ESB…

I put an arf case into the fridge the other morning and as we speak am sampling another one.  This one tastes flawed, similar to the first batch of Märzen that I dubbed “Private Stock” so I wouldn’t have to shame myself before my fellows… There must be a critter lurking in some of my brewing equipment.  Maybe one (or more) of the carboys… perhaps in the bottles their own selfs.  I suppose that we all have this happen, some people more regularly than others… but this is not the way that it is supposed to be.  I must pay more attention to sanitization.  I have already gotten some new hoses… better put some denture cleaner into the carboys.  And I really should get a newer brewing pot.  My canning pots are about beat all to hell.  Must get stainless steel…

And should probably invest in some powerful sanitizer and let the Clorox go for a while.  This should be easy to find and fix.  Should.

My calm has been harshed

My calm has been harshed…

   What is wrong with this country when it takes half of your income just to get insurance coverage?  It wasn't like that in the past.  I just don't know how people are supposed to survive.  You know, in the 19th century the official policy of the Government regarding the Indians was to make them totally dependent upon the US Government by killing off their way of life, the buffalo.  This Government policy nearly extinctified the buffalo, and the Indians were brought to a state from which they haven't really recovered.  They are indeed dependent upon the Government...and the same thing is happening to the rest of us.  Love it or hate it: We NEED O'bammaCare!  We can't survive without it, now. With the usury fees of the insurance companies that the Government has been oh, SO willing to turn a blind eye to have made that a necessity.  We are all Indians, now. Soon, we all will be living in Government trailers on Government property…

   I think back on both of my grannies: they lived for years off of what they had been able to sock away during their lifetimes and had some to leave their kiddies when they passed on.  My own dear ole mammy was able to pass on what was left from her inheritance... and it has taken all of our cut to stay alive just these past few years; surviving longer doesn't seem like it is going to be a reality.  I really don't know what to do.

Couldn’t wait. Had to try one of the new ESBs…

I put one of the latest ESBs into the fridge before I left for work yesterday and when I got  home I popped the top to see ‘whatup, humaan?’  Needs another week carbonating but the taste is good.  Bitter.  Mmmm…

Only three weeks until time to bottle my latest Oktöberfest; then, it’s wait again.  That’s the hardest part of brewing your own beer, the waiting.  The only thing that you can do to lessen the pain is to brew more often.  And I should.  But I don’t.  I spend my time working on my new project, grudgingly doing housework or lawn work, taking well deserved naps, etc.  But I should brew.   It isn’t like I drink a lot; Usually one maybe two beers a night if any at all, and I give a lot of the stuff away.  (I dropped a sixpack by The ‘C on Willie-D for El Jefè and the other minions of the State to enjoy, some of my previous Oktöberfest – flawed as it is, they may not really notice.)

I think that this year I’m only going to brew Oktöberfest and ESB.  The Year of Oktöberfest and ESB they will call it in the annals of CyberDave… not my PERSONAL anal, mind you… Wayne…

Meanwhile, I sit here, wondering.  What does the new day hold? Should I finish the wash that I started last night?  What’s that sound?

Bottled my third batch of 08.C: ESB, tonite.

I kept forgetting to do things.  Couldn’t find tools either; bottle cleaner, hydrometer…  Finally found them all.

Then as I was racking to the bottling bucket, I remembered that I didn’t make a priming slurry as is my custom when I bottle.  So I just added the sugar to the bucket as it was filling and gently stirred.  Got 49-12 oz. bottles with a 6.62 ABV. A little higher than style because I boiled off too much liquid.  Should have added another arf gallon… But what the heck. I like it around that volume.

Mash Tun Upgrade…

Went to Lowes & asked if they were the guys that match prices or if it was Home boy Depot.  They said that it was them, So I put the 52 dollar 10-gallon cooler on the counter & said that the store price for the same item at HD is $39.65.  She looked it up and it wasn’t.  It was $36.95 at home boy’s so that’s what I got it for.  Then I went home to disect the thing, see what I needed:

The 3 thingys at the bottom of the pic are the valve and seal assembly from the cooler.  I purchased the ball valve, nipple, thick 5/8 washer, a 1/4-NPT bayonet fitting (not shown) and a union.  I also added a length of electrical conduit as a spacer and a 16mm thrust washer.  I could have gotten a shorter nipple, but you know how guys are about nipples…..  Moving right along…..

Assembling the new system, I used the seal and nut that came with the cooler and the other items mentioned.  It looks like this when it is all together:

I boiled the off the shelf items to cleanse off the coolant and etc. from the parts that are no doubt still on ‘em when you buy them and cooled them in cold water to allow me to assemble them.  After applying nylon thread dope and putting them together the whole thing looks like this on the inside (with my false bottom installed)  and when sitting next to a 5 gallon carboy full of beer:

               

I thought that I lost the bayonet fitting that screws into the 1/4-NPT union, but it was in my pocket.  It isn’t shown in the first pic for that very reason.  Now that I have a cooler to use for mashing I can retire my old sleeping bag that I have always wrapped around a bucket.  Of course, now I have an extra bottling bucket.  Maybe I can swap it for something….

I’ve been drinking on my first batch or Märzen…

Brewed in February, I took a couple bottles to a brewing event the other week to have The Original Doug to give me a diagnosis of the issue confronting this, my first triple decoction.  The verdict: Phenolic taste.  Was it the process? Was it the yeast?  I dunno.  Maybe the next batch, now in the cooler, will tell the tale.  If not the same, I’ll assume that some of my components were not… ah… satisfactorily sanitized.  At any rate, I’m reluctant to share this first batch with the Pilgrims.  No prob, I’ll call it My Private Stock.  BHH!  (Tha’s shorthand, according to Virtual Wayne, for: Bwa-Hahahah!)

(must get another one..)

Other than the phenolic taste, the carbonation is excellent, the head is to style, and with a little more cooling (along with the next batch in the freezer) the clarity should improve.  Has a nice malted phenolic taste.  Incidentally, I ate a few malted milk balls before tasting, and the phenolic taste isn’t as noticeable… Coincidence?  Cleaner bottles?  Not give a shitlessness?  Who is to say; I’ll enjoy this beer til the bitter end.  Mmmm… bitters.

…which is the next beer being fermented at the moment.  I brewed another ESB (using the same Fermentis English Ale Yeast #4 that I’ve used for the last two batches) last Saturday at Blue Ridge Hydroponics & Home Brew Supply for the Spring brewing demo which I renamed ‘Learn a Frien’ to Home Brew’ to reflect our regional heritage.  It’s all the rage… Heritaging, that is.

More, as it happens….