Archive for category Beer
Bottling from square one
Posted by bradinator in Beer, Home Brewing on March 10th, 2010
Bottling is a huge undertaking no matter how you approach it. The entire process from start to finish usually takes at a minimum 2 hours to complete. My last bottling session was no except.
I usually begin by calculating the number of liters I am bottling, the number of bottles it would require and cleaning that many, plus an additional 15. I have never used the extra bottles, but I would rather have them available if I needed them then having to put the bottling on hold to sanitize more. Starsan is a no-rinse cleaner and saves a lot of time, but still requires about an hour to dry. My greatest challenge is finding places to dry the bottles!
So many bottles, so few places to dry them
The Mistaken Ale had some issues… There were floaties of an undetermined origin in the brew. These exsisted from the start even before pitched the yeast. This leads me to believe they were undissolved clumbs of dry malt extract. I came to this conclusion because I have never made an all DME brew before and I have never seen this strange floaties until then either.
I don't know what these are for sure, but I know that I do not want them in my beer!
I may not know where they came from, but I knew for sure I did not want them in my beers. I mulled over several ideas to keep them out of the final product and settled on cheese cloth over the bottling bucket to catch these lumps as they were siphoned into it. It worked like a charm! I should note I boiled the cloth prior to using it to lessen the chance of contaminating the batch.
The cheese cloth caught most of the floaties
Filled and ready to go I moved the beer from the bottling bucket, which I had primed with 3/4 cup of dextrose which I dissolved in 1 cup of boiled water. Bottling takes a lot of time, but the swing-top (or Grolsch) bottles shorten it by removing the need to cap each bottle.
The beer is primed and ready for bottling
Swing tops are a god-send when bottling beer
Once I got these into the bottles I moved on the task of doing the same thing, 4 more times for the Yeast Experiment beers. Each 1 gallon fermentor required me to to move it into the priming bucket, then into bottles, cleaning everything I used and doing it all over again.
It was quite the pain doing each 1 gallon fermenter, one at a time.
I took a gravity reading for each brew (list in a previous post) and took a small sample taste from each. I take the taste-test to check for contamination but also for curiosity sake. I ended up throwing out the 1 gallon fermenters simply because I was too tired to bother cleaning them. I can just as easily buy more and convert the juice into more delicious Apfelwien.
Taking a gravity reading between filling bottles
The semi-finished product. Crystal clear!
Brew Updates – Bradinator’s Mistake and The Great Yeast Experiment bottled, plus some tasting notes
Posted by bradinator in Beer, Beer Tasting, Hobbies, Home Brewing on March 8th, 2010
So I spent the better part of my day yesterday cleaning, bottling and cleaning all over again. The entire process, not including my breaks took nearly 4 hours to finish but hopefully it will be worth it.
Bottling the Mistake Ale required the use of cheese cloth to catch some undissolved clumps of DME. This worked well and the final product is already showing incredible clarity. The final gravity reading was 1.011 which is higher then the last time I took a reading. This leads me to believe I didn’t take it correctly. The ABV is around 3.5% and each pint is only 150 calories! That is as much as a can of beer would normally have. The sample taste left a lot of be desired; I know I was trying to get a light beer, but I found it somewhat watery and bland. Hopefully next week when I sample a cold one the final product will be better.
The Yeast Experiment was a pain to bottle. To try to keep the results as consistent as possible I moved each gallon fermentor, one at a time into the bottling bucket and then into bottles. After finishing each bottling session I would clean everything with hot water and start the entire process over again.
The final gravities are as follows for each yeast.
S-04 – 1.016 (ABV 3.2%)
S-05 – 1.014 (ABV 3.5%)
S-23 – 1.020 (ABV 2.7%)
S-33 – 1.020 (ABV 2.7%)
To be honest I am not impressed with any of their fermentation’s. I was expect these “premium” yeasts to reach at least 1.010 (around 4% ABV) at a minimum, especially considering that I used 11.5g vs. the 5g I normally do. I was very disappointed in the results of the S-33 “Robust” ale yeast. High attenuation my ass! It fermented out at the same final gravity as the lager yeast, which probably struggled due to the warm fermenting conditions (lager yeasts prefer colder environments for better fermentation). That aside the sample tastes I took from the beers were not as disappointing; For a flat, warm beer they all tasted quite good. I cannot wait until I can try one!
http://www.bradinator.com/an-experiment-in-brewology-beer-yeast/
Beer Review – Innis and Gunn Blonde
Posted by bradinator in Beer, Beer Tasting on March 6th, 2010
Name: Innis and Gunn Blonda
Origin: Scotland
Style: Ale (Oak Aged Ale – 5% ABV)
Appearance: It is a gorgeous, crystal clear, dark golden coloured ale. Minimal head is produced though a soft, filmy ring does stay for the entire duration of the drink.
Taste: The aroma is strong and quite bready. Some caramel notes in the odour as well. This is a very flavourful beer, with a strong grain-like base. Sweet, caramel notes with a hint of vanilla and something almost hickory wood-like flavours, most likely from the oak aging. The beer is not very bitter and finishes with notes of crackers and hickory.
Mouth Feel: This is ale is quite creamy, though at the same time quite carbonated and sharp on the tongue. It’s not very filling and has a very pleasant, linger wood-like aftertaste.
Final Thoughts (4.0 out of 5): This is a great tasting beer. Full of flavour and character I feel that this version of the Innis and Gunn oak-aged ale is even better then the original.
Brew Updates – Apfelwien and the Mistake Brew
Posted by bradinator in Beer, Home Brewing on March 1st, 2010
I took the last gravity reading from my Apfelwien today, plus I moved the Mistake Brew into a secondary.
The Final Gravity reading for the Apfelwien is 0.998, exactly the same as it was the last time I took it. The beer read at 1.008 which is low enough for me. I decided to rack it to the secondary fermentor to deal with the ‘floaties’. I can only assume these floaties are undissolved dry malt extract.
A tried one of my Summer Berry Ales tonight too… And its fantastic. It has a mild, but detectable fruity flavour to it. A little more bitter then I wanted but overall I am quite happy with the final product.
Beer Review – Pike Stout Extra Stout
Posted by bradinator in Beer, Beer Tasting on February 27th, 2010
Name: Pike Stout Extra Stout
Origin: USA, Washingotn
Style: Stout (6.6% ABV)
Appearance: Black. This beer is a black that would make Guiness blush just a little. Nice foamy, tan head. Dissapates quickly.
Taste: Immediately I can note some hickory-like flavours in this beer. Some sweet, honey flavours are also quite noticeable. Like most stouts there are the standard bitter coffee-ish flavours, but they are overwhelmed by other stronger flavours, such as the hickory.
Mouth Feel: Soft, foamy and rather filling. The hickory notes linger long after each drink
Final Thoughts (3.5 out of 5): I like hickory, though in my beer I am at a crossroads. I they add character and enjoyment to this beer, but I found they lingered far too long. All-in-all a very solid drinking stout, though I have to admit it left me more parched then quenched.
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