Batch 003

As I said before, I’m going to attempt a Celebration Ale clone for this years Brew Not Bombs. This one is going to be pretty hoppy,

I think.

Here’s the recipe I’m using:

• 1lb Great Western Crystal 60L Malt
• 1/2lb Breiss Carapils Malt
• 1/2lb Great Western Munich Malt
• 5lb Briess Pale Extract (liquid barley malt)
• 2oz. Belgian Admiral AAU14.78%
• 2oz. New Zealand Cascade AAU8.9%
• Wyeast 1056 American Yeast
• 1/4tsp Irish Moss

Process:

1. Bring water to boil, let cool to 170-190. Add grains and steep 30 min.
2. Remove grains, and bring back to boil. Add malt extract & 1oz Belgian Admiral hops
3. After 45 min. add 1oz. Belgian Admiral hops and Irish Moss
4. After another 10 min, add 1oz New Zealand Cascade hops
5. After another 8 min, add 1oz. New Zealand Cascade and turn off heat
6. Chill in ice bath for 30 min., then pour into primary fermenter. For this step, I got a strainer that fit over the top of my primary fermentation bucket, put my bags of hops down and poured the wort over that. The bags of hops were very effective in filtering out a lot of the sediment.
7. Add 2 gal cool water to make 5 gal total.
8. Wait for it to reach 70-80F and then add yeast.
9. Seal and wait.

OG: 1.030 @ 86 = 1.038 @ 60

Since I ordered the yeast from Colorado, when it arrived it was already room temperature and seemed to have (possibly) been activated. I know last time I used this yeast packet, once I activated it, the bag got very pumped up with activity. This time, not so much. Hopefully the yeast just went dormant and adding it will still work. If not, I’m going to be kinda pissed.

I don’t really like fermenting in the plastic bucket. A large part of that is that the plastic swells as the yeast becomes active, so the bubbler doesn’t really do a good job of reflecting what’s going on. Also, I don’t really trust plastic. But I am going to dry hop this one as it goes into the second fermenter. I haven’t done that before and I’m curious to try it out.

Batch 002

Today I’m trying one somewhat of my own. I realize that this is probably a mistake since I’ve only brewed one batch and even that I wasn’t able to follow directions. This is probably going to turn out like a four year old making breakfast, but I’m doing it anyway.

My First Brew

This first batch is based off of the recipe for Ballard’s Wassail Special Strong Ale. Don’t ask why I picked a 4-week, double-fermenting winter ale for my first beer.

Description:

This full-bodied brew enters with a large rocky light beige head perched on an attractive tawny beer. The aroma is complex with a delightful mixture of sweet malt, dried fruit, and spices balanced with a nice dose of hops. Juicy malt caresses the palate and reluctantly finishes dry and bittersweet.

Original Gravity: 1.062; ABV: 6.0%

Directions: (strikethrough is where I deviated)

Heat 1 gallon of water to 155 160 F. Add 12oz. British 55L Crystal Malt, 1oz. British Black Patent Malt.

Remove the pot from heat and steep at 150 155 F for 30 minutes.

Strain into the brew pot, and rinse the grains with 1/2 gal of 150 F water.

Bring that to a boil. Remove from heat and add 7lb Muntons Extra Light Dry Malt Extract, 2oz. Fuggles @ 4% 4.9% AA (bittering hops).

Add water ’til the total volume is 2.5 gal, then boil for 45 min.

After 45 min, add 1 oz. East Kent Golding hops, and 1 tsp. Irish Moss.

After 13 min., add 1/2 oz. East Kent Golding hops, let boil 2 min.

Remove from stove and chill 20 min. Strain the wort into the primary fermenter and add cold water to get 5 1/8 gal. Once it reaches 70, pitch the yeast (Wyeast 1275 Thames Valley )

Ferment at 68-72 in the primary fermenter for 7 days, then siphon into the secondary fermenter.

Fermentation is complete when target gravity reached, and beer clears (about 3 weeks).

Boil 1 1/4 cups Muntons Extra Light Dry Malt Extract in 2 cups water, stir into beer immediately before bottling.

Let stand in bottles for about 4 weeks. Store at cellar temp.

Potential mistakes:

I took the yeast out when I got up at 7:30 this morning. Little did I know that it would be after 4:00 when I finally got to pitch it. Hopefully it’ll be fine.

Siphoning the beer out of the brew pot with loose hops does not work at all. At all. Next time, hops get their own bag so I can just take ‘em out when it’s time. Should’ve learned that lesson while brewing with Ben, but I only had one mesh bag, so…

In all of the panic after I realized that I hadn’t sealed the spout of the primary fermenter, I may have touched something that hadn’t been sterilized and then touched something that was. I don’t think anything bad happened, but we’ll find out in about a month.

I also forgot to add the Irish Moss ’til well after I should have, so the beer may end up cloudier than it otherwise would.

Predicted Outcome:

Because I added an extra half oz. of hops at the end, I think that this will be a dark, strong ale with a slightly hoppier aroma than one would expect. At least that’s what I was going for. I didn’t use the same yeast that the recipe

called for, but I have no idea how that will affect the outcome. Complete Joy said that every molecule in the beer will pass through the yeast, so yeast has a big effect.