Update & Future Brews

It's been about two weeks since I brewed anything. I'll be bottling the oatmeal cookie beer next weekend.
In other news, I have a package en route from Midwest Supplies containing ingredients for two brews: a Sierra Nevada Porter clone, and a pale ale or IPA. I haven't exactly nailed down a recipe yet. I accidentally ordered 20 lbs of base malt instead of 30 (for both beers). And it seems like all the homebrew places are out of Simcoe hops.
I think I'm just going to wait until around Christmas to place another order. I'll get some Simcoe, some more 2-row, ingredients for my (half batch) new years barleywine, and I may or may not buy a grain mill, so I can buy grains in bulk.
So here's my upcoming brew calendar:
Dec 10-11: bottle Ice Cap
Dec 18: brew porter
(around this time I'll place another order)
Dec 23-26: bottle stout
Jan 1: brew barleywine
Jan 8: bottle porter
Jan 14-15: rack barleywine
Jan 15: brew pale ale/IPA

I was planning on fermenting my half batch barleywine in my 5 gallon carboy, but I may do primary in a plastic bucket, and rack to the 5 gallon carboy.

Brewing the Oatmeal Cookie Amber Ale

I got lazy last night and didn't do anything to prepare for today's brew. That was a mistake. Here I am trying to clean my gear, toast the flaked oats in the oven, calculate my mash temperatures and volumes, and I still have to measure out my ingredients. And I have to do all this before my ketttle even sees any flame.

The night before an all grain brew day:

1. Read over the recipe. Make sure there's nothing unusual overlooked or forgotten.
2. Make calculations. Strike water volume/temp. Sparge water volume, etc.
3. Clean your gear. Especially your mash tun and at least one kettle. And a spoon/paddle, and thermometer. (You will use these first.)
4. Measure out your ingredients (Especially your grain and water. Again, you will need these first.)
5. Other things you may have forgotten: Propane, ice (for chilling), yeast starter (if applicable)...

Next day:
After all the frustration at the beginning, everything turned out pretty well. My mash temperature was a little low. It was 150 or 151 instead of 152. The initial temperature was high, and again, I over compensated with 2 quarts of cold water.
Other than that, everything went well. My OG was 1.055. My overall volume was a little smaller than I expected, but I left some trub in the kettle. And now I have some more headspace in the fermenter.

Racking the Stout. New Carboy

Well, I finally got a 5 gallon glass carboy to use as a secondary fermenter. I racked my stout last night and checked the gravity. It's at 1.012 right now, which makes it around 6.9% ABV at the current moment.
Also, I've got the ingredients for my next brew. An iced oatmeal cookie brown ale. I will use actual iced oatmeal cookies in the mash. I've already got the ingredients, and I plan to brew it this weekend.
I got the idea from an episode of Basic Brewing Radio where James Spencer interviewed someone from the Garage Brewers Society (out of St. Louis, I think). It has a 2-row base and 8 different specialty grains, a package of iced oatmeal cookies, an ounce of East Kent Goldings, and White Labs 007 Dry English Ale Yeast.
Anyway, here's a picture of my brand new carboy.

Just In Case

This layer of foam is getting bigger by the hour. So, since I have the proper equipment, I decided to fit a blowoff tube to my fermenter. I made a bleach solution (1 Tbsp per gallon water) in a bucket to run the tube into. I still don't have a way to fasten and secure the tube to the bucket, but you get the idea.
The only other time I've had this happen was with the only other stout I've brewed. In a plastic bucket. During which, the lid blew off and beer was all over the kitchen, including the ceiling.
Maybe it's something about stouts. I mean, the gravity is kind of high. But not that high. It's only 1.064.
The foam should be flowing out of this tube sometime tonight.

Edit: The first picture is from the next morning.

Brewing the Stout

Over the past weekend I bottled my English Strong Ale (which didn't turn out to be as strong as I expected), I tasted my (soon to be renamed) Simcoe Ale (which was very tasty). And, I brewed my Stout. It was a pretty active weekend for brewing, since I'll be going out of town next weekend.
The Simcoe Ale was really good. A nice, pungent grassy hop flavor. It didn't ferment down as much as I thought it would. The FG was 1.020. Which makes me a little worried that it wasn't completely done fermenting. On top of that, I know the amount of priming sugar I used was on the high side. So, I'm drinking one each day, and if the carbonation gets out of hand, I will ice them down and get them somewhere safe.
I was a little more careful with my priming sugar on the English Strong Ale. I accounted for yeast slurry, trub, etc. I figured I could live with carbonation on the low side. I fermented that beer for 2 weeks and only did a primary fermentation.
THe stout is the Northern Brewer Big Honkin Stout all grain kit. A successful brew for the most part. But, I did have a little trouble with the mash temperature. I was aiming for 153. The temperature was a few degrees high. At least I think it was. It was still early in the morning and I hadn't had my coffee yet. I added about a half quart of cold water to bring down the temperature, and the needle hadn't moved. So I added another half quart, and the temperature went down too far (150). So I'm thinking I probably misread the thermometer the first time. So, I boiled a quart of water and added that to the mash. It didn't help very much at all. I was already worried about the volume of my mash to begin with. Because, while doing the calculations for this brew, I realized my strike water alone was over 5 gallons, so I knew I wouldn't have much water to sparge with. By the way, I used 1.3 quarts of water per pound of grain, instead of 1.5 for exactly this reason (plus the two quarts I added).

Anyway, I had been struggling with volume control before, and I think my problem was just over thinking the whole process. I still have one concern, and that's the time it takes to drain the wort from my mash tun. It will flow pretty good for a while, then it will start trickling out really slowly, and I'm not sure when to cut it off. I actually let it drain into a container (while doing my boil) just to see how much wort I was losing. The last quart and a half took an hour to trickle out. So I definitely lost some volume there. But, I saved some time, and prevented my gravity from being any lower.
My OG was 1.064, by the way. The recipe called for 1.074. So, obviously I'm having problems with my efficiency. It seems to be around 60%.
I checked on the carboy this morning, and the airlock is bubbling intensely. It crossed my mind to use a blow-off tube, but I think I'll have plenty of headspace. The temperature was about 71 degrees.

Mid-Week Update

The pumpkin ale turned out good. Not fuckin fantastic or anything. But it's better than some commercial pumpkin beer I've tried. And, It might be my imagination, but I think the spice is fading every time I drink one. Also, there is a lingering sweetness.
The Rye IPA is OK. It has that lightly burnt/roasted sweetness. I'm guessing it's just a fact of life when brewing strong IPAs.
In other news, I transferred and dry hopped the Simcoe Ale on Saturday. And did the same with the side batches of Amarillo Ale. I just poured each one (the 40oz bottle and the growler) into a gallon jug. (Combining them into one.) Then, dry hopped with Cascade pellets. I didn't bother measuring them out, put it was probably like a half or quarter ounce.
I'll be bottling both this weekend. That's it.

Brewing the English Strong Ale

I started this all grain brew day at 8:40 am. I pretty much had everything ready. I did have to wash a brewpot before heating my strike water. But, all the other cleaning and stuff I can do during the mash.
It's almost 11:00 now. I'm collecting the second runnings. Everything's going well. I did have to add some cool water to my mash. It was about 5 degrees high. I added something like 3/4 quart (3 cups) of tap water and that brought it down to 152 degrees...
I'm bringing my wort to boil now. I've collected more than I anticipated. Something like 1/3 gallon more than I need. I'll try to fix this by boiling for 15 or 20 minutes before I add my hops and start the one hour timer.
The seemingly never-ending propane tank is running out, I think. This will be a good opportunity to see how many brews I can get out of a tank.
Fast forward to the next day: the entire brew day took me about 6 hours and some change. I wasted some time here and there. Plus, I boiled for an extra 25 minutes... All things considered, I think I could do an all grain brew day in 5 hours, plus cleanup.
Overall, this brew was a success. I did end up boiling too long and got about 4 and a quarter gallons. So, my target gravity was off, too. I got an OG of 1.067. The target was 1.64 for 5 gallons. So if my iBrewmaster app (and hydrometer) is correct, my efficiency was about 62%.
In other news, I filtered the hops with a (sanitized) grain bag in a colander situated in the top of an ale pail. I just poured my chilled wort into the grain bag. Most of the trub fell to the bottom of the brewpot, so I stopped pouring at the really thick sludge (see pictures). Then, I racked into my 6.5 gallon carboy. This turned out to be a really good method. In fact, I plan to buy a funnel with a screen so I can pour my chilled wort directly into my carboy. I'll still probably use the whirlpool and siphon method on beers that have only an ounce or two. But this beer had 4 oz of hops, I knew I would have to try something else.
But, that's about it. I checked on my fermenter this morning, and it bubbling away. About 64 or 65 degrees.

Tasting Amarillo Ale

This beer is the shit. This was my first time brewing with Amarillo hops. I guess they would be described as floral and citrusy. Some grapefruit, but not as much as Cascade.
This might be my favorite beer I've brewed yet. The recipe is simple, and it makes for a short brew day. I will definitely brew this again.

Bottled Homebrew

Here's most of my bottled homebrew. I have plenty to drink. I even brought a few bottles to work to share with my co-workers.
Not pictured: beer in fermenters, beer in fridge, commercial brews, and a case of imperial stout I'm saving.

Bottling Pumpkin, Brewing Simcoe

I bottled the Pumpkin Ale last night. I'm very happy with the progress. It tasted good already. I only let it ferment for two weeks, but that means it will be drinkable by Halloween, and at it's peak around Thanksgiving. I ended up with about 4 and a quarter gallons and used 3.3 oz of brown sugar to prime.
OG: 1.049
FG: 1.005
ABV: 5.8%
I did this all in preparation for the Simcoe Ale I'm currently brewing. I saved the cake of 1056 from the Pumpkin Ale (picture). Some people warn pitching yeast cakes yield a "too clean" beer, but shouldn't be a problem for this style. I've only done this once before, the fermentation started in about an hour. So, we'll see what happens this time. This is the first time I've used my yeast three times. I'm using yeast nutrient on this beer, but not Irish moss.
Last night I had the water measured out, all my equipment clean, etc. This way, I can get a good idea of how long a brew day is supposed to be. Without all the extra shit (cleaning, measuring, finding my gear, etc).

Edit: the Simcoe Ale's OG was 1.067, and the airlock was bubbling when I checked it about 9 hours after pitching the yeast.

Tasting the Rye IPA and Amarillo Ale

It's only been a few days, but I've already tasted the Rye IPA and the Amarillo Ale.
Both beers need more time to carbonate. Besides that, the IPA could stand to spend a little more time in the bottle. It has a slight cider taste, probably due to the corn sugar in the recipe. That will go away soon. Also, it has a little bit of that roasted/burnt sweetness that my last few stronger extract batches had. It's not a bad taste, but it pisses me off because I can't seem to control it. I'll have to see if it goes away after I've done all grain for a while.
The Amarillo Ale was really good. It has a really nice hop flavor and aroma. Not a strong amount of bitterness. I just need to let the carbonation build, and it will be good to go.

Future Brews

Yesterday I placed a relatively big order with Northern Brewer:
-Big Honkin' Stout All Grain Kit
(ready in 2 months)
-Olde Luddite English Strong Ale All-Grain Kit
(ready in 6 weeks)
-Briess Pilsen DME 3 lbs.
-Simcoe Hop Pellets 1 oz.
(to make a Simcoe Pale Ale, I already have the other ingredients)
-Plain Gold Crown Caps - 144 count
-Briess Pilsen DME 1 lb.
(for yeast starters)
-5/16" ID Siphon Hose 12ft.
-3/8" Clear Hi-temp Tubing 5ft.
(for my mash tun)
So, this weekend I plan to either bottle or rack my pumpkin ale, and use the Wyeast 1056 in that carboy for a Simcoe Pale Ale:
6 lbs Briess Pilsen DME
.75 lbs Caramel 60L
All Simcoe Hops:
1 oz @ 60
1 oz @ 15
1 oz @ Flameout
1 oz Dry Hop
I've wanted to play around with Simcoe for a while. I really like their smell.
And for the other two brews... I guess I'll try to brew the English first, and then the stout. Because if I do it the other way around, they'll be done around the same time. And, I'll have too much work to do all at once.
So, I'll brew the English on either Oct. 23rd or 30th. And the Stout sometime between Oct. 30th and Nov. 13th.
Which would make serving times around the second week in December (for the English) and around New Year's (for the stout).
I still plan to brew a huge (strong) beer on New Year's Day. Something that I can age and keep for a long time.

Bottling Day

This past Sunday I finally got around to bottling my beers that were due. I bottled my Rye IPA, which smelled (and tasted) incredible already. It had a surprising sweetness. I think it finished at 1.014... I'll have to double check my notes. It should be good shit in 2 or 3 weeks.
I also bottled my Amarillo Pale Ale. It had a really strong hop flavor and aroma. It finished at 1.008... (I think). Anyway, both of these beers turned out to be 6.9% ABV. But, I'll have to double check that.
I also decided to bottle my Small Batch Starter, which was basically an experiment. I was able to get 5 bottles (almost 6) out of the 3/4 gallon batch. This beer finished at 1.001... It had a low gravity to begin with. In the 30's. This one may be interesting to try, but I'm glad it was only 5 bottles. That puts this one around 4%.
I still have the remaining "side batches" of Amarillo Ale (the 40oz and growler) I need to combine and dry hop.
I can only bring myself to do so much on the weekend. And I can't seem to do anything during the week.

Current Brews

Denny's Wry Smile Rye IPA
-dry hopped a little over two weeks in secondary. Ready to bottle.

15 Minute Amarillo Pale Ale
-main batch dry hopped with 1 oz Amarillo pellets two days ago. Two side batches (growler and 40 oz bottle) need to be dry hopped with Chinook.

Small Batch Pale Ale (Starter)
-Dry hopped with Chinook two days ago.

Pumpkin Ale
-Brewed two days ago. Primary fermentation is slowing down.

Tonight I might rack the two side batches together into a gallon jug and dry hop with 1/4 oz of Chinook (since that's all I have). And maybe clean my bottles and put them in the dishwasher to sanitize (for the Rye IPA). But it's always a different story after work.

All Grain Pumpkin Ale

Yesterday I brewed my first batch with my new mash tun. It worked pretty damn well. The mash tun held my mash temperature flawlessly. It might have dropped one degree, If that. One thing I learned is the strike water calculation on the iBrewMaster App is dead on balls accurate! I heated my strike water about 2 or 3 degrees hotter, trying to over compensate. So I ended up mashing at 155 instead of 152.
I figured my efficiency was around 63 or 64%. Which I don't think is terrible.
I added some extra cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice on top of the spice pack that came with the recipe kit. So, I ended up with about one and a half the amount of spice regularly used.
I was originally going to use some brown sugar to make up for the efficiency, but I forgot. I'll probably use brown sugar to prime the bottles.
Another thing I learned: it takes a long time to lauter.

Building a Mash Tun - Part 3

Finally, I've found a combination of parts that work. Yesterday, I picked up a couple 3/4" lock washers from Lowes, and they fit over the brass nipple. I was able to use one of my 5/8" stainless steel washers next to the ball valve, since the washer would actually fit over the threads on the brass nipple.
Well, after a good tightening of the fittings, I filled the cooler up to the top with water and checked for leaks. And after 20 minutes, everything on the outside was bone dry.
Now I just need to find a vinyl hose or something that can withstand mash/sparge temperatures.

Building a Mash Tun - Part 2

My quest for the stainless steel washers is not over. My drill bit is not doing the job widening the 1/2" hole like I had hoped. I did find a 5/8" stainless steel washer in a concrete wedge anchor kit at The Home Depot. I bought 4 of these for $3.28 each... Only to find out the damn thing doesn't fit over the brass nipple, just like I had suspected. Which means the washer works on the inside of the cooler, but I still need probably 3 to go on the outside. I tried to ghetto rig the thing with a bunch of rubber O-rings, but it leaks.
I'm not sure where to go from here. I've already invested way more money into this thing than the stainless steel conversion kits cost. And, that's really what I want anyway. But, I have all grain ingredients to brew a pumpkin ale, and I need to brew it this weekend for it to be ready by Thanksgiving.
I just looked at the kits on Northern Brewer, and with the 3 day shipping it's gonna be around $53. But I don't think I'm gonna buy it. I'm not 100% sure it will even fit, I don't know how the stainless steel hose braid attaches to those, either. I've come this far. I'm sure I can figure something out. To be continued...

Small Batch Starter

If I'm making a yeast starter anyway, why don't I scale it up, add specialty grains and hops? At least that way I would be making beer. Even if it is just a six pack. Also, this would give me a chance to play around with recipes.
So, I bought a couple 1 gallon jugs from Northern Brewer and made my first small batch yesterday.
I'm shooting for 3/4 of a gallon.
This is a pale ale. 15 minute boil.
.75 lbs Briess Pilsen Light DME
.15 lbs Crystal 60L
.3 oz Chinnook @ 15
.25 oz Cascade @ 5
.25 oz Simcoe @ knockout
I'll end up dry hopping with something. Probably Chinook, since that's what I have in the freezer.
The main reason I'm doing this: Wyeast 1056. This will be a starter for a pumpkin ale I'll be brewing this weekend.
Almost everything went well. But, my OG was very low. 1.032. I was shooting for around 1.050. I attribute this to not including the DME volume to the original boil volume. A mistake I keep making over and over... At the very worst I'll have a six pack of really bitter watery beer.
Well here it is. I put it in a pan of water, wrapped in a shamwow, beneath the air conditioner with a fan blowing on it in the coldest room in the house. This should keep the fermentation temp below 70 degrees. It's still pretty hot during the daytime here.

Building a Mash Tun

Last year I tried my hand at all grain brewing before I knew how involved it was. (Well, I'm still not 100% confident of all the specifics.) I had no mash tun. So I developed a half assed way of mashing and sparging involving a big blue cooler and a grain bag. It was during a time when my brewing habits were relatively slack anyway. On top of that, my record keeping was next to non-existant. So I have no idea what my efficiency or gravity was. I still made beer. A pumpkin ale with real pumpkin. And despite the fact it was way over carbonated, it tasted pretty good.
A couple weeks ago I bought one of the big 10 gallon cylindrical picnic coolers from Lowes. And yesterday I picked up the parts to convert it into a mash/lauter tun.
The homebrewtalk.com wiki makes it seem simple enough. With one exception: You must convert 4-1/2" fender washers to 5/8". It looks like it's still gonna be pretty difficult. I haven't had time to sit down and finish the job. But, at this point I'm not even sure the 5/8" hole will be big enough.
One other cause for concern: Most of the other parts are made from brass... Brass is made with lead. In John Palmer's book, he published a method of removing surface lead from brass using white vinegar an hydrogen peroxide. I suppose this will work in the meantime, but it still makes me nervous. I think eventually I'll try to find stainless steel parts to replace the brass ones.

Current Brews

In the primary(s), I've got the 15 minute Amarillo Pale Ale (from the previous post). This is a modified version of James Spencer's recipe. Here's what I did:
6 lbs Briess Pilsen Light DME
1 lb Caramel/Crystal 40L
2.5 oz Amarillo @ 15
1 oz Amarillo @ 10
.5 oz Amarillo @ 5
1 oz Dry Hop
White Labs WLP001 California Ale Yeast
I used Safale US-05 for the side batch that I reboiled.
The original recipe uses 1 lb Crystal 60L instead of the 40. And .5 oz dry hop instead of 1 oz. So my beer should be lighter in color, and have more hop aroma.
The rest of my current brews are recipe kits. In the secondary, I have Denny's Wry Smile Rye IPA from Northern Brewer. This is a new recipe using their new Rye Malt Extract. I plan to bottle it this weekend. Bottled, I have the Autumn Amber Ale from Midwest Supplies and an Irish Red from Northern Brewer.
This picture is from a few weeks ago of my Autumn Amber. It's a pretty nice beer. It's been bottled for three weeks, and it's conditioned well.

Trub Trouble

I'm starting to get pretty pissed about all the hop sludge at the bottom of my kettle. It's keeps clogging my racking cane and I lose siphon. I don't like the idea of the muslin bags. It's said that hop utilization may suffer. Plus, it becomes impractical with several boil additions.
This past weekend on a particularly hoppy beer, I clipped a nylon bag on the end of my racking cane...

But, that got me nowhere. I couldn't keep a siphon. There was still a ton of wort (and trub) in my brew kettle  and I was not letting that go to waste.
So, I took the strainer bag, put it around a colander and set that on a pot.

It took a while, but with some stirring and squeezing of the bag, I was able to get all of the wort from that batch. I ended up with a grapefruit sized hop ball.

It was pretty fantastic.

Of course, that portion of wort was no longer sanitized. So, I boiled for about 15 minutes and cooled in the sink, then the freezer. I was able to fit this wort in a 1/2 gallon growler and a 40oz malt liquor bottle. I ended up pitching a separate yeast (from the main batch). I had a packet of Safale US-05. I pitched about 3/4 into the growler, and the other quarter in the bottle.

(I didn't have the right size stopper for the growler.) This process is a big time pain in the ass. Especially when you want a short brew day. But, it works. And it's the most effective solution I've found so far.