Cascade pellets for dry-hopping.

In other news, I've started using the BeerSmith software to formulate my recipes. The excellent reputation of the program is quite deserved - it's flexible and friendly to extract brewers as well as all-grain brewers.

Amber Ale, Vanilla Porter, and Irish Stout Updates

2011-12-17T20:55:00.000-08:00

A few updates condensed into one post. . .

Vanilla Voay Porter
This experimental brew (recipe, update, and update) was bottled on Saturday, December 10. This gave the vanilla extract/pods around two weeks in the secondary fermenter - the chopped and scraped pods floated on the surface, and many of the tiny seeds were everywhere in the fermenter.

Final gravity was 1.016, from a starting gravity of 1.056, giving 5.25% alcohol by volume. Final yield was just over 5 gallons of beer(!), with 30 12-oz. bottles, 12 1-pt. bottles, and 4 22-oz. bottles.

Four days after bottling, I was impatient and opened one of the small bottles. Carbonation was still very slight, but the flavor and aroma were delicious. A faint vanilla scent, but a rich vanilla flavor (not overpowering though, thankfully). I'm very excited to see how this is going to mature over the next few weeks!

Fake Tire Amber Ale
One week after brewing, I transferred my Fat Tire clone into the secondary fermenter. The aroma was very estery, with a strong banana component. I might have been a little worried, except the yeast strain is known to do this. The gravity was around 1.014 at this point, and hadn't changed at all when I racked the beer into the bottling bucket today (December 17, 19 days after brewing). This gives 5% alcohol by volume, a little less than the 5.2% of real Fat Tire.

From this batch, I got 20 12-oz. bottles, 14 1-pt. bottles, and 1 22-oz. bottle. Next time I might try scaling the recipe up a bit.

When preparing to bottle, I'm very impressed by the absolute clarity of the beer. This bodes well for the final product (which I'll probably test in a week's time - Christmas Eve!).

Coopers Irish Stout
The Irish stout I made a few weeks ago has matured into a wonderfully drinkable brew. The head is a nice caramel-color, and isn't overwhelming, but certainly sticks around the edges of the glass after pouring. The flavor has a hint of malt and is dominated by the roasted grains, and has a nice dry finish (as expected for the style). As I noted at the time of bottling, it's not a very exciting beer (middle of the road flavor - good but no really unusual highlights), but it's certainly a solid one.

This kit was cheap, fast, easy, and tasty - perfect for the beginning or end of the brew season when I just want to crank something out! I'll admit that it's not quite as much fun as doing everything from scratch, but then again that's also a welcome break sometimes. I expect I'll probably do this kit (or a similar one) again!

Irish stout, in the glass

Fake Tire Amber Ale

2011-11-28T19:42:00.000-08:00

I've always liked Fat Tire (from New Belgium Brewing), and have previously found clone recipes to be a good way to experiment with various styles and flavors. Thus, tonight's brew was modeled after two different Fat Tire recipes I found kicking around the Internet. These are followed reasonably closely, except for the hops - I used what I had on hand, so this will almost certainly modify the resultant into something Fat Tire-ish rather than a spot-on Fat Tire (if such a thing is genuinely possible). Thus, I'm calling this batch. . .

Fake Tire

5 pounds plain extra-light DME
0.5 lb Munich light malt
0.5 lb Carapils malt
0.5 lb biscuit malt
0.5 lb crystal malt (20° Lovibond)
0.5 lb crystal malt (40° Lovibond)
1.0 oz chocolate malt
1.0 oz. Cascade hops (60 minutes boil)
1.0 oz. Mt. Hood hops (5 minutes boil)
1 tsp. Irish moss (15 minutes boil)
Wyeast 1272 (American Ale II)

Steps

I heated 3.5 gallons of tap water to 154° F (usually hovering around 156° to 158°), and steeped the grains for 45 minutes. Then, I sparged the grains with 0.5 gallons of tap water at 154°.
After bringing the mixture to a boil, I turned off the heat and added the malt. I brought it back to a boil, and threw in the Cascade hops.
After boiling for 45 minutes, I added 1 tsp. of Spanish moss.
After boiling for another 10 minutes (for 55 minutes total boil), I added the Mt. Hood hops.
After 5 more minutes (60 minutes total of boiling), I cooled the wort with my chiller, added cold tap water to a total of 4.5 gallons, and pitched the yeast. Pitching temperature was 74° F, and starting gravity was measured at 1.052. The wort is a nice amber color (as befits an amber ale).

As I refined the recipe, I played around with some calculators for IBU and starting gravity. I got an estimated boil gravity (4 gallon boil) of 1.077; with a top-up to 5 gallons, this gives an estimated IBU of 20.7 and estimated starting gravity of 1.061. My actual starting gravity was a little lower, at 1.052. Part of this discrepancy could be the sludge I left in the bottom of the brew pot, and the other could just be errors in the brew calculator.

New Belgium officially gives an "OG" of 12.6 and an "FG" of 2.2 for Fat Tire, which I think is on the Brix scale (even if not stated). This translates to 1.051 and 1.009. Thus, my original gravity is quite close! We'll see if this comparability is maintained through fermentation. (as a side-note, they measure 18.5 IBU and 5.2% ABV, too)

I've never fermented with American Ale II before, so I'm curious to see how it works out. Judging by the Wyeast website, this should be a nice little strain.

The grains, waiting to steep

Coopers Irish Stout - An Experiment

2011-11-27T13:11:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I was at my local home brew store, getting the stuff together for tomorrow's brewing session (a Fat Tire-ish amber ale). Looking up on one shelf, I saw these cans of hopped extract kits. $21 on the price tag. Intrigued by the low cost, I asked the shop owner if it was worth trying. He told me that many home brewers look down their noses at these kits (I suppose because it's considered cheating), but that they actually can turn out some great beer. Quick, easy, cheap. . .worth a try! So, I bought a kit and took it home.

I selected a Coopers Irish Stout kit, which included a can of hopped malt and a packet of yeast. The package recommended adding some additional malt and dextrose - I had dry malt already, but not the latter, so I skipped dextrose. Instead, I used one pound of light and one pound of amber dry malt extract.

The directions recommended dissolving the can's contents and the dry malt in 2 liters of boiling water. In order to achieve an additional level of sanitation, I boiled the dry malt first (in about 3 liters of water). Once that had gone for a few minutes, I turned off the heat and stirred in the liquid hopped malt. Several websites I saw said not to boil this final mixture, in order to maximize flavor. That makes sense, because the malt in the can should already be sterile, and I didn't want to drive off any latent aroma.

At any rate, I dumped the hot mixture in my primary fermenter, and topped it up with cold tap water to about 5.25 gallons (enough to get the overall temperature down appropriately for the yeast). Original gravity was 1.044. I pitched the dry yeast directly into the fermenter (per the package directions), sealed it up, and hoped for the best.

The fermentation was clearly moving along after 24 hours, and after 48 hours it was so vigorous as to be spilling out the top of my airlock. I let it go for seven days, until the gravity had dropped to 1.018. Then, I transferred the beer into my bottling bucket (with 2/3 cup corn sugar added for priming), and bottled. The overall yield was 10 18 oz. bottles and 36 12 oz. bottles - not too shabby! Given the o.g. and f.g., I can expect about 3.4% alcohol by volume.

The uncarbonated beer has a clean flavor, but I must say it isn't that complex or interesting otherwise. Then again, what can you expect for around $25 worth of materials? A big plus was the speed of initial brewing - it was only about 90 minutes of work to get from can to sealed primary fermenter (this includes cleaning all of the equipment!). Once carbonated, I anticipate this Irish Stout being a rather drinkable session brew - perfect for the upcoming winter months!

Vanilla Voay Porter Update 2

2011-11-27T13:06:00.000-08:00

Fermentation in the secondary fermenter has slowed down to a crawl, so last night (14 days post-brew) I added the homemade vanilla extract (pods and all). The extract has a very nice vanilla aroma--much stronger than just soaking whole bean pods.

In one week, it's time to bottle!

Vanilla Voay Porter Update

2011-11-19T20:39:00.000-08:00

My vanilla porter has gone through the first stage of fermentation, and after one week I have now transferred it into a glass carboy for secondary fermentation. At the time of transfer, the gravity was 1.024, down from the starting gravity of 1.056. I expect that the gravity will go down a little more over the next two weeks before bottling.

The beer is nicely flavored, with no off character that I can detect. Dark color (see photo at left), lighter body, and heading towards the direction of a very drinkable porter. Interestingly, the yeast strain I used (White Labs California V ale yeast) produced a mild sulfurous aroma in the early stages of fermentation. I have read elsewhere that this is a normal characteristic for that strain, so I didn't worry about that too much. It's not detectable on tasting, either.

I also started some vanilla beans in vodka, to make an extract for the porter. At the recommendation of my brewing colleague Greg, I split the pods, scraped the seeds into the vodka, and then cut the pods up and threw them in too. In one week, I plan to add them to the secondary along with the rest of the beer.

Vanilla Voay Porter, in the secondary fermenter

Vanilla Voay Porter

2011-11-12T14:48:00.000-08:00

It is finally time for the first batch of the season! I've been wanting to do a vanilla porter for some time, because I have a bunch of vanilla beans from my last trip to Madagascar. My wife and I both like porters, too (and she loves vanilla porter), so the stars are in alignment for this attempt.

The base recipe is modified from one I found on-line; nothing too fancy, but that's probably an OK thing. I had thought about riffing from the recipe for last year's Schoolhouse Porter (which turned out awesome!), but the flavor for that would be just a little too big against vanilla. The hops are all whole hops from my dad's vines in South Dakota, and I got all of the other ingredients at a new local homebrew shop (Vanguard Home Brewing Supply - much closer than the other options, and an excellent selection of malts, grains, and yeasts).

For those who are curious, "voay" (pronounced "voy") is Malagasy for "crocodile." The name was chosen because of the Malagasy origin of the vanilla, in honor of the various fossil crocs I've dug up over there, and because it has a nice ring to it!

Vanilla Voay Porter

1/2 pound 40L caramel crystal malt
1/2 pound chocolate malt
1/2 pound cara-pils malt
6 pounds light dry malt extract
1 oz. Cascade hops (whole) for bittering
1 oz. Sterling hops (whole) for bittering
1 vial White Labs California V ale yeast (WLP051)

Steps

I heated 3 gallons of water to ~158°, and steeped the grains. After 30 minutes, I sparged them with 1 gallon of water, to fill the brew pot to 4 gallons.
I heated the water to boiling (gas stove now!), and turned off the flame. I added the dry malt extract, stirred it until it dissolved, and heated the pot to boiling.
Once the pot was boiling, I added the Cascade hops.
After 50 minutes, I added the Sterling hops.
After 60 minutes, I took out the hops, re-topped the kettle to ~4 gallons, and started cooling with my cooling coil.
Once the wort had cooled to around 70°, I put it in the fermenter, topped to 5.5 gallons, and pitched the yeast. The starting gravity is 1.056 - I had started at 5 gallons, but the gravity was just a little too high (1.070).

Rainy Day IPA 1.1 Update

2011-01-07T19:40:00.000-08:00

Tonight (7 January 2011, six days after brew day) I transferred my latest batch of the Rainy Day IPA to the secondary fermenter, a 6-gallon glass carboy. Right now, the s.g. reads at 1.018 (down from 1.060 at the beginning, for 5.5% alcohol by volume). Once the transfer was complete, I added 2 oz. of Cascade hops pellets (5.4% alpha acid) in a nylon mesh bag, for dry hopping.

The hops pellets were left over from last year (I bought them in March 2010), and were kept triple-bagged in the freezer. I've read that some deterioration is natural after opening (these were opened last year, as it was a 6 oz. bag), but that pellets are pretty hardy in the long-term because the interior is protected from oxygen.

In another minor technique change, I decanted the beer from the primary into the secondary fermenter through a hose attached to the spigot at the bottom of the primary, rather than through siphoning. I had been a little hesitant to try this, because I was worried about getting too much of the trub and other nastiness off of the bottom. But, it doesn't seem like any more than normal got carried along (especially when I tipped the bucket back a bit for the initial part of the siphoning). I'll definitely be trying this again, as it was much easier.

The beer is reasonably bitter, but not quite as much so as I remember from last time. The color and flavor is nice otherwise, so it will be interesting to see how the dry hopping augments the taste and aroma.

Rainy Day IPA 1.1

2011-01-05T20:31:00.000-08:00

The Rainy Day IPA that I brewed last March turned out to be one of the best beers I've made yet. It had everything that a good IPA should have - clarity, lots of IBUs, and a good hoppy aroma. The use of pelletized hops for the dry hopping phase seemed to be the key to getting good hop aroma retention after bottling. Perhaps the increased surface area is behind this? In that case, I wonder if finely chopping up whole hops would have the same effect.

At any rate, I decided to make another batch of this, with just a few minor tweaks (primarily related to the ingredients I had on hand). Except as outlined below, everything is the same as before. So, I'll only list the changes.

Differences From the Last Batch

More by accident than anything, I ended up steeping the grains at a slightly higher temperature (~170°) for the steeping phase.
I used 3 oz. of whole Cascade hops for the bittering (instead of a combo of whole hops and pellets added at various points during the boiling), boiled for the entire 60 minutes.
I added 1 tsp. of Irish moss at the 45 minute mark (done before, but not explicitly noted on the recipe).
I added 1 oz. of whole Sterling hops 57 minutes into the boil, and boiled these for 3 minutes, for aroma (instead of 1 oz. of Cascade pellets for 5 minutes).
After cooling with the cooling coil and topping up to 4.5 gallons, the starting gravity was 1.060 (on 1 January 2011). This contrasts with a starting gravity of 1.056 for the last batch.
I pitched the yeast, and it has been fermenting at 68°-72° degrees for the past few days.

I can't wait to see how it will turn out, and if I can replicate the good points of the last batch. I plan to dry-hop it once again with some Cascade pellets left over from last year. They probably won't be as fresh, but I do want to use them up.

Schoolhouse Porter

2011-01-02T16:37:00.000-08:00

For the 2010-2011 brewing season, I decided to focus on porters (although I'll certainly be brewing some other styles, too). So, it seemed appropriate to start off with a batch of just that, courtesy of a kit from Beer, Beer, and More Beer (there happens to be a store within a 45 minute drive of here). This is kit #168, which they title "Brown Porter." I decided to jazz up the name a little.

Schoolhouse Porter

7 lb. light malt liquid extract
1 lb. English Brown malt
1 lb. Crystal 40L malt
1/2 lb. Chocolate malt
1.5 oz. Vanguard hops (bittering)
1 oz. Cascade hops (aroma)
1 tablet Whirlfloc clarifier
1 packet Safale S-04 dry yeast

Steps

I filled my brew pot with three gallons of water (tap temperature), added the malts, and turned on the heat. Following the directions, I left the grains in until the water reached 170 F. This took about 35 minutes. Then, I gently sparged them with about a quart of warm water.
I heated the water to boiling, turned off the heat (I'm using an electric stove), and stirred in the liquid malt. Then, I turned the heat back on.
Once the wort was boiling again, I added the 1.5 oz. of Vanguard hops.
After 55 minutes, I added the Whirlfloc clarifier. Apparently, this stuff is similar in function to Irish moss.
After another 4 minutes (59 minutes from the start of the boil), I added the Cascade hops.
After an additional one minute of boiling (for 60 minutes total boiling), I removed the pot from the heat and chilled it in an ice bath (my cooling coil was on loan).
While waiting for the wort to cool, I hydrated the yeast (as recommended in the directions) in one cup of water.
Once the wort had cooled sufficiently, I poured the wort into the fermenter, topped it up to five gallons, and pitched the yeast.
The starting gravity was 1.060 (with an estimated original gravity for the kit given as 1.046-1.052; not sure why I got such a high graviry). The wort had a wonderfully rich brown color.
This process was all started on 29 December 2010. Because I had to do another batch and only have one primary fermenter, I transferred it to a glass secondary fermenter on 1 January 2011. This was a little sooner than I wanted, but I had to brew while I had the opportunity. After these three days, the s.g. read as 1.026, suggesting ~4.5% alcohol by volume. The beer had maintained the nice brown hue, and also had a great chocolatey taste. I hope this is maintained after settling and bottling! The secondary fermenter continued to bubble steadily for two more days, so I suspect the gravity will drop a little more yet.

Experimental Golden Ale Bottled

2010-03-14T13:49:00.000-07:00

Last night we bottled the Experimental Golden Ale. Final gravity was 1.012, for an estimated alcohol percentage of around 4.75 percent. The beer was a really nice and clear golden color, with the exact flavor (not too malty, not too hoppy) that I was hoping for. I primed the beer with 3/4 cup of corn sugar in one cup of water. Interestingly, the EGA foamed more than any other beer I've encountered previously while bottling. Don't know why this was; I'm curious to see what this will look like when I crack open some of the carbonated bottles.

The final yield was 37 12-oz. bottles and 2 of the big 22-oz. bottles.

Rainy Day IPA Update

2010-03-13T12:20:00.000-08:00

We just finished transferring the Rainy Day IPA over to its secondary fermenter. S.G. is 1.014, which from a starting point of 1.056 equals around 5 percent alcohol (as predicted). The beer is a beautiful amber color, with a nice strong and hoppy taste. Later this afternoon we'll throw about 2 ounces of Cascade hop pellets in (with a bag), for a few weeks of dry hopping.

Rainy Day IPA

2010-03-06T16:42:00.000-08:00

As we head into the second week of March, the California brewing season is drawing to a close. In order to stock the shelves for next seven or eight months, it's time to put together that final batch. Given the success of the season's first IPA, and my personal affection for a good IPA, I wanted to finish off in that vein. So, I put together this little recipe. We'll see how it turns out! Because I started it on a rainy day, and because I'm going to save some of this "for a rainy day," the recipe gets a creative name.

Ingredients for Rainy Day IPA

10 oz. 20° crystal malt
1 lb. 60° crystal malt
3 lbs. golden light dry malt extract
3 lbs. sparkling amber dry malt extract
2.1 oz. whole Cascade hops (bittering)
1 oz. Cascade hops pellets (5.4% alpha acid; second addition for bittering)
1 oz. Cascade hops pellets (5.4% alpha acid; aroma)
1054 American Ale Yeast (Wyeast brand "smack pack")

Steps

I heated 2.5 gallons of tap water to 158°, and steeped the crystal malt for 30 minutes.
I gently rinsed the malt (in its nylon steeping bag) with warm water, to bring the volume up to 3 gallons
I heated the liquid up to boiling, and then turned off the heat. I added the dry malt extract, and stirred it until dissolved. Then, I turned the heat back on. No issues with boil-over! I'll have to try this procedure (rather than just adding the DME to boiling water) again. It probably results in a very slightly darker wort, but I think it's worth the reduction in hassle!
Once the wort was back at boiling, I added the whole Cascade hops. I let it boil for around 18 minutes, before realizing I should add a few more hops in order to get to the desired bitterness. So, I then added an ounce of the hops pellets.
After 55 minutes of boiling, I added 1 oz. more of Cascade hops (for aroma), and boiled this for 5 minutes more. Then, I chilled, decanted into the secondary fermenter, and topped it up to around 4.5 gallons with distilled water. Finally, I pitched the yeast.
Starting gravity was 1.056, calculating out to 7 percent potential alcohol content. This will probably translate, when all is said and done, to about 5 percent alcohol content. The wort is a nice straw color. . .somewhere between amber and golden.

Notes:
I found a very handy IBU calculator here. Assuming 6 pounds of DME in 3 gallons of water ([6 lbs * 43 points per pound]/3 gallons = 1.086 s.g. during the boil) and 5.4% alpha acids for all hops, the resulting black-box calculation showed an IBU yield of 108.4 for the 3 gallons. By the time this gets diluted out to 5 gallons, I would predict a specific gravity of 1.057 and an IBU of 72. My actual gravity (1.056) was a little higher because I only filled to about 4.5 - 4.75 gallons.

Experimental Golden Ale Update

2010-02-18T22:23:00.000-08:00

I just transferred the EGA over to the secondary fermenter. The transfer happened a little later than normal (12 days, rather than the 7 days I usually aim for) on account of travel and other stuff going on during the past week.

I had hoped to measure the s.g., but my little plastic sampling tube (in which the hydrometer floats) broke. So, it will have to wait until bottling time.

As always (at least in my biased opinion), this looks like it's going to be a pretty good batch. The color is nice and light (as I had aimed for), and the brew is tasting OK so far. I now understand why Windsor ale yeast is considered to be of lower flocculation than Nottingham. . .there was far less sediment in the bottom of the primary than I'm usually used to! So, it will probably sit for at least three weeks before getting bottled.

A sample glass of the Experimental Golden Ale

Experimental Golden Ale

2010-02-06T20:45:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

5 oz. carapils malt
5 oz. 20 degree crystal malt
6 lbs. BrewMaster golden light dried malt extract
1.5 oz. whole Saaz hops (bittering)
0.5 oz. whole Saaz hops (aroma)
1 packet Windsor Ale dry yeast

I steeped the grains for 25 minutes in 2.5 gallons of tap water at 158 degrees and sparged them with half a gallon of water. Then, I heated the mixture up to boiling, adding the malt extract and bittering hops. These boiled for 55 minutes, and then I added the aroma hops. After five more minutes of boiling, I removed the wort from the stove and chilled it down to about 75 degrees. I put the wort in the bucket, and topped it up with distilled water to around 4.5 gallons. Finally, I sprinkled the yeast on top before sealing it up. The brew is fermenting at around 65-68 degrees (ambient air temperature in my apartment these days).

Starting gravity was 1.050, or 6 percent potential alcohol. The Windsor yeast strain is supposed to ferment to a lower alcohol content, so maybe I'll get around 4-4.5 percent in the end. The wort is a nice golden color right now, and the beer should be quite pretty by the time it's finished. I put the brew in the primary fermenter on Saturday, February 6, and by the next day it had already started bubbling along. Can't wait!

Premium Oatmeal Stout

2010-01-07T18:59:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

1 lb. flaked oats
8 oz. roasted barley
12.5 oz. 80° crystal malt
8 oz. chocolate malt
1.5 lbs. amber dry malt extract
6 lbs. traditional dark liquid malt extract
2 oz. American Fuggles hops pellets (bittering)
1 oz. Hallertauer whole hops (aroma)
1 packet Nottingham dry yeast

Unfortunately, I only realized at the last minute that I didn't have any roasted barley! Luckily, I found this page on how to roast your own. It was pretty easy - I took 12 oz. of pearl barley (straight from the grocery store), and spread them out as a single layer on a cookie sheet. I roasted the barley at 450° for 35 minutes, and it ended up with a nice, black color on the outside with a dark brown inside. The end weight was about 9 or 10 ounces, just the right amount for my recipe.

I steeped the grains in 2.5 gallons of water at 150 degrees for 45 minutes, and then sparged them with a half gallon of water. Once I heated it to a boil, I added the malt extract and bittering hops. After 55 minutes of boiling, I added the aroma hops for a final five minutes.

I chilled the wort, and topped it up with distilled water to around 4.5 gallons. The starting gravity was 1.052, or 7 percent potential. This is a very thick, rich wort - probably on account of the oats. It is almost slippery in feel!

After one week, I transferred the beer from the primary to the secondary. The beer had separated out into layers, with a very sludgy layer in the middle in addition to the usual one at the bottom. I wonder if this was some of the unfermentables from the oats. . .next time, I'll probably use a kit. I only transferred about 2.5 gallons, and dumped the rest - it was just too sludgy to deal with! The stuff I transferred tasted just fine (in fact, rather good, like a stout should). . .so, I'm not sure what the deal was.

At this point, the gravity was 1.032, or 4 percent potential. After the transfer into the carboy, fermentation picked right back up at a very vigorous rate. I waited another two weeks, and then bottled. The final gravity was 1.020 (2.5 percent potential), meaning I've got a brew with 4.5 percent alcohol (right about where I want it). I used a little over 1/3 cup corn sugar for carbonation. Because I had to discard so much during the transfer to the secondary, I ended up with but 18 12-oz. bottles in the end. Hence the name, "Premium Oatmeal Stout."

At the time of bottling (February 5, 2010), it's tasting pretty good. A nice toasty flavor and a really beautiful, dark hue. Thus, I'm really looking forward to trying out the carbonated product in a few weeks!

AAA Bottled

2010-01-05T21:36:00.000-08:00

Tonight I bottled the Astro Amber Ale (AAA, or A-Cubed, for short), getting 39 of the 12-oz. bottles and 4 of the pint bottles. Not too bad of a yield! The uncarbonated brew is a nicely mild amber, but I will eagerly await to see how it matures over the next week or two.

The final specific gravity was 1.021, no change from when it was transferred to the secondary. Thus, we have a final alcohol content estimated at 3.8 percent, making it a moderately lightweight amber ale. I must confess that I'm a little surprised by this - perhaps it is a result of using a different brand of yeast?

AAA, all bottled up and ready to carbonate.

Claremont IPA, The Final Verdict

2010-01-04T19:45:00.001-08:00

The Claremont India Pale Ale, after bottle conditioning for a few weeks

Tonight I tried a bottle or two of the Claremont IPA that I bottled a few weeks ago. It has conditioned nicely, with a good malty flavor and definite hops flavor. I'm quite pleased with the level of bitterness in the initial taste and aftertaste. Head retention is nice, the brew is well-carbonated, and the color is gorgeous. My only disappointment is that the dry-hopped aroma seems to have gotten lost since bottling; perhaps next time I'll try Cascade or a similar stronger hop. Every batch is an experiment! There will definitely be at least one more IPA before the brewing season is out.

AAA Update

2009-12-19T14:15:00.000-08:00

I just transferred the Astro Amber Ale over to the secondary fermenter. The gravity right now is 1.021, down from a starting gravity of 1.052. This provides a current alcohol content of roughly 3.8 percent. I expect that this will go up just a little bit as I let the beer finish fermenting and conditioning in the carboy over Christmas. My plan is to bottle in about two or three weeks.

In the glass, the beer has a nice reddish brown hue, and a pleasantly warm and malty taste with a smooth finish. This is a very, very premature judgement of what the final flavor might be like, of course. Regardless, I can't wait to try out the finished, carbonated product in a month or so!

Astro Amber Ale

2009-12-11T23:07:00.000-08:00

Tonight, I decided to try for an amber ale. My buddy Steve came over to assist (in his first brewing experience ever - wow, is he brave!), and we had a great time. The ingredients I had at home lent themselves well to an amber ale (and I was in the mood for one, too), so I did a little searching on-line to find a good base recipe. Once I had that in hand, time to get creative! Here's the recipe I concocted:

Basic ingredients
6.6 lbs Briess Sparkling Amber Liquid Malt
1 lb. dry light malt
8 oz. crushed crystal malt, 40°L
4 oz. crushed crystal malt, 80°L
2 oz. carapils malt
1 oz. crushed chocolate malt
1 oz. whole Cascade hops (South Dakota grown)
1 oz. whole Sterling hops (South Dakota grown)
0.5 oz. whole Hallertauer hops (South Dakota grown)
1 packet Muntons Active Brewing Yeast, prepared according to package directions

Here's what I did:

Steeped crystal malt, carapils malt, and chocolate malt in 2.5 gallons of water at ~155°F for 45 minutes
Sparged malts with 0.5 gallons of water at ~155°F
Heated the tea to a boil, and added the liquid malt extract and then the dry malt extract, and then added the Cascade hops
Boiled for 45 minutes, and then added the Sterling hops
Boiled for 15 minutes, and then added the Hallertauer hops
Removed from heat, removed Cascade and Sterling hops, and then cooled using my cooling coil system (nice!)
Once the wort was cooled down to ~70°F, I decanted it into the primary fermenter and topped up to 5 gallons with chilled distilled water
I added the yeast, sealed up the system, and let it get on to fermenting!

The starting gravity was 1.052, indicating a potential alcohol content of around 6.8 percent. Assuming typical yield, this tasty amber ale will probably end up around 5 percent alcohol by volume. The wort has a nice reddish brown hue right now, and I expect it to lighten up some as the various proteins settle out. Next weekend, I'll transfer it over to the secondary fermenter and let the whole mess condition over the Christmas holiday.

And of course, here's the requisite picture of the wort:

Claremont IPA, The (Semi-)Final Verdict

2009-12-11T22:58:00.000-08:00

I've been falling down on the job with updating on the Claremont IPA. After one week, we transferred it over to the secondary fermenter, and added an ounce of whole, dry Sterling hops (weighted with some marbles in the hops baggie) for dry hopping. The beer sat in the secondary fermenter for around three weeks. When we pulled it out to bottle, the uncarbonated beer had a beautiful, subtle hops aroma, and the wonderful bitter taste that we all expect for a good IPA. Final gravity was 1.15, so this means an actual alcohol content of 6.5 percent. Not too shabby!

We ended up with 38 bottles - 11 of the big, 16 oz. Grolsch bottles, and 27 of the regular, 12 oz. bottles.

All signs are pointing to this being a most excellent beer, and a successful first venture into dry hopping. Nice color, nice flavor, nice finish. I'm really looking forward to trying the first carbonated bottle!

Claremont IPA

2009-11-03T20:15:00.000-08:00

At long last, it's here. . .the first brewing session of the season! I'm happy to be brewing with Dr. Brian, who lives just up the street and has been wanting to get back into the home brew thing. We're working at his place for this first batch - my apartment is just a touch too warm during the day still, and he has a nice cool basement.

I've been wanting to do an honest IPA for some time now. . .last year's Kamikaze Pale Ale was good, but lacked that level of in-your-face hoppiness that I crave. So, it's time for another concoction. This one I call Claremont IPA.

Ingredients for "Claremont IPA"

0.5 lb. carapils malt
6 lbs. dry American light malt extract
2 oz. Centennial hops (pellet form; 8% aa)
1 oz. Cascade hops (whole)
11 g active dry Nottingham brewing yeast (Danstar brand)

Steps

I heated 2.5 gallons of tap water to 158 degrees Fahrenheit, and steeped the carapils malt (in a nylon bag) for 25 minutes
I gently rinsed the carapils milt in warm (~158 degree) tap water, to bring the total volume up to 3 gallons
Then, I heated the water to boiling and added the dry malt extract and 2 oz. of the Centennial hops.
After another 55 minutes of boiling, I added 1 oz. of Centennial hops
After 5 minutes of boiling, I removed the wort from the heat and chilled it down to 70 degrees.
After putting the wort in the primary fermenter and topping it up to around 4.5 gallons with pre-boiled, chilled water, I pitched the yeast.
On measuring the specific gravity, I noticed it was quite low - only 1.025! This is probably because I had left a quantity in the pot with the worst of the accumulated solids. Apparently, just a little too much! So, I boiled up 1.5 lbs amber dry malt in 1 gallon of water for five minutes, chilled it in ice, and then added it to the fermenter. This resulted in an original gravity of 1.066 (8.5 percent potential alcohol).

Upcoming Plans

After one week, I'm going to transfer to a secondary fermenter and add 1 oz. of Cascade hops, for some dry-hopping action.
Then, I'll probably let it condition for another two or three weeks before bottling.

Ingredients Cost Summary
A half pound of carapils malt costs $1; the malt extract (including shipping) cost around $32. The Centennial hops cost $8.75 for two ounces, and it was $1.50 for the yeast. The rest of the hops were "free" from South Dakota, so we have a total materials cost of $43.25. Assuming a typical yield, we're looking at around $1/bottle. The real killer right now is getting the dry malt extract. . .unfortunately, my closest home brew shop (which I otherwise love) doesn't carry the light stuff.

Getting Ready to Brew Again

2009-10-31T01:00:00.001-07:00

Temperatures are cooling. . .homebrew supply is perilously low. Time to start brewing again!

California Summer Ale Bottled

2009-03-22T17:21:00.000-07:00

This afternoon I (with the assistance of my buddy Matt) bottled up the California Summer Ale - the final yield was 41 bottles. Three of these were 22-oz., and 11 were 18-oz. So, that's a lot of beer! The brew has a nice hoppy taste and a golden-copper color. Can't wait to see how it turns out after a few weeks of carbonation and conditioning!

This will likely be my last batch until next fall - the daytime temperatures in my apartment are just a little too warm now. Fortunately, I've got a nice supply of home brew laid away in my closet.

California Summer Ale Update

2009-03-03T19:22:00.001-08:00

Tonight I transferred the CSA into the secondary fermenter. The beer has a nice light color, but is nowhere near settled yet. I've read that this strain of yeast has low floculation, so we'll just have to see how the end result looks in terms of clarity.

Right now, the gravity reads 1.010. Slightly lower than I was expecting, so I double-checked the temperature and my measurements, and all is correct. This gives me about 3.3 percent alcohol at present.

The taste of the beer so far is light and mildly hopped. It promises to be very good in the end!

California Summer Ale

2009-02-23T18:17:00.001-08:00

As the winter brew season winds down, I've decided to brew one or two batches of something lighter in color and flavor. So, I poked around on the internet to find a recipe that I could adapt for ingredients on hand as well as those available at the local home brew store (which I'm finding has a pretty decent and reasonably-priced supply of most of the basics). Here's what I came up with!

Ingredients for "California Summer Ale"

1 lb. carapils malt
5 lbs. light dried malt extract (American brand)
1.5 oz. whole Saaz hops (bittering)
0.5 oz. whole Saaz hops (aroma)
4.25 fl. oz. Wyeast American ale yeast 1056 (activator pack)

Steps

I heated two and a half gallons of tap water to 158 degrees Fahrenheit, and steeped the carapils malt (in a nylon bag) for 25 minutes.
I rinsed the malt with warm tap water (also approximately at 158 degrees), to bring the volume up to three gallons.
Then, I heated the water to boiling and added the dried malt extract as well as the bittering hops. These were boiled for 58 minutes.
For the final two minutes of the boil, I added the aroma hops.
I stuck the whole pot in a sink of ice water, and let it cool down a fair bit. Once it was cool, I decanted the wort into my primary fermenter, and topped it up to five gallons with cold distilled water.
Then, I pitched the yeast. I activated the pack yesterday afternoon, and found that it swelled up much more quickly than I was expecting! We'll see how it does today. I can't imagine there is any harm from just sitting overnight.
The initial gravity is 1.042. This is a potential alcohol of 5.2 percent or so, but given my usual yield I would predict it will end up being about 3.5 -4 percent in the end.

Ingredients Cost Summary
The light malt extract was $4/lb, for a total cost of $20. The hops were free, the yeast cost $7 for the package, and the carapils malt was $2 for a 1 lb. package. Adding in $2 for the water, and another $2 or so for the ice used to cool this down, I spent approximately $33 on ingredients for this batch. Assuming I'll get around 48 bottles from this batch, that works out to ~69 cents of ingredients per bottle. Of course, this doesn't factor in the equipment costs (which probably about doubles things after five batches of beer), but it's still a pretty good price (under $5 per six-pack!) for what I hope will be good beer.

Other tidbits
For this brew session, I made the leap to purchase a few nylon bags for grain steeping and hops boiling. This is the best brewing investment I've made so date! It's way easier than cheesecloth, ridiculously reusable, and will definitely be cheaper in the long run.

All-American Porter Brewed and Bottled

2009-02-22T05:47:00.000-08:00

I brewed up the All-American Porter exactly as outlined in a previous last post. I steeped the grains for around 45 minutes, and gently rinsed them with warm water. In an effort to keep the gravity up, I only filled the primary fermenter to just under 4.5 gallons. Initial gravity was 1.051--the highest of any I've brewed to date. I let it ferment in the primary for a week, and then transferred it to the secondary fermenter, where it's been aging and settling for the last three weeks. The final gravity was 1.014, giving an alcohol content of approximately 5 percent. Definitely the strongest I've ever brewed!

This afternoon I bottled it up, with a yield of 42 12-oz. bottles. I was a little worried about the flavor initially, because the wort was pretty bitter. But, the flavor has mellowed out really, really nicely in the intervening weeks. I daresay this may be the best I've brewed so far--we'll have to see how it all carbonates up!

Wheat Beer Bottled and Drinkable

2009-02-22T05:43:00.000-08:00

Ok, so it's been a long time since the last post. The All-American Porter has been brewed and will get bottled later today. Also, the wheat beer got bottled two weeks ago--we ended up with 41 bottles, if I remember correctly. Some of these were the larger pint-sized bottles, too. I cracked the first bottle earlier this week, and it has carbonated up nicely. It's pretty drinkable, although in hindsight the normal fruity aroma associated with the German wheat beers is not quite to my taste. A little slice of lemon really rounds out the flavor, though. Next time, I think I'll try an American strain of yeast--these seem to lack the fruity aroma/flavors seen in many of the European strains.

Up Next. . .the All-American Porter

2009-01-23T21:45:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, I'm thinking about brewing up a porter--on a whim, I've named it the "All-American Porter" (in honor of the new president, the upcoming President's Day holiday, and the fact that I'm going to ignore the British hops in favor of the American ones in my freezer).

Here's what I'm looking at for a preliminary ingredients list. . .it will likely be updated a bit as I shop around at the local home brew shop:

1/2 pound caramel malt (for steeping; I've got some on hand, and need to use it up)
1/2 pound cara-pils malt (for steeping; again, I've got some on hand already)
1/2 pound chocolate malt (I'll have to pick some of this up at the store)
6.6 pounds Briess liquid malt (I'm thinking about 3.3 pounds Golden Light plus 3.3 pounds Sparkling Amber; I'll see what the local brew store has on hand)
2 oz. Cascade hops (bittering)
1 oz. Saaz (aroma)
The usual Nottingham ale yeast

Wheat Beer Update

2009-01-23T20:19:00.000-08:00

Tonight I transferred the wheat beer (which has been fermenting for six days now) into the secondary fermenter. The beer has a nice yeasty-sour aroma, which is about what I would expect. Plus, it's tasting pretty good. The gravity at present is 1.010, putting alcohol at right about 3 percent. Can't wait to see what this will be like once it's settled and matured a little!

The Red Ale #1!

2009-01-23T20:18:00.001-08:00

Here's my red ale, a month or two after bottling. This has turned into a really nice beer - good head, good flavor, good all around. I'm enjoying drinking this one.

First Taste of KPA

2009-01-23T19:27:00.000-08:00

Over the past week or two, I've been (impatiently) cracking open a bottle or two of the Kamikaze Pale Ale. I don't think it has fully carbonated yet - after two weeks, it has a nice fizz, but not quite the level of bubbly that I would prefer. My red ale had similar behavior at first, so I think I'm just being impatient. At any rate, I agitated the bottles a bit tonight to see if that will help the carbonation along. Some brewing sites I've read recommended this procedure to "rouse" the yeast if it's not carbonating at the preferred rate. Mostly, I think I just need to wait a little longer.

On first pouring the beer, I get a mild hops scent. The beer is a nice red color (as mentioned in a previous post), and the carbonation (at this writing) is manifested as a light but steady stream of tiny bubbles along the side of the glass. The taste is smooth, with some definite hops flavor, but not overly bitter. The finish is pretty smooth, too. I don't know if it quite has as much "body" as I'd like on my beers. There is relatively little head, too, but I think this might just be a factor of the present low carbonation.

So what might I do differently next time? I might experiment with steeping another type of malt or two, to add a little extra body (but not too much). Perhaps I just need to crack the pale malt a little finer. I think I'll also try dry-hopping, to give it a more prominent hops aroma (the aroma is just a little milder at present than I might like). Additionally, I'll try boiling with a greater water volume - I only did two gallons (modified after one recipe I saw) for the boil this time, but I suspect I'd get slightly better hops utilization if I used 2.5 or 3 gallons. Next time, I'll also try using dry malt instead.

Despite all these ideas for "next time," I still think it's a pretty drinkable beer. I like the smoothness, and it will be even better once that last bit of carbonation settles in.

Wheat Beer

2009-01-18T14:08:00.001-08:00

I don't have a clever name for this one yet. . .it's based off of the recipe for Bert Grant's Hefeweizen (by Yakima Brewing and Malting Co.) in the North American Clone Brews book by Scott R. Russell. I brewed it up last night (January 17), with some able assistance from my friend Todd.

Here are the basic ingredients:
1 lb. malted wheat (crushed)
8 oz. light crystal malt (40°L)
8 oz. carapils malt
2 oz. Hallertau hops pellets (3.8% alpha; 1 oz. for the bittering, 1 oz. for the aroma)
4 lbs. wheat dry malt extract
German wheat beer yeast (Wyeast 3333)

Here's what I did:

I steeped the malted wheat, crystal malt, and carapils malt in 2 gallons of water for 45 minutes, at 150°F. Then, I sparged the grains with half a gallon of water at about the same temperature.
I added the wheat malt extract, and heated the whole thing to boiling.
Once the wort was boiling, I added 1 oz. of the hop pellets and boiled for 45 minutes.
For the final 15 minutes, I added the last ounce of hops.
At the end of the boil, I cooled the wort down with an ice bath in the sink, decanted the wort into my fermenter, and topped the whole thing up to about 4.5 gallons.
I pitched the liquid yeast, and now everythings sitting in the closet and hopefully fermenting.

The initial gravity is 1.034, which is quite a bit lower than I expected (1.045 is what the recipe gives). In the end, this will probably give me an alcohol content a little over 3 percent, assuming that it all ferments out as my previous batches have. Part of the low gravity "problem" might be that my grains were bagged too tightly, and so I didn't get as good of utilization out of them. I don't think this explains everything, though. Next time (assuming I like the results), I'm going to go ahead and use a full five pounds of malt extract.

The color on the finished wort is a nice straw-color - the lightest I've brewed to date.

Next up. . .

2009-01-11T21:07:00.001-08:00

Sarah has requested a wheat beer, so I'm going to try my hand at one of these next weekend (if everything arrives by then, that is). I'm basing my recipe around a clone of Bert Grant's Hefeweizen, which from the description in my recipe book looks to have all of the characteristics that Sarah likes (citrusy, yeasty, wheaty). Unfortunately, my local homebrew store didn't have any wheat malt. . .so, I placed my order with William's Brewing, and it should all ship out tomorrow afternoon.

KPA Bottled

2009-01-11T20:27:00.000-08:00

This evening, I bottled up the KPA. I siphoned it out of the carboy (everything had settled out nicely - there was relatively little sediment, and the beer looked very clear). For primer, I boiled 3/4 cup of corn sugar in 2 cups water, cooled the mix, and stirred it in to the beer. I got 37 12-ounce bottles and 4 16-ounce bottles, for a grand total of 41 bottles. Accounting for the pint bottles, this is a slightly higher bottle count than the last batch (which gave me 41 12-ounce bottles).

The beer has a nice amber color, and tastes pretty good so far (if one can trust flat beer). It's a little darker than I was expecting, so maybe next time I'll use only dry malt extract (which I've read can give a slightly lighter color). Now to wait for carbonation. . .

KPA Update

2008-12-20T15:02:00.000-08:00

I just transferred the KPA to my secondary fermenter, to settle out a bit while I'm away for Christmas. Things looked A-OK in the primary, and the beer has a final gravity of 1.011. With my starting gravity of 1.041, this gives about 4 percent alcohol.

The beer has a very nice, dark golden hue, and a good hoppy aroma. The hops flavor is strong but smooth, so I think this will be a very good one once I get it carbonated. Now just to wait a few weeks. . .

KPA Bubbling Away

2008-12-14T14:30:00.000-08:00

I just checked on the KPA I started yesterday. . .it's brewing fine (as viewed from the outside of the bucket - there's lots of krauesen that I can see when I shine a light through), but no bubbles are evident in the air lock (which is quite firmly in place). So, I'm pretty certain that the bucket lid isn't entirely airtight, and a little carbon dioxide is escaping somewhere around the edges. Fortunately, this seems to be a pretty small deal in the grand scheme of home brewing, so I'm still not going to worry about it.

Kamikaze Pale Ale

2008-12-13T20:00:00.000-08:00

This is the first time I've ever stepped free of the confines of a brewing kit, so I've called this recipe "Kamikaze Pale Ale," or KPA for short. I started with the American pale ale in Charlie Papazian's Complete Joy of Home Brewing (3rd Edition), and changed ingredients as I felt appropriate. Some of the ingredients were determined by what was available at the nearest home brew supply shop, but that's half the fun! With the Cascade hops, I suppose it's an American pale ale, but the Nottingham yeast probably puts it into the British category. We'll see what it tastes like in the end!

I'm going to go into a fair bit of detail for this recipe, but I don't expect to do quite as much in future posts.

Here are the basic ingredients:
1/2 pound pale ale crystal malt (at least, that's what it said on the tub at the store)
6.6 pounds Bries CBW Golden Light Pure Malt Extract
3 oz. whole Cascade hops from South Dakota (2 oz. for the full boil, 1 oz. for the finish)
11 g active dry Nottingham brewing yeast (Danstar brand)

Here's what I did:

I steeped the crystal malt (all wrapped up in a cheesecloth sack) in two gallons of water, heated to 160 degrees, for 30 minutes.
I removed the crystal malt, let it drip out a bit, and discarded it. Then, I heated the whole mixture to a boil.
I added all of the liquid malt extract and the hops (again, enclosed in a cheesecloth bag), and then boiled the whole mixture for 60 minutes. Two minutes before the end, I added the finishing hops.
I cooled the whole mess in the sink - it took about 15 minutes to get it down to a reasonable temperature. Then, I poured it into the primary fermenter and topped it up to five gallons with cold tap water (with one gallon of Target's purified water in the mix - it was sitting in the house, so I thought I'd get rid of it).
Finally, I sprinkled the contents of the yeast packet across the top of the whole thing, and sealed it up.
I put the fermenter in the closet, where it's a happy 70 degrees. Now, I'll just wait until next weekend, when I'll siphon it into the secondary (a glass carboy - newly acquired as of last weekend) and let it sit over the Christmas break.

Other odds and ends:
For this recipe, I decided to try crushing the crystal malt at home. Easier said than done. In the end, I crushed a quarter pound at a time in two gallon freezer bags (one inside the other) by rolling over the grains with a large beer bottle. The grains ended up a little more floured than I might have liked, so we'll see if/how this affects the end result.

My starting gravity is 1.041. A little lighter than I might like, but we'll see how it turns out. If I were to do it again, I'd probably only top it up to 4.5 gallons (although interestingly enough, I didn't have any loss due to boiling over this time).

I sampled a bit of the wort - it's very hoppy and quite sweet (as I'd expect on both counts). I think this is going to be a good one!

Red Ale Number 1

2008-12-13T14:43:00.000-08:00

I started my first brew, which I'll call Red Ale Number 1, a few weeks before I started the blog. Also, this is a kit (put together on the spot - I think I like this better than the typical "boxed" kit!) sold by my local home brew supplier. Thus, I am missing a few details on ingredients.

Ingredients
3.3 pounds light liquid malt extract (Briess CBW brand)
2 pounds light dry malt extract
12 ounces 60L crystal malt mixed with 1 ounce black crystal malt
2 ounces Willamette hop pellets (1 ounce for the main boil, 1 ounce for the finish)

What I Did
I pretty much just followed the directions on the sheet that the store manager gave me. Here's the outline. . .

I heated two gallons of water from cold to 160 degrees, with the grains (bagged in cheesecloth) steeping the whole time. Once the water reached 170 degrees, I took out the grains and let them drain into the pot before throwing them away.
I heated the brewpot water to boiling, and added the malt extracts (dry and liquid) as well as the bittering hops. I boiled the whole thing for 55 minutes, and then added the finishing hops for an additional five minutes. My hops bags burst partway through, resulting in a bit of a mess.
I cooled the wort in the sink (using a sink full of ice cubes and cold water) to 70 degrees, before pouring it into a 6 gallon plastic fermenter. I added enough water to fill it up to 4.5 gallons (I decided against a full five because I had a little boil-over, and lost just a touch of the wort).
I took a sample, cooled it to 60 degrees, and measured the starting gravity -- 1.045. Right at the upper end of the range suggested by my supplier.
I sprinkled a package of dry brewer's yeast (Nottingham strain) on top, sealed the fermenter, put in the airlock, and put the whole thing in my closet (around 70 degrees).
After a day or two, I didn't notice any bubbling in the airlock. I did, however, see that there had been some serious bubbling at some point, because there was the remains of foam and hoppy bits a few inches up the side. I chalk this up to a not-quite-complete seal on the lid of the fermenter (a little gas was probably able to escape and relieve the pressure). A quick check to the internet showed that this isn't a huge cause of worry. On the third day, I measured the specific gravity of a sample (1.012), and found that the beer had indeed been fermenting along.
Seven days after the start of fermentation, I decided to bottle. The final s.g. was 1.010 (for an estimated alcohol content of 4.5 percent). I added 5 ounces of priming sugar (boiled in two cups of water), and bottled up everything. The end yield was 41 bottles of home brew.
I aged the bottles at about 70 degrees (in the closet, as always) for a week before sampling.

End Results (seven days post-bottling)
I threw a few bottles in the fridge, and decided to sample them and see what I can expect with this recipe. Even after only seven days, the beer is nicely carbonated. I found that the colder bottle (one I left in for a few hours, rather than just one hour) had much better head than the first (which had almost none). There might be just a little bit of a chill haze to the beer, because the second, colder one I tried was definitely hazier than the first (which was quite clear).

True to its name, my red ale has a very pleasant reddish-brown color. The aroma is quite nice, with no unpleasant whiffs from this batch. The taste is very smooth, and this one goes down pretty easy. There's a modest hop finish to it, but certainly not overpowering. All in all, I rate Red Ale Number 1 quite well so far! I won't be ashamed to share this batch with friends.

Brewing on the West Coast

2008-12-13T13:23:00.000-08:00

After a successful year or two of brewing with some friends during my time out East, I'm getting back into brewing after my move to the West Coast.

Why did I wait so long? The primary thing is that in southern California, it gets hot during the day for much of the year. I don't run the air conditioning when I'm not at home, and I don't think the results of 90 degree ale would be that pleasing. Temperatures have finally cooled down (I have a corner of the apartment that stays around 70 all day - not ideal, but good enough). So, it's head-first into brewing!

This blog will be active during my brewing months - so, don't expect much during the summer or early fall. It's mainly intended to be my brewing notebook, for sharing with friends and family who are also into brewing. Enjoy!