alterosity
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I've just finished my third brewing session. Here are my recipes and procedures so far.
First batch: Beginner's Brown 11/05/08
All brewing equipment sanitized in bleach-water soak.
2lb Dark DME
3.3LB Dark LME
Liberty pellet hops 5.0% AA
White Labs British Ale Yeast WLP005
1. Heat 3 gallons of water to boil.
2. Add 1.5oz of hops and add both malts.
3. Boil 30 minutes.
4. Dry hop with remainder. 10 minutes.
5. Strain wort into primary.
6. Top off to 5 gallons.
7. Adjust to 68 degrees, add yeast.
OG: ??
FG: 1.012
Botting primer:
3/4cup corn sugar
Primary fermentation 10 days, and 17 days bottle conditioning so far. I've tried a few bottles at 7 days and 13 days. For having nothing in the way of technique, the beer is pleasant.
I already had my first mini-panic with this brew, when all the airlock bubbling stopped and my hydrometer showed a 1.012 steady for 3 days. All the Google seaches brought up horror stories about bottling anything over a 1.007. I went to my LHBS and looked for some yeast to pitch and the owner asked me why. She assured me that 1.012 was fine for bottling, so I took the leap.
Following this brew, I started looking around for the next recipe I should try, and saw a Paulaner clone linked from this site. Then I followed a few links and realized I was doing everything wrong. So I went and snatched up some ingredients and got to brewing.
Second Batch: Wheat Wanderer 11/21/08
All brewing equipment sanitized in bleach-water soak.
6.6lbs cooper wheat malt extract, unhopped
1lb wheat malt grain, milled and crushed
2/3oz cascade hops AA 4.4%
1/2oz sweet dried orange peel
5gal spring water
white labs hefeweizen ale yeast
1. Steep bagged grains in 1gal 150F water for 20 minutes.
2. Add 1gal water to mash, sparging the grain. Remove grain.
3. Bring mash to boil.
4. Add hops and malt extract, stirring liberally to prevent scorching.
5. Boil for 45 minutes.
6. Add orange peel. Boil another 15 minutes.
7. Allow wort to rest for 5 minutes.
8. Strain wort into fermenter and add 3gal near freezing water.
9. Pour 40oz of wort from spout to keep as gyle for krausening.
10. Adjust wort temperature to 65 degrees and pitch the yeast.
OG: 1.050
FG: 1.010
Bottling primer:
Bring gyle to boil and cool to 75 degrees. Add to bottling bucket.
Primary fermentation 9 days, Bottle condition 2 days so far.
I got an OG this time, and did checks every 3 days during the primary (I was also concerned since there was no airlock activity). And the beer was pleasantly cloudy. All was good in the world. I gave myself a pat on the back and said, "Yeah! I think I can do this brewing thing!" Then I follow more links on this forum, and of course, I'm still doing everything wrong. And apparently very lucky that I didn't have a blow up during primary. This struck me as odd, since I never saw any bubbling from the airlock. Time to try again.
This time, I look to one of the recommended recipes here. I go and pick up my ingredients. While at the store, I look for caramel malt for about 10 minutes, then smack myself on the head; "Oh crystal malt." I pick up a few more pieces of equipment, and StarSan.
Third Batch: Caranilla Monster 12/01/08
All brewing equipment cleaned with Oxiclean and sanitized with Starsan.
5gal spring water
1lb crystal malt grain crushed
3lb light DME
3lb wheat DME
1oz cascade pellet hops 5.9% AA
1/3oz cascade pellet hops 4.4% AA
1/2oz kent golding pellet hops 4.8% AA
4oz lactose
1 tsp irish moss
2oz vanilla extract
german ale yeast
1. Crush and steep grain in a bag for 45 minutes in 1 gallon of water at 150 to 170 degrees.
2. Sparge with additional 1 gallon of water at 150 degrees.
3. Remove grain bag. Bring to rolling boil.
4. Add 1oz of the Cascade hops (5.9%) and the DME carefully to avoid clumping and burning.
(Total boil time is the standard 60 minutes.)
5. After 40 minutes of boil, add the 1/3oz of Cascade(4.4%).
6. At 45 minutes, add lactose.
7. Add Irish moss at 48 minutes.
8. At the 60 minute mark, kill the heat and dry hop with the Kent Goldings.
9. Add the remaining 3 gallons of water to the primary and strain the wort into the water.
10. Pitch the vanilla to the primary.
11. Aerate the wort and take a hydrometer sample.
12. Once temperature is 65 to 75 degrees, pitch a German ale yeast. In this batch, I decided to try using yeast slurry from the previous Hefe primary ( 3.5oz of it ).
OG: 1.060
I took heed of the warnings from veterans and installed a blow-off tube instead of an airlock. For at least the first half of fermentation. This is the first time I re-used a yeast cake, so I'm anxious to see the result.
This is the tentative priming formula for bottling:
1.5cups light DME
1cup lactose
3oz vanilla extract
After about 30 hours, the tube is sending out a goodly number of bubbles to the mason jar of sanitized water. Of course,now I see that I should be trying to do full boils. That partial boils do not provide the proper room for flavor to develop. Sigh.
Next time, on Brewing Adventures: See our plucky protagonist struggle to boil all 5 gallons on a stove top! Will he be able to contain the boil-over threat? What is the hot-side aeration menace?!
First batch: Beginner's Brown 11/05/08
All brewing equipment sanitized in bleach-water soak.
2lb Dark DME
3.3LB Dark LME
Liberty pellet hops 5.0% AA
White Labs British Ale Yeast WLP005
1. Heat 3 gallons of water to boil.
2. Add 1.5oz of hops and add both malts.
3. Boil 30 minutes.
4. Dry hop with remainder. 10 minutes.
5. Strain wort into primary.
6. Top off to 5 gallons.
7. Adjust to 68 degrees, add yeast.
OG: ??
FG: 1.012
Botting primer:
3/4cup corn sugar
Primary fermentation 10 days, and 17 days bottle conditioning so far. I've tried a few bottles at 7 days and 13 days. For having nothing in the way of technique, the beer is pleasant.
I already had my first mini-panic with this brew, when all the airlock bubbling stopped and my hydrometer showed a 1.012 steady for 3 days. All the Google seaches brought up horror stories about bottling anything over a 1.007. I went to my LHBS and looked for some yeast to pitch and the owner asked me why. She assured me that 1.012 was fine for bottling, so I took the leap.
Following this brew, I started looking around for the next recipe I should try, and saw a Paulaner clone linked from this site. Then I followed a few links and realized I was doing everything wrong. So I went and snatched up some ingredients and got to brewing.
Second Batch: Wheat Wanderer 11/21/08
All brewing equipment sanitized in bleach-water soak.
6.6lbs cooper wheat malt extract, unhopped
1lb wheat malt grain, milled and crushed
2/3oz cascade hops AA 4.4%
1/2oz sweet dried orange peel
5gal spring water
white labs hefeweizen ale yeast
1. Steep bagged grains in 1gal 150F water for 20 minutes.
2. Add 1gal water to mash, sparging the grain. Remove grain.
3. Bring mash to boil.
4. Add hops and malt extract, stirring liberally to prevent scorching.
5. Boil for 45 minutes.
6. Add orange peel. Boil another 15 minutes.
7. Allow wort to rest for 5 minutes.
8. Strain wort into fermenter and add 3gal near freezing water.
9. Pour 40oz of wort from spout to keep as gyle for krausening.
10. Adjust wort temperature to 65 degrees and pitch the yeast.
OG: 1.050
FG: 1.010
Bottling primer:
Bring gyle to boil and cool to 75 degrees. Add to bottling bucket.
Primary fermentation 9 days, Bottle condition 2 days so far.
I got an OG this time, and did checks every 3 days during the primary (I was also concerned since there was no airlock activity). And the beer was pleasantly cloudy. All was good in the world. I gave myself a pat on the back and said, "Yeah! I think I can do this brewing thing!" Then I follow more links on this forum, and of course, I'm still doing everything wrong. And apparently very lucky that I didn't have a blow up during primary. This struck me as odd, since I never saw any bubbling from the airlock. Time to try again.
This time, I look to one of the recommended recipes here. I go and pick up my ingredients. While at the store, I look for caramel malt for about 10 minutes, then smack myself on the head; "Oh crystal malt." I pick up a few more pieces of equipment, and StarSan.
Third Batch: Caranilla Monster 12/01/08
All brewing equipment cleaned with Oxiclean and sanitized with Starsan.
5gal spring water
1lb crystal malt grain crushed
3lb light DME
3lb wheat DME
1oz cascade pellet hops 5.9% AA
1/3oz cascade pellet hops 4.4% AA
1/2oz kent golding pellet hops 4.8% AA
4oz lactose
1 tsp irish moss
2oz vanilla extract
german ale yeast
1. Crush and steep grain in a bag for 45 minutes in 1 gallon of water at 150 to 170 degrees.
2. Sparge with additional 1 gallon of water at 150 degrees.
3. Remove grain bag. Bring to rolling boil.
4. Add 1oz of the Cascade hops (5.9%) and the DME carefully to avoid clumping and burning.
(Total boil time is the standard 60 minutes.)
5. After 40 minutes of boil, add the 1/3oz of Cascade(4.4%).
6. At 45 minutes, add lactose.
7. Add Irish moss at 48 minutes.
8. At the 60 minute mark, kill the heat and dry hop with the Kent Goldings.
9. Add the remaining 3 gallons of water to the primary and strain the wort into the water.
10. Pitch the vanilla to the primary.
11. Aerate the wort and take a hydrometer sample.
12. Once temperature is 65 to 75 degrees, pitch a German ale yeast. In this batch, I decided to try using yeast slurry from the previous Hefe primary ( 3.5oz of it ).
OG: 1.060
I took heed of the warnings from veterans and installed a blow-off tube instead of an airlock. For at least the first half of fermentation. This is the first time I re-used a yeast cake, so I'm anxious to see the result.
This is the tentative priming formula for bottling:
1.5cups light DME
1cup lactose
3oz vanilla extract
After about 30 hours, the tube is sending out a goodly number of bubbles to the mason jar of sanitized water. Of course,now I see that I should be trying to do full boils. That partial boils do not provide the proper room for flavor to develop. Sigh.
Next time, on Brewing Adventures: See our plucky protagonist struggle to boil all 5 gallons on a stove top! Will he be able to contain the boil-over threat? What is the hot-side aeration menace?!
