Beer Brewing – Page 3

The mysteries of fermentation…..

3 batches of beer and three different experiences in the fermentation department. I have to say I did not expect there to be this much variation in how the wort gets converted into beer via the yeast.

The first batch was a text book case of fermentation. Within 24 hours there was alot of CO2 being produced and the air lock went nuts for about three days. By day 10 it had been quiet for 48 hours and I transferred the beer.

Batch 2, wasn’t as by the book it took 36 hours for fermentation to really set in. When it was done there wasn’t nearly the yeast layer on the bottom as there was from the first batch.

This third batch has just been goofy… it was 20 hours when fermentation appeared to be in full effect. The air lock wasn’t bubbling at all and the beer was quiet most of the week. The funny thing was the air lock never did anything. And then last night I checked on the beer and I noticed two things. 1.) it smelled like Banana’s in beer fridge. 2.) The bubble layer on the top of the beer was now two different shades of cream instead of one. once I started to pay attention to things a little bit closer I noticed that the air lock was bubbling not constantly, but about once every 4 to 5 seconds.

The other thing that I have noticed is the consitentcy of the color of the beer has not changed in the course of the last week. I do not know if that is a normal part of brewing since this is the first batch that has not been done in a water bath. So for thoses of you paying attention it’s basicaly the first batch that has not been fermented in a trash can.

Also of note is the fact I’m using a live yeast culture instead of the normal powdered stuff. So this may be a side effect of that or it may be more along the lines of the wort was to hot when I pitched the yeast and the survivors have finally made it to a critical mass of fermentation.

And since this post is truly useless with out pictures I now provide you with a photo gallery of the beer from the last week.

Sunday July 27th at about 13:00 (Brew+ 13 hours). Notice the patchiness of the yeast layer. On the top of the carboy.

Please tilt your neck to the right to see this picture in the proper orentation. July 27th at about 20:00 (brew + 21 hours) notice the dark brown spots and the loose consitency of the yeast layer. I have no clue what that means. Also you would expect the air lock to be doing something at this point, however there was no activity at all.

The smells like banana’s stage. August 3rd 15:00 (Brew + 7days 14 hours). The ar lock going every 4 to 5 seconds. Noitce the light cream areas on the yeast layer. Those are new and have been shift all day.

Batch #3… Dead Rouge Honey Ale

The Dead Rouge Ale kit is in the carboy and fermentation is under way. I did a adjunct of 7 or 8 ounces of Mesquite honey from Flagstaff. I added the hone in the last 10 minutes of the boil at the same time as the aroma hops.

I’m interested to see how the beer turns out, I didn’t pull back on any of the malt or candy I don’t think it will be a overly sweet beer. You never know with home brew though that’s part of the joy.

Also brewing in the backyard worked much better then brewing in the garage, more space and less cleanup after a boil over.

15 days in the carboy, and then the keg.

Tapping happens on the first monday night football game of the season.

A little bit of this and a little bit of that….

Went to the Homebrew depot today and picked up a new kit. It’s a licensed kit from the Rouge brewery in Oregon. I also got a nice validation from the owner of Homebrew depot when we were talking about kits and what people have done with them.

Turns out that kits in Homebrew are much more forgiving then the cake and cookie mixes you get from Safeway (lets not talk about my experience with cake and cookie mixes). Actually it was just nice to chat with such a experienced person about brewing in general.

So tonight when the sun goes down I light up the 60,000 btu burner and do up a batch of beer. I’m starting a little early on the teach a friend to homebrew, hey you never know what will come out of it.

Oh and as for the project for the cooler… that is on hold for that moment since I can’t seem to get my stuff together to try pull it off. It’s not like I don’t have a ton of free time 🙂

Summer Project…

I’ve been thinking recently about what kind of projects I want to do when the weather gets to warm to really brew beer well.

Greg sent me a couple of emails with a idea and I think this just may be what I do.

http://www.oregonbrewcrew.com/freezer/freezer.html

As I look around the internet there are a few more like this one, but the basic concept is the same.

The freezer I have hooked up is only 7C.F. so that I means I will probally forgo the fermentation chamber. I should be able to fit 3 Corny kegs in my freezer if I put the CO2 on the outside.

Of course if I do it right I could also put half and pony kegs in there…. mmmmm Fat Tire on tap.

OK bad thoughts… this could be deadly.

Stay tuned this could be fun.

Carbination baby…. it’s what makes beer go fizz

So with the latest batch of beer I have run into a unexpected problem…. To much carbination! So much in fact that when I pull a glass I have a glass full of foam rather then a glass full of mostly beer and some foam.

It’s a disturbing situation to say the least.

How does one remove over carb from a keg of beer? I haven’t quite gotten that one figured out yet. Right now I’m trying the remove the CO2 tank from the keg and releasing the pressure method. I’m going to give it a few days and see what I come up with.

I did have a similar problem with the last batch, but it was resolved by simply dialing back the pressure on the keg. This time that is not working nor is the cold glass trick. I’m not espcially worried about it since I’m not above dumping home brew and starting over.

Which I’m seriously starting to think about.

Though on the bright side Curtis did declare the beer “passable” which I think means if it’s the only thing to drink in the house I won’t bitch. John also declared “if this was cold it would be perfect”

At least I know people like my kit home brew… just wait until I start screwing with them when I do my own recipies 🙂

Third Review… Shiner Bock Brown Ale

Shiner Brewery in Shiner Texas makes a full range of Ales (at least that is what they say on their website, www.shiner.com). Shiner Bock is one of the few brews that comes out of the third greatest state in the union (the first two being Arizona and Colorado) that is generally avalible here in Phoenix.

In general Shiner Bock is about how you would expect a Brown Ale to be. Full of flavor but not to much bite. It’s got a bit of sweetness to it, not like a fat tire but more subtle. It also has a hint of a smokey flavor like a porter again is very subtle to find it. Overall all a way above average beer that has come from much farther away then fat tire or the flying dog (~800 –> 900 miles to the Denver Ft Collins are as opposed to ~1100 miles for Shiner TX Ok it’s not that big of a diffrence but you get the idea)

Shiner loses points for having a twist off top.. I know it’s from Texas and all but come on even a good Texan in a dry county has to have access to a bottle opener (the whole dry county concept is the only reason I can come up with as to why a micro brew would even consider such a device acceptable). Also shave off a few more points for the beer being better out of a bottle then a glass, at the very minimum it should be equally good out of both if not better in a glass.

A good beer, just not the first one I would reach for.

Ok lets talk about cleaning….

So if you’ve done any reading at all on the whole home brew process you have surely run across more then a chapter or fifty about how important it is to clean and sanitize your equipment.

The good news, it’s easy to do and doesn’t require alot of heavy elbow work, the bad news. You have the most ungainly group of items ever devised by man to clean. Did I mention the nooks and crannies? No? Oh you have nooks and crannies too.

Case in point #1 the Keg… because bottling is so much worse then kegging. Now for those of you keeping score at home this is the same keg that I kept batch #1 in and the keg I planned on putting batch #2 in.

The stuff in the bottom? The normal sediment you get with home brewing since your not filitering your beer like the micro/macro brews you get this lovely sludge in the bottom. The good news it’s mostly beer (barely) and fine particulate matter so it’s easy to rinse out. The bad news… remember the bit about the nooks and crannies? Now look down on the bottom of the picture… see the tube thats where the beer comes out of the keg… You need to clean that too.

I can already hear you crying with joy now.

It’s not as bad as you think… the thing actually screws out first off and then you can get a special brush to clean the inside. If you goto morebeer.com it’s called a line brush if you talk to the guys at homebrewdepot here in Mesa it’s a “dip tube brush”.

So cleaning the keg isn’t that bad at all and once you’ve got it disassembled it’s really easy to clean. I think I may get a toliet brush (a new one you sicko) to clean the keg after the next batch clears out. Since all I really did this time was rinse it with water and gave the keg a once over with my carboy brush.

I am probably going to look for a deep socket set since the connectors on the top of the keg are hexagonal in shape and a socket wrench will fit around them. Lets just say it’s a little unnerving pressurizing your tank to 25psi after hand tightening everything.

Of course if things had gone south on me I would have the start of a very nice sky light in my kitchen.

Batch #2 and other thoughts….

I kegged Batch #2 this evening… I don’t know how the fermentation took… there was about .25 of a inch of yeast on the bottom of the carboy…. I don’t know if this is because of the yeast I used or the beer. The last batch had almost 2 inches of yeast.

I also planned on posting more photos and cleaning guide.. I think that is going to wait until tommrow night.

Batch #2 – A fine Scotch Ale

OK so I wandered down to the homebrew store down the street and picked up another kit… this time it’s a scotch ale. This should be intersting since the closesest thing I’ve ever had to a scotch ale is a irish ale.

And in a very uncharacteristic turn I am almost totally ignoring the instructions that came with said kit and doing the entire thing as I’ve been taught… it’s either going to be a mess or it’s going to be ok.

And I just realized that I’m supposed to let the water get to 180 before I put the grains in… Oh well

Can’t drill the bottom…

OK so I planned on this post being all about how I got a freezer hooked up a thermo regulator, drilled a few holes and bam! Had a insta kegarator, well my plans got foiled in a few resepects.

I had planned on going through the compressor compartment… which was to tight for a drill bit and I couldn’t gurantee that I wouldn’t hit the compressor and not break something when I broke through. And on top of that how do you explain to lowes the 4 or 5 holes in a freezer when you bring it back?

Exactly….

So for the time being in true do it yourself fashion, I’ve duct taped the thermo lead to the inside of the freezer and put the CO2 tank and keg in there.

When I actually get around to doing holes I will take pictures…