Got 11 24 oz bottles (Sam Adams) and 50+ 12 oz bottles (various, brown glass, pop top) to use. Its fun having to make yourself and your friends drinks beers to empty bottles :)
With all the bottles, I had rinsed them and ran them through the dishwasher initially and attempted to remove the labels with varying degrees of success.
The morning prior to bottling, I ran all the bottles through the dishwasher using NO DETERGENT on the heavy wash/sanitize cycle to sanitize them. Made sure they were cool before I started:
BOTTLING:
1 - Sanitized bottling bucket, spigot, hoses, bottling wand, bottle caps, and a stirring spoon in bleach solution again.
2 - Boiled 3/4 cup corn sugar in 2 cups of water for 10 minutes.
3 - Rinsed bottling bucket and spigot, assembled them. Poured corn sugar solution in to bottling bucket.
4 - Attached larger diameter hose (after rinsing) onto drum tap, removed air lock, and drained the beer into the bottling bucket. I started slow flow at first and once the hose was a couple inches under the beer level, I cranked it up to speed up the process. Once the beer had flowed until the level was under the drum tap, I closed the tap (I didn't bother tilting the fermentor to get the last bit because the yeast slime at the botton of the fermentor would have gotten sucked in with it, don't want all that yeast in my beer).
5 - Rinsed the sanitized spoon and then stir the beer in the bottling bucket for a minute or so to mix in the corn sugar liquid nice and even (don't want flat or exploding bottles). Then took the lid off the fermentor and placed it on the bottling bucket to keep any junk out.
6 - Rinsed and attached the bottling hose and bottling wand to the bottling bucket. Had to tilt and move the hose to get the beer all the way in it.
7 - Time to bottle: 1 by 1 with the help of friend, we took turn taking bottles out filling them to the top with the wand and then placing a cap loosely on each bottle. Once we were finished, we took turns capping them using the capper in the order they were bottled.
8 - Total output: 8 x 24oz bottles, 3 x 22oz bottles, 27 x 12oz bottles ( + 1 pint of flat celebration beer!!)
9 - Put them in the dark up in my room ~ 70F to carbonate (adds somewhere from .5% alcohol to negligible amounts as well, at least according to various internet sources ..... who knows, sometone give me a definitive answer if you want)
I'm hoping in two weeks to have some delicious beer.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Fermentation Notes
Starting specs:
Initial Specific Gravity: ~ 1.047
Fermentation was done in the 65-70 F range. It was the best I could manage given the drafty nature of my abode and the accuracy of my thermostat ( +/- a few degrees).
After 1 day, nothing seemed to occur. I tried to have some patience.
After 2 days, I woke up and noticed that the airlock still wasn't bubbling, but that foam had formed inside the drum tap indicating fermentation was taking place. Being ever so OCD, I still wasn't convinced so I looked online and also called the people at Wind River and verified that often the airlock won't bubble because the lids on these plastic fermentors aren't air tight. So I was ok with it. I put my ear to the lid and couldn't definately hear it fizzing and bubbling away so I was satisifed.
DAY 3:
Check the gravity with the hydrometer. It had dropped down to 3% on the potential alcohol scale, was carbonated, and tasted more like beer. That means fermentation is kickin and I'm stoked.
DAY 5:
Primary fermentation seems to have ended (sound wise at least). I am going to let it sit for at least 2 weeks to condition in the fermentor because I don't have a carboy to condition it in and apparently it isn't that neccessary for ales (ie, the fermentor will serve the purpose fine.
------------------
From day 5 on, various smells, the most noteable being a banana aroma (apparently the smell of a common ester produced by the yeast), came about and eventually died down as it the time went on (and hopefully the yeast reprocessed some of their early esters, I don't want my beer to be overpowered by them).
----------------------
DAY 15:
Checked the specs with hydrometer:
Specific gravity: 1.014
Calculated attenuation: ~ 70% (Not quite the 73-77% advertised for this yeast, but its ok for teh first time. Possible reasons why are many, possible not giving the yeasts a big enough head start in the smack pack, who knows).
Calculated potential alcohol = 4.2%
It tasted like good beer, albet flat, which should be corrected when I bottle condition them.
I decided it was time to bottle.
Initial Specific Gravity: ~ 1.047
Fermentation was done in the 65-70 F range. It was the best I could manage given the drafty nature of my abode and the accuracy of my thermostat ( +/- a few degrees).
After 1 day, nothing seemed to occur. I tried to have some patience.
After 2 days, I woke up and noticed that the airlock still wasn't bubbling, but that foam had formed inside the drum tap indicating fermentation was taking place. Being ever so OCD, I still wasn't convinced so I looked online and also called the people at Wind River and verified that often the airlock won't bubble because the lids on these plastic fermentors aren't air tight. So I was ok with it. I put my ear to the lid and couldn't definately hear it fizzing and bubbling away so I was satisifed.
DAY 3:
Check the gravity with the hydrometer. It had dropped down to 3% on the potential alcohol scale, was carbonated, and tasted more like beer. That means fermentation is kickin and I'm stoked.
DAY 5:
Primary fermentation seems to have ended (sound wise at least). I am going to let it sit for at least 2 weeks to condition in the fermentor because I don't have a carboy to condition it in and apparently it isn't that neccessary for ales (ie, the fermentor will serve the purpose fine.
------------------
From day 5 on, various smells, the most noteable being a banana aroma (apparently the smell of a common ester produced by the yeast), came about and eventually died down as it the time went on (and hopefully the yeast reprocessed some of their early esters, I don't want my beer to be overpowered by them).
----------------------
DAY 15:
Checked the specs with hydrometer:
Specific gravity: 1.014
Calculated attenuation: ~ 70% (Not quite the 73-77% advertised for this yeast, but its ok for teh first time. Possible reasons why are many, possible not giving the yeasts a big enough head start in the smack pack, who knows).
Calculated potential alcohol = 4.2%
It tasted like good beer, albet flat, which should be corrected when I bottle condition them.
I decided it was time to bottle.
Brewing Notes , 14nov2007
Water: I decided to use oxygenated/ozonated drinking water bought at store for first time. It said that it was designed for food preparation and I had read that it was good to have plenty of oxygen in your water for the little yeasties. In future, i will probably base my water choices on whether the recipe calls for hard water (spring water) or soft water (basically what I used this time). This time, being the first time, i didn't care so much or know what was recommended.
Day Prior: Broke yeast "smack pack" to get them going, left at room temp ~ 74 or so. (Note: in future I will start this earlier to be on the safe side. My yeast were 5 months old, and I learned later that the older they are, the longer they take to get ramped up (up to a couple of days before the bag will start puffing up). They bag was maybe a 1/2" puffed up by pitching time.
1 - Started heating 2 1/4 gallons of water.
2 - Filled sink with hot water and put bags of malt extract in to make it less syrupy and easier to pour out later.
3 - Went upstairs and made sanitization solution (1 tsp bleach per gallon hot water) in a tub and put all fermentation equipment plus some stirring spoons and scissors in.
4 - Once water in brew pot got where I could just barely touch it ~140F or so, put the crushed specialty grains in the grain bag and steeped them in the heating water (on medium heat) for 30 minutes. The water got significantly browner/darker as it steeped. Removed grain bag and let drip into pot to get last bit out
5 - REMOVED FROM HEAT. (Important prior to adding malt extracts so as not to scorch them). Snipped malt extract bags and squeezed out the syrup while stirring to keep it from sticking to the bottom.
6 - Once it was all added, brought it slowly up to boil on medium heat. Note: This took forever, I was being cautious. Next time I will turn the heat up and then turn it down to medium once it gets closer to boiling. Once it was at a settled boil, heat set on 5 on the burner.
7 - Added bittering hops. Stirred well, kept boiling. @ 34 minutes added aroma hops. Took off burner, stirred, and put lid on @ 42 minutes.
8 - Placed in sink and then filled sink with lots of ice and water to quickly cool the wort. Once ice melted. I drained the sink and again filled it will lots of ice and water.
9 - Rinsed and assembled fermentor bucket/lid and drum tap and then attached drum tap. Put lid loosely on fermentor.
10 - Poured in 3 gallons of the cold drinking water from a height (to help aerate it with more oxygen) into the fermentor. This water that I added was stored in the fridge overnight in order to help drop the overall temperature of the already somewhat cooled wort once it is added.
11 - After about 25-30 minutes in the sink. Wort was poured quickly and forcefully (again to help aerate) into the fermentor. Placed lid on fermentor. Opened drum tap to take the gravity readings with the hydrometer.
12 - I then placed the yeast packet into the santizing solution upstairs for 2 minutes, which was now much cooler (important not to overheat and kill your yeast).
13 - Shook off the yeast packet, cut it open with sanitized scissors, and pour contents into the fermentor. Stirred vigorously splashing slotted spoon into wort for (1-2) minutes to help aerate it.
14 - Tightly sealed fermentor lid (although it would prove to not be airtight....). Filled airlock with tsp or two of vodka.
Finished.
NOTES FOR NEXT TIME:
1) I will activate the "smack pack" sooner and maybe even consider making a yeast starter...
***Update: I will definately make a starter if I receive a packet that is more than a couple of months old***
2) I will heat the wort up at a higher temperature because it took like an hour to boil because I was being so cautious and using medium heat (5).
3) Maybe boil it a little harder (higher heat), so that I don't need to stir it much to mix the hops and shite that floated on top alot.
4) Check water recommendations for specific brew kit (less important)
5) Maybe buy a thermometer to help ensure that I'm not oversteeping specialty grains or murdering/bogging down yeast when their are pitched. Also would be handy given the variability of temperatures at my abode.
Day Prior: Broke yeast "smack pack" to get them going, left at room temp ~ 74 or so. (Note: in future I will start this earlier to be on the safe side. My yeast were 5 months old, and I learned later that the older they are, the longer they take to get ramped up (up to a couple of days before the bag will start puffing up). They bag was maybe a 1/2" puffed up by pitching time.
1 - Started heating 2 1/4 gallons of water.
2 - Filled sink with hot water and put bags of malt extract in to make it less syrupy and easier to pour out later.
3 - Went upstairs and made sanitization solution (1 tsp bleach per gallon hot water) in a tub and put all fermentation equipment plus some stirring spoons and scissors in.
4 - Once water in brew pot got where I could just barely touch it ~140F or so, put the crushed specialty grains in the grain bag and steeped them in the heating water (on medium heat) for 30 minutes. The water got significantly browner/darker as it steeped. Removed grain bag and let drip into pot to get last bit out
5 - REMOVED FROM HEAT. (Important prior to adding malt extracts so as not to scorch them). Snipped malt extract bags and squeezed out the syrup while stirring to keep it from sticking to the bottom.
6 - Once it was all added, brought it slowly up to boil on medium heat. Note: This took forever, I was being cautious. Next time I will turn the heat up and then turn it down to medium once it gets closer to boiling. Once it was at a settled boil, heat set on 5 on the burner.
7 - Added bittering hops. Stirred well, kept boiling. @ 34 minutes added aroma hops. Took off burner, stirred, and put lid on @ 42 minutes.
8 - Placed in sink and then filled sink with lots of ice and water to quickly cool the wort. Once ice melted. I drained the sink and again filled it will lots of ice and water.
9 - Rinsed and assembled fermentor bucket/lid and drum tap and then attached drum tap. Put lid loosely on fermentor.
10 - Poured in 3 gallons of the cold drinking water from a height (to help aerate it with more oxygen) into the fermentor. This water that I added was stored in the fridge overnight in order to help drop the overall temperature of the already somewhat cooled wort once it is added.
11 - After about 25-30 minutes in the sink. Wort was poured quickly and forcefully (again to help aerate) into the fermentor. Placed lid on fermentor. Opened drum tap to take the gravity readings with the hydrometer.
12 - I then placed the yeast packet into the santizing solution upstairs for 2 minutes, which was now much cooler (important not to overheat and kill your yeast).
13 - Shook off the yeast packet, cut it open with sanitized scissors, and pour contents into the fermentor. Stirred vigorously splashing slotted spoon into wort for (1-2) minutes to help aerate it.
14 - Tightly sealed fermentor lid (although it would prove to not be airtight....). Filled airlock with tsp or two of vodka.
Finished.
NOTES FOR NEXT TIME:
1) I will activate the "smack pack" sooner and maybe even consider making a yeast starter...
***Update: I will definately make a starter if I receive a packet that is more than a couple of months old***
2) I will heat the wort up at a higher temperature because it took like an hour to boil because I was being so cautious and using medium heat (5).
3) Maybe boil it a little harder (higher heat), so that I don't need to stir it much to mix the hops and shite that floated on top alot.
4) Check water recommendations for specific brew kit (less important)
5) Maybe buy a thermometer to help ensure that I'm not oversteeping specialty grains or murdering/bogging down yeast when their are pitched. Also would be handy given the variability of temperatures at my abode.
Decided to start a blog to make record of the brews I make
I will add in the brewing notes when I get home.
First brew I'm making is "Black Bear Brown Ale" kit from http://www.windriverbrew.com/. Their customer service was excellent and they will answer all your questions (and newbie worries like I had) when you call them. I selected the liquid yeast option (Wyeast #1028 London Ale).
I ordered their "apprentice" kit which includes everything needed for a basic single fermentation vessel brewed ale. (plastic fermentation bucket + bottling bucket.. no carboys).
The specs for this ingredient kit is:
3.3 lbs. Amber malt extract
3.3 lbs. Dark malt extract
1 oz. Cascade bittering hops (42 min)
1 oz. Fuggles aroma hops (8 min)
3/4 lb. Crystal 80°L malts
1/8 lb. Chocolate malts
1/8 lb. Special Roast grain blend
yeast (upgraded to liquid Wyeast #1028 London Ale in "smack pack"; this is the 175mL activator, that supposedly shouldn't require a starter to be made)
priming sugar (corn sugar, ~ 5oz.)
First brew I'm making is "Black Bear Brown Ale" kit from http://www.windriverbrew.com/. Their customer service was excellent and they will answer all your questions (and newbie worries like I had) when you call them. I selected the liquid yeast option (Wyeast #1028 London Ale).
I ordered their "apprentice" kit which includes everything needed for a basic single fermentation vessel brewed ale. (plastic fermentation bucket + bottling bucket.. no carboys).
The specs for this ingredient kit is:
3.3 lbs. Amber malt extract
3.3 lbs. Dark malt extract
1 oz. Cascade bittering hops (42 min)
1 oz. Fuggles aroma hops (8 min)
3/4 lb. Crystal 80°L malts
1/8 lb. Chocolate malts
1/8 lb. Special Roast grain blend
yeast (upgraded to liquid Wyeast #1028 London Ale in "smack pack"; this is the 175mL activator, that supposedly shouldn't require a starter to be made)
priming sugar (corn sugar, ~ 5oz.)
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