Hey there,

The Brew Dudes have been busy this week. There weren’t many posts but there has been a lot of activity behind the scenes. After some pseudo-careful planning, I headed off to my LHBS (did Mike originate the initializing of Local HomeBrew Shop? - just wondering) and bought some ingredients for my American Pale Ale. Then, I stopped by the closest Mega Warehouse/Box Hardware Store (I’m not initializing that) and bought a picnic cooler.

It’s my first mash tun…aw!

I took some pictures of my purchases.

These ingredients are for my American Pale Ale recipe and this post is a part of my first attempt at a brew log…I am going to document the whole process. Please tag along if you like. I would say I am an intermediate homebrewer, so hopefully this brew log will allow me to teach as well as open it up for me to learn from more experienced homebrewers.

Brew on!

I had three beers in fermentors ready to be transferred to kegs the other night. I had my Winter Warmer, Oatmeal Stout #2, and an American Cream Ale. I took some pics to outline my keg cleaning process and getting things together. Just a little insight into my brew-house operations.
First off, I had no clean kegs ready so I had to make up a quick batch of hot PBW. I generally make about 2 gallons of warm PBW (not boiling) and I put that into my kegs, seal the lid, and shake. The real annoying part about cleaning kegs is that you also need to clean out that dip tube that runs the length of the keg. I have a long thin brush for this, but taking the coupler off and pulling the tubes is a pain. So I started to use a “jumper” connection to transfer hot beer from keg to keg. This allows me to shake the kegs to clean the kegs, then I push the hot PBW through the dip tube and into another keg, which cleans the dip tube and the ball lock connectors a the same time.

Here are my three kegs lined up to be cleaned.

Here is a small pot of PBW just about ready to transfer to the first keg. Just starting to foam from the heat.

I lined up all three fermentors on my work table. Doesn’t look like much but left to right is the Winter Warmer, Oatmeal Stout and Cream Ale. I actually brought these out to the cold garage the night before. This dropped the temps down to about 40-43F, and helps to crash out more of the solids in the brew.

This is a picture of the jumper connection I use. Notice it uses two “beverage out” connectors. This means I transfer cleanser out on dip tube and into the other dip tube, so I get double the cleaning time in the dip tube. Because transfer after transfer the cleanser travels in the tube and out of the dip tube for a complete cycle. (and yes, I do transfer back into that initial keg, to be sure that tube sees cleanser twice too).

Here is the transfer set up in progress. The keg on the right (not in the fridge) is hooked up to the gas manifold (grey connector), and it is full with PBW cleanser. You can see the double ended jumper between the two kegs. The keg on the left has the lid off and is ready to receive the hot cleanser. I just turn on the gas at 25PSI and blast the cleanser through. I let the gas run for about 10 seconds, then turn it off. That builds up enough pressure to push the whole keg through. No need to over do it and waste CO2 gas.

Once the transfer is done. I seal the keg with the cleanser and shake it up for a minute or so. Then I rinse out the first keg which is now clean and ready for sanitizer. I transfer sanitizer (Star-San) the same way through all the kegs and all the dip tubes.

I go through several kegs this way rather quickly with little scrubbing or effort on my part. I just let the cleanser and the equipment do the work. Sort of like a mini CIP (Clean in place) opertation. After all my kegs are cleaned up and ready for beer I just go down the line with a siphon transferring each beer to its new keg. I take a sample for my hydrometer on each brew for my notes.

Once all the kegs are filled, I purge the headspace with CO2 and then I connect all the kegs to the gas manifold and start force carbonating. In 5 days or so I’ll have three new beers fresh and ready to drink.
After all this work I called it quits and drew a quick pint of ESB to cap off an evening of beer chores.
Cheers!

I brewed up an ESB a month ago. Last night we had a little family shindig at our place and I tapped into the keg. Served up 5 pitchers of this beer and everyone was really satisfied with the taste.

My impressions were satisfactory. I was really experimenting with this recipe and trying to shoot for something that was very malty and bready in flavor. My initial tasting of the beer made me think of soft pretzels like you get in the mall or at the fair. So I think my breadiness was on the money. The hop bitterness was a little weak but the hop flavor was good. Maybe I’d try a stronger bittering hop next time, I’ll have to research that.

The beer was for the most part clear, with minor haze to it. If I let it cold condition longer I could rack it over to another keg and probably have a crystal clear product. But I don’t think it will last that long.

I missed my terminal gravity though. I ended with a FG of 1.020! I thought it would taste sweet but it wasn’t bad. Probably right at the threshold of sweetness/dryness for my palate. I know what the problem was. It started fermenting at about 72F. That is a little worrisome of a temp for me as I usually ferment at 68F. However, the outside temps are not all that stable right now so my beer fridge doesn’t come in handy to hold a 68F ferment. So I had the fermentor in the basement of the house. I moved it from the 72F room and put it in a cooler corner of the basement. It drifted down to about 65F and continued to ferment. I think the yeast probably crapped out and went dormant before they were done. This is further supported by the presence of a slight diacetyl note in the beer; at least more than I am used to. Next time I should just let it run the course at 72 and see if that produces too many esters for my taste preference.

Regardless, it was a good beer. I think I have a third of a keg left. Maybe I’ll bottle some of it up and send it to a new comp. I think I missed the deadline for the December 1st competition. I’ll think about tweaking the recipe a bit and rebrew it in the future. Stay tuned!

It’s important to take good notes, kids!

Here is my log sheet that I use to keep important information straight. It’s still a work in progress, but it works for me so far! Feel free to print it out and use it. I usually print a formulated recipe from the beer recipator along with one of these logs. Then both the recipe sheet and the log sheet go into a binder with plastic sheet protectors.

Protectors keep me from getting “Sheet” on my sheet in the brew-house!

Brewing logsheet

After our jaunt to IncrediBREW, Mike, Brian, and I had a tasting session of all the beers currently in kegs.  These beers included a Strawberry Blonde (which hasn’t been profiled in detail on the site yet), an Oatmeal Stout, a Belgian Tripel, a Scottish 60 shilling (/-) and my Maple Porter. 

A few of them weren’t really carbonated yet, but it was interesting to taste them in this early stage.  All of them were drinkable and I could go on and on about a few of them, especially the Oatmeal Stout, but this post’s focus is on the Maple Porter.

I was going to go through a large scale tasting description of the beer, but I think it’s too early to do that just yet.  So, I will keep it short.

Appearance:  Brown with some ruby tones when I held it to the sunlight.  It was cloudy, but it may clear up once the yeast settles.  No head since it wasn’t fully carbonated.

Aroma: Some maple, some roast, no hop aroma that I could detect. 

Taste: Smoky, fruity, with hints of maple here and there.  Brian could definitely taste the maple.  Mouthfeel was rich, but that may change with the carbonation.  Flavor was, umm, complicated.  There was a lot going on, but not enough roastiness that one would expect from a Porter.  There was some alcohol heat that I could detect.  Finish was lingering with maple notes.

After tasting it a few times, I was happy with my experimental beer.  Mike thought it was more of a Brown ale than a Porter.  I have to agree with him.  I probably should have had some chocolate malt in my recipe.   I am going to submit it to the New England Homebrew Competition to get some expert notes on it as well.

When it has matured a bit more, we will taste it again.  I can imagine this beer will taste good in front of a fire this winter.

Check out my Maple Porter recipe.

Check out the Maple Porter brew day post.

Check out the progress of other beers in our Brew Log category page.

I tasted the 60/- the other night. It’s fully carbed in the keg. Unfortunately, I think it’s pretty thin and lifeless. I didn’t achieve a good enough carmalization with the drawn off portion. I’ll still submit it to the NE regional comp, just to see if my assessment jives with other judges.

Next time I brew it I think I will substitute some of the roasted barely with chocolate malt and black patent and some crystal 80L. I think that will hedge my bet of getting some more dynamic flavors. I’ll also not rush the caramelization step. I know I rushed it this time.

On the last run I drew off 1 gallon of wort and reduced it to half a gallon. I know now that I will likely need to reduce it to a 1/3rd or even a 1/4 gallon to get good caramelization. I’ll have to extend the total boil time to 120 minutes too I think.

Just some thoughts to improve the brew for next time.

Comment if you have had similar experiences or have advice to lend.

Brew on!

Success!!!
I had posted before that my terminal gravity was disappointingly high after 10 days in primary, seemingly stuck at 1030.  I racked the beer over from bucket to glass carboy, moved it from the 68F fridge to my 74F basement.  Sure enough it started to ferment again, I even got a mini-krausen.

Well I am very happy to report that the gravity tonight was 1013!!!  That equates to an estimated ~10%ABV. Its tastes a little dry, but it definitely has a mild earthy black pepper tone as it should as a Tripel.  The color is surprisingly a little darker, but we’ll have to wait to see how it pours with carbonation in another week.

 This beer is definitely ready for the N.E. regional homebrew competition.