owner: Michael Erwin | started: 05/28/2009 | last updated: 06/19/2009
status: Fermenting
temperature: 74F
starting gravity: 1.152 (ser | current gravity: ?? | final gravity:
http://www.moremead.com/mead_logs/Ancient_OCC.html
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May 28, 2009
Fermenting
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temperature: 82F
starting gravity: 1.152 (seriously!!!)
A guy brought some of this to our local homebrewer's club meeting last night. Whoa, this stuff will knock you out! I measured the OG just for the hell of it: 1.152. That's not a typo! Check out the recipe, it's pretty damn simple to make. I just happened to have a one gallon bottle and I had the cinnamon, clove, and bread yeast in the kitchen already. Just had to buy the honey, an orange, and some raisins.
6/19/2009 - Three weeks later this stuff is still bubbling, about two bubbles a minute!
6/22/2009 - Topped the carboy up with water.
Bottled sometime in July. This is too sweet. Need to cut back on the honey.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Flat Tire Ale - my first all-grain
This is a longish post, but I guess that someone will want read this. Make comments if you like.
Today was my first all-grain batch. I purchased a kit from Midwest just to take some of the complication out, plus they crush the grains. It was the Flat Tire kit, and I bought the Wyeast Belgian #1214 to go with it.
First of all, equipment. I have a 12 qt stainless pot, an 18 qt aluminum pot that I’ve been using to extract brew, and now a 30 qt aluminum pot of the turkey fryer variety, brand new. I have the base for that, too.
I built a combination mash & lauter tun.
I built an immersion wort chiller from (nearly) 50 ft of 3/8” copper tubing, some hosing, and fitting to put a garden hose on the chiller hose.
Here’s the chronology:
Last night I finished up calculations using Beersmith and printed out a brewsheet. Awesome.
I got up this morning about 5:45am and filled the two small pots with hot water, and put them on the kitchen stove to boil. I’m guessing I had four gallons in one and about 2.5 gallons in the other. Then, I went to the gas station around the corner to replace my propane tank (I have two, one was empty, the other nearly so). The water took almost 30 minutes to boil.
I transported the water outside and put it all in the large pot, and tested out my new burner. Works perfectly. Of course, the water was already nearly boiling, so it began boiling again in about two-three minutes. Question: of what use is the little contraption that controls the air flow into the burner? I just left it wide open the whole time.
Beersmith said I needed 15.75 qts of water at 167.2F. So, I used the 18qt pot to mix in nearly boiling water with some cold from the tap. The best I could do was 166.8F. I was using a 2qt pitcher to move water around, so none of these measurements for water are all that exact. Question: how do you know how much water you’re moving around?
I had 10.5 lbs of grain. That is: 9lbs 2-row, 1/2lb crystal 120L, 1/2lb munich 10L, and 1/2lb special b, whatever that is. I mixed at 1.5qts to lb ratio. I’m not sure why I did that, but anyway. 166.8F water and 10.5lbs of grain averaged out to 153.5F, which I was shooting for 154F. I figured, close enough. Closed the lid at 7:05am.
At 8:15am (I had kids to get to school), I had a temp of 151.1F. Question: if you know your temp is going to drop 2.5 degrees, do you shoot high? Ie., I wanted 154, so should I go for 155.3, and expect a drop to 152.8, or what?
I added 3qts of water at 168.1F, stirred the mash, and drained two quarts of it into my pitcher, recirculated that (it looked pretty clean anyway), and drained it all into the 18qt pot (the brewpot still had hot water in it!). Note to self, it would be helpful to have another large pot to heat water in. An HLT of some kind.
I added 3.5 gallons of 168.0F water to the lauter tun, stirred it, and then remembered to close the valve! :) I dumped the remaining hot water out of the kettle, poured the first draining into the kettle, and then drained the second amount into the kettle. I gave Brewsmith 2qts of dead space in the tun, but I ended up with 6.75 gallons, about 1qt over what I was hoping for.
The preboil gravity was 1.024 at 47F, adjusted up to 1.039. Significantly less than the 1.048 I would’ve gotten at 75% efficiency. I think, I didn’t reach that efficiency, and I had too much water. I brought it all to a boil, which took maybe 20 minutes or so.
I had an extremely full pot, I was using an unfamiliar heat control, and I nearly had a boilover. I avoided it, but then added the hops and that did it. It came out, hops first of course. Then I couldn’t find my matches to relight the stupid burner. Note: buy a long lighter. Geez.
Got a boil again at 9:05am. I was hoping I still had a good amount of Northern Brewer hops, but who knows? I saw quite a bit floating around in there during the boil, so let’s hope for the best.
I gave the boil about 10 extra minutes just for the hell of it. I added some Irish moss at about 15 minutes left, and I dropped the new immersion chiller in. I had tested it out during the boil, so it was full of water, which began to flow rapidly out of the hose as soon as I dropped the chiller in the wort. Cool. I added 1oz Saaz with 2 minutes left, at 10:14.
At 10:16, I cut the heat and started the chiller. I got it down to 80F in about 14 minutes. I got the wort into the fermenter, and it looks like I have about 5-2/3 gallons. The OG is 1.051, lower than the 1.056 Brewsmith expected. Again, too much water is the main problem, and a lower efficiency than expected is a secondary problem. The efficiency came in around 68%.
After cleaning up everything, it was 11:15am. Time:5.5 hours. Plus, I did a few small garden tasks during the boil, once I was sure there’d be no more boilover. I’ve let the thing sit in the fermenter for an hour, and I’m going to rack it off the trub into a carboy, then rack it back again, and pitch the yeast starter.
Today was my first all-grain batch. I purchased a kit from Midwest just to take some of the complication out, plus they crush the grains. It was the Flat Tire kit, and I bought the Wyeast Belgian #1214 to go with it.
First of all, equipment. I have a 12 qt stainless pot, an 18 qt aluminum pot that I’ve been using to extract brew, and now a 30 qt aluminum pot of the turkey fryer variety, brand new. I have the base for that, too.
I built a combination mash & lauter tun.
I built an immersion wort chiller from (nearly) 50 ft of 3/8” copper tubing, some hosing, and fitting to put a garden hose on the chiller hose.
Here’s the chronology:
Last night I finished up calculations using Beersmith and printed out a brewsheet. Awesome.
I got up this morning about 5:45am and filled the two small pots with hot water, and put them on the kitchen stove to boil. I’m guessing I had four gallons in one and about 2.5 gallons in the other. Then, I went to the gas station around the corner to replace my propane tank (I have two, one was empty, the other nearly so). The water took almost 30 minutes to boil.
I transported the water outside and put it all in the large pot, and tested out my new burner. Works perfectly. Of course, the water was already nearly boiling, so it began boiling again in about two-three minutes. Question: of what use is the little contraption that controls the air flow into the burner? I just left it wide open the whole time.
Beersmith said I needed 15.75 qts of water at 167.2F. So, I used the 18qt pot to mix in nearly boiling water with some cold from the tap. The best I could do was 166.8F. I was using a 2qt pitcher to move water around, so none of these measurements for water are all that exact. Question: how do you know how much water you’re moving around?
I had 10.5 lbs of grain. That is: 9lbs 2-row, 1/2lb crystal 120L, 1/2lb munich 10L, and 1/2lb special b, whatever that is. I mixed at 1.5qts to lb ratio. I’m not sure why I did that, but anyway. 166.8F water and 10.5lbs of grain averaged out to 153.5F, which I was shooting for 154F. I figured, close enough. Closed the lid at 7:05am.
At 8:15am (I had kids to get to school), I had a temp of 151.1F. Question: if you know your temp is going to drop 2.5 degrees, do you shoot high? Ie., I wanted 154, so should I go for 155.3, and expect a drop to 152.8, or what?
I added 3qts of water at 168.1F, stirred the mash, and drained two quarts of it into my pitcher, recirculated that (it looked pretty clean anyway), and drained it all into the 18qt pot (the brewpot still had hot water in it!). Note to self, it would be helpful to have another large pot to heat water in. An HLT of some kind.
I added 3.5 gallons of 168.0F water to the lauter tun, stirred it, and then remembered to close the valve! :) I dumped the remaining hot water out of the kettle, poured the first draining into the kettle, and then drained the second amount into the kettle. I gave Brewsmith 2qts of dead space in the tun, but I ended up with 6.75 gallons, about 1qt over what I was hoping for.
The preboil gravity was 1.024 at 47F, adjusted up to 1.039. Significantly less than the 1.048 I would’ve gotten at 75% efficiency. I think, I didn’t reach that efficiency, and I had too much water. I brought it all to a boil, which took maybe 20 minutes or so.
I had an extremely full pot, I was using an unfamiliar heat control, and I nearly had a boilover. I avoided it, but then added the hops and that did it. It came out, hops first of course. Then I couldn’t find my matches to relight the stupid burner. Note: buy a long lighter. Geez.
Got a boil again at 9:05am. I was hoping I still had a good amount of Northern Brewer hops, but who knows? I saw quite a bit floating around in there during the boil, so let’s hope for the best.
I gave the boil about 10 extra minutes just for the hell of it. I added some Irish moss at about 15 minutes left, and I dropped the new immersion chiller in. I had tested it out during the boil, so it was full of water, which began to flow rapidly out of the hose as soon as I dropped the chiller in the wort. Cool. I added 1oz Saaz with 2 minutes left, at 10:14.
At 10:16, I cut the heat and started the chiller. I got it down to 80F in about 14 minutes. I got the wort into the fermenter, and it looks like I have about 5-2/3 gallons. The OG is 1.051, lower than the 1.056 Brewsmith expected. Again, too much water is the main problem, and a lower efficiency than expected is a secondary problem. The efficiency came in around 68%.
After cleaning up everything, it was 11:15am. Time:5.5 hours. Plus, I did a few small garden tasks during the boil, once I was sure there’d be no more boilover. I’ve let the thing sit in the fermenter for an hour, and I’m going to rack it off the trub into a carboy, then rack it back again, and pitch the yeast starter.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
My Inexpensive Homemade Mash/Lauter Tun - MLT
Here's my rendition of a combination Mash/Lauter Tun using parts easily available around town. It all started the day after I visited my local homebrewer's club, the Ohio Valley Homebrewer's Association, www.ovha.net, and saw a version of a 10-gallon combination mash/lauter tun made from a 10-gallon Rubbermaid cooler, one of the orange round ones that are pretty ubiquitous.
The next day I was in Target and thought I'd just look at the coolers, just to get an idea. They didn't have that particular cooler, but they did have a 50-qt Igloo Ice Cube, and it just happened to be on sale for $18.99. Sold!
The ice cube didn't have a plastic spigot, so my first task was to drill a 5/8" hole into the side. One of the sides has a thinner wall near the bottom just perfectly formed for the insertion of a spigot, so I drilled there.
Then I built the spigot, basically a homemade bulkhead fitting.
On the outside, pictured below are:
Then, on the inside we have:
I bought a stainless steel (make sure it says so on the package) dishwasher supply line, cut the end connections off, then pushed the stainless braid off the rubber hose. This is tricky, but remember to PUSH the braid and not pull. It slips out VERY easily if you're doing it correctly. Otherwise, it's impossible, like Chinese handcuffs.
Then I used some heavy duty wire cutters to cut the stainless braid to length, which should be just less than the width of the cooler, so that it lies down flat and straight after everything is assembled, without touching the opposite wall of the cooler. On the other end of the hose, I've put a 1/4" brass plug, clamped on with another 1/4" stainless hose clamp.
That's all there is to it.
My primary references for this were:
http://members.shaw.ca/Fly_Guy/mlt.htm - perfect explanation of how to build it, with good pictures
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmwYSjfu3zY# - not so detailed, but this guy's video inspired me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMHLqnWCNjE# - another great video for extract brewer's who are thinking about all-grain.
And, of course, much support and advice from the Ohio Valley Homebrewer's Association, OVHA, www.ovha.net, especially this short topic on the message board: http://www.ovha.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=583&start=0&hilit=stainless+steel.
The next day I was in Target and thought I'd just look at the coolers, just to get an idea. They didn't have that particular cooler, but they did have a 50-qt Igloo Ice Cube, and it just happened to be on sale for $18.99. Sold!
The ice cube didn't have a plastic spigot, so my first task was to drill a 5/8" hole into the side. One of the sides has a thinner wall near the bottom just perfectly formed for the insertion of a spigot, so I drilled there.
Then I built the spigot, basically a homemade bulkhead fitting.
On the outside, pictured below are:
- 3/8" male barb adapter, with teflon tape on it
- 3/8" ball valve, for liquid and gas (make sure it's not just for gas)
- a 3/8" x 1-1/2" brass nipple (you can't see it)
- several 5/8" ID flat washers
- a 5/8" o-ring (you can't see it, it's up against the cooler wall
Then, on the inside we have:
- the same nipple from the outside coming through the cooler wall (you can't see that, of course)
- another 5/8" o-ring (against the inside cooler wall, you can't see)
- a brass 5/8" flat washer (brass or stainless here, b/c it will contact the wort)
- a 3/8" female barb adapter, with teflon on the nipple
- a 1/4" stainless hose clamp
- a manifold made from a dishwasher supply line (more on that below)
I bought a stainless steel (make sure it says so on the package) dishwasher supply line, cut the end connections off, then pushed the stainless braid off the rubber hose. This is tricky, but remember to PUSH the braid and not pull. It slips out VERY easily if you're doing it correctly. Otherwise, it's impossible, like Chinese handcuffs.
Then I used some heavy duty wire cutters to cut the stainless braid to length, which should be just less than the width of the cooler, so that it lies down flat and straight after everything is assembled, without touching the opposite wall of the cooler. On the other end of the hose, I've put a 1/4" brass plug, clamped on with another 1/4" stainless hose clamp.
That's all there is to it.
My primary references for this were:
http://members.shaw.ca/Fly_Guy/mlt.htm - perfect explanation of how to build it, with good pictures
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmwYSjfu3zY# - not so detailed, but this guy's video inspired me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMHLqnWCNjE# - another great video for extract brewer's who are thinking about all-grain.
And, of course, much support and advice from the Ohio Valley Homebrewer's Association, OVHA, www.ovha.net, especially this short topic on the message board: http://www.ovha.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=583&start=0&hilit=stainless+steel.
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