Sunday, December 15, 2013

Batch 6: Papa Bear Porter: Tasting Day

This one turned out OK. It's very dark, almost completely opaque. It has a subtle coffee nose. I still like the balance of chocolate maltiness and the hops. The vanilla adds a very nice front-end smoothness that is offset by the alcohol flavors at the back-end. I'm happy to report that using the swamp cooler seems to have eliminated the off-flavors that have plagued all of my previous batches. I just cannot get this beer to carbonate, though! It is quite flat. I upped the priming sugars from 3.5 to 4 oz. from the previous batch with no discernible difference. I'm wondering if the high alcohol content (7%) is damaging the yeast, though I've not had this problem with the 'Merican IPA of similar gravity. I might have to try re-pitching before bottle conditioning with the next batch. Still, it'll make for decent Christmas gifts.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Batch 6: Papa Bear Porter: Secondary Fermentation/Bottling Day

After two weeks in the secondary fermenter, the final gravity of the beer ended up at 1.014. With an (assumed) original gravity of 1.067, the ABV ends up being about 6.96%. I tasted the sample from the thief, and the vanilla was fairly prominent. I expect this to mellow somewhat during the bottle conditioning, which will make the beer quite nice. I primed the beer with 4 oz. of corn sugar before bottling, an ounce more than in the previous batch, which was a bit under-carbonated. I used several larger bottles this time, filling five 26 oz., five 24 oz., one 20 oz., one 18 oz., and 28 12 oz. bottles. I lost somewhere around 16 oz. in the process. (I had been coveting the narrow-lipped champagne bottles previously but now know that they hold the same volume as the larger one-off  bottles, the latter of which is far lighter, because they use less glass, and is also easier to cap.) I'll be giving away almost all of this batch as Christmas presents to family and friends so I've designed a label for the six-pack carrier and the larger bottles.


Not too shabby if you ask me.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Batch 6: Papa Bear Porter: Primary Fermentation

I let the primary fermentation go for two weeks and measured the specific gravity at 1.014, which puts the ABV just under 7%. I halved two vanilla beans, and cut the halves into 1" pieces, which I added to the sanitized carboy. I carefully siphoned the beer off the trub and into the carboy for secondary fermentation. The sample, like the previous batch, has strong coffee notes and some subtle hints of chocolate. I suspect that the vanilla flavor will add some smoothness and complexity. I plan to let this condition for two weeks before bottling.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Note on Swamp Coolers

I'm currently using a "swamp cooler" to regulate my fermentation temperature for the first time, and it is working surprisingly well. I'm giving this a shot in the hopes of eliminating some off flavors that all of my beers so far have been exhibiting and that I suspect is due to making the yeast "sweat" (i.e. straining the yeast by fermenting at higher-than-recommended temperatures). I started simply by immersing the brew pail about three-fourths of the way up in two store-bought bags worth of ice water in a storage container. The water temperature hovered around 32º for several hours but, after about 24 hours, rose to about 70º. I added a 2L bottle of frozen water at that point, which dropped the temperature back down to about 60º. Over nearly three days, the temperature slowly rose to just under 70º at which time I added a new frozen bottle. I'll continue this process of monitoring the temperature and swapping frozen bottles throughout the primary and secondary fermentations.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Batch 6: Papa Bear Porter: Ingredients/Brewing Day

Here is the program:
  1. Boil 1.5 gallons of water, and set aside to cool.
  2. Steep 1/2 lb. crystal 60L malt, 1/2 lb. chocolate malt, and 1/4 lb. black malt in 2 gallons of water at 160º ±10º for 30 minutes.
  3. Bring tea to boil until break (approx. 20 minutes).
  4. Chill tea in ice bath in sink to 80º. (I like to add salt to the bath to lower the temperature.)
  5. Put tea in sanitized brew pail, and set aside.
  6. Add 3.3 lb. of pale LME to 3 gallons of warm water, and stir till dissolved.
  7. Bring to boil until break (approx. 20 minutes).
  8. Hop.
    1. 0.5 oz. Magnum hops T-60 minutes.
    2. 0.8 oz. Willamette hops T-40 minutes.
    3. 0.5 oz. Willamette hops T-20 minutes.
  9. Add 6.6 lb. of pale LME at knockout, and let stand for 10 minutes. (Whereas I would usually try to rinse all of the LME from the plastic containers, I was sure to leave plenty of LME behind since I didn't really want an entire 9.9 lb. of fermentables in the wort.)
  10. Chill wort in ice bath to 80º.
  11. Add wort to tea in brew pail, and add cooled boiled water to just over 5 gallon-mark (or approx. 3 inches from top of pail).
  12. Measure original gravity.
  13. Let wort cool to 70º.
  14. Aerate the wort by pouring back and forth between sanitized pails.
  15. Pitch two packets of Wyeast American Ale Yeast (#1056).
I forgot to measure the original gravity, but the previous batch ended up being 1.067 so I'm going to go with that. I'm using a "swamp cooler" this time to keep the temperature of the beer between 60º and 72º during fermentation. I'm simply immersing the brew pail in ice water in a storage container. As the ice melts, I'll keep an eye on the temperature and swap 2L bottles of frozen water as needed. I plan to let this ferment for about two weeks before racking for secondary fermentation in a glass carboy. I'm going to try adding a vanilla bean or two to the secondary.

total cost of ingredients  = $68.41
estimated cost per bottle = $ 1.37

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Batch 5: 'Merican IPA: Tasting Day

This was a major improvement over my first attempt at this recipe. The beers still tastes a little too green. I'm thinking I might step down the amount of hops that I use to dry hop in future batches. Over-pitching certainly took care of the sweetness, and so far, there are no bottle bombs. Unfortunately, after five go-arounds, I've found that all of my beers have the same flaw. It's in the front end of the taste, not unpalatable, but certainly not desirable. My guess is that it's oxidation, but I need to get a more expert opinion on this. The color now is definitely more appropriate to the style. It's all about limiting the LME in the boil and adding the rest at knockout. It ended up perfectly carbonated, though with little head retention.



I'd like to use this beer as a model for different hop varieties in the future, subbing out single varieties for the Centennial hops in the original recipe. This way, I can learn about the subtle differences in the varieties and, I think, find perhaps a better hop for this recipe.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Batch 5: 'Merican IPA: Secondary Fermentation/Bottling Day

The beer spent two weeks in the secondary. I measured the gravity of the beer at 1.012, which keeps it at just over 8% ABV. The sample from the thief had some off flavors but otherwise had a nice hop character. It was a beautiful golden color, much lighter and more appropriate to the style than my last attempt at this recipe. The nylon bag seemed to keep some of the hop residue contained, but there was still a decent amount of trub. I'm not sure that I'll use it in the future. I primed the beer with 4 oz. of corn sugar before bottling and, for the first time, tried gently stirring after every six bottles to keep the sugar evenly mixed. I ended up with 48 bottles. I'll give the beer two weeks to condition.

Monday, June 10, 2013

Batch 5: 'Merican IPA: Primary Fermentation

Within 18 hours of pitching, the beer was fermenting like gangbusters. I couldn't keep the pail lid on! I eventually gave up and just surrounded the pail with a drop cloth to catch all of the blowoff. Things slowed down after about 36 hours. I racked the beer to a carboy for secondary fermentation after 24 days in the primary and measured the specific gravity at 1.013. That puts the beer at just over 8% ABV, about a percentage point higher than I had expected. The sample I took with the thief tasted a little less flavorful than I remember the previous batch of this recipe.  I added an additional 0.7 oz. of the Centennial hops to the secondary in a mesh nylon bag. This is the first time I'm trying the bag so we'll see how that goes. I'm planning to let the beer condition for a couple weeks before bottling.

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Batch 5: 'Merican IPA: Brewing Day

Here was the program:
  1. Boil 4 gallons of water the day before, and set aside to cool overnight.
  2. Steep 10 oz. of CaraPils in 3 gallons of water for 30 min. at 160º ±10º.
  3. Add 3.3 lb. of pale LME, and stir till dissolved.
  4. Bring to boil until break (approx. 20 minutes).
  5. Hop.
    1. 0.7 oz. Centennial hops T-60 min.
    2. 0.7 oz. Centennial hops T-45 min.
    3. 0.7 oz. Centennial hops T-30 min.
    4. 0.7 oz. Centennial hops T-15 min.
    5. 0.7 oz. Centennial hops 0 min. for 10 minutes off heat
  6. Add 6.6 lb. of pale LME at knockout, and let stand for 10 minutes.
  7. Chill wort with ice bath and soda bottles to below 70º.
  8. Add wort to pail, and top off with cooled boiled water to just over 5 gallon-mark (or approx. 3 inches from top of pail).
  9. Measure original gravity.
  10. Pitch Wyeast American Ale II Yeast (#2772).
  11. Aerate the wort by pouring back and forth between sanitized pails.
The original gravity ended up being 1.074, a bit higher than expected. I accidentally steeped the specialty grains too hot (170º+). I'm hoping that doesn't add any off flavors.

I'll be dry hopping an additional 0.7 oz. of hops at secondary fermentation.

Monday, May 13, 2013

Batch 5: 'Merican IPA: Ingredients

I'm giving this recipe another try. Here's what I got:
  • 9.9 lb. – Pale liquid extract ($34.47)
  • 10 oz. – CaraPils grains ($0.89)
  • 4 oz. – Centennial hops ($5.96)
  • 2 packets – Wyeast American Ale II Yeast (#1272) ($14.98)
  • 1 – muslin bag ($0.69)
  • 4 oz. – corn sugar ($0.29)
The total cost after tax was $61.22. I'm altering a few things from the first go around. First, I'm doubling the yeast since it didn't seem to fully attenuate the first time. (I'm still not ready to try a yeast starter.) Second, I'll be allowing the primary fermentation to go a bit longer. Finally, I'll be doing a secondary fermentation.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Batch 4: Steamboat California Common Beer: Tasting Day

Very late on this post. This beer turned out fairly good. It was much more hoppy than I had expected, not nearly as balanced as the Anchor Steam. It seemed much closer to a traditional pale ale. It is amazing how noticeable the lager yeast character was in the aroma and the front end of the taste. Next time, I will likely add a bit more maltodextrin and try a different hop variety.


My dad enjoying a Steamboat at his new retirement property

My mom

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Batch 4: Steamboat California Common Beer: Secondary Fermentation/Bottling Day

I transferred the beer from the primary to the secondary after two weeks and measured the gravity of the beer at 1.012. The sample from the thief tasted good but a bit hoppy. After a week in the secondary, I measured the final gravity of the beer at 1.012/3. With an original gravity of 1.043, the alcohol by volume ends up being about 4%. The sample from the thief tasted a little more balanced but still hoppier than is typical for a California common.

I primed the beer with 4.6 oz. of corn sugar before bottling. (I was tempted to use 5.4 oz. but was concerned about arming beer bombs. The guy at the supply shop suggested being a bit more conservative, too.) I used one champagne bottle this time. I had saved up several champagne bottles after our weekend in Gatlinburg but have learned that while Korbel Brut bottles are cap-able with standard beer bottle caps, Barefoot and Poema champagne bottles are not. I ended up with 42 beer bottles in addition to the one champagne bottle. I'll let this condition for a couple weeks, and it'll be ready to share with my parents when I visit them over my spring break down in North Fort Meyers.

Batch 3: Papa Bear Porter: Tasting Day

This one turned out pretty good. I like the balance of chocolate maltiness and the hops. It's a little under-carbonated. I'll probably up the priming sugars to 3.5 or 4 oz. next time. I might try adding a vanilla bean or two to the secondary in the next batch.



a warning about how a paternalistic bear will at some point during our stay demand tribute

Cam and Tyson enjoying a sip

Cam and Tys enjoying a laugh

Angela and Rowland enjoying a quaff
--
UPDATED (3/28/13): I added picture of beer at top above because I forgot to take one earlier.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Batch 4: Steamboat California Common Beer: Brewing Day

I'm really excited to be using a lager yeast for the first time--even though this isn't exactly a lager beer. I'm naming this one after my high school band, Steamboat.

I'm trying one new thing with this this batch. John Palmer suggests (p. 83 in How to Brew) that one can use sealed, sanitized 2-liter bottles of frozen water to chill the wort. I've got three in the freezer.




Here's the program:
  1. Boil 4 gallons of water the day before, and set aside to cool overnight.
  2. Steep 0.75 lb. crystal 40L malt and 1 oz. black malt in 3 gallons of water at 160º ±10º for 30 minutes.
  3. Add 3.3 lb. of pale LME, and stir till dissolved.
  4. Bring to boil until break (approx. 20 minutes).
  5. Hop.
    1. 1.5 oz. U.S. Northern Brewer hops T-60 minutes.
    2. 0.5 oz. U.S. Northern Brewer hops T-15 minutes.
      1. Add 0.25 lb. maltodextrin powder.
  6. Add 3.3 lb. of pale LME at knockout, and let stand for 10 minutes.
  7. Chill wort with ice bath and soda bottles to below 70º.
  8. Add wort to pail, and top off with cooled boiled water to just over 5 gallon-mark (or approx. 3 inches from top of pail).
  9. Measure original gravity.
  10. Pitch Wyeast California Lager Yeast (#2112).
  11. Aerate the wort by pouring back and forth between sanitized pails.
 

The original gravity ended up being 1.043 (corrected from 1.042 at 66º). (The target OG was 1.052. Not sure about the discrepancy.) The frozen soda bottles seemed to work well. I put one sanitized bottle in the center of the kettle while it was submerged in the ice bath. I stirred the wort until the ice in the bath had fully melted. I then placed the remaining two sanitized soda bottles in the kettle. The wort chilled much more quickly than with only the ice bath. (I didn't have an eye on the clock so I'm not sure exactly how quickly.)


I plan to let this ferment for about two weeks before racking for secondary fermentation for at least a week.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Batch 4: Steamboat California Common Beer: Ingredients

I am basing this one on John Palmer's No. 4 Shay Steam (p. 232) as published in How to Brew. I am adding the black malt to attenuate the sweet maltiness that for me is the only shortcoming--if you can call it that--of Anchor Steam.
  • 6.6 lb. pale LME
  • 0.75 lb. crystal 40L malt
  • 1 oz. black malt
  • 0.25 lb. maltodextrin powder
  • 2 oz. Northern Brewer hops
  • 1 packet Wyeast California Lager (#2112)

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Batch 3: Papa Bear Porter: Secondary Fermentation/Bottling Day

After a week in the secondary fermenter, I measured the final gravity of the beer at 1.013 (corrected from 1.012 at 69º). With an original gravity of 1.067, the alcohol by volume ends up being about 7.09%, which is about a percentage-point higher than I had planned on and puts the beer just outside of the traditional realm of robust porters. I tasted the sample from the thief, though, and it seems fairly balanced.

I primed the beer with 3 oz. of corn sugar before bottling.

I ended up with 50 bottles this time, a significant improvement of efficiency from the previous two batches.

The beer will get 19 days to bottle condition before we enjoy in it Gatlinburg. I have pretty high hopes for this one.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Batch 3: Papa Bear Porter: Primary Fermentation

I "patiently" waited for 36 hours after pitching the yeast without any activity in the airlock so I removed the lid from the fermenting pail, planning to measure the gravity and agitate the beer, but I was surprised to see a thick, bubbling krausen so I quickly put the lid back on and almost immediately saw the airlock start to bubble.



The bubbling didn't last very long, though, so I suspect that there is just a weak seal between the pail and lid which shouldn't be a problem during active fermentation since the internal pressure will constantly be forcing CO2 out of any leak, not allowing contaminants into the pail. I really look forward to buying a 6.5 gallon carboy so I don't have to use the pail in the future.

I let the primary fermentation go for two weeks and measured the specific gravity at 1.015 (corrected from 1.014 at 68º). (I also measured 1.029 [corrected from 1.028 at 66º] on days six and again on seven and 1.014 [corrected from 1.013 at 67º] on day 12.) I carefully siphoned the beer off the trub and into my 5 gallon carboy for secondary fermentation. I plan to let this condition for a week.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Batch 3: Papa Bear Porter: Brewing Day



I took an unorthodox approach to this brew. I realized that if I set the tea aside as planned that it wouldn't have gotten a hot or cold break so I elected essentially to do two boils. We'll see how it turns out. Here is the program:
  1. Boil 1.5 gallons of water, and set aside to cool.
  2. Steep 1/2 lb. crystal 60L malt, 1/2 lb. chocolate malt, and 1/4 lb. black malt in 2 gallons of water at 160º ±10º for 30 minutes.
  3. Bring tea to boil until break (approx. 20 minutes).
  4. Chill tea in ice bath in sink to 80º. (I like to add salt to the bath to lower the temperature.)
  5. Put tea in sanitized brew pail, and set aside.
  6. Add 3.3 lb. of pale LME to 3 gallons of warm water, and stir till dissolved.
  7. Bring to boil until break (approx. 20 minutes).
  8. Hop.
    1. 0.5 oz. Magnum hops T-60 minutes.
    2. 0.8 oz. Willamette hops T-40 minutes.
    3. 0.5 oz. Willamette hops T-20 minutes.
  9. Add 6.6 lb. of pale LME at knockout, and let stand for 10 minutes. (Whereas I would usually try to rinse all of the LME from the plastic containers, I was sure to leave plenty of LME behind since I didn't really want an entire 9.9 lb. of fermentables in the wort.)
  10. Chill wort in ice bath to 80º.
  11. Add wort to tea in brew pail, and add cooled boiled water to just over 5 gallon-mark (or approx. 3 inches from top of pail).
  12. Measure original gravity.
  13. Let wort cool to 70º.
  14. Aerate the wort by pouring back and forth between sanitized pails.
  15. Pitch Wyeast American Ale Yeast (#1056).
The original gravity ended up being 1.067 (corrected from 1.064 at 84º). I plan to let this ferment for about two weeks before racking for secondary fermentation in a glass carboy.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Batch 3: Papa Bear Porter: Ingredients


I picked up the ingredients for my next batch today at 5 Points Growlers Beer & Brew Supply. I tweaked the recipe for John Palmer's "Port O'Palmer" from How to Brew, which he writes is based on Sierra Nevada's Porter. This brew has a special purpose. I'm heading up to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, for a weekend late next month with my wife and several of our friends, and a few of them requested that I make a batch of homebrew for the excursion. I'm naming the beer after the cabin we'll be renting, Papa Bear's Lodge. Here's what I got:
  • 10 lb. – pale liquid malt extract (LME)
  • 8 oz. – crystal 60L malt
  • 8 oz. – chocolate malt
  • 4 oz. – black malt 
  • 0.5 oz. – Magnum hops 
  • 1.25 oz. – Willamette hops
  • 1 packet – Wyeast American Ale Yeast (#1056)
The shop was out of Horizon hops so I'm substituting Magnum. They also didn't have black patent malt so I'm substituting black malt. I decided to up the base malt by 50% to bring the ABV closer to 6% or 7%. (Hey, you only live once, right?)

The guy at the shop offered a couple tips that I think I might try. First, he suggested steeping the specialty grains, setting the tea aside, and only adding it to the wort at knockout to avoid drawing out the acridity of the chocolate and black malts. Second, he recommended doing a secondary fermentation to get the beer off the trub earlier, something I haven't done yet. On the advice of friends, I've been reluctant to do an open primary fermentation and to move the beer to a secondary for fear of oxidization, but I figure it's worth a go.

I'm also going to try only using a third of the LME in the boil and adding the rest at knockout. I think I've been caramelizing some of the sugars by boiling all of the LME in earlier batches. I'm not sure that it's necessarily affected the taste, but each of my previous beers has been darker than expected (not that that will matter with a porter, though). Moreover, I remember reading somewhere that limiting the amount of LME in the boil can help with hop utilization so that'll be a bonus.