Brewing Day!

Today was the official brew day, as planned.  Before we get into that, let's get into more beer -- my first batch.

We tried it again, and it hadn't changed a whole lot from the last tasting.  More malt than hops; still more sourness from the yeast.  Not a bad ale, but not an IPA.  My sister was not a big fan, but the fiance and my friend Matt seemed to like it.  I'll let it sit for a while and see how it goes in another couple of weeks.

The brewing.  Easier than last time, but not without slight complications.

I started by steeping one pound of crushed crystal malt for about half an hour in 2.5 gallons of water.  This gave the wort a nice malty smell, and once I kept the water to just under a boil, I added six pounds of Munton's Light DME.  This boiled over (hurray!  first time!) and then I let it go for about 45 minutes or so.

I added two ounces of Super Styrians at the beginning of a 60-minute countdown.  Hurray, another boilover.  This was to be the last one, thank god.

I then added one ounce of Willamettes at the 30 minute point, and one ounce of Centennials at the 10 minute point.

At the final three to five minutes, I added two good pinches of Irish Moss, and then added a half-cup of honey along with 32 ounces of Grade A maple syrup.

I was going to use liquid yeast once I cooled down the wort and added it to the carboy.  I failed to read the directions on the back of the smack pack which said to make a culture three hours in advance.  Instead, I grabbed a packet of Munton's Gold dry yeast which had been in the fridge, activated that in some hot water, and added it to the carboy.

The wort now sits in my sink.  I figure that if there's any blowover, it can go right into the sink and make cleanup slightly easier.

Pictures to come tomorrow.  It's late and I didn't get much sleep last night, so I'm hitting the sack.

The recipe for next Sunday.

September 28th is brewing day!  It should be a good day -- I'm off from work (as far as I know), it'll be the beginning of Autumn, and I've got a couple of friends coming over to brew.

The plan I've got for the ale I'm making:

Dissolve 6# of DME in 2 gal water and bring to a boil for 45 min.

Steep 1# crushed crystal, 30 min, bring to boil

Add Super Styrians, 1 oz, with 45 min left to go in boil

Willamettes, 1 oz, 20 min left

Centennials, 1 oz, 10 min left

Now here's where it gets interesting -- I'm thinking about adding, with 3-5 min remaining in the boil, 3 cups of maple syrup and a little honey.  That'll get strained into the carboy which has 3 gal of cold water.

I think this'll work.  I need to do more fine-tuning between now and next Sunday.

Three weeks in the bottle.

It sounds like a good album title.  Or song title.

Nevertheless, my beer has been bottled for three weeks.  Given that it's now September 16th, and it was brewed on August 8th, that's not a bad lifespan thus far.

I took a six-pack of it over to my job this morning, so a couple of co-workers could try it out.  Brendan had tried it when I'd first brought a couple of bottles over, and he instantly noticed a change in the flavor from back then.  Better, richer, "wheatier" (as he put it).  I cracked one open and noticed it myself.  Was that wheat I tasted?

I brought in the owner of the restaurant, Joe, who knows his beer pretty well.  His was an opinion I wanted.

He sampled it, and made the following observations (not verbatim):

• it had good body to it,
• it wasn't overly bitter,
• he didn't think it "wheaty" but definitely tasted malt,
• he wouldn't call it an IPA because it's too dark (but he would call it a pale ale)
• it was hoppy to his liking, but not insanely hoppy.

He suggested that next time I brew, I go easier on the crushed malt steeping at the beginning of the process.  That would alleviate some of the malt flavor (which I'd like to lessen, so that was good advice).  

It was beer well received by both co-workers, so I was happy.  I don't intend on drinking any more of it until the 28th, when I brew again.  I still have to get the DME and a nylon bag for steeping the crushed malt, but aside from that, it's all systems go.

Adding to the recipe.

Went out on Saturday afternoon and picked up an ounce of Centennial hop pellets, as well as a pound of Crushed Crystal malt.  I'll have a more specific version of my recipe later this week, once I get the chance to sit down and calculate everything out.

We sampled the rest of my "sample bottles" of the first batch at my workplace yesterday.  Comments ranged from "smooth" to "not super hoppy" but everyone seemed to dig it.  One co-worker admitted that he could "drink this all afternoon."  Another thought that it almost seemed to be close to a sour ale (like in the vein of Magic Hat's 'Odd Notion') and we chalked that up to the yeast I used.

I'm not going to touch the other bottles for at least another week or so, if only to see how much better it gets.  It was brought to my attention that I actually underfilled the bottles.

Bottling Day!

The Mrs. and I got up this morning, and after reading the Sunday paper and watching some tv, we headed over to my apartment and bottled the beer.

I expected this to go fairly smooth, and it did -- though I did note a couple of issues.

1. The "spring tip" mechanism that comes with the True Brew kit SUCKS.  It's not the worst thing ever made, but due to the physical construction of it, it'll stick at an angle.  And when it does that, you had better take note and shake the bottling tube so it rights itself.  Otherwise, you have non-stop beer coming out, and you're going to have a mess.

2. Towels are essential.  

3. The grommet device that supposedly "seals" the spigot into the True Brew bucket?  It leaks.  At least mine did.  I didn't lose much beer, but still...see number 2.

4. With the kit, you have the siphoning tube (flexible), one straight (harder) tube that goes into the liquid you're siphoning, and the other straight tube with the spring tip (see number 1).  The flexible tubing does NOT WANT TO WORK with anything you're going to hook it up to.  I should have tested this before hand.  I didn't.  It sucks when you're trying to jam a piece of this tubing onto the bucket spigot and the spring-tip tube for easier bottling -- especially when...well, see number 3.

5. I have not yet learned how to completely clean a used carboy.  I can sanitize with the best of them.  However, I'm not sure how to go about cleaning the leftover crap from a carboy; I'm referring to the scum left over from the krausen.  

6. I can see why this process, overall, would be much easier in a large garage that had a sink in it.  And a floor drain.  And beer.

The Mrs. assisted with the bottling, which was great, given that it would have taken me that much longer to get everything done.  (She also went so far as to mop the kitchen floor for me post-bottling, which was huge.  It's the first time it's been mopped in probably a couple of months.)

Really, for the most part, it all went well, and we were done in about an hour and a half's time.  That's taking our time, too, so hurray for us.

Now all the bottles (42 regular size, and 4 Sierra Nevada ones that are my "testers" for the upcoming weeks) are residing in my bathtub (on the chance something goes awry and one explodes, fingers crossed). 

Next step: to finalize the recipe for my next batch, which will be brewed on Labor Day.

Checking the gravity.

I snagged some beercaps over at Beers of the World and then headed to my place to check the gravity of the wort.  It's currently around 1.015, which is where it should be.  If all goes well (meaning I'd have to check it tomorrow and/or Wednesday), I'll be bottling it on Thursday.

I also picked up some Munton's CarbTabs, which you use in place of priming sugar for bottling.  I've never used them before, but Charlie Papazian's "Joy of Homebrewing" says that you'll get a better beer by decreasing your sugar.  I've got to do more research before I get into messing with them, though.  I can always use them for a later batch.

I ALSO (since they were inexpensive) picked up two ounce-big packets of hop pellets: Willamettes and Styrians.  I'd like my next beer to be an original recipe; not that I think I'm that good at homebrewing already (I'm not), but I look at it as an experiment to get the hang of what to do/what not to do.  I have to snag malt, but I'm not going to worry about that yet.  I'm shooting for a brew date of Labor Day Weekend -- I've also gotta snag a bucket for secondary fermentation.