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!
Just checked the fermenter, and realized it was at the bottom of the scale for good yeast action (18*C), so just moved it closer to the furnace and water heater to try to get some more warmth into it. That basement area is too big to just leave the lights on...even with 3 running it wouldn't make much of a difference. We do have a spare fridge down there, so I could try getting the thing overhead and up there. I *think* there would be room!
ReplyDeleteWell, still hovering between 18-20C, but there is a nice head of foam that appeared between last night and checking it this evening, so *something* must be happening in there.
ReplyDelete1.049 Sp. Gr. So, we're getting some more alcohol in there, as the little beasties must be eating up all that nice corn sugar and farting out carbonation. Ain't science fun?!