Brew Dudes

With the children and the wife sick, I haven’t had time to check in on the California Common beer that I have fermenting in my basement.  Reading Jamil’s yeast book, I now have an appreciation for how much temperature plays a part in a good fermentation.  I have been trying to monitor the temp closely so that I adjust things to maintain a 62°F fermentation.

For two days, I was busy doing other important things like attending to sick people and trying to keep the rest of the house in order.  The Cali Common was way down on the priority list.  I didn’t make any time to check on it since I really didn’t have any time.

Tonight was a different story.  It seemed like the fam is on the mend and I got a chance to steal away to check on the bubbling goodness below.

Good to see that I didn’t have to check on it.  It looks like it been a-ok without me.  I think I’ll rack it to a glass carboy soon for some conditioning and leave it open for some dry hopping if I feel it needs it.

After some delay, I was able to complete the California Common brew day.  I woke up to a surprising amount of new snow on the ground and more snow falling out of the sky.   After some shoveling, brewing commenced.

I had more luck keeping my mash temperature around where I wanted it.  I was targeting a 150°F temperature and monitored it with a probe thermometer.  After about 30 minutes, the temperature was down 5 degrees.  I was able to infuse a quart and a half of boiling water to raise it back up to 148°F which lasted for the rest of the hour.

The boil went well except for a bit of a boilover.  With 15 minutes to go, I put in my wort chiller and the outake hose got a little too close to the flame.

I was still able to use it, but it got a bit crispy.  I took a few photos with my phone to capture the brew day and show off the damage.

The snow helped chill the wort down quickly.  I aerated for the first time and was glad to see that fermentation started up 6 hours after I pitched the yeast, if not sooner.

It’s bubbling away at 62°F in my basement.

Mike helped me out tonight and now I have 10 pounds of 2 row malt all milled up and ready for brewing.  It looks like Sunday morning will be the redo date.  I am happy that things appear to be back on track.

The yeast is the only thing that could be a problem.  It should be fine.  I made a 5L starter that has been in the fridge for 5 days now.

I plan to bring it to fermentation temperature before pitching, siphon off 90% of the “beer”, and use the rest to swirl around to get the yeast back into suspension.   Then I’ll pitch it all in.

Should be good.