Homegrown Hops: More information

 After I dried the hops in the oven (pilot light over night) I had 3.8 oz.

I still don't know what Sterling Hops taste like. Now I just need to think of a beer to put them in.

 

Hop Harvest - Sterling

Sterling Hop Harvest

This beats the one cone from last year, the first year.

Sour Cherry Flanders Red

1.) February 14, 2009 - I brewed my first batch of Flanders Red
2.) March 10, 2009 - I racked it to secondary
3.) April 15th, 2009 - I think I witnessed some funk
4.) May 5th, 2009 - I added some oak chips
5.) May 2nd, 2010 - I split the batch in two and added cherries to half
6.) May 16th, 2010 - I thought I observed a new pellicle / pelicle, but really I think it was just floaters from the Cherry
7.) July 29th, 2010 - I bottled the Cherry'ed Flanders Red (26 bottles)
     - FG: 1.008 > primed w/ 2 oz of table sugar for 2.2 volumes of CO2

The aroma immediataly struck me as Flanders Red.  I'll update when I taste it and hopefully will be able to report the same.

Through the looking glass: Left behind after bottling Cherry'ed FRed

Old News New to Me: Patent for Bland Beer

U.S. Patent # 4,180,589
December 25th, 1979

Claims:
1.) A method of preparing a lager beer having a mild, bland, less aromatic character which comprises placing beer wort in a fermentation vessel and fermenting the wort in said vessel ...

Activated Wyeast Yeast 'Smack Pack'

My first Flanders red ale was the first time I used a Wyeast 'smack pack' or any liquid yeast for that matter.  It made me nervous that the 'smack pack' didn't inflate very much. I had purchased the yeast sooner than I should have and this may have been the reason for lack of inflation, also I might not have waited long enough for it to do its thing. I made web searches using phrases like "smack pack inflation", "wyeast activator swelling", etc but I couldn't find any images. I found text descriptions of the inflation disappointingly vague, e.g. "you'll know." While "you'll know" is a very factual statement it didn't help me much when I "didn't know." Below is an image of activated / swelled / inflated Wyeast activator 'smack pack' versus one that hasn't undergone the change. I would have found this useful.

It's coming out of its shell.

 Note: the yeast on the left (Wyeast Lambic Blend 3278) is the same one I had trouble with before. It had been smacked at the same time (~ 4hours) as the one on the right (Wyeast Roeselare Ale Blend 3763). I didn't wait to see if inflation would occur and ended up mixing the two together. Unfortunately I have been too anxious to see if it is 'good' either time I have used it.

Update: So, um, maybe there is a video on the Wyeast site. I hope it wasn't there forerver.

I drank this...

More like I will drink this.  This post's title is in reference to Infinite Jest a novel by David Foster Wallace.  There is a scene where a child eats some vile-looking mold and goes up to his mother and says something akin to "I ate this" whilst his face and mouth are covered in green.  Its funny to me, but I am not sure if its supposed to be funny.

So why I am talking about this novel? Well, when I see this stuff alive in my beer I think that it looks fantastic.  This is what I imagine the child in the book was thinking too.  How can I not consume this? I can only imagine that the lay person (or adult) would think that this looks like trouble. I like to think of the "trouble" as flavor crystals adding awesomeness to the beer. Now I just have to wait, again.

Some pictures:

Camera One, Camera Two:
I think that's a pellicle (white) forming on the left- I hope the other gunk is from the cherry concentrate
On the right there is no visible activity

A little closer

Updates: Homebrew log

Update:
5/9/2010: Floaters in the Cherry'ed Flanders Red


Update:

5/14/2010 - added additional 14.5 oz cherry to brown ale
5/14/2010 - added additional 10 oz cherry to Flanders Red


Update:
5/15/2010 - Pellicle forming in Flanders Red with cherry?

Floaters in the Flanders Red

Flanders Red with Cherry and Floaters

After I added the cherry to the one half of the Valentine's Day 2009 Flanders Red these appeared:

It appears now, one day after adding more cherry that a pellicle is forming pictures to come...

There's actually one more bucket going now ...

L -R: Cherry Brown, Cherry Flanders Red 09, Flanders Red 09, Flanders Red x2 10

Latest Happenings in the Brewery

4/8/2010 - Flanders Red A
4/8/2010 - Flanders Red B

4/16/2010 - Cherry Brown Ale
4/16/2010 - Witbier

4/29/2010 - Bottled Witbier

05/02/2010 - Racked Cherry Brown to secondary; added cherry (31 oz by weight)
05/02/2010 - Racked Flanders Red (brewed 2/14/2009) into two PET water bottles; half with cherry (15 oz by weight)

05/03/2010 - Racked Flanders Red A & B to secondary

More details to come . . .

Kentucky Common Revealed

I bottled the Kentucky Common on about March 15th, 2010.  The FG was 1.008 ~ 5.08% ABV

I think it tastes great, it is sour and crisp. A great summer brew.  It doesn't pack the lactic punch of a berliner weisee, but the sourness within provides that 'sumtin' that makes it quite enjoyable.  Here's to brewing an extirpated piece of America.

The recipe which I neglected to include before, see souring procedure here:

.75 oz Glacier Hops 7.4 AA @ 60 min
Wyeast American Ale

22%	2	4	American Six-row Pale
19%	2	0	Flaked Corn (Maize)
18%	1	14	American Two-row Pale
13%	1	6	American Two-row Pale
5%	0	8	Sugar, Table (Sucrose)
5%	0	8	American Crystal 90L
5%	0	8	Belgian Aromatic
5%	0	8	Crystal 10L
4%	0	6	Caramunich Malt 20
2%	0	4	Special B Malt
2%	0	3	Carafa II

Vienna Lager Revealed:

I brewed a Vienna Lager on 1/31/10. 

OG = 1.050
FG = 1.005
~ 6% ABV

It fermented in the low 50's for about 3 weeks. I then brought it up to the mid 60's for about 3 days.  I bottled and left in the mid 60's for 4 days.  Its been lagering for about 5 weeks.  Did some of the bottles become straight-up frozen? Yes. Whoops.

The color might be a little light. The flavor is pretty darn-good. I like the beer. I think its smooth and lager-y. The whole being frozen and unfrozen does not seem to have harmed the beer.

Cream Ale - Revealed

I brewed a Cream Ale on 1/24/10.  It was my first all-grain batch.  There was problems.  OG ~ 1.028 + .015 (in after-brew additions) = 1.043.  I bottled with 4.25 oz of cane sugar on 02/15/10.  The FG = 1.002 for an estimated ABV 5.37%.  I then cellared it for about a month.  Despite the hiccupps the beer is really smooth.  It goes good with food etc. This is how I will probably drink it.

Cheers.

Bottle Prep is Quite a Chore

Soon I hope to be done with delabeling bottles forever. I should be able to rotate beer in and out of the ones I have.  First I'll need to make sure to drink the beer at a pace that ensures optimal bottle rotation before brewing more.

Stuck Sprarges Begone: Improved Homemade Mash Tun

I previously posted about the construction of my homemade mash tun.  However, I got stuck sparges with my first two uses (one and two).  The culprit, seemingly, was the the piece of PEX I was using to filter the wort from the grain.  It just wasn't porous enough to keep things running smoothly. Rather than drilling a bunch more tiny holes, I decided to take the route praised by many and I used a stainless steel braid from a sink hook-up.  All that needs to be done is the removal of the end fittings (angle grinder) and then the removal of the inner hose.  I found the hose removal to be difficult and finally got it to work while using a vice clamp to hold the hose and a milking technique to remove the braid.  I used plastic T and stainless hose clamps to finish the loop. I joined the loop to a nub of PEX (via brute force), as the PEX fits perfectly in bulk head.  I have used it twice now with great success.  Woo hoo.

Freaking the Funk: My First Homebrew Sour Mash - Kentucky Common Beer

My favorite beers are those that are described as wild / sour. Recently, I was reading about about an  American style of beer, the Kentucky Common,  which is a sour brown ale.  Once I read that it was sour and old-timey (popular pre-prohibition) I knew I needed to brew it. This need to brew the KY Common was amplified recently when I sampled some (unsour) American browns, a style I never appreciated before.  To elicit the sourness for this beer I decided to employ a sour mash. Basically lactobacillus and other micro-critters are just chilling on the grain. and the usual mash and boil technique does not favor their survival.  However, given the right conditions you too can grow your own pot of mold. 

Sour Mash:
I made some wort from 1.5 lbs of grain. I let the mash sit covered over night, sparged in the morning and then threw in 3 oz of uncrushed malt. Since then I've been keeping it at about 90F. These photos (w and w/o flash) are of about 50 hours into the souring.  I think this whitish mat sitting atop of the wort is Lactobacillus culture/colony?. At about only 8 hours in it didn't smell so good. Now, while stronger, it also smells better (familiar) and more like a Berliner Weisse I brewed with a pure lactobacillus culture.

I haven't quite decided how long to freak the funk. I am also unsure if I should throw out the whitish mat, or throw it in with the rest of the unsoured mash on brew day.

2nd All Grain Homebrew: Vienna Lager

Second All Grain Brew.

After some of the *ahem* hiccups with my first all grain brew (cream ale 1/24/10) I went it at a week later 1/31/2010 and brewed my first lager (vienna lager). I upgraded from the seemingly ineffectual pex filter in my mash tun.
This time I used the often lauded stainless steel braid, and after struggling with the pliers and the finger-cuff-like action I switched to a vice clamp with a milking action.

Given my 20 point miss the first time around, I used a grain bill with a slightly higher than style estimated OG. The estimated OG was 1.058. I had no problems with the lautering. I also collected the correct amount of wort this time. Previously I has messed up the volumes somehow. I realize now, that I should really do an actual job of determining the volumes in my kettle and bucket. I am still educated guessing it. So knowing the volumes for real would be smart. I'll get out the measuring stick soon.

For the single infusion mash I aimed for 60 minutes @ 152F. I think it might have ended up starting closer to 150F and then falling during the rest. The pre-boil OG was 1.060. The post boil after I added the water to get to my estimated 5.25 gallons was 1.050. I was 8 points off, but now within the style guidelines. I was quite happy with this improvement.

I aerated via aquarium pump for about an hour and pitched a 1 liter stepped to 3 liter starter of Wyeast Octoberfest 2633. I pitched at 52 degrees.

My recipe:

5.00 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 44.76 %
3.04 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 27.22 %
3.00 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 26.86 %
0.13 lb Carafa II (412.0 SRM) Grain 1.16 %
1.00 oz Liberty [4.30 %] (60 min) Hops 12.3 IBU
0.30 oz Sterling [6.00 %] (30 min) Hops 4.0 IBU
0.50 oz Hallertau Select [1.50%] Hops 0.8 IBU
octoberfest (Wyeast) Yeast-Lager

My first all grain experiece - I missed the OG by 20 gravity points and had a stuck sparge

I brewed a cream ale on 1/24/2009

Sweet Stout: Revealed

I've been drinking this for while now. All in all its pretty good. Closest to my pre-brew wants for a homebrew.  It might be slightly under carbonated.

The whole setting fires and being in Europe thing makes me think about Frankenstein.

The Europeans are drinking less and then theres the financial crisis and then all this other stuff, etc ...

Running Dry: Belgium's Looming Beer Crisis

DIY Stir Plate

Short story: I made a stir plate.

Longer story:

Of course I needed a stir plate if I wanted to be an excellent homebrewer, or maybe it was just because someone gave me a 110v Hofmann Engr. fan. Of course I was going to make it myself, in the spirit of homebrewing, DIY all the way, or something. First, it was great I could just plug it into the wall. I needed an enclosure, I could have just bought one from RadioShack, but that would have been too easy. I started by trying to use some scrap polycarbonate to make a box. After a while of cutting, with much effort, I tried to drill some pilot holes. Wow, that was incredibly difficult and to be honest the box was wonky. The scrap was still scrap and I lost a few hours of time. Then I bought a project box. Then I returned the box project. Happenstance! is awesome.  It was perfect. I found a near empty First Aid kit. I then ordered some rare earth magnets from Hong Kong.  Then after a few trips to all the hardware stores near my house and buying and returning different fan controls I was set to go. I should mention that I found the bolts, washers, adhesive and the only rotary fan control (not just three speeds and the least expensive) at my local Do-It Best.


I then set everything into place and soldered it in and used some silicon on the nuts so they wouldn't move from all the vibrations. I plugged it in. I set it up wrong. Short Circuit. Working in old house, wire inside wall actually breaks. etc etc. Needless to say I fixed it and it now works.