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Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew.

Submitted by Frosti on

Any homebrewers out there? Let us know what's currently fermenting in the pot.

Mother's in the kitchen washing out the jugs, 
Sister's in the pantry bottling the suds, 
Father's in the cellar mixin' up the hops, 
Johnny's on the front porch watchin' for the cops.

Frosti

Yes. Tough to brew when you're out of town 3 weekends out of 4.

Tue, 09/09/2003 - 4:51 AM Permalink
Frosti

HopMan, quick, to The Mobile Brewing Lab!

Tue, 09/09/2003 - 11:29 AM Permalink
Sparky

To the Brew Cave! Use the Brew Poles!

Look out for our arch-nemesis, Unsanitari Lee and his henchman, Oxidai Chan!

Tue, 09/09/2003 - 11:45 AM Permalink
Frosti

<groan>

Tue, 09/09/2003 - 2:24 PM Permalink
Frosti

Brewing photos from last night's double batch session!

Attachment
Sat, 09/13/2003 - 10:34 AM Permalink
me

what's in the bag - hops ?

Sat, 09/13/2003 - 10:38 AM Permalink
Frosti

Grains. We did use whole hops, but put them in loose.

<edit> I went back and labelled the photos.

Sat, 09/13/2003 - 10:39 AM Permalink
me

question - when you say "fermentables" - what exactly is that (malt) ?

I thought the sugars from the grains is what the yeast uses to ferment

Sat, 09/13/2003 - 10:48 AM Permalink
Frosti

Yes indeed. The stuff in the photo is malt extract, which contains the sugars from the grains that the yeast will use. It's just processed. We don't do all-grain brewing, though it may be on the horizon.

Sat, 09/13/2003 - 10:51 AM Permalink
me

and please pardon the newbie questions - i know precious few details about the brewing process

Sat, 09/13/2003 - 10:52 AM Permalink
me

ah, ok. thanks. so what kind of specialty grains did you use this time ? and do you use it to just alter the flavor (slightly) of the processed malt ?

I guess the most common grain would be a 2 row barley malt, correct ?

Sat, 09/13/2003 - 10:53 AM Permalink
Frosti

Yes, that's pretty common. That would be more in the extract, and I don't honestly know what type of grain was in the extract.

The specialty grains are used as additions for color and flavor, as you state. Both batches had the following for specialty grains:
Crisp Chocolate malt and
Simpsons Dark Crystal malt

The porter had 1/2 pound of each, and the winter warmer had 3/4 pound of Simpsons and 1/4 pound of the chocolate.

Sat, 09/13/2003 - 11:40 AM Permalink
Frosti

I'm trying an experiment tonight. The Winter Warmer is going to be transferred to secondary tonight. But, I'm currently brewing a Scottish Wee Heavy. I'm going to leave the yeast from the warmer in the same primary container and reuse it. Once the Wee Heavy is finished with the boil and has cooled, I'm just going to pour it right onto the old yeast and see what happens. From what I've read, it should work.

Sat, 09/27/2003 - 5:35 PM Permalink
Sparky

Best wishes on a succesful experiment, o Mad Scientist/Brewer!

Sun, 09/28/2003 - 8:38 AM Permalink
Frosti

I'm feeling verry paranoid. It's been 15 hours and no activity so far.

Sun, 09/28/2003 - 11:07 AM Permalink
Sparky

Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew.
Heh.

Mon, 09/29/2003 - 7:50 AM Permalink
Frosti

It's working! Bubbles as of this morning when I woke up. Not as fast as I would have liked, but what the hey.

Mon, 09/29/2003 - 10:51 AM Permalink
Frosti

This one's got stamina. It's still bubbling steadily, if not as frequently.

So now I've got a spare smack-pack of Scottish yeast. Gotta find a recipe to use it in.

Wed, 10/01/2003 - 8:08 PM Permalink
Sparky

Man, what a trial for you. :P

Didn't they have a kit for a Scottish Wee Heavy at the Brew shop? You could get the grains & malt, away you go!

Thu, 10/02/2003 - 4:30 AM Permalink
Frosti

You bloated sack of protoplasm! That's what I'm brewing now. However, I didn't use the yeast that came with the kit, since I reused the yeast that was in the primary from the Winter Warmer.

Thu, 10/02/2003 - 4:45 AM Permalink
Sparky

Whoops. Memory like a sieve.
I mean, I knew that! I's just testing you, eh!

Maybe you could make a bloated Haggis.

Thu, 10/02/2003 - 5:20 AM Permalink
Frosti

Good name for a beer. Now you need to come up with a recipe.

Thu, 10/02/2003 - 9:44 PM Permalink
Sparky

or maybe a rock-n-roll band - Bloated Haggis.

Fri, 10/03/2003 - 2:27 PM Permalink
Andy Axel

This weekend, I made a flag porter knockoff from grain.

Fermentation started (well, at least apparent) today.

Mon, 10/06/2003 - 7:50 PM Permalink
Frosti

Flag porter, is that a local brew?

Mon, 10/06/2003 - 7:51 PM Permalink
Andy Axel

Nope. Elgood & Sons, Wisbech, UK.

Here's the recipe for partial mash:

1/2# 55L British crystal
6 oz British brown malt
5 oz British choc. malt

(steep 150 for 20 min)

then

6# M&F light DME
1.4 oz East Kent Golding @5.5 AA (60 min)

1/2 oz Fuggles (15 min) w/ 1 t. Irish moss

Pitch with Wyeast 1084 or 1098.

Prime w/ 1.25c M&F light DME.

Mon, 10/06/2003 - 7:56 PM Permalink
Andy Axel

For what it's worth, I must recommend the book CLONEBREWS by "Szamatulski."

Mon, 10/06/2003 - 7:59 PM Permalink
Frosti

Thanks Andy!

Mon, 10/06/2003 - 8:31 PM Permalink
Frosti

We're on pins and needles, wondering if you managed the time.

Sat, 10/18/2003 - 9:53 PM Permalink
Frosti

Sparky and I bottled the Winter Warmer last night, and then I bottled the Scottish Wee Heavy after he went home. I had to look on the website to remind myself what the second batch was. I'm getting forgetful in my old age.

Sun, 11/02/2003 - 11:51 AM Permalink
Andy Axel

Scotch Silly went in the primary yesterday...

It's a scotch ale/belgian hybrid. As I was getting the ingredients the other day, the guy helping me commented, "Dude, that is one big beer."

Character grains:
14 oz. 55L British crystal
4 oz. whiskey malt or peated malt
6 oz. aromatic Belgian malt

(150 deg. for 20 min in 1 gal water. Sparge grains to 1.5 gal. Remove 4 c. of this extract and caramelize it in a separate pan. Return to the mixture & boil.)

At boil:
9# M&F DME (yes, that's 3 3# bags. This shit *will* boil over if you're not careful.)
1/3# clear Belgian candi
2 oz. glucose syrup (I used more Belgian candi)
1.5 oz. Kent Goldings
Bring up to 2.5 gal

.5 oz Goldings @45 min + 1 t Irish moss
.5 oz Goldings @5 min

Bring to 5 gal & pitch Irish Ale yeast or Belgian Abbey yeast. Good idea to make a starter, since this wort is super-fermentable.

(My pot did boil over at one point, and this stuff is sticky sticky sticky to clean up. It's a nice dark red color, with smoky notes. I used an Irish Stout yeast, which should add a nice diacetyl flavor & yield about 8.5% ABV.)

Mon, 12/22/2003 - 9:48 AM Permalink
Sparky

Gallopin' Gastronomy, Axelman! This sounds positively diabolically wonderful.

Mon, 12/22/2003 - 10:41 AM Permalink
Andy Axel

Yepper. I (heart) me some Belgian ales.

Mon, 12/22/2003 - 10:42 AM Permalink
Frosti

Nice work on that Andy. Thanks for sharing. I only wish I could be around for the sharing when it's ready.

Mon, 12/22/2003 - 12:37 PM Permalink
Andy Axel

How hard is it to send beer through the mail? I might be convinced to trade a growler...

Mon, 12/22/2003 - 7:03 PM Permalink