Last night, I got my stuff together for the Sam Adams LongShot submission. I followed the instructions that they emailed me including printing out the labels and attaching them to each bottle using a rubber band. I took a few pictures of the bottles and the traveling case I am using for transport:

So if you see a guy on the subways of Boston with a case like this, he may not have a laptop in it…

I am submitting the APA that I just brewed along with the Maple Porter I made late last year.  I am going to be dropping them off at the brewery today.

Now I don’t have any delusions that I am going to win or even do well in this competition…just interested in the whole process.
I have learned that life is about experiences and trying things like this blog…so let’s see what happens.

Hey there,

We had a reader write in with a problem about low to no carbonation after priming and bottling his lager.   From what he typed about in his email, it seems it might have been an issue with time and/or temperature.

The temperature part of the issue has me concerned…and I am using this post to reach out the community for comments and discussion.

Here’s a little back-fill:  I plan to brew a lager this year.

The few things that seem to be the brick wall in front of me are:

• Controlling temperature - will I be able to maintain the right range of temps without a fridge?
• Will I be able to master the diacetyl rest if need be?
• Are my yeasties going to settle out before I bottle?  If so, will I need to add more yeast at bottling?

Although I have a few worries (silly, I know), the one I would like to focus on and get a discussion going is the last point.

Has anyone run into problems bottling a lager, in particular low to no carbonation in the bottle?

Comment away!

Hey Fellow Homebrewers!
Today marks the first day of entry for Sam Adams Longshot American Homebrew Contest.  It’s also the day that taxes are due.  Coincidence?

I set up my account today and entered in the styles I want to submit.

Here’s a screenshot of the entry form:

After you enter your beer’s information, you get sent an email with information on how to submit your brews. I am probably going to drop mine off at the brewery in Boston since I live close to it.

Cheers to Sam Adams for doing this entry process up right.

Last week, a new social beer/brewing site came across our inbox: BrewPoll.com

Brew Poll is a site where users can submit and vote on articles about brewing.  It’s a niche version of the site Digg.com.

I have been checking it out over the past few days and I have found lots of great articles.  Check it out when you have the chance. 

I think I will be over there votin’ and submittin’.  

Here’s a profile for another new variety of hops: Santiam Hops.

Santiam is the world’s first naturally seedless Tettnang-type hop. It’s a hybrid of German Tettnanger, Hallertauer Mittelfrüh, and an American hop (Some sources say Cascade).

Origin: America - It was released by the Agricultural Research Service in Corvallis, OR. I am guessing the year was 1998.

Aroma: Resembles a Noble hop aroma. Herbal. Floral.

Alpha Acid: 5.5 - 7%

Typical Usage: For Aroma. Great replacement for German Tettnager hops.

Beer Styles: American Lagers, German Lagers and Ales, and Wheat beers.

I have wanted to write up a profile for this malt for a while. The name always caught my eye. My brain perceives it as “Maudlin” or “Melancholy” malt…such a sad malt…but it means something completely different. I present to you: Melanoidin Malt!

Melanoidin Malt is a type of malt produced by the Weyermann Malting Company. Melanoidins are desirable flavor compounds that are present in malts (especially German malts like Munich and Vienna). This specialty variety has been described as “turbo Munich”.

From what I have read, I formed this theory: Melanoidin Malt was developed to give homebrewers a way to get these big malty flavor compounds into beer without having to mash German malts. Historically to get melanoidins extracted into your wort, brewers would need to follow a decoction mash schedule…which is time consuming. I think this malt is kilned in a special way to give homebrewers the ability to get the flavors without the hassle.

Flavor: Intense malty flavor. Very aromatic.

Color: 23° - 31°L Promotes a deep red color in your beer

Body: Gives beer fuller body.

Use: Any Amber Lager or Ale, Any Dark Lager (maybe a dopplebock?), Red Ales for sure, and maybe Scottish Ales

Oh yeah. The really fun part of the whole homebrewing experience. I’m being sarcastic. Note the italics.

Over the weekend, I did my best to wash my bottles. I had a few packets of PBW so I mixed them with water to make a cleaning solution. I took my bottle brush and scrubbed the insides well. I let them air dry in preparation for my bottling night (last night).

I used iodophor as my sanitizer. I made a solution so I could sanitize my bottling bucket, siphon, tubing, bottle filler, and all the bottles and caps.

I let everything soak in the iodophor solution for about a half an hour last night. The instructions recommend a two minute contact time…I wanted to make sure.

Once the soaking was done, I let everything air dry. While stuff was drying, I made up my priming solution. I had some corn sugar (3/4 of a cup) and I boiled it with a cup of water. John Palmer wrote in How To Brew that two cups of water should be used. I read that after the boil…and I made a decision that it didn’t really matter…yay me.

I siphoned the beer from the fermenter to the bottling bucket…doing my best not to splash any of it. I poured my priming solution into the filling bucket…as gently as I could.

Once the bottling bucket was filled, I started bottling and capping bottles. I filled several 12 oz bottles for the Sam Adams Homebrew Competition. Now I have to go back to my other post and find out what else I have to do to enter.

I took a final gravity reading…I am calling that 1.015…which is higher than my target of 1.012. Close enough.

All in all, bottling went off without a hitch. I even harvested some yeast from the bottom of the fermenter. Now it’s time to wait.

P.S. I tasted the sample I took for the final gravity reading. Any fear I had about the “grapefruit” smell I was getting from the yeast starter and airlock has been subsided. There was no detectable off-flavors from the sample. No taste of vinegar, which was what I was fearing.