Date of fermentation: 12/09/2012
Name of brew: Bogo Cider (Cider #1)
Batch size: 5 gallons
Drinking: Water (following a mild hangover from Lagunitas Cappucino Stout and my own Harry Porter)
Ingredients:
5 Gallons of Safeway brand 100% apple juice from concentrate with added Vitamin C
Brown Sugar to increase gravity and add flavor
Original gravity of Apple Juice was 1.048 at around 70 degrees
Boosted the gravity by adding light brown sugar until the gravity was 1.60
Pitched yeast at room temperature after adding 1/2 tsp of yeast nutrients
1 Packet of Fermentis Saflale S-04 ale yeast
Preparation:
Open apple juice, pour in fermenter, measure gravity. Add brown sugar to boost gravity, mix. Add yeast nutrients, add yeast, seal up the fermenter. Relax.
Temperature when yeast pitched: ~70 degrees
Original Gravity: 1.048 at 70 degrees, boosted to 1.060 by adding light brown sugar
Date when racked to secondary: N/A
Gravity when racked: N/A
Date when bottled: 1/19/2013
Amount of priming sugar: ~4.5oz
Final gravity: 1.000 @ 64 degrees
Approximate alcohol by volume: ~7.9%
Notes:
I used the cider episode from BrewingTV on youtube as the basis for this recipe with changes based on availability.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tDP1ubIci8
When bottling, the cider already had some minor carbonation because of this, I decided to cut down the amount of bottling sugar used to ~4.5oz in hopes of not having exploding bottles.
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Sunday, December 2, 2012
The Flood (Maibock), Brew #5
Date of brew: 12/01/2012
Name of brew: The Flood (brew #5)
Batch size: 5 gallons
Drinking: Harry Porter (Smoked Porter recipe from Brewmeister, brew #3)
Ingredients:
9.9 lbs. of Briess CBW Pilsen Light Malt Extract
0.5 lbs. of two-row malt
1.5 oz. Mt. Hood hops (boiling, 60 mins.)
0.5 oz. Mt Hood Hops (flavor, 30 mins.) subbed for Vanguard Hops
1.0 oz Saaz Hops (flavor, 15 mins.) subbed for French Strisselspalt Hops
2 Packets of Fermentis Saflager S23 lager yeast
Preparation:
I toasted the two-row malt in a toaster oven for 10 minutes before milling, while still at Brewmeister. When I began brewing, I found my thermometer had been broken so I had to guess at when the water reached 160 degrees to steep the malt. Once, I thought the temperature of the water reached 160 degrees, I added the malt in a grain bag to the 2 gallons of water and steeped it for 30 minutes.
After steeping for 30 minutes, I turned the burner back on, added the 9.9 lbs. of light malt extract and 1.5 oz. of Mt. Hood Hops. After boiling for 30 minutes, another 0.5 oz. of Mt. Hood Hops were added. 15 additional minutes of boiling before adding the 1.0 oz. of Saaz Hops.
After boiling, I added the hot wort to 2 gallons of cold water and then topped up to 5 gallons in my primary. I gave the brew an ice bath for about an hour, stirring occasionally until the temperature was an estimated 80 degrees. I then pitched two packets of yeast, covered and placed in the freezer for fermentation at 55 degrees.
Temperature when yeast pitched: ~80 degrees
Original Gravity: 1.072 at 80 degrees, adjusted to 1.074 at 60 degrees
Diacetyl Rest: 59 degrees for 36 hours
Date when racked to secondary: 12/9/12
Gravity when racked: 1.020
Lagering Temperature: 35 degrees
Date when bottled: TBA
Amount of priming sugar: TBA
Final gravity: TBA
Notes:
I started with another recipe from The Complete Joy of Homebrewing but had to switch a couple things up on the fly. This is adapted from the Elementary Penguin Maibock.
Brewmeister did not have the French Strisselspalt or Vaguard Hops so they were substituted with additional Mt. Hood and Saaz Hops when I was in store. Additionally, I pitched two packets of lager yeast in attempts to avoid making a yeast starter, time will tell if this works or if I must go back and make a yeast starter and pitch again.
Name of brew: The Flood (brew #5)
Batch size: 5 gallons
Drinking: Harry Porter (Smoked Porter recipe from Brewmeister, brew #3)
Ingredients:
9.9 lbs. of Briess CBW Pilsen Light Malt Extract
0.5 lbs. of two-row malt
1.5 oz. Mt. Hood hops (boiling, 60 mins.)
0.5 oz. Mt Hood Hops (flavor, 30 mins.) subbed for Vanguard Hops
1.0 oz Saaz Hops (flavor, 15 mins.) subbed for French Strisselspalt Hops
2 Packets of Fermentis Saflager S23 lager yeast
Preparation:
I toasted the two-row malt in a toaster oven for 10 minutes before milling, while still at Brewmeister. When I began brewing, I found my thermometer had been broken so I had to guess at when the water reached 160 degrees to steep the malt. Once, I thought the temperature of the water reached 160 degrees, I added the malt in a grain bag to the 2 gallons of water and steeped it for 30 minutes.
After steeping for 30 minutes, I turned the burner back on, added the 9.9 lbs. of light malt extract and 1.5 oz. of Mt. Hood Hops. After boiling for 30 minutes, another 0.5 oz. of Mt. Hood Hops were added. 15 additional minutes of boiling before adding the 1.0 oz. of Saaz Hops.
After boiling, I added the hot wort to 2 gallons of cold water and then topped up to 5 gallons in my primary. I gave the brew an ice bath for about an hour, stirring occasionally until the temperature was an estimated 80 degrees. I then pitched two packets of yeast, covered and placed in the freezer for fermentation at 55 degrees.
Temperature when yeast pitched: ~80 degrees
Original Gravity: 1.072 at 80 degrees, adjusted to 1.074 at 60 degrees
Diacetyl Rest: 59 degrees for 36 hours
Date when racked to secondary: 12/9/12
Gravity when racked: 1.020
Lagering Temperature: 35 degrees
Date when bottled: TBA
Amount of priming sugar: TBA
Final gravity: TBA
Notes:
I started with another recipe from The Complete Joy of Homebrewing but had to switch a couple things up on the fly. This is adapted from the Elementary Penguin Maibock.
Brewmeister did not have the French Strisselspalt or Vaguard Hops so they were substituted with additional Mt. Hood and Saaz Hops when I was in store. Additionally, I pitched two packets of lager yeast in attempts to avoid making a yeast starter, time will tell if this works or if I must go back and make a yeast starter and pitch again.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Batch #3, Smoked Porter
As an early birthday gift, I received a freezer to use as a fermentation chamber. I purchased an after market temperature controller from (The Brewmeister) in Roseville after talking to Erik, the owner about temperature controllers. He advised that the analog would be sufficient for anything that I planned on doing now or in the future and that a digital would be spending extra money unnecessarily.
So now, thanks to Christy, Dad, Justin, and Janie I can brew all summer long and I can even now lager!
For my first beer in the new chamber I chose to do a Smoked Porter Recipe Kit from the Brewmeister. It sounded good, Christy wanted to have it for an upcoming holiday party and well, I didn't have any other recipes that I wanted to try for the time being.
The ingredients are as follows:
7 lbs. Pale liquid malt extract
1 lb. RauchMaltz
1 lb. Crystal malt
1 lb. Chocolate malt
1 lb. Black Patent malt
1.50 oz East Kent Golding Hops (for bittering, 60 minutes boil)
0.50 oz East Kent Golding Hops (for aroma, 0 minutes boil)
0.25 oz Irish Moss for clearing Corn sugar for bottle conditioning
1 packet of Safale S-04 Ale Yeast
I may have misread the original gravity as I measured it at just a hair over 1.040 (and not much higher after adjusting for temperature) which seems a bit low as the expected is 1.054.
I placed the wort in the fermentation bucket and placed it in the chamber around midnight on Friday, October 12. The Brewmeister directions indicate to rack to secondary after 7 days, and let clear for 10-14 days and then bottle. After bottling, it is recommended to let the hops mellow for 3 weeks...looks like I won't be sampling this beer anytime soon. Bummer, but it'll be that much tastier when I do get to it.
So now, thanks to Christy, Dad, Justin, and Janie I can brew all summer long and I can even now lager!
For my first beer in the new chamber I chose to do a Smoked Porter Recipe Kit from the Brewmeister. It sounded good, Christy wanted to have it for an upcoming holiday party and well, I didn't have any other recipes that I wanted to try for the time being.
The ingredients are as follows:
7 lbs. Pale liquid malt extract
1 lb. RauchMaltz
1 lb. Crystal malt
1 lb. Chocolate malt
1 lb. Black Patent malt
1.50 oz East Kent Golding Hops (for bittering, 60 minutes boil)
0.50 oz East Kent Golding Hops (for aroma, 0 minutes boil)
0.25 oz Irish Moss for clearing Corn sugar for bottle conditioning
1 packet of Safale S-04 Ale Yeast
I may have misread the original gravity as I measured it at just a hair over 1.040 (and not much higher after adjusting for temperature) which seems a bit low as the expected is 1.054.
I placed the wort in the fermentation bucket and placed it in the chamber around midnight on Friday, October 12. The Brewmeister directions indicate to rack to secondary after 7 days, and let clear for 10-14 days and then bottle. After bottling, it is recommended to let the hops mellow for 3 weeks...looks like I won't be sampling this beer anytime soon. Bummer, but it'll be that much tastier when I do get to it.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Brew #2: Sparrow Hawk Porter
Date of Brew: 4/8/2012
Name of Brew: Sparrow Hawk Porter
Batch Size: 5 Gallons
Ingredients used (purchased from Brew Ferment Distill):
1.0 lb. Crushed Black Patent Malt
3.3 lbs. Briess CBW Sparkling Amber Extract
3.3 lbs. Briess CBW Traditional Dark Extract
1.0 lbs. Amber Dried Malt Extract
~1.5 oz German Northern Brewer Hop Pellets
1.0 oz Tettnanger Hops
1 packet (11.5 grams) Safale S-04 Ale Yeast
Boil Time: 60 minutes
Preparation:
Steeped black malt for 30 minutes in water approximately 150 degrees. Removed malts, added all extracts and 1.5 oz of northern brewer hops, brought to boil. Added tettnanger hops during final 2 minutes of brew.
Temperature when yeast is pitched: ~74 degrees
Beginning gravity: ~1.059 after adjusting measurement for temperature
Date when bottled: 4/17/2012
Amount of priming sugar: 3/4 cups
Final Gravity: ~1.017
Notes:
Made my first trip to Brew Ferment Distill to purchase an ingredient kit. Unfortunately, they do not carry kits. I had to on the fly come up with a recipe to make. I found a porter recipe from The Complete Joy of Homebrewing (page 201) that I wanted to try out. The recipe calls for a LOT of extract so it cost just over 60 for all ingredients plus sanitizer and bottle caps. This was a bit more than I had anticipated but after reviewing prices online seems to be about right (it's because of the amount of extract that it added up so high).
At the beginning of boil, it again did NOT begin to boil over. I am not sure how much of a difference this may make.
This time I waited until the wort had cooled to around 74 degrees, something that I did not know to do on my first batch. I'm hoping this leads to a stronger alcohol content than my previous attempt.
Also unlike my first batch, I better understand how to read the hydrometer and my original gravity reading fell right in the middle of the expected value based on the recipe.
UPDATE:
I came home from work on 4/9/12 to find the lid of the fermenter bulging, foam and an assortment of crud filling up the airlock and wort on the lid and floor. I quickly popped the airlock, cleaned, re-sanitized, and restored everything to its correct place. It has since continued to bubble but does not appear to be foaming over any longer. I will look into an emergency blow-out valve in the future if this should happen again. I don't think this will be much of an issue this time as I was able to google that it is a common (though maybe not frequent) problem that can arise in homebrew.
The temperature has hovered around the upper end of the ale yeast scale around 75 degrees for much of the previous 24 hours.
Update 2:
I just measured the final gravity, it was 1.018 at around 70-72 degrees, so its probably closer to 1.016 or 1.017 when adjusted for temperature. I will bottle it tonight after the kids are in bed and (not so) patiently wait through the conditioning process.
Name of Brew: Sparrow Hawk Porter
Batch Size: 5 Gallons
Ingredients used (purchased from Brew Ferment Distill):
1.0 lb. Crushed Black Patent Malt
3.3 lbs. Briess CBW Sparkling Amber Extract
3.3 lbs. Briess CBW Traditional Dark Extract
1.0 lbs. Amber Dried Malt Extract
~1.5 oz German Northern Brewer Hop Pellets
1.0 oz Tettnanger Hops
1 packet (11.5 grams) Safale S-04 Ale Yeast
Boil Time: 60 minutes
Preparation:
Steeped black malt for 30 minutes in water approximately 150 degrees. Removed malts, added all extracts and 1.5 oz of northern brewer hops, brought to boil. Added tettnanger hops during final 2 minutes of brew.
Temperature when yeast is pitched: ~74 degrees
Beginning gravity: ~1.059 after adjusting measurement for temperature
Date when bottled: 4/17/2012
Amount of priming sugar: 3/4 cups
Final Gravity: ~1.017
Notes:
Made my first trip to Brew Ferment Distill to purchase an ingredient kit. Unfortunately, they do not carry kits. I had to on the fly come up with a recipe to make. I found a porter recipe from The Complete Joy of Homebrewing (page 201) that I wanted to try out. The recipe calls for a LOT of extract so it cost just over 60 for all ingredients plus sanitizer and bottle caps. This was a bit more than I had anticipated but after reviewing prices online seems to be about right (it's because of the amount of extract that it added up so high).
At the beginning of boil, it again did NOT begin to boil over. I am not sure how much of a difference this may make.
This time I waited until the wort had cooled to around 74 degrees, something that I did not know to do on my first batch. I'm hoping this leads to a stronger alcohol content than my previous attempt.
Also unlike my first batch, I better understand how to read the hydrometer and my original gravity reading fell right in the middle of the expected value based on the recipe.
UPDATE:
I came home from work on 4/9/12 to find the lid of the fermenter bulging, foam and an assortment of crud filling up the airlock and wort on the lid and floor. I quickly popped the airlock, cleaned, re-sanitized, and restored everything to its correct place. It has since continued to bubble but does not appear to be foaming over any longer. I will look into an emergency blow-out valve in the future if this should happen again. I don't think this will be much of an issue this time as I was able to google that it is a common (though maybe not frequent) problem that can arise in homebrew.
The temperature has hovered around the upper end of the ale yeast scale around 75 degrees for much of the previous 24 hours.
Update 2:
I just measured the final gravity, it was 1.018 at around 70-72 degrees, so its probably closer to 1.016 or 1.017 when adjusted for temperature. I will bottle it tonight after the kids are in bed and (not so) patiently wait through the conditioning process.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Labeling done
Labeling complete. I couldn't resist any longer and decided to open one up tonight.
I was relieved to see that it was carbonated. I had worried that I killed the yeast and would end up with a flat, low alcohol brew. I noticed that the carbonation is not as strong as commercial beers. I wonder if this is because its home brew or because of any number of possible problems I ran into during the brewing, fermenting, and bottling process.
Lastly, it has a stronger bitter finish than I expected and less of an alcohol flavor than I expected. This again may just be the recipe or may result from something that I did incorrectly, though I think its just a stronger hop finish than I expected. This hoppyness may fade as I let it age some more. And after fewer than one whole beer I can feel the alcohol already....so I guess it can't be that low in content. Whats this...the bottom of the glass? Time to get another.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Bottling Complete
Today marks a week that my beer has been fermenting. I spent another great deal of time sanitizing all the equipment and 48 bottles (pain in my ass), siphoned the beer from the fermenting bucket (as you see in the picture below) and into the bottling bucket.
As I siphoned the beer, I accidentally introduced some air into the tubing twice which exposes the beer to a bit more oxygen then I think is supposed to happen. I hope this won't be a big deal, but its too late to fix it at this point. It'll either be ok or not.
I think I may still be having problems with the hydrometer because both when I brewed the beer and today when bottling I was getting readings that I did not expect. Again I hope this isn't as big of a deal as it currently seems. Today's reading was reporting less alcohol content than I was expecting. I also wonder if this reading is correct if it has anything to do with the first day of fermentation being relatively warm, before I moved it to a cooler location.
Capping was easy and quick. Labeling will follow fermentation.
I now have another week of fermentation in the bottle followed by between 0 days and 3 weeks for conditioning. It'll be a test of will power.
Jay
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Fermenation of Batch #1
The airlock was bubbling like crazy on Sunday morning and continued all day long. I assume it also bubbled well into Sunday night and Monday but by the time I got home Monday evening it had either ceased entirely or slowed to an amount that was no longer noticeable at a glance. I had expected it to bubble and ferment through tonight (Wednesday) but it looks like that didn't happen. Since this is my first batch I don't yet know if this is ok or will mean that the beer will not turn out right in the end. For now, I will just move forward as I would have otherwise.
Another possible issue that I ran into that I hope ends up being nothing much: the first 12-18 hours of fermentation I had the bucket sitting on the kitchen counter. In the winter, we keep the thermostat at 68 degrees so I figured it should be well within range of what ale yeast requires. However, the temperature hovered around 76-78 degrees the whole time. On Sunday evening I moved the bucket (will moving the bucket disturb anything?) to the floor in a corner near the kitchen. By the next day the temperature had cooled to 66-68 degrees as I had wanted.
Bottling is planned for Saturday after allowing for a few more days of settling. I can't wait...too bad it'll be a few more weeks still after that before first taste.
Another possible issue that I ran into that I hope ends up being nothing much: the first 12-18 hours of fermentation I had the bucket sitting on the kitchen counter. In the winter, we keep the thermostat at 68 degrees so I figured it should be well within range of what ale yeast requires. However, the temperature hovered around 76-78 degrees the whole time. On Sunday evening I moved the bucket (will moving the bucket disturb anything?) to the floor in a corner near the kitchen. By the next day the temperature had cooled to 66-68 degrees as I had wanted.
Bottling is planned for Saturday after allowing for a few more days of settling. I can't wait...too bad it'll be a few more weeks still after that before first taste.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
My First Brew
Batch #1, Amber Ale from a pre-assembled kit by True Brew:
Brew name: Man Card
Equipment kit from monsterbrew.com, including:
True Brew Handbook
6.5 Gallon Primary Fermenting Bucket
1 Lid Drilled & Grommet
6.5 Gallon Bottling Bucket w/ Spigot
Fermtech Springless Bottle Filler
Fermometer Fermentation Thermometer
Auto Siphon
Hydrometer
Emily Double Lever Capper
Bottle Brush
3 Piece Airlock
C-Brite Sanitizer 8-Pack
True Brew Ingredient Kit
Easy To Read Instructions
48 12 oz Amber bottles
Additional equipment used:
20 quart pacific prime stainless steel brewpot
Long handled plastic spoon
Long handled stainless steel spoon
Second smaller pot used just for warming up can of malt extract
Ingredients:
Hopped Amber Malt Extract (1 can)
2 1lb bags of Light Dried Malt Extract
Hop Pellets (1 oz)
Ale Yeast (1 pack)
Priming Sugar (5 oz)
Bottle Caps
Fermentation location: Kitchen counter
I took my sweet time since this is my first real attempt at brewing and I was paranoid that I would not sanitize something properly and would contaminate my brew and end up with off-flavors. From the start of cleaning until sealing up the fermentation bucket, it took just about 3 hours.
I sanitized using 2 gallons of warm water and one packet of C-brite in the fermentation bucket and the same mixture in the brewpot. Soaked all equipment for several minutes. As I poured the mixture out I rotated the bucket and brewpot around so that every part of the interior or each was exposed to the sanitizer.
When I began boiling the wort, I never experienced much foaming like I had read should happen, I think this may be due to bringing the brew to boil at a relatively low temperature (this was not intentional as I realized it after the fact). I hope this does not affect the outcome.
I awoke this morning to find the airlock bubbling constantly, a sign that fermentation is well underway.
If the fermentation appears complete as expected on February 1st, I will bottle the brew on February 4th. Then its on to the second fermentation and conditioning in the bottle.
Brew name: Man Card
Equipment kit from monsterbrew.com, including:
True Brew Handbook
6.5 Gallon Primary Fermenting Bucket
1 Lid Drilled & Grommet
6.5 Gallon Bottling Bucket w/ Spigot
Fermtech Springless Bottle Filler
Fermometer Fermentation Thermometer
Auto Siphon
Hydrometer
Emily Double Lever Capper
Bottle Brush
3 Piece Airlock
C-Brite Sanitizer 8-Pack
True Brew Ingredient Kit
Easy To Read Instructions
48 12 oz Amber bottles
Additional equipment used:
20 quart pacific prime stainless steel brewpot
Long handled plastic spoon
Long handled stainless steel spoon
Second smaller pot used just for warming up can of malt extract
Ingredients:
Hopped Amber Malt Extract (1 can)
Fermentation location: Kitchen counter
I took my sweet time since this is my first real attempt at brewing and I was paranoid that I would not sanitize something properly and would contaminate my brew and end up with off-flavors. From the start of cleaning until sealing up the fermentation bucket, it took just about 3 hours.
I sanitized using 2 gallons of warm water and one packet of C-brite in the fermentation bucket and the same mixture in the brewpot. Soaked all equipment for several minutes. As I poured the mixture out I rotated the bucket and brewpot around so that every part of the interior or each was exposed to the sanitizer.
When I began boiling the wort, I never experienced much foaming like I had read should happen, I think this may be due to bringing the brew to boil at a relatively low temperature (this was not intentional as I realized it after the fact). I hope this does not affect the outcome.
I awoke this morning to find the airlock bubbling constantly, a sign that fermentation is well underway.
If the fermentation appears complete as expected on February 1st, I will bottle the brew on February 4th. Then its on to the second fermentation and conditioning in the bottle.
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