Sunday, February 2, 2014

Super Bowl Brew

Northern Brewer ESB kit
I didn't take pictures this time because honestly, all homebrewing looks the same.

1514 Brew Kettle with 10 quarts warm tap water started on High heat uncovered.
1530 Crushed Grains added. Surface temp: 174
1540 Surface temp: 193
1550 Grains removed, kettle removed from heat. LME put in hot water bath. Surface temp 204
1555 1st 3.15 lbs LME added
1600 2nd 3.15 lbs LME added, Kettle returned to high heat burner
So that 2nd Jug of LME was supposed to be added in the last 15 minutes of the boil. Whoops: error # 1
1614 Still not boiling. Surface temp: 193
1620 Placed a clean, bamboo cutting board on top of the brew kettle to act as a partial lid. The actual lid for this kettle is missing somewhere. Surface temp: 207
1625 Boil achieved. 2 oz Willamette Hops added. Still on High heat, stirring occasionally.
1710 1lb Briess Golden Light DME and 1 oz UK East Kent Golding Hops added
1724 1 oz UK East Kent Golding Hops added
1725 Brew Kettle removed from heat
1730 Fermenting bucket, lid, and airlock in starsan solution
1735 Brew Kettle in cold water bath
1825 Surface Temp 84. 1 quart cool tap water in primary fermenter. Siphoned wort into primary fermenter. Pitched yeast. Added cold tap water to bring the volume up to 5 gallons.
I am a little concerned because the airlock wasn't immediately bubbling, but I'll check on it in about a day and maybe re-pitch.

Pike Monk's Uncle Tripel
Representing Seattle, an amber tripel. tonight we've got Very thin, lacy head.
Strong, floral hops profile, but not too bitter.

New Belgium 1554
Representing Colorado (Fort Collins), a Belgian-style dark ale. Looks like Coca-cola with very little head. Roasty, malt, and it's an overall winner.

2 comments:

  1. I would highly recommend filtering and boiling your tap water in advance if you're going to use it for cooling and pitching yeast. All the other water being used at this stage has been boiled/treated and is clean, but by adding tap water at the last stage you're adding additional microbes and a great deal of chance for off flavors or an infection.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I thought about that; I know I'm putting a lot of faith in the city water/plumbing system, but I was trying to cut down the chilled-wort-to-sealing time. I'm not sure why though, now that you point it out. Of course this time I had the impending superbowl to consider. I would have had to re-use my brew kettle to get that volume of water boiling/sterilized which would need significant time to heat and cool in itself. Something to consider for next time.

      Delete