Based on the OG stated on the kit I used the Mr.Malty pitching rate calculator to determine what I needed for yeast, so I'm pretty sure it fermented all the way out, so who knows. It's a strange sweet, and I don't drink a whole lot of Stouts, so maybe it's fine. A good buddy of mine who's very very into brewing had two bottles and enjoyed it, so who knows. Maybe I just don't like it. It scares me to look into the fridge and see all of those bottles for some reason...
You'll have to sample my buddies F@ck You Up Stout, its scary. I think I have a bomber left in the back of the fridge. Loads of alcohol and loads of coffee. Makes you feel like a rodent on crack. Very scary, the whole batch should have been dumped and never spoken of again, but we drank it all of course.
Did you bottle this beer? perhaps the conditioning has not finished? I assume it was extract, if so I'm sure the fermentables were right where they were supposed to be. If it was partial mash or all grain its possible you didn't hit your target mash temp and produced more complex sugars (unfermentable) than expected.
Yep it's bottled and has been for about 7-8 months now, no bottle bombs. Although, this is the batch that learned me to stir the priming sugar before bottling it... Some are flat, some are mega-carb'd. live and learn. I hope to leave most of them for a year or two so it blends, maybe. It was an extract kit but it was my first "big" beer and about my 3rd ever so although I was excited, I wasn't expecting miracles. Oh, you guys will like this. When I was bringing the carboy to the basement, my 2 year old looked at me and said "Daddy, dat's a BIG coffee!"
Haha, well I'm sure its fully conditioned and you have more patience than me! Sounds like you just need to drink more sweet stouts ; ) Or brew a Dry Stout!
HA! Believe me, if I liked the first one I tried, it would be LONG gone by now. I was SO damn excited for this one, the first sip flattened me and I've just looked at the bottles since. I listened to Jamil's Imperial Stout podcast three times before I brewed it and he noted that to let it fully blend, it can take a few years. Is this for all-grains only, or would it apply to extracts as well?
An Imperial, whether it be all grain or extract, of any type could benefit from long term aging. I'd be willing to try a few for ya ; ).
So after reading that lager thread I realized I did mine all wrong. I fermented it at 67 degrees for 2 weeks (lost track of time). I just put it in the 2nd fermentor now and threw it down in the basement (53~ish degrees). It's pretty much at the FG right now. It read 1.012 last night. I plan on brewing it again, but this time I'll keep it in the basement the whole time.
I get a kick out of a rockin-and-rolling airlock. Makes me smile and think of when Paul that said 'it's a yeast party!' :naughty:
The bubbling airlock is my daughters favorite. She can't get enough of those bubbles. Boundary Waters Wheat kegged last night....finally. Poor wheat beer, hopefully its still a wheat considering how long it sat in primary lol
I'm brewing right now, thought I'd share. Currently mashing, got it to 146. To counter a thinner body I added the flaked rye, because of the lower mash temp. But due to this I will have a highly fermentable wort with the lower temp. Normally I mash at 149. I plan to mash out at 170 for 20 minutes. -10# pale ale base malt -1# Wyerman Rye (grain) -1# cara 10L -1# flaked rye 3 ounces Simcoe, thinking I'll do 1 @ 60, 1 @ 20 and 1@ flame out Fermenting with safale us-05 Heres a little pic of my basement setup. In the orange tank on the white table is my mash tun. My kettle is ontop of he orange tank on the ground, its a 9 gallon pot. The pot on the stove is what I use to heat my mash in and out water. In the bucket is the wort chiller, soaking in 1step. shotty cell phone pic
I picked up a 6 gallon Better Bottles carboy over the weekend with the intent on using at as a secondary tank only along with the Ferocious kit. I had planned on trying to get the kettle onto the burner on Sunday morning but didn't want to have to rush through it and try to get it al ldone when the boy was taking his nap so I put it off. Instead, I let about 40 bottles soak in some super hot water in the sink and those labels slid off easier than ever. I'm doing that from now on!!!
I brewed Twice this weekend. An English bitter on Saturday and a Grain Belt Premium clone on Sunday. I currently have 25 gallons in process, a Trappist in bottle, two IPAs in secondary and the Bitter and Lager in primaries!
/\/\/\/\ VERY nice! I've got 40 bottles of Oktoberfest Lager in bottles, in the fridge 58 bottles of my Boundary Waters Wheat bottle conditioning. and 6 gallons of my "Starry Alignment Ale" on the dry hop. I'm going to do my best to get in my Furious clone this week sometime.
1 year and 1 month later its finally happened. Jumping aboard the all grain train! :cheers2: I'll be using it tonight to brew a SMASH. 6 oz. homegrown Cascade/12.5 lbs. Maris Otter.
Really is easier than you think. I've done 1 all grain batch using this method(see below link) and it turned out pretty good. Was just limited by the size of my 5 gallon brew kettle that I used to mash. This is what I followed for my first all grain. http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-stovetop-all-grain-brewing-pics-90132/
that thing's junk, you should give it to me. FLIPPING AWESOME link to the write up. I'm excited! I've got a 5 gallon and a 6.5 gallon pot. Looks like all I will need is a brew bag and a bunch of grain... That's FANTASTIC!!!
Here's the directions I followed to make my mash tun. http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/cheap-easy-10-gallon-rubbermaid-mlt-conversion-23008/ Got the cooler from Home Depot for $40 and the rest of the parts from Menards-$14. Aside from the 5/8" stainless steel washer which I had to get from Fastenal. Damn Fastenal and their bulk purchasing only. Can't buy just one oh no, they only come in packs of 5000 lol. In other words I have an extra one for ya Ted. 12" Stainless steel false bottom from Midwest-$29 Total cost - $84 give or take ready to mash
Thanks for having me over Paul!!! Your brews are really awesome! And, I am jealous of your knowledge, experience, and attention to notes and detail. :cheers2:
Anytime Ted and thanks for the compliment and for lending a hand. Let me know when you've had a chance to try my Belgian Wit and Citrus Punch, i'd greatly appreciate the feedback. I got some shots i'll post up later. That mash tun look huge in that picture lol
Oh man.. I need to come to the new brew-fest. I'm drinking my german helle right now. Amazing. This keg will be gone fast.
I bottled my Starry Alignment Ale on Saturday and brewed the Ferocious this evening. I think that this Starry Alignment smelled better than any that I've made to date - I'm excited to try it!!! The session tonight was an interesting one... First I realized that the dude at Midwest forgot my Wyeast smack pack so I had to pitch the pack of US-05 that I didn't use from a previous batch. The steep and boil went normally except for instead of using my grain bag for my hops I just threw them into the pot. I thought it would be a great idea to use my little grain bag to get the hop out so I shoved it into the top of the carboy and folded it over the top. I poured in about a half gallon and after a minute, the flow just about stopped. Realizing this wasn't a real great idea, I pulled the funnel out but forgot to keep a hand on the grain bag... Plunk. I poured the carboy and grain bag back into the pot and then figured that normal people would just let the gunk settle out. After finally getting all of the delicious, hop-smelling goodness into the carboy I had too much foam from oxygenating it via bucket pouring. I filled that glass tank but there wasn't much room for the yeast. I sprinkled it slowly to pop some bubbles and most made it but the carboy neck was covered... I finally got it all in with a butter knife that I forgot to sanatize (whoops) but it was just washed so oh well. So here's a question for you guys - I know beer doesn't like oxygen or light, but is it just sunlight or would Christmas lights do the same thing?
Congrats on the Starry Alignment! Sounds like it turned out great, can't wait for a sample. Bummer on the Wyeast but US-05 won't disappoint. In fact it'll be a great chance for an experiment, next go at the furious pitch the Wyeast. Don't have an answer for your xmas light question but what you could do is wrap a blanket around the carboy and as soon as the yeast kicks off it should warm that carboy up pretty good and with a blanket insulating it should keep it well in safe temp range. What is the temp in your basement again? Or if you furnace is down there put the carboy next to the furnace, thats what i've been doing. Or train your dogs to lay next to the carboy and keep it warm.
Me too- it smelled awesome. I E-mailed Midwest about the yeast asking for my Wyeast smack-er as well as a pouch of the dry to keep on hand as a back up. I was really excited to already see action in the carboy so that's a good sign. I keep a towel around the carboy to insulate it and keep any potential UV light off of it. I have it near my hot water heater in the basement - on a folded, thick cotton door mat to keep it off of the floor. It's the only place in the house that I won't mind a mess, it won't get hit with direct sunlight and where my dog's can't get at it, so I'm making it work. Current Bottle Count: Imperial Stout: 45 Oktoberfest Lager: 50 Boundary Waters Wheat: 50 Starry Alignment: 56 Primary: 5.5 gallons Ferocious
It's UV light - Christmas lights won't give it off. Sunlight and maybe some florescence lights will. It causes the Alpha Acids to go from trans to cis (or vice versa Organic Chem was 9 years ago) This causes the aroma to change from flowery hops to Skunk!
Awesome, thanks! I really like how I can dial in the temp of the beer by un-plugging half of the lights or making a half blink. Thanks for the info!
Meh, I like to see lots of bottles on the counter. Yeah, soon enough... I'm scared that I'll go through it all WAY too fast if I get those kegs up and running... Light Absorption by Various Beer Bottle Glass: Data to Accompany April 2nd, 2008 Basic Brewing Radio Podcast with James Spencer. http://cdn2.libsyn.com/basicbrewing/bbrskunking.pdf?nvb=20100216150059&nva=20100217151059&t=01300a2f2357e25111f6e
Brewing this One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish(Two Hearted Clone) tonight! 15 gallon pot and possibly larger mash tun on the horizon. Recipe Type: All Grain Yeast: SafAle Yeast #S-05 Yeast Starter: none Batch Size (Gallons): 5.5 Original Gravity: 1.055 Final Gravity: 1.014 IBU: 52.6 Boiling Time (Minutes): 60 Color: 5.6 Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): at least 4 weeks at 65 F The actual gravity for this beer is 1.064 The FG is 1.010 10 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 76.92 % 2 lbs Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 15.38 % 8.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 3.85 % 8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 3.85 % *mash at 150 F 1.00 oz Centennial [9.50 %] (60 min) Hops 30.3 IBU 1.00 oz Centennial [9.50 %] (15 min) Hops 15.0 IBU 1.00 oz Centennial [9.50 %] (5 min) Hops 6.0 IBU 1.00 oz Centennial [9.50 %] (1 min) Hops 1.3 IBU 1.00 oz Centennial [9.50 %] (Dry Hop 5 days) Hops 7% ABV
NICE!!! I envy your organization and attention to detail. I just crack a beer and throw a bunch of stuff into hot water then boil it. What's a hydrometer... I am getting a check from Subaru for my fuel smell recall in a week or two and I think I might take that check to Midwest and get the rest of the parts for my keg setup, a 15 gallon pot and possibly new tubing as mine is about a year old...
Preparation goes a long way come brew day, for me anyway. My friend Eric tends to shoot from the hip when it comes to the brewing process more than me and he turns out excellent beer. And yes i've gone through the "whats a hydrometer" stage as well and now am back to using it. What can I say, I love my gadgets. Now only if I can find a thermapen for less that $100.
Racking the Strawberry Mead. 18 lbs of honey, 10lbs of strawberries and an additional 6 lbs of strawberries to add in the next couple days. Quick observations- My laundry room is a mess and my dog is out of food.
I have 20 Gallons of beer to transfer this weekend. Oak Aged IPA to a Keg India Brown Ale to Keg Special Bitter to Secondary Grain Belt Clone to Secondary And maybe make a Irish Red or Saison!
Mmmmm dry hop Here's a picture of my Hop Head Double IPA brew last night. Nearing the bottom you can start to see the nice inch or so deep layer of break material. This kit came with 2 oz. of cascade leaf hops for the dry hop.
