(2/26/2010)

I have come to realize that I am slow to post anything new and for this, I appologize. Well...this week I have some interesting thoughts for anyone out there. I unknowingly scheduled myself off two days off in a row this week and I couldn't have been happier. On Tuesday, my first day off I prepared for my first exam in my masters class which ended up being a great idea. On Wednesday, (my second day off), I decided to brew 5 gallons of anything that was a lager. After much deliberation, I found a good looking clone of Yuengling and I decide Meghan (my wife) would absolutely love this recipe.

After a great brew day I pitched my yeast and as of 48 hours later nothing had happened. The Wyeast package I pitched only swelled slightly after being activated for over 5 hours. I guess this was the major reason for concern. This was my first lager...and to date I have never had a bad brew (specificallly meaning infection). After reading much through the Wyeast website, I concluded I could wait 36 hours before seeing any activity. After a full 48 hours I didn't know what to do, but then I realized I had a re pitch of Wyeast 1098 in the fridge. I decided to pitch 100ml of Wyeast 1098 to save my beer. About 6 hours later, the 1098 has depleted all of the O2 and begun to ferment the beer, evident from the full kausen on the beer.

Hopefully I will have better luck next time. I am vary happy that I was able to slavage the beer after 48 hours of lag time. I think I will try to use several dry yeast packets the next time to ensure the proper pitching rates rates.

One last thing... Paradocs, I absolutley love the names you give your beers especially the IRA...

(2/23/2010)

High Tech Temp. Control

(2/19/2010)

Bottling day has arrived! Unfortunately there may not be any pictures. My wife brought home her classroom camera to let me borrow, but she has forgotten the USB cable every day for the last week. As soon as she brings it, I will have fermentation and bottling pics!

I will also be brewing a Moose Drool Brown Ale clone on Sunday:

16.73lb 2-row
1.92lb Crystal 40L
0.38lb Chocolate Malt
0.19 Black Patent

33 grams Magnum for 60 min

at 75% efficiency
SG 1.052
FG 1.013
16.8 SRM
26.1 IBU
4.98 ABV

(2/16/2010)

It has been a while since I posted last. Since my last post, the ESB has pretty well finished fermenting. I plan to bottle the beer on Friday of this week. A special thanks goes out to Van who has let me borrow his bottling tree. With 100 or so bottles, Friday is going to be busy.

The fermentation went pretty well. Surprisingly, I had to continuously add hot water to the water bath to maintain the fermentation temperature. After the krausen fell, I allowed the beer to stabilize at 58 deg. With such a low temperature in the basement, I think I might try to tackle my first lager. I might try a Classic American Pilsner for my first.

Following bottling on Friday, I will be brewing again on Sunday. This time I will be brewing an American Brown Ale. I will post the recipe and a picture of the fermentation temp control water baths soon!

The First Brew (2/8/2010)

Well the first brew was surprisingly successful and I got an even better efficiency than expected. The mash went well after a thorough pre-heating and the mash stabilized at a temperature of 151. I didn't measure the temperature at the end of the 45 minute rest, so I am not certain what the total heat loss was, but I imagine it really wasn't that much. The pump worked well and was even able to pump up the 7 feet to the hot liquor tank. After sparging, we were left with 13 gallons in the kettle (1.5 more than expected). After the hour boil, we ended up with 11 gallons total with 10 or so making it into the fermenters. The post boil gravity ended up at 11.5 Plato and a total efficiency of 87%. This may not be typical of all future batches because I tend to get a better efficiency on low gravity beers (likely due to the higher water to total grain ratio). The 70 foot wort chiller worked much better than expected. I was able to cool the entire 11 gallons of wort in the kettle to 58 degrees in 20 minutes. The chiller worked so well, that I actually had to warm my fermenters this morning.

The only hiccup of the day was at the very end. The pump preformed great until the dip tube became clogged with hop mass. I might try to put braided hoses on the dip tube for the next batch to see if that helps.

bulk hop buy (2/4/2010)

Would anyone like to participate in a bulk hop buy with me? Niko Homebrew Supply (http://www.nikobrew.com/) Has good prices on hops with a flat rate shipping of $5 per order. If bought by the pound, the price per ounce is significantly reduced. I was hoping by buying together, we could take advantage of the flat rate shipping and good pricing on pounds. Leave me a comment if your interested!

I am interested in:

Mt Hood
Magnum
East Kent Goldings
Amarillo
Cascade
Centennial
Willamette

(2/2/2010)

The first brew has been scheduled for this coming Sunday (2/7/2010)!

For a post boil ten gallon batch:

12.24 lb 2-Row
2.00 lb Flaked Maize
0.83 lb Crystal 120
0.44 lb Cara-pils
0.44 lb Victory malt

61g (60 min) Glacier
31g (30 min) Glacier
15g (1 min) East Kent Goldings
15g (1 min) East Kent Goldings

2 vials of wlp007

At 75% Efficiency
Est OG: 1.043
Est FG: 1.009
35 IBU
9.1 SRM