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.
I'm trying something new tonight, making a yeast starter for the beer we're going to brew on Saturday.
My wife came into the kitchen, saw the flask on the stove, and went, "OK, what in the hell are you doing?"
Nothin' honey! Why do you ask?
looks like you're boiling urine. :)
Hey Frosti,
What are we brewing on Saturday anyway? Is there a name for your concoction?
Nice pictures.
On another subject...do you aerate your beer when pouring into the primary fermenter? I don't know that I've paid much attention to that stage before now, but the book I'm reading seems to think it's pretty important.
Does this man look familiar? :-)
Yup, I've seen him somewhere before. Are you saying there's a similarity?
We're brewing a traditional American Lager, by the way.
They are both slightly crazed guys holding beakers. :-)
(showing my naivete) So what are the defining characteristics of an American Lager? Versus say a German Lager? Is it just the yeast that makes a lager a lager (and the use of a cool cooling device)?
Take off, I gotta get a hard hat?
American Lager:
Aroma:
Little to no malt aroma. Hop aroma may range from none to light, flowery hop presence. Slight fruity aromas from yeast and hop varieties used may exist, as well as perceptible levels of green apples due to acetaldehyde. Low levels of "cooked-corn" aroma from DMS may be present. No diacetyl.
Appearance:
Very pale straw to pale gold color. White head seldom persists. Very clear.
Flavor:
Crisp and dry flavor with some low levels of sweetness. Hop flavor ranges from none to low levels. Hop bitterness at low to medium level. Balance may vary from slightly malty to slightly bitter, but is relatively close to even. High levels of carbonation may provide a slight acidity or dry "sting." No diacetyl. No fruitiness.
Mouthfeel:
Very light body from use of a high percentage of adjuncts such as rice or corn. Very well carbonated with slight carbonic bite on the tongue.
Overall Impression:
Very refreshing and thirst quenching. "Light" beers will have a lower gravity and less resulting alcohol than the standard. Premium beers tend to have fewer adjuncts or can be all-malt.
Commercial Examples:
Standard: Budweiser, Molson Golden, Kirin, Corona, Fosters; Premium: Michelob; Light: Bud Light, Miller Lite.
Check herefor a complete list of style guides. Too many european lagers to list them all.
Three of a kind joe.
Hard hats are optional, but handy after tasting the Heavy Handed India Pale Ale from Two Brothers Brewery that I'm bringing over, A. When you fall and hit you head it prevents injury. :-)
Productive day. We bottled the Nut Brown Ale, transferred the St Paul Porter from primary to secondary, and brewed the American Lager. Whew!
I'm making the jump to all-grain tomorrow. I still have an extract batch of European Bock that needs making, but for now, my attention will be focused on a Paulaner Hefe-Weizen knockoff:
Yeast:
White Labs #300, Hefe-Weizen yeast. (Pitched the starter today; 1/2c plain wheat malt to 1pt. water.)
Grain Bill:
4 oz. German Munich malt
5.25# German wheat malt
4.75# Belgian 2-row pale malt
Mash at 150F for 90 min. Sparge to 5.5 gal.
Hop Bill:
2/3 oz Hallertauer 3.3% AAU @90 min.
Prime w/ 1.25c plain wheat DME.
OG: 1.053-1.054
FG: 1.011-1.012
IBU: 10
5.4% ABV
I'm also gonna go and get some hop rhizomes in a couple of weeks at my local brew supply shop.
Many fun new gadgets...
I'm making the jump to all-grain tomorrow.
Cool. I assume you've got all the needed equipment?
Yep.
Got a 150,000 BTU propane cooker... a 50 qt. stainless pot with spigot... Phil's Mash/Lauter Tun kit... and miscellaneous spoons, paddles, hoses, clamps, & so on.
50 quart, livin' large!
Heh.
I figure if I'm ever going to go into 10 gal. batches, why the hell not? The price difference is nominal between 40 and 50 qt.
Man, it's a short leap to kegging from here...
I'm working with a 20 qt. pot at the moment. I'd love to move to 10 gallon batches, but will need to invest in a new kettle.
I'm still trying to suss out the intricacies of all-grain. I should record this event for cyberspace...
You should indeed. For posterity.
A short trip to Northern Brewer and we're off to the races. Picked up the basic starter kit as well as a kit for a raspberry wheat!
Huzzah! I've been eying that Raspberry Wheat kit for a while, nice choice!
The Barley Kernel
Mon
Way to go - now I am behind! :-)Raspberry wheat, eh?
The Raison d'Etre from Dogfish Head was the undisputed best beer of the tasting done Saturday - Although some really liked the hopped-up Heavy Handed India Pale Ale from Two Brothers. :-)
What is the optimum temperature for bottle conditioning the Nut Brown Ale, there Frosti?
Your house should be fine, no matter where you leave it. 70 degrees would be the ballpark temp, but you can go a little colder or a lot warmer.
I liked the Raison and the Heavy Handed equally, though for very different reasons.
Heh. I'm sitting here after finishing my homework, enjoying a British Bitter.
Bonus too. Since it was after 6:00 when my bus dropped me off, the bus fare was waived, thanks to our good friends at Miller Brewing. Free bus rides after 6 on St. Paddy's day.
I do! I have the pictures disabled, so I hadn't noticed it until you said something.
Cheers!
6.6 lbs. Wheat malt syrup
1 oz. Hallertau hops (60 min.)
Raspberry extract to be added at bottling
Wyeast #3333 German Wheat Yeast
Subtle flavor profile for wheat yeast with sharp tart crispness, fruity, sherry-like palate.
Flocculation: high.
Attentuation: 70-76%
Optimum temperature: 63-75
Yeah, I kind of thought you wouldn't have any trouble getting it to swell by tommorow night. Glad to hear it.
The manufacture of beer from scratch!
First: Raise temperature of water (1 1/3 qt./lb of grain) to 160-170.
Correct temperature on the thermometer...
Nine pounds of milled grain...
Combine grains with mash water; mix well. Put lid on mash tun (plastic bucket with false bottom) and insulate well.
Hold at 150F for 90 min...
This is a couple of old sleeping blankets, with the mash tun inside.
The mash tun then becomes the lauter tun...
Fill another bucket with water heated to 160-170... this is the sparge water reserve.
Run out the wort until suspended grains clear out... these are the "first runnings" of the vorlauf operation.
I'm using a 2 qt. pitcher as a grant.
The first runnings are then laid back atop the grain bed. This might take a few cycles.
Here's what the extract looks like. It should look pretty familiar.
Once the runnings clear, attach the sparging assembly to the lauter tun.
You can see the sparge arm here, which is receiving water from the reserve bucket. This water "rinses" the grain.
The whole sparge assembly...
Wort runs into the brewpot...
Sparging the grains and vorlaufing takes about 30-45 minutes. Outflow of wort is about equal to inflow of sparge water.
Then, boil the wort, with added hops, as you would a mess of extract.
Chill out after the boil, using an immersion chiller...
Rack out the wort into the primary. (I use a 6.5gal glass carboy; you will also notice the wort aerator on the end of the hose.)
Pitch yeast. (not shown)
Reconstituted leaf hops, atop the false bottom in the brewpot.
Done!
Excellent documentary! Did everything go smoothly Andy?
and for those times when you absolutely must have cold beer, may i present the jet powered beer cooler.
I would just like to say after checking that website - that guy is off his nut! Hello, they built a little invention called a refrigerator, you can get them at Target for about $40.
Cool setup, I admit - but a bit of overkill for the end result.
And what's with the not leaving the shed for any reason bit? Whacked.
Andy
Thanks for the pictorial tutorial on how to go whole grain. I'm not so anxious to try it now. :-) Let us know how much difference you notice for the extra effort. Was it fun, at least?