Second Draught

4/15/12 - Hoggetowne's Oatmeal Stout

Recipe

• 6.6lbs LME (Dark), used Briess Porter LME
• 8oz flaked oats
• 12oz 55L Crystal malt
• 8oz Chocolate Malt
• 4oz Roasted Barley
• 2oz Willamette Hops
• 1 pack of Coopers yeast
• OG 1.050, 29 IBUs

 Boil

 I decided to go with a full volume boil this go around - all six gallons. On my first brew I did a partial and my wort cooler was half exposed at the end of it, which I was not a fan of. This recipe felt a bit easier, but I think that is at least partially because I have a little experience under my belt now. The malts, barley and oats needed to be steeped at 150 F, similar to my first recipe. With the extra volume though, I was able to more easily manage the water temperature. This time around I also purchased a reusable nylon grain sack, rather than using cheesecloth. The temperature actually ran a little hot on me this time through, staying about 155-160 F for the first 15 minutes of the steeping. I ended up just cutting the gas off completely for the last half of the steeping, and the liquid maintained its temperature just fine.

After the 30 minutes was up the grain sack got pulled and I brought it to a boil, then added the 6.6lbs of LME and half (1oz) of the hops, thus starting the timer on the 60 minute boil. At T-30 I added the last of the hops - unlike my last brew, which had hops added once more at T-15. This being an Oatmeal Stout, it should be less bitter. The later hop additions add more bitter.

At T-15 I set in my new and improved wort cooler, so it would have time to sanitize before cooling. I was talking with some of the brew shop folks about brewing outdoors in the summer here in Florida, and they said that I would have trouble getting my wort cooled to 70 F with just hose water, as hose water runs around 80 F in the summer. So I talked to a few other brewers and got some ideas, and ended up getting a second wort cooler which I had connected to the first in a chain. The water hose connected to the first cooler which sat in a bucket of ice water, so water would run through and cool off before it ran into the second cooler which was sitting in the brew kettle. The set up worked very well, with the single caveat that I did not get enough ice, so the wort, true to the word of the brew shop employees, only cooled to about 74 F. The second small disaster was me dropping my thermometer and having it shatter. I ended up using a digital kitchen thermometer, which I have always been leery of, simply because I don't know how exactly they work.

I did not do a yeast starter this go around, I just pitched the dry yeast straight in to the carboy. My temperature was a little high; I could, and maybe should, have waited a bit before pitching the yeast. We'll see how it goes. The OG read a little high again at 1.052, but my volume looked a little low in the carboy so I just added a half gallon more of water.

In the words of Peter Griffin, "Now we play the waiting game..."

Bottling Day

Bottling Day went pretty smooth, I think, but let's see if bottles explode before we make a final decision. I had meant to take some pictures of the process, but once I was cleaning up I realized I hadn't. All said it was about a three hour process, from pulling out equipment to putting it away cleaned. The auto-siphon and racking cane were by far the MVPs of the day - both of those tools made this an extremely easy process. I ended with 24 regular 12oz bottles and 9 liter flip-top bottles.

The Final Gravity (FG) of the brew was 1.017, which means 3.3% ABV. Most beers are 5-6%. Lower than I thought it would turn out - something I will discuss with the brew shop at a later date. I tasted a bit from the draw I tested the FG on - it tasted like a beer! A flat beer, as this has not carbonated yet, but a good sign I think.

Now to plan my next brew...

Fermentation Day 14

I was gone for the weekend, but everything looks to have been fine. 68 F and more stuff settled on the bottom. Bottling one week from today.

Fermentation Day 6

Just a thin layer of foam left. Bubbling appears to have ceased completely. There is no longer any perceptible "activity" in the liquid. Holding steady at 70 F.

Fermentation Day 4

Bubbling has slowed down, and it looks like the foam, or krausen, is beginning to recede. Still about an inch there, but the "action" in the liquid is more of a fall to the bottom and less of a swirl. Temp about 70 F.

Fermentation Day 2

Everything looks good. A steady 70 F, 3/4" of bubbling foam, and steady bubbles coming out of the airlock.

Fermentation Day 1

No real activity yet. Temperature is staying right around 68 F. I did some research into the higher than expected OG reading, and after verifying this solution with the brew shop, just added another gallon of water. It took me a little too low, to an OG of 1.042, but live and learn.

First Brew!

2/26/12 - Cincinnati Pale Ale

Recipe

• 3.3# pale Malt Extract Syrup (MES), unhopped (used Breiss CBW Golden Light)
• 2.5# amber Dry Malt Extract (DME)
• My local brew shop didn't have an amber, so they just gave me a pale DME with some extra grain to steep pre-boil to get what they said would be the same effect.
• 6 AAUs bittering hops (used 0.5oz Horizon 11.3%)
• 5 AAUs finishing hops (used 1.0oz Cascade 6.0%)
• 11.5g Safale US-05 dry yeast
• OG 1.045 (11.2 P), 30 IBUs

Boil

I ended up getting a propane burner as the electric range did not prove to be quite enough in my pre-boil testing - it boiled the water, but just barely and it took a long time.  I heated up three gallons of Publix Drinking Water to 150 F and added the grain in a cheesecloth sack to steep for 30min. I had a little trouble keeping the burner lit, as it had to stay on low to keep the temperature at 150 F and it was windy. As a result the temperature dropped to about 138 F briefly.

After the 30 minutes was up the grain sack was removed and the DME was added, then everything was brought to a boil. T-60 the bittering hops were added, T-30 the first half of the finishing hops were added, and the last half of the finishing hops were added at T-15. The copper wort cooler was also added at T-15 to let it sanitize. The LME was added at T-5. It was rather viscous so I soaked the can in warm water so it would flow easier, which helped rather nicely.

The copper wort cooler gave us our first disaster of the brew, and it wasn't that bad. I tested the copper cooler before boiling to make sure that everything flowed okay, and it worked fine. The addition of hot water must have been the tipping point, however, as the drain tube exploded out at the first bend. I did not see any hose water get into the wort, and the copper cooler still worked just fine, we just had to aim it properly.

After cooling to 70 F I took the water from the pre-boil last night and added it to get to the full volume. I then took my OG sample and carefully poured the wort into the carboy for fermenting, pitched the yeast, and sealed it up. I read the OG with my hydrometer and get a reading of 1.055, about 0.010 higher than the recipe stated. Which means, I think, that there are more sugars than the recipe called for vs water volume. 

My guess is that my water is a little short and my extract a little high - I guesstimated on the 2.5# of DME; it was a 3# bag and I eyeballed 5/6 of it. The volume could be off because of how long the water I pre-boiled took to boil completely, and perhaps it lost more than it should have to steam.  Regardless, it just means I should probably ferment a little longer. That works out well, because I won't have a weekend free for bottling for three weeks anyway. We'll test the FG in three weeks and see where we sit. In the mean time, I will be trying to post fermentation notes via the mobile app, so they will be short posts.

Happy Brew Year!

Tonight I drink a Magic Hat Demo Black IPA. It's a very interesting composition with the full flavor of a stout and the bite of an IPA. It's so dark you can't see through it with a nice caramel colored head. You can taste the malt characteristics of both styles that it blends. I enjoy how Magic Hat brings something different to the table.

After much time pondering and planning, I will finally begin brewing this weekend! My first attempt will be a brewing book's recommended first recipe of a Cincinnati Pale Ale. I plan to post pictures and info about the process and how I feel it went after the fact, and then continue to log the fermentation in some small daily posts.

I attended an all-grain brewing class this past weekend that was great. The guys (and gal) at Hoggetowne Ale Works put on a great seminar on the process and were really helpful in answering questions and educating everyone on the process. Not just the whats and whens but the whys of doing what you do in a brew. I hope/plan to move on to all-grain brewing at some point, but for now I will start with the junior version - malt extract brewing.

One of the best things about the class was that a lot of their customers brought over brews of different variety for people to try out and give feedback on. The things I tasted on Sunday were as good a quality of beer as I have tasted from a brewing company's bottle. I am real excited to start my adventure and share it with all of you.