Brewing

Posted on October 26th, 2006 by GregPC.
Categories: Uncategorized.

11.10.06
I’m glad I made 10 gallons of that last batch.  It turned out well and continues to improve.  I’m a little worried that one of the kegs isn’t quite 100 percent sealed but I’m keeping the pressure on it (very low) to make sure nothing nasty sneaks get in there to spoil the beer.  Next weekend I think I’ll brew again, probably a stout.  It would be good if I could get a bunch of people together again but the weather is getting cooler and that makes hanging around outside less appealing.  This weekend I think will be devoted to cleaning equipment.  Not as glamorous but just as important.
11.06.06
I kegged my latest batch on Saturday and force carbonated it. I’m drinking a glass as I sit here and write and am happy to report that it is totally delicious and drinkable. There are a few things I would change about it - and I think that in a few weeks it will be better than it is today; but I have to say I’m happy with the outcome. Now the question is whether or not I should brew this weekend as well . . .
10.22.06
It’s been more than a month since I last brewed and during that time I evaluated the results of several recent batches that hadn’t turned out as I’d wished and my brewing process in each instance. My goal yesterday was to really focus on each step of the brew to make sure I avoided some of the mistakes I’d made in recent batches.The first thing I did was to make sure I had enough time and enough help to do the job right. I started cleaning and prepping at about 9:00 which meant that I had the whole day available. I also invited several people to lend a hand. In the end, Marco and Lais, James and Chesley, Justin, Wendy, Sidney and my brother Dave all helped out in one way or another.I started cleaning and sanitizing everything early. I gathered up all of my kegs, kettles, coolers and carboys and cleaned and sanitized them.
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I also took everything off the patio and cleaned and rearranged the space. By the time people started arriving at 11:00, I was putting everything together and heating up the water.dsc03150.jpgThe recipe was a clone of Rogue’s Brutal Bitter. I’ve made it a few times and the first batch of it was one of the best beer’s I’ve made. The brewing process went swimmingly with no errors or surprises. All of the measurements were on target and when I checked this morning, both carboys were bubbling away.I’ll probably keg 8 gallons and bottle a couple so I can give some to everyone that helped out.

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9.10.06
This past Sunday was a great day for brewing. It’s starting to cool down a bit here in New England (though it was still hot for part of the afternoon) and Fall is certainly in the air. (In my case it is in the air in the form of sound waves generated by my neighbor who begins sawing and stacking firewood at 7:00AM.)
I decided that the time was right to move from summer ales to my more typical brews - bitters and plain old ales. My brother-in-law and nephew were going to brew with me, but James was sick and Justin was AWOL so I was on my own. For the first time in a while, I didn’t have any changes to make to my set up. It was pretty nice not to be trying to sort something out in real time.Everything started smoothly for this batch. The only early issue was the my pre-boil gravity continues to be lower than I’d like and I have no idea what I can do to fix it. If anyone has any ideas please let me know.Finishing - 9.10Justin arrived just as I was starting the boil. It was good to have someone there to help. The boil went well and it smelled great. It was toward the end of the boil, at around 5:00, that the next problem cropped up. I dropped one of my carboys as I was draining sanitizer. It didn’t fall far, just a couple of inches, but that’s all it took for the think to smash.
I called Dan Eng at Barleycorn and caught him just as he was closing up. Justin ran over and grabbed a new carboy while I cleaned up the mess. After that, things went swimmingly. Except for the slightly lower gravity, everything went as expected and by the next morning both carboys were bubbling away.I also made an attempt to salvage some summer ale that I made back in August. I kegged half of the batch and bottled the rest. The bottled beer tastes great. That’s not the case for the keg. Every time I served it it was cloudy and had a milky taste. Some people thought it might be beer stone in the line out, so I replaced that with a clean one. I noticed that the beer from the top of the keg was clear and tasted great so I transfered most of it to another keg. It’s better but still not the best.Hopefully the new batch will taste great.technorati tags:, , ,
8.12.06

Yesterday I brewed with Mike Packard, who won the opportunity to brew with me at a fund-raising auction. We arranged a few weeks ago that we’d make a batch of summer ale.I began assembling and cleaning my gear pretty early so we could get started at 10:00 as planning. I ended up having to run to Home Depot though to buy some cinder blocks to make a new platform for my mash tun. I didn’t get home until 10:15 and so started off running behind.In addition to Mike, my nephew Justin and brother-in-law James were on hand to help. Once we got everything clean, sanitized and assembled we got underway.

I have a setup now that I’m pretty happy with – James cut and fitted out two 15 gallon kegs as a hot liquor tank and a boil kettle. The Igloo cooler mash tun works great and a recently purchased diaphragm pump has made life much easier.When I last brewed in July I made a cinder block tower to put the hot liquor tank on. It worked so well that I expanded it to serve as a platform for one of my propane tanks and for the mash tun. A warehouse ladder, which I was going to convert into a brewing platform, allows me to see into all of the containers and is pretty nice to have.

I decided to start early for two reasons – first so that I’d have some of the day left when I was finished brewing and second so that I’d hold off on drinking for at least a couple of hours. Both proved to have been good ideas. The brewing itself was uneventful and went absolutely according to plan. All of the numbers came in right were I wanted them to and, barring any unanticipated screw up, this should be a good batch.

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7.16.06
Yesterday was brew day. I needed to make a summer ale to have some on hand for later in the summer. Joe, from my old company, had agreed to come by and since the day was meant to be warm, I planned to start early. I made a summer ale in May which was dynamite and decided to use the same recipe again:

22# pilsner malt
.6 oz Simcoe
5.5 oz Bramling (spread through the boil)
Wyeast 1056
I just switched to all-grain back in December so every batch (eight so far) has been a learning process and yesterday was no different. Things started out quite well. I managed to get all of my temps right where I wanted them and the mash went along nicely. Toward the end of the mash, Joe and I noticed that the half dog crate I used as a support for my liquor tank was starting to look more than a little unstable – its sides were bowing out pretty dramatically. Since we still had to heat the sparge water, we decided it would be best to come up with an alternative. Probably not the best idea.
We headed to Home Depot to grab some cinder blocks. Originally, we were planning on putting them on the table that had the liquor tank and mash tun on it but were worried about the weight so we got enough to build a stand-alone platform. By the time we got home, the grain had been steeping for an hour. We still had to assemble the stand and heat the water.Assembling the stand was an easy – if hot – task. (It was almost noon and the temp was into the 90s.) We got the tank up onto the stand and started heating the water as fast as we could but the grain had been in for almost two hours by the time we started sparging.
The sparge and boil went well, but when I checked my gravity, it was ominously low (1.033). I cooled the wort, got it into my fermenter and cleaned everything. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the batch will work out but won’t be surprised if it doesn’t. I’m guessing that if it doesn’t it will be because my mash was too long. If anyone has thoughts I’d appreciate it very much.There were some bright spots yesterday though:I didn’t burn myself (which I almost always do)
The new hot liquor stand is much better than what I was using
I may have learned something about over-mashingWe’ll see how things turn out in a few weeks . . .technorati tags:, ,

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