Irene slightly altered my plans for bottling my first batch of beer. The two week mark was this past Saturday, but we were scheduled to be away, so my goal was to bottle Monday night after we got back. Well, Irene came and cancelled our trip plus knocked out our power. By Tuesday, we still had no power and had moved the trip back a week, so it was either bottle Tuesday night or wait another week until I had another shot. I did not want to let the beer sit on the yeast cake that long, so decided to bottle by candlelight Tuesday night.
Everything went very smoothly. It took about 1.5 hours to clean and sanitize all the equipment, including 3 dozen 22oz bottles. When I opened the fermentation bucket I was pleased that the beer actually smelled good and had a nice dark amber color.
First I prepared a mixture of sugar water and put it into the bottling bucket. Then I siphoned the beer into the bottling bucket, leaving the trub behind. The beer in the bottling bucket was quite free of sediment, so that is a good sign for the clarity of the finished product.
Next I used the bottle filler and spigot to fill the bottles - in all I got 27.5 22oz bottles - right around what I was expecting. Hopefully things will carbonate nicely and the beer should be ready to drink in a couple more weeks!
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011
TD Grand Union Pale Ale
Last night I began my foray into home brewing - Mr. Beer not withstanding. MB had gotten me this kit for my birthday, and I have been anxious to use it ever since. A few months back, I bought this book based on recommendations from people on the home brewing reddit.
The book recommended starting with a simple American Pale Ale. The recipe called for malt extract rather than all-grain brewing, so it seemed like a good place to start.
I began by cleaning and sanitizing all my equipment with Straight-A cleaner and LD Carlson Easy Clean.
The recipe called for 3.3lb pale malt extract syrup (I used extra light, the brew shop me and Steve went to did not have Pale), 2.5lb amber dry malt extract, 6AAUs bittering hops, 5AAUs finishing hops, and 1 packet dry ale yeast. For the bittering hops, I chose Northern Brewer, and for finishing, Cascade. The yeast was Cooper's.
I began by dissolving the dry malt extract in 3 gallons cold water. I then began to bring this to a boil - it took a long time. The stainless steel pot Steve and I got is perhaps too wide, or my stove not powerful enough, because boiling was a bit of a challenge. Eventually, I stuck the lid on (had it off because I was guarding against boilover) - I checked frequently and after a few minutes with the lid on I finally had achieved a boil, after about 45 minutes total.
Next, I waited for the hot break to add my bittering hops. It occurred much faster than I expected, after only a few minutes. I let it boil a few extra minutes just to be sure, and then added .75oz of 8.6%AA Northern Brewer hops an hour after I began the process. I started my timer for 60 minutes.
After 30 minutes, I added a half ounce of 5% AA Cascade Hops. Once I stirred that in, I rehydrated the dry yeast is pre-boiled warm water and set it aside for later.
At T-15 I added another half ounce of the cascade hops. At T-5 I added the malt extract syrup. While this was pasteurizing I filled the sink about 1/3rd with water and a bag of ice. When the timer went off, I transferred the pot into the ice bath to bring it down to 70 degrees and achieve the cold break.
I quickly realized that the ice was going to melt long before I got the temperature down to 70. I made a quick decision and ran to the gas station for 2 more bags of ice. Luckily the gas station is so close, because I was back with the ice in under 5 minutes. I added the bags and that kept the water nice and frosty. The wort was down to 70 degrees in only 20 minutes.
At this point, I added 2 gallons of water to the fermentation bucket. I then strained the wort into the bucket through a stainless steel strainer. The strainer did a great job catching all the trub and the wort in the bucket ended up much cleaner than I thought it would be.
After pouring in the wort, I added enough water to bring the total volume in the fermentation bucket to 5 gallons. I then transferred the wort back and forth between the pot and the bucket 3 times in order to aerate it.
Next I pitched the yeast and put the lid on the bucket. I covered the airlock hole on the lid with plastic wrap and swirled the bucket vigorously for about a minute to mix in the yeast. I then put the airlock in, filled it with vodka, and set the bucket aside in our guest room, where the temperature will be steady around 72-74 degrees.
I checked back on the progress this morning, and the airlock is bubbling nicely, so it seems primary fermentation is moving along. The thermometer on the side of the bucket shows 75 degrees, a few degrees warmer than the ambient temperature in the room, due to the exothermic process of the yeast eating the sugars. The temperatures are what I was expecting, so hopefully it means things will turn out well.
Overall, things went smoothly for my first attempt at this - looking forward to bottling day in 2-3 weeks!
The book recommended starting with a simple American Pale Ale. The recipe called for malt extract rather than all-grain brewing, so it seemed like a good place to start.
I began by cleaning and sanitizing all my equipment with Straight-A cleaner and LD Carlson Easy Clean.
The recipe called for 3.3lb pale malt extract syrup (I used extra light, the brew shop me and Steve went to did not have Pale), 2.5lb amber dry malt extract, 6AAUs bittering hops, 5AAUs finishing hops, and 1 packet dry ale yeast. For the bittering hops, I chose Northern Brewer, and for finishing, Cascade. The yeast was Cooper's.
I began by dissolving the dry malt extract in 3 gallons cold water. I then began to bring this to a boil - it took a long time. The stainless steel pot Steve and I got is perhaps too wide, or my stove not powerful enough, because boiling was a bit of a challenge. Eventually, I stuck the lid on (had it off because I was guarding against boilover) - I checked frequently and after a few minutes with the lid on I finally had achieved a boil, after about 45 minutes total.
Next, I waited for the hot break to add my bittering hops. It occurred much faster than I expected, after only a few minutes. I let it boil a few extra minutes just to be sure, and then added .75oz of 8.6%AA Northern Brewer hops an hour after I began the process. I started my timer for 60 minutes.
After 30 minutes, I added a half ounce of 5% AA Cascade Hops. Once I stirred that in, I rehydrated the dry yeast is pre-boiled warm water and set it aside for later.
At T-15 I added another half ounce of the cascade hops. At T-5 I added the malt extract syrup. While this was pasteurizing I filled the sink about 1/3rd with water and a bag of ice. When the timer went off, I transferred the pot into the ice bath to bring it down to 70 degrees and achieve the cold break.
I quickly realized that the ice was going to melt long before I got the temperature down to 70. I made a quick decision and ran to the gas station for 2 more bags of ice. Luckily the gas station is so close, because I was back with the ice in under 5 minutes. I added the bags and that kept the water nice and frosty. The wort was down to 70 degrees in only 20 minutes.
At this point, I added 2 gallons of water to the fermentation bucket. I then strained the wort into the bucket through a stainless steel strainer. The strainer did a great job catching all the trub and the wort in the bucket ended up much cleaner than I thought it would be.
After pouring in the wort, I added enough water to bring the total volume in the fermentation bucket to 5 gallons. I then transferred the wort back and forth between the pot and the bucket 3 times in order to aerate it.
Next I pitched the yeast and put the lid on the bucket. I covered the airlock hole on the lid with plastic wrap and swirled the bucket vigorously for about a minute to mix in the yeast. I then put the airlock in, filled it with vodka, and set the bucket aside in our guest room, where the temperature will be steady around 72-74 degrees.
I checked back on the progress this morning, and the airlock is bubbling nicely, so it seems primary fermentation is moving along. The thermometer on the side of the bucket shows 75 degrees, a few degrees warmer than the ambient temperature in the room, due to the exothermic process of the yeast eating the sugars. The temperatures are what I was expecting, so hopefully it means things will turn out well.
Overall, things went smoothly for my first attempt at this - looking forward to bottling day in 2-3 weeks!
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