Tomorrow bottle Standard Bitters, 08.A

Should be about ready to bottle judging from the time it took for the Brown Ale to be ready. I used the next generation of the same yeast and this one is also a low gravity beer, so there you go. More on this tomorrow.

ESB into Secondary Fermenter tonite…

Glad that I used the blow off tube on the Primary; it looks like almost 2 liters of beer went into the bucket as foam.  This is the third generation of the Fermentis English Ale yeast that I’ve used so far and it is still a happy bunch of campers! 

Thursday I’ll make the next to last payment on the freezer and then it’s lager time again!I suppose that I’ll have to use one of the half gallon likker jugs I have on hand to store the yeast in after I use it, I have two on hand.  I think I’d like to keep the Ale yeast on hand for more ESB… I really like the style.  The first lager will be Oktöberfest.  Have to get new yeast for that.

I’m going to have to get more grain too.  I’m almost out of pale ale and pilsner and have enough Münich for about one batch of Oktöberfest.  And hops.  I’m about out of all of the stuff that you make beer with.  Except… I’m going to have to get with Jeff for our secret batch real soon too…

AAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh….!

Seeing the dark stream meandering across the basement floor, I sprang into action:  Take a leak (First things first!) and get a bucket of water running and begin sopping up the stain before Trish makes a surprise incursion into the basement.  Oh Shite, what happened – I know, the pressure in the carboy blew the blow off tube off of the thingy and at some point during the night spraying a fountain of fermenting beer across the ceiling and all points (and objects) about the brewing table*.

Nope, not worse case scenario after all.  The issue did involve the blow off tube, but not too awful badly: the tube exit-end had merely ejaculated from the bucked of water like a tiny flexible rocket and spewed foam out upon the table which, when coalesced, became a puddle which became a beerfall, which became the rivulet which meandered across the floor.  Not too bad.  Maybe a liter of production gone awry; still about 22 liters in the carboy.  Not as bad as the ill-fated Chocolate Vanilla Stout episode involving an airlock that was unable to process the pressure produced by the violently voracious yeast farting CO2 into the carboy.  While that one DID hit the ceiling it also blew out about 6 liters of the best smelling beer that I’ve never been able to replicate since.  Must have been the freshness of the Vanilla beans….

All cleaned up, Dog Angel helping me before I could stop her; We will see if Trish’s sensors detect any brewing sins, later… 

*BTW, for those of you that remember… My brewing table is the very same one that Nanny & Da had in their kitchen.  Remember hours of playing with the cigar boxes full of cargo from distant pasts on that table? And the modeling clay?  Ah… Good times as a you’t at granny’s…

Brewing my CyberDave’s ESB today…

I cracked the grain last nite assuming that I would start early today… and I did, flame on at 7:55 AM.  Could have started earlier, but I read some online papers and did a little blogging before I began.  Flame on, 7:55 AM.

My mash temp goal was 150°F and I missed it by one.  I heated the water to 178°and when I dumped it into the mash tun it was a little over the 167° that it was calculated to have been required.  Once I added the grist the final temperature was 149°.

I suspect that I knocked the false bottom loose from its moorings in the mash tun, I won’t know until I begin to get runoff.  If so, I will transfer the mash to another bucked and fix the boogair, and begin running it off again.  I’d reduced the amount of water required for mashing from 16 quarts to 14 because the tun might not hold all of the water and grains if I kept it as required, and raised the water temp a couple degrees to compensate.  Of course, BeerSmith does the calcs for me.  That’s nice.  Heating the water for Mashout right now, 9:10 AM, mashout should begin at 9:14…

I use WaynarWare’s Fizz! to time my events.  When an event fires, an audible alarm goes off; if I’m not near my computer, I can set it to send me a text message that the event has fired.  Most Excellent!  The alarm for heating the water went off and then after 15 minutes, the mashout alarm sounded.  I have til 9:24 to blog, then I begin Vortlauf.

01:05 PM - Boil just began a few min. ago.  I’ll read “On The Road” once the boil settles down…

02:10 PM and Chilling now underway.

3:45 pm – Cleanup is finished and its time for a chilly brew!

8:15 PM -  Pitched the yeast.  Was too much foam to get it in at the end of the session.  Didas!

ESB Recipe

Saturday I’ll brew my ESB.  Here are the grain & Hop Bills:

 

Grain Schedule	Quantity	Hops Schedule	Quantity
Pale Ale Malt :	9.5 Lbs.	Perle Hops :	.50 oz.
Wheat Malt :	1.25 Lbs.	Goldings Hops :	1.00 oz.
Crystal (80L) Malt :	.75 Lbs.	Cascade Hops :	.50 oz.
Special B Malt :	.50 Lbs.
Usual Suspects
Water	10 gallons	Irish Moss	1 tsp.

A lot of water for a five gallon batch, you say?  I will probably wind up with 5.5 gallons of beer, 1 gallon will boil away, there will probably be 2 gallons absorbed into the grain after mashing, and there will be a gallon or so left in the hot liqueur tank after mashing.  Better more than you need.  I put 6 gallons into the HLT at about 200°F to mash, heating it when I heat the water for the mash.  15 quarts at 161°F will go into the mash to mash at 150°F, and 9 quarts will go in at about 200°F to mash out at about 170°. About 4.5 gallons are usedat vortlauft to lauter after mashing is completed.  I’ll have a gallon or so left over in the HLT when I’m through.  Blah. blah, blah….

Now, it is time to transfer my Standard Bitters to the Secondary fermenter. More as it happens!

Planning to brew an ESB on Friday, or Saturday…

I’ll use basically the same recipe for the ESB as I did for the Standard Bitters that I brewed on Christmas except I’ll use around 11.5 lbs of grain instead of 7.25.  The ABV should be almost twice that of the last one, and I’ll use more hops to balance it out.  Shooting for around 6.5% ABV.  I purchased enough specialty grains to make this batch too. (Special B, 80L Crystal, and wheat malt to go with the Pale Ale malt.  That should about do in the last of the Pale Ale malt;  have to go see a guy that knows a guy.\

I’ll spread the Brown Ale around amongst my co-workers and friends including El Jefe and the gang at the ‘C on Willie-D.  They probably suspect that I’ll forget about them once I have worked as an Engineer again, for a while. Not a chance.  They are still my peeps too.

  Grain Bill for the Standard Bitters:

Malt	Hops & etc.
6 lbs Pale Ale malt;	.5 oz. Perle, 60 min.
.5 lbs Crystal, 80L;	1.0 oz. Goldings, 60 Min.
.5 lbs Wheat Malt;	Safale English Ale – 2nd Generation.
.25 lbs Special B malt;	usual suspects: water, Irish Moss…

The mash was a 75 min. mash.  The total grains for the ESB will be 11.5 and the hops will be adjusted as needed to fit style.

Tasted another beer this AM

…and it is pretty good!  Brown Ale.  First one I’ve made (11.B English Northern Brown Ale) and I think that Trish may like it.  We’ll see.  A little more carbonation than the one from the other day, and I drank it at cellar temperatures, as it is traditionally consumed at.

The batch that is fermenting now is a standard bitters, also a low alcohol content beer and also taken at cellar temperature.  I think that the next batch will be an Extra Special Bitters, 08.C in the Styles Guidelines.  That style has about a 6% + ABV content, I’ll take both to the mtg. and say, “Here are two from extreme ends of the spectrum of the style…  tell me what your palate tells you?”  Might brew that one on Friday since the plant will be closed then as well as today. 

After the next batch I shouldn’t have long until I am able to get my freezer out of hock and will be able to make Lagers once again.  The first one will be an Oktöberfest.  I really like the style.  And besides, about the only grain I have enough of to make additional batched is Münich, so I’m limited as to styles unless I go off on a tangent… which I plan to soon… Bwa-hahaha….

You’ll see….