Bottling Notes, Southern English Brown (Wed 14may)

Notes on amount of priming sugar (dextrose): Going to use 3.5 TBSP (7/32 cup) for an estimated 1.3-1.4 volumes CO2 in ~ 5 bottled gallons. Shooting for a low carbonation appropriate for this style.

Notes after bottling:

***Strange skin with air bubble underneath it on top of beer. Looks like the color of yeast. I have never noticed this before, but I haven't always checked each batch before transferring to my bottled bucket. I'm hoping that this was just a thin layer of yeast that floc'd to the top instead of the bottom of the beer and not some kind of infection. I attempted to skin most of it off with a sanitized spoon. There looked to be what could have been the starting of some grey mold/fuzz on the trub that had caked to the walls of the fermentor where the krausen was, but again, I'm not sure and am hoping it is just colored yeast.***

Anyhow:

Bottled ~ 52 x 12 oz. of beer.

Final Gravity ~ 1.018

% Attenuation ~ 64%

% ABV ~ 4.4%

Calories/12 oz. ~ 175

So I'm going to hope that that the skin-like membrane is not a sign that I'll end up with a tainted tasting final product in a few weeks. This was at least a good motivation that got me to really scrub every since inch and groove of my equipment down, so it will be ready for the next brew with no infection worries. I may have to reconsider repitching and am going to be more precise with my concentration of Star-San to ensure I'm not overdiluting. Next up, wheat beer!

Fermentation Notes, Southern English Brown (Mon 28apr)

UPDATE (28 apr): Noticeable fermentation began sometimes within the first 11 hours, I would imagine close to 4-6 as it was already going pretty strong when I checked at 11 hours. Ambient temp was 66F, fermentor temp was 69F. I turned the air down a degree or two to try and keep it below 70F if possible. Very fruity smell coming from fermentor.

UPDATE (28 apr): Fermentor was up to 71F (ambient 65F) when I got home from work so I drape a wet t-shirt around it, after an hour or so, the temp was down to 69F.

UPDATE (29 apr): Temp was down to 67F (ambient 64F), t-shirt was removed.

UPDATE (29apr): Gravity was measured at 1.020. Yeast still very much in suspension. I'm hoping to get it attenuated down to 1.015-1.016 (~ 70%).

UPDATE (01may): Gravity is at 1.018. Yeast are still in suspension, taste was quite roasty, almost slightly bitter. I think this will decrease as the yeast settle out (hopefully).

UPDATE (04may): 1.017

Brewing Notes, Southern English Brown (Sun 27apr)

Brewed a southern english style brown ale today.

Recipe used was:

6.0 lbs. Gold LME
.75 lbs. Dark Crystal 80 (Simpson's)
.25 lbs. Caramel 60
.50 lbs. Caramel 120
.50 lbs. Pale Chocolate (Fawcett)
.50 lbs. Briess Special Roast
.25 oz. East Kent Goldings hops (4.5 AA)
.25 oz. Galena hops (13.1 AA)

Pitched it onto ~1/4 to 1/2 of the yeast cake (safale s-04) from the dark mild that I also bottled today.

Original Gravity clocked in at ~1.052, right about where expected (I never measure exactly how much I boil off, because I'm not brewing to absolute specifications at this point, just tasty beer) considering the amount of grains used.

Bottling Notes, Dark Mild (Sun 27apr)

Bottled the dark mild today after 9 days in fermentor:

Final Gravity ~ 1.011

% attenuation ~ 63%

% ABV ~ 2.5%

Calories per 12 oz. ~ 101

Obtained equivalent of about 47 twelve oz. beers. Being such a small beer, these should be tasty pretty much whenever they finish carbonating. I'll wait a week and try one.

Fermentation Notes, Dark Mild

(UPDATE 18apr, day 1): Signs of fermentation (foam forming on top of beer, foam formed in drum tap) sometime within 5-12 hours.

Fermenting at 67F with ambient temp of 65. I'm going to try to keep this on around 68F as best as possible.

(UPDATE 21apr, day 3): Glancing through the airlock hole, the yeast have seems to already have dropped out (as expected with this strain).
Gravity was taken, down to 1.014. I'm hoping to drop it another point or two by this weekend when I bottle.

Still fermenting around 67F.

Brewing Notes, Dark Mild (Fri 18apr)

Brewed Jamil's dark mild recipe today:

3.5 lb can of John Bull Maris Otter extract
.75 lbs. Caramel 60
.50 lbs. Caramel 120
.50 lbs. Pale Chocolate
22 g (~.7 oz) East Kent Golding pellets

fermentis Safale S-04

Used 2 3/4 Gallons of water to brew and proof yeast
Boiled down to around 2 gallons (volume of extract was ~ 1/4-1/2 gallon)

Gravity turned out at ~1.030
Yeast was pitched into 62 F wort

Bottling Notes, Steam Schwarzbier (Tues 08apr)

Bottled the steam schwarzbier last night after 24 days in fermentor. Obtained ~ 49 x 12 oz. bottles.

Beer was bottled with ~ 3/4 cup of dextrose (corn sugar) to obtain ~ 2.5 volumes CO2

Final notes on beer:


Final Gravity ~ 1.013

% attenuation ~ 70%


% ABV ~ 4.2%

Estimated Calories / 12 oz. ~ 148