Batch #2 Non-update.

Hm. Batch #2 has been "fermenting" for about a month now.  I betcha it's no good. I just betcha.  Someday I'll remember to check the fermenter.  If it did go, I assume that filling it with gas and lighting it on fire is a suitable way to prep it for the next zymurgical murder, right?

Batch #2 is begun!! Ginger's Castaway Ale

Having "inherited" my father's Mr. Beer Homebrew Kit, I decided to spice things up a bit.  With ginger.  It wasn't enough for me that merely trying to brew the remaining recipe included in the kit (Dad already did the Stout, leaving me with the 'West Coast Pale Ale), I wanted to try something cool. Adding extra ingredients, increasing the complexity a bit.  With the kits, it tends to be a bit 'Add water, add heat, put in fermenter, cool, add yeast, wait patiently, bottle, wait patiently again, drink.' Which, for the most part, is AWESOME. 

My problem is that I *started out* reading Charlie Papazian's books, The Complete Joy of Homebrewing and The Homebrewer's Companion.  So I started out with all-malt brewing, and using extra crazy ingredients, and extreme recipes that use the kit beers as at best a distant jumping-off point, and more usually, an almost unrelated discipline altogether.

What I like about the Mr. Beer kit is that the recipe book is very simple, but it includes recommended variations.  Including one that adds ginger and brown sugar to an otherwise simple, safe Pale Ale. (To be honest, I have no real idea what a West Coast Pale Ale implies. I assume its tamer than the typical craft-brew Imperial IPA or Double IPA, or any of the other hop-tastical variations, but I don't really know that for sure.) So when you see something that adds such "non-stereotypically beery" ingredients to the mix, cool! (That said, there seem to be plenty of recipes calling for ginger, and many calling for far odder things, so clearly I'm still in the kiddy pool over here!)

I was supposed to use only 1/2 of the included Booster Pack, which is the main adjunct sugars, since the brown sugar is supposed to replace some of it.  However, in the years since the kit's box was first opened, the air-tight seal on the Booster pack appears to have failed, leaving me with a solid chunk of dextrose sugar, plus whatever other fermentable and non-fermentable ingredients might be mixed in there.  So, I added the whole thing.  Worst case scenario, I should just have a somewhat stronger beer (a la, batch #1, Kreidler's New Peculiar - see the earlier posts).

What does concern me is the yeast.  While it didn't have an expiration date, it was just as old as the malt/hop can, which DID have a date of something like September 2008.  Yup. 18 months. Looked and smelled fine, though, so I decided to go ahead with the experiment.  I just have no idea if the yeast is gonna do its eating/peeing/farting thing (ie, converting sugar to alcohol and carbonation).  Worst case scenario, I can always dose the fermenter with live yeast without too much worry.  We shall see...

Uneven results with bottle conditioning for Batch #1

Gone through a few bottles of the first batch.  First two were shared with family, and were pretty good. The third, however, had completely failed to bottle condition. The flavor was pretty much what it should have been, but there was no carbonation whatsoever.  The cap *seemed* tight enough, but maybe it was one of the last ones sealed, when my hand was blistering and cramping from all the stupid plastic screw-on caps. Not sure. I was worried, but have had one or two since then that seemed ok.

In those, the carbonation bubbles were definitely getting smaller, but I didn't notice any major changes in flavor, or even slight changes for that matter!  Still, not bad to drink, and I'm definitely thinking about the next batch!

Batch #1: Kreidler's New Peculiar Update 4/19/10

This past weekend marked the first tastings of Kreidler's New Peculiar.  Surprisingly drinkable, despite all the issues that went into the production!  Proof positive that beer is a surprisingly resilient thing!

Poured off into pilsner glasses, each large bottle neatly filled both glasses.  Color was a nice golden hue, with a HUGE head of foam (more on the first bottle than the second, probably for any number of reasons).  Big malt flavor, relatively little hop character, though there was a nice, cheerful citrus character rounding things out. Definitely a nice "intro" beer, both for brewing and for introducing others to the joys of beer. Not so "light" as an American adjunct beer (Coors, Bud), but definitely lacking the aggressive hopping that serves to keep the extreme-beer crowd feeling nice and elitist. ;)

Carbonation bubbles were still fairly large, but as planned, I'm only chilling a few bottles at a time, to allow the rest to continue conditioning.  Apparently, the bubbles will shrink, even as the flavors continue to evolve and improve.  Is it a flavor of beer I would have gone out and bought a case?  Probably not.  Is it something I will happily drink while planning what to brew up next? Hells yes! (Something stout, methinks.)

As the man, Charlie Papazian has said: "Relax, don't worry, have a home brew!"

Batch #1: Kreidler's New Peculiar 04-16-10

Well, its been a little over two weeks since bottling. I'm planning on throwing a few bottles in the fridge overnight and enjoying them tomorrow...provided they are at all enjoyable.  Going to keep going in that vein, only chilling them when needed, to allow the others to continue bottle conditioning for as long as possible, since as soon as they get fridged, that process pretty much stops.  So, starting tomorrow or Sunday... here goes!

Batch #1: Kreidler's New Peculiar Update #6: Bottled!

OK, this actually comes a few days late.  Taking advantage of a random Thursday off and a house all to myself, I actually managed to finally get the first batch bottled. It would have to have been on April 1st, wouldn't it?  Now rethinking the New Peculiar name to something to do with that. Whatever...still just gonna be strong Fosters.

So, put on my brand new Avery Brewing Company hat, cranked up the Skankaholics Unanimous, took one last hydrometer reading, (still around 1.011-ish) and began bottling my Cooper's microbrew. All in all, it was a fairly smooth process. Rinsing the bottles for their first use was the most annoyingly time consuming, and screwing on all the stupid plastic bottle-caps gave me a blister on the inside of my thumb that's still pissing me off (24 bottles...imagine if I had done the right amount of water in the fermenter and had to do the final 6 bottles...eesh). The 'little bottler' included with the kit, which attaches to the spigot and only (ha!) allows the beer to flow when the bottom of the bottle pushes up on a simple plunger mechanism, worked fairly well. Certainly better than not having it, but not as good as being able to actually stop without having to turn off the tap each time. Ah well.

Cleaning out the fermenter was fairly painless....just filled the thing up with water for awhile to loosen up the crust from the fermentation foam, which came off fairly easily.  Didn't kill myself *too* bad, since the whole shebang is gonna need to be sterilized for the next batch anyways.  Stored all the extra parts in the fermenter, then packed it back in the box to mitigate anything getting into it (it is kept about 10 feet from 3 actively used litter boxes, so I need to keep my own terrors of contamination at bay here!)

So, the beer should be bottle conditioned in 1-2 weeks time (the 15th, according to the calendar), and drinkable anytime after that. So, I'll let it do it's thing for now, and will most likely be sharing the results at whatever family or friend gathering hits first after that.  We shall see!

Batch #1: Kreidler's New Peculiar Update #5? 1.011 Sp. Gr

Well, fermentation appears to finally be grinding to a halt.  Only dropped a single point over the last few days. I'll try to get bottling done one of the next few nights, or more likely on Saturday, but since we'll also be prepping for a birthday party the next day...no promises!

Batch #1: Kreidler's New Peculiar Update #4

Well, just realized my last post was incorrect re: hydrometer readings.  We are down to 1.012, and as last time, tasting ever more like beer and whatnot. Still waiting for fermentation to stop...updates when they occur, or relatively soon after. ;)

Batch #1: Kreidler's New Peculiar Update #3(ish)

Still have a falling hydrometer reading, so still holding off on bottling.  Word from the interwebs is that my failure to fully top off the fermenter should just result in a stronger beer, which probably explains why fermentation is still going on.  1.019 tonight, and tasting a bit more like beer. Obviously too warm, and not carbonated enough (der, not bottled yet), but far more recognizable as what it will eventually become. ;)

Batch #1: Kreidler's New Peculiar

Tonight's measurement?  1.014 Sp. Gr.  So, things have definitely ground pretty much to a halt, which isn't surprising, since its been almost 3 days longer in the fermenter than predicted.  However, I recently realized I made a HUGE mistake in the brewing process: Having lost the instruction booklet that came with my Coopers Microbrewery kit, I turned to the man, the myth, the legend, Charlie Papazian, to light my way.

Long story short, Charlie's advice and instructions (found in the Complete Joy of Homebrewing...and any and all mistakes are MINE ALONE...I am NOT passing the buck here!) were for 5 gallons of beer. The Coopers kit is designed for 6 gallons. Yup, I topped off the water a full 5L short, a full 16 cups shy, a gallon less than Coopers recommends.  What will that mean for the finished product? I have no idea. From the start, I kind of thought something was wrong, but I attributed it to the issues I had with the brew pot and the burner, etc. It didn't occur to me that the super-high initial Sp. Gr. reading might be because I hadn't watered down the wort enough!  Also, another gallon of cold water in the fermenter would have dropped the temperature that much faster, allowing for the yeast to be pitched sooner, etc. etc. etc.

So, what happens when you brew a basic lager without enough water?  I'll tell you in a couple of weeks. I'm not excited, but as the fine folks at the mega-breweries have proven time and again, no matter how bad it tastes, if you get it cold enough, its fine. Especially if you wait for a hot day. ;)

As I was warned by every homebrew source I've ever even glanced at, I've been planning out my next TWO brews.  The first next will be another kit, most likely a stout of some sort, just to get down the cleansing/brewing process, before I get bold, and try the chocolate stout recipe in the last issue of All About Beer. Because that looked freaking gooooood.

Batch #1: No update

After a busy weekend of basement shuffling, FiOs installing, power-losing, platelet donating, and what-have-you, I have not checked the beer since the last update.  It's probably good to go for bottling. Hopefully tonight I'll have more to mention.  Hm...It should almost definitely be good to go by Wednesday, which I'll have off for St. Patty's Day!  What a way to celebrate, by bottling homebrew! No, I will NOT be tinting it green. Sorry.

Batch #1: Kreidler's New Peculiar Update #2

Fermenter is still holding steady at about 18* C.  Specific Gravity is about 1.018, so the process is slowing. Perhaps bottling time this weekend!  Damn, gotta sterilize all the bottles and caps and whatnot... ah well.  Tastings of the test pulls have been un-exciting.  Basically not that much of  a shock. Very first test was nice, since it was mostly malts and yeast, for a big, yeasty malty flavor.  However, the stupid yeast are eating all that yummy malt. Bastages!  Next time I'll have to brew something really malty...or at least something that doesn't replace the malts with a Kg. of corn sugar. Ah well, the beginners kit is for the beginner. Gonna be time to step up my game for the next batch! ;)

Batch number one - official update!

Mmmm....beer at 6:30 in the morning.  Hey, I was just testing it, dammit! ;)

Current Specific Gravity is about 1.021, which implies quite a bit of fermentation going on.  Fermenter is still in the 18* range, but I keep checking it late and night or first thing in the morning, so it's possible that its getting a little extra heat during the day.

My first taste-test of the beer, two nights ago, revealed this lovely malty, yeasty combination that I would have loved to save as was.  Today, both of those flavors are far more subdued, owing primarily (I assume) to most of those sweet, malty flavors being turned into less appetizing pure alcohol, and that alcohol taste coving up the yeasty bit.  Just my guess, but I'm sure it will continue to get better, otherwise the instructions would have me prepping for bottle conditioning now, rather than in 2-3 days...depending on fermentation. I think I got off to a slow start, so it might take even longer for the initial fermentation to peter out.  We'll see!

Batch number one

Well, after more than a year's worth of foot-shuffling, book-reading, navel-gazing, and having a micro-brew-in-a-box stare at me every time I set foot in the basement, I finally took my best shot.

Using the Coopers Microbrew Lager kit, I now have about 5 gallons of wort on my counter, the yeast has been pitched, and other than ALL the problems I encountered, things seem to have gone fairly smoothly. I decided to start this blog as a way to keep my measurements and recipes available to myself... given that this first batch was of the mix and pour variety, I'll spare the details for now!

Initial specific gravity reading seems to be about 1.051...which is super strong, I think. The hydrometer that came with the kit has helpful colorations on it, to help you find the "average" level for a given liquid (including wine, dessert wine, and beer), and I am definitely out of the range for beer. I wouldn't be surprised if I was trying to brew some super stout or something with a crapload of fermentables, but this is the basic kit! I suppose I could add more water to try to bring it back within bounds...but I'm not sure any of my water supplies are sterile enough to add to cooled wort. I'm just gonna let it slide for now... we'll see what happens!

I followed Charlie Papazian's advice in the Complete Joy of Homebrewing and ignored the instructions on the kit. Namely, rather than just mixing the package ingredients with boiling (or even just hot tap!) water and immediately mixing with more cold water in the fermenter, I boiled the wort for a while. Scientific, right? Well, the pot I used is huge, but it sort of deforms when you put a lot of liquid in it, apparently pulling the middle of the bottom OFF the heating element. So, I had the pot over high heat for about an hour before I figured out how to fix it (cooling rack slipped *just* under one edge was enough to keep the rest of the pot in full contact), so when it rapidly came to a boil after that, I just kept it there for another 30 minutes. Hey, brewing during a toddler's nap-time means you don't push your luck!

After that, added the wort to the cool water in the fermenter (completely (hopefully!) sanitized with bleach ahead of time) and set the whole shebang into the sink to soak in cold water. Between entertaining the child and prepping dinner, I managed to let the wort pass BELOW ideal temperature for yeast pitching, but what are you gonna do? Better too cold and the yeast lives than too hot and I just made stew on a very fine scale, right?

So, now I cool my heels for a few days. Air lock has sterile water in it, hydrometer is ready for readings, and hopefully in 8-14 days, I'll be ready to sterilize and fill the oddly large bottles that come with the kit! Soon after that, I'll be pushing Kreidler's New Peculiar on anyone within reach, so BEWARE!