We bottle Recipe #1, the well hopped Pale Ale. It was a task getting all the bottles sanitized. I count a good 2 hours prep work on that, and plenty of water used. From there, things worked fairly well. The siphon went alright, and after a few minutes of head scratching, even the bottling setup wasn't too much for our monkey brains.
The end result? A beautiful arrangement of bottles in my kitchen, ready to age, and eventually enjoy. Dreams of the next batch(es) has already begun...
Showing posts with label Recipe #1. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recipe #1. Show all posts
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Recipe #1 - Day by Day - Updated!
Day 0 (approx 10 minutes in carboy)
Large amount of sediment at the bottom of the carboy. Quarter inch of foam on top of fermenting beer.
Day 1 (approx 21 hours in carboy)
Three inches of sediment at bottom of carboy, actively 'moving'. After waking up to no foam at all, foam has exploded to approximately four inches on top. Bubbling C02 can be seen in the fermentation lock. Noticeable 'hop' smell permeating. Smells like an IPA.
Day 2 (approx 45 hours in carboy)
Foam has dissipated a bit, but not before carrying sediment all the way to the top of the carboy. Airlock still very active. Major movement inside carboy.
Day 3 (approx 68 hours in carboy)
Noticeably less bubbling in the airlock. Foam has dissipated to less than an inch thick. No longer rapid movement inside the carboy. I'd say past peak fermentation, maybe?
Day 5 (approx 115 hours in carboy)
Fermentation has essentially stopped (at least in the airlock). Foam has dissipated, though you can't really see this in the picture, since there is so much sediment along the top of the carboy. We should be on tap to either rack or bottle in a couple of days time.
-Ron
Large amount of sediment at the bottom of the carboy. Quarter inch of foam on top of fermenting beer.
Day 1 (approx 21 hours in carboy)
Three inches of sediment at bottom of carboy, actively 'moving'. After waking up to no foam at all, foam has exploded to approximately four inches on top. Bubbling C02 can be seen in the fermentation lock. Noticeable 'hop' smell permeating. Smells like an IPA.
Day 2 (approx 45 hours in carboy)
Foam has dissipated a bit, but not before carrying sediment all the way to the top of the carboy. Airlock still very active. Major movement inside carboy.
Day 3 (approx 68 hours in carboy)
Noticeably less bubbling in the airlock. Foam has dissipated to less than an inch thick. No longer rapid movement inside the carboy. I'd say past peak fermentation, maybe?
Day 5 (approx 115 hours in carboy)
Fermentation has essentially stopped (at least in the airlock). Foam has dissipated, though you can't really see this in the picture, since there is so much sediment along the top of the carboy. We should be on tap to either rack or bottle in a couple of days time.
-Ron
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Testing out Beersmith on the Hopped Pale Ale
Did the same Beersmith analysis, looking back at the first recipe.
It estimates the specific gravity to be around 1.040. Our adjusted estimated beginning was 1.039, so we are probably close.
ABV estimate, assuming final gravity is 1.010 is 3.52-3.77% ABV.
IBU's are 26.2, which it actually thinks is below the range for an American Pale Ale. We'll see about that. FWIW, if we'd have boiled 2 gallons in the pot, rather than 1.5, IBU's jump to 35.9.
The color is 8.2 SRMs, whatever those are. Looks like a burnt light brown, darker than khaki. 5 SRM's are the lightest for this style, so we're a little darker than the lightest pales can be.
I'm pretty happy with our results, on our first batch, compared to what the program thinks we should have accomplished.
It estimates the specific gravity to be around 1.040. Our adjusted estimated beginning was 1.039, so we are probably close.
ABV estimate, assuming final gravity is 1.010 is 3.52-3.77% ABV.
IBU's are 26.2, which it actually thinks is below the range for an American Pale Ale. We'll see about that. FWIW, if we'd have boiled 2 gallons in the pot, rather than 1.5, IBU's jump to 35.9.
The color is 8.2 SRMs, whatever those are. Looks like a burnt light brown, darker than khaki. 5 SRM's are the lightest for this style, so we're a little darker than the lightest pales can be.
I'm pretty happy with our results, on our first batch, compared to what the program thinks we should have accomplished.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Hydrometer Knowledge!
I just looked at the hydrometer for the first time, in detail...noticed it has a reading for alcohol levels.
Recipe #1, if we assume 1.039 as our adjusted reading, would have an alcohol content of around 5%, if the specific gravity drops all the way down to 1.00 (not possible, but we could realistically ferment down to 1.010, which would leave us with approx 4% alcohol).
Recipe #2, if we use our adjusted reading of 1.062, would net out a max of around 8%. so if we could ferment this batch down to around 1.010, or so, we could net out around a 7% abv.
-Ron
Recipe #1, if we assume 1.039 as our adjusted reading, would have an alcohol content of around 5%, if the specific gravity drops all the way down to 1.00 (not possible, but we could realistically ferment down to 1.010, which would leave us with approx 4% alcohol).
Recipe #2, if we use our adjusted reading of 1.062, would net out a max of around 8%. so if we could ferment this batch down to around 1.010, or so, we could net out around a 7% abv.
-Ron
Sediment Along Top of Carboy?
Not sure what happened overnight, but at some point the foam must have gotten all the way up to the top of the carboy, basically all the way full, because there is a lot of sediment now stuck to the glass. That will be a bitch to clean, I can tell...The foam is down around where it was when I went to bed, and we are in what has to be 'active' fermentation.
-Ron
-Ron
Monday, October 26, 2009
Pictures From Recipe #1!
This is where the magic happened!
Beer making is 75% blogging. Or is it the other way around?
Andrew, working the sack. Squeeze the sack!
Good beer starts with good (Publix brand) water. Nice technique, Ryan!
Pouring the wort is a two man job.
Ladies and gentlemen, beer.
- Ron
Dry Hopping FTW
Greenville Beer Brother Andrew has ordered us up some fresh hops to Dry Hop our first batch...freshops.com is pretty amazing. The original recipe was only good for 13 IBU's, but our final result should be much, much hoppier, after adding the additional hops in the wort, and now dry hopping in the carboy.
Looks like we've got 8 ozs of Cascade and 6 ozs of Northern Brewer on the way. The Cascade will also contribute to our next venture, a Pumpkin Porter...I've nearly got the photos from last night up onto Flickr, and should have some online after lunch.
- Ron
Looks like we've got 8 ozs of Cascade and 6 ozs of Northern Brewer on the way. The Cascade will also contribute to our next venture, a Pumpkin Porter...I've nearly got the photos from last night up onto Flickr, and should have some online after lunch.
- Ron
Hydrometer SNAFU
The most notable event during last night's first brew session was likely the erroneous hydrometer reading, brought on by a technical error.
Things were running smoothly. The batch was ready to be strained into the carboy, after a cool off period in the ice bath. We had discussed the hydrometer reading, and had decided that we would take a (sanitized) ladle, and pour that into the hydrometer flask before pouring the wort into the carboy.
That, my friends, is where the error occurred. You see, through a haze of The Bruery's Autumn Maple and Stone Imperial Russian Stout, we forgot to recognize that a proper hydrometer reading has to be taken from the carboy, after pouring the wort in. You can't sample the super concentrated wort...it's no wonder our reading came out as 1.140 at approx 80 degrees.
So, we live and learn. For the next batch, we will have a more solid process in place for the hydrometer reading. You can count on that one.
- Ron
Things were running smoothly. The batch was ready to be strained into the carboy, after a cool off period in the ice bath. We had discussed the hydrometer reading, and had decided that we would take a (sanitized) ladle, and pour that into the hydrometer flask before pouring the wort into the carboy.
That, my friends, is where the error occurred. You see, through a haze of The Bruery's Autumn Maple and Stone Imperial Russian Stout, we forgot to recognize that a proper hydrometer reading has to be taken from the carboy, after pouring the wort in. You can't sample the super concentrated wort...it's no wonder our reading came out as 1.140 at approx 80 degrees.
So, we live and learn. For the next batch, we will have a more solid process in place for the hydrometer reading. You can count on that one.
- Ron
Recipe #1 - Modified Pale Ale
Recipe #1 - 10/25/2009 - Ron's House
6 oz Crystal Malt Grains (steeped in grain bag)
6 oz Caramel Malt Grains (steeped in grain bag)
2 lbs Light Dried Malt Extract
3.3 lbs Canned Lightly Hopped Malt Extract (1 Can)
1 oz. Chinook Hops (11.4% Alpha Acid) @ 60 min.
.5 oz. Cascade Hops (7.5% Alpha Acid) @ 15 min.
1 oz. Chinook Hops (11.4% Alpha Acid) @ 5 min.
.5 oz. Cascade Hops (7.5% Alpha Acid) @ 5 min.
1 vial liquid Ale Yeast
Publix brand spring water
Dry Hop TBD
1 tsp. Irish Moss
Recorded Original Specific Gravity 1.14
Malt grains were steeped for 50 minutes at 155 degrees, in their grain bags, then squeezed and discarded.
Wort brought back just to a boil, before removing from heat. Canned malt extract and two pounds of light dried malt extract were added, with constant stirring to prevent sticking.
Wort brought back to heat, and brought back to a boil. 1 oz Chinook Hops added at the 60 minute mark, for bittering.
.5 ounce of Cascade hops and 1 tsp of Irish Moss added at the 15 minute mark.
1 ounce of Chinook and .5 ounce of Cascade added at the 5 minute mark (aroma).
At 0 minutes (i.e., after 60 minutes of hop boil), the pot was covered, and an ice water bath was prepared in the sink to reduce wort temperature. After 35-40 minutes, wort temperature was approx 80 degrees. A hydrometer reading was taken, and the wort was poured through a strainer into 3 gallons of cold spring water. Liquid was topped off up to 5 gallons.
Liquid Ale Yeast pitched into carboy, and vigorously shaken.
Due to high specific gravity reading, an additional quart of water was added to the carboy. Carboy then affixed with fermentation cap and placed in it's resting area to ferment.
- Ron
6 oz Crystal Malt Grains (steeped in grain bag)
6 oz Caramel Malt Grains (steeped in grain bag)
2 lbs Light Dried Malt Extract
3.3 lbs Canned Lightly Hopped Malt Extract (1 Can)
1 oz. Chinook Hops (11.4% Alpha Acid) @ 60 min.
.5 oz. Cascade Hops (7.5% Alpha Acid) @ 15 min.
1 oz. Chinook Hops (11.4% Alpha Acid) @ 5 min.
.5 oz. Cascade Hops (7.5% Alpha Acid) @ 5 min.
1 vial liquid Ale Yeast
Publix brand spring water
Dry Hop TBD
1 tsp. Irish Moss
Recorded Original Specific Gravity 1.14
Malt grains were steeped for 50 minutes at 155 degrees, in their grain bags, then squeezed and discarded.
Wort brought back just to a boil, before removing from heat. Canned malt extract and two pounds of light dried malt extract were added, with constant stirring to prevent sticking.
Wort brought back to heat, and brought back to a boil. 1 oz Chinook Hops added at the 60 minute mark, for bittering.
.5 ounce of Cascade hops and 1 tsp of Irish Moss added at the 15 minute mark.
1 ounce of Chinook and .5 ounce of Cascade added at the 5 minute mark (aroma).
At 0 minutes (i.e., after 60 minutes of hop boil), the pot was covered, and an ice water bath was prepared in the sink to reduce wort temperature. After 35-40 minutes, wort temperature was approx 80 degrees. A hydrometer reading was taken, and the wort was poured through a strainer into 3 gallons of cold spring water. Liquid was topped off up to 5 gallons.
Liquid Ale Yeast pitched into carboy, and vigorously shaken.
Due to high specific gravity reading, an additional quart of water was added to the carboy. Carboy then affixed with fermentation cap and placed in it's resting area to ferment.
- Ron
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