Brew Dudes Homebrewing Blog

Bottle Conditioning

On May 8, 2009

I’ve been checking my Chelmsford Pale Ale every day now, taking a bottle and holding it to a light to check for clarity and to see how the yeast is settling out.

It seems to be bottle conditioning nicely. I don’t see any rings of crud at the top of the fill line. It doesn’t look too hazy either.

I tend to wait two weeks before cracking one open. I haven’t opened one up after a week’s time since my first homebrew. Tonight I might I have to open one up.

I am just feeling impatient. Maybe it’s the weather. Maybe it’s the economy. I don’t know. I just want to try it out.

I guess when I all grain brew the next time I won’t be so anxious. That is life. You don’t forget your first time.

I like Crystal hops. I wished they were named something different though. My simple mind can’t stand hearing “crystal” and associating it with anything but malts. I guess you could make a Crystal ale where all your specialty malts and hops were all named Crystal. (Hmmm…note to self). I didn’t know Crystal were a part of a 3 hop group like the 3 Cs (Columbus, Centennial, and Cascade). I would have written the profiles together in a series. Oh well.

Crystal was developed from German Hallertau (also Cascade, Brewer’s Gold, and Early Green) in 1983 to breed a replacement for this noble hop variety in America. This program developed Mt. Hood and Liberty hops. It was released 10 years later for commercial use (1993).

Origin: USA – Corvallis, OR

Aroma: Mild, Floral, spicier than Hallertau, cinnamon, black pepper, nutmeg. More pungent that its sister hops Mt. Hood and Liberty.

Alpha Acid: 3.5 – 5.5%

Typical Usage: Aroma

Beer Styles: Pilsners, Other Light Lagers, Light American Ales

Check out its sisters here:

Liberty Hops

Mt. Hood Hops

Also, I saw a lot of critiques of this variety on boards saying it was kinda weak. I don’t think Crystal is supposed to help you with hoppy hoppy ales. Use other hops if you are looking to brew a worthy IPA.

Franco-Belges Kiln Coffee Malt

By John Krochune

On May 4, 2009

In Malts

Since I will be waiting around for a while (at least two weeks) for my pale ale to carb up in the bottles, I have time to research and write about some ingredients. One that caught my eye was Franco-Belges Kiln Coffee Malt. Any malt that has two countries in the name has to be interesting. This malt is roasted and described as a lighter version of Weyermann’s Carafa malt. Some sources stated that it was similar to Brown malt, but homebrewers on forums did not agree. Nor do I, for the record.

Some homebrewers debated the strength of the coffee flavor and aroma. I think you may need to brew it for yourself to taste and smell and make your decisions

Flavor: Coffee, some dark roast flavors

Color: 150 to 180°L – Dark brown hues

Body: No mentions of body building in the descriptions I found, but I am pretty sure it would add a little heft to your beer.

Use: Most sources said adding it to your stout, porter, Scottish ale, or dark Belgian style beer recipe wouldn’t be a bad thing. No more than 5% of your total grist is recommended.

While you are here, click on these links to check out more malt profiles:

Chocolate Malt

Special Roast Malt

Oat Malt

Bottling Homebrewed Beer

By John Krochune

On May 3, 2009

In General

Well, I bottled last night and it went without a hitch. I made a priming sugar combination of KreamyX and corn sugar. I had to create this combination due to my priming sugar experiment.

The siphon from fermentation bucket to bottling bucket went well and I enlisted the help of Dude Lyle to cap the bottle after I filled them.

My terminal gravity was 1.010, which I think is in line with what I wanted. I didn’t have a specific number in mind.

The sample I tasted had strong bittering. It was certainly different from the first go at this recipe. We’ll see…and taste in two weeks.

I took a short video clip of last night’s scene:

Beer Bottle Preparation

By John Krochune

On May 1, 2009

In General

Yeah, I like cleaning and sanitizing bottles. I used some One-Step and scrubbed some bottles real well. Then I made some Star-San solution and I have my bottles soaking in it right now.

I plan to bottle on Saturday night. I’ll take some videos/pictures of my bottling process. Maybe somebody out there will be interested (no offense taken if no one is).

This bottling session is for the Chelmsford Pale Ale. To check out the rest of the brew log for this particular batch, please check out these links:

Chelmsford Pale Ale Shopping List

Chelmsford Pale Ale Brew Day

Chelmsford Pale Ale Brew Day Videos

First All Grain Brewing Session Learnings