Batch No. 4 - PITA Barely Wine

PITA Barley Wine

Brewed - December 2, 2007

Style - Barley Wine
Source - Northern Brewer Kit

Ingredients:

• 0.5 lbs. Briess Caramel 90
• 3.0 lbs. Amber LME (60)
• 9.0 lbs. Amber LME (15)
• 1.0 oz. Target (60)
• 1.0 oz. Cascade (30)
• 1.0 oz. Fuggles (0)
• Wyeast #1056 American Ale
  

OG - 1.082
Primary - 11 days
Secondary - 150 days!!

Bottled - May 11, 2008

FG - 1.025
Attenuation - 69.5%
ABV - 7.47%


Notes:
- full boil
- put all LME in at 60 min - doh!
- secondary for 5 months!
- should have made a starter?
- named for a horribly messy bottling day
- submitted in 2008 Pro-Am



Finished w/ sample



My young brewery at capacity

Batch No. 3 - Breakfast Stout

Breakfast Stout

Brewed - November 24, 2007

Style - Stout
Source - Northern Brewer Kit

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs. Flaked Oats
• 0.5 lbs. Simpson's Roasted Barley
• 3.15 lbs. Dark LME
• 1.0 lbs. Lactose
• 1.0 oz. Willamette (60)
• Wyeast #1084 Irish Ale
  

OG - 1.031
Primary - 8 days
Seconday - 16 days

Bottled - December 18, 2007

FG - 1.020
Attenuation - 35.5%
ABV - 1.44%

Notes:
- full boil
- very low OG
- super thin, almost no flavor
- horrible attenuation
- too high pitching temp?
- lame beer overall; most was poured out

This was my first (and only so far) total failure. I think the first mistake was misreading the temp before I pitched the yeast. Attenuation was only 36%, so clearly the yeast didn't do it's job. Ended up dumping most of this as it was just like brown water. It was a really low OG to begin with and I will likely avoid recipes that low in the future (unless intended by me for a mild or something - certainly not a stout!!).

First Bottling Day - oh yea!!

Date - November 25, 2007

So, four weeks in and I'm one more step to finishing my first beer!!

I don't remember too much from my first bottling experience, except for being obsessed with sanitizing. This seems to be the step where if you're not careful, you can ruin a whole batch of beer in no time.

A dishwasher here is very handy and in fact, bottling beer is the only time I use mine!! In general I use 22-oz. bombers to cut down on the amount of capping, but more and more I use 12-oz. bottles to allow for easier testing during the carbonation phase.

All in all my first day of bottling was quite smooth. Took me about 1.75 hours from start to finish and no major issues to report. That won't always bee the case...haha.

So, three weeks to carbonate - can I wait that long???

My general bottling procedure:

1. Sanitize dishwasher
   
2. Sanitize bottles - soak in bath of sanitized water; drip dry in dishwasher
3. Sanitize bottle caps and small rack for drying
4. Sanitize siphon, tubing, sample tube, bottling bucket, filler
5. Let everything have a little time to dry
   
6. Boil 5 oz. of corn sugar in 1 pint of water for ~ 10 mins.
7. Dump sugar in bottling bucket
8. Siphon beer into bottling bucket
9. Fill bottles
10. Cap bottles
11. Clean up and label caps
    

Sanitized bottles drying in my dishwasher



Getting ready to fill them up



Red Barron Capper



Two cases of beer!!!!



Sample and hydrometer

Transfer Batch No. 2

Date - November 23, 2007

The SnoPack Porter transfer was typical. Less hops resulted in less trub. Krausen never got as big, so less clean up on the primary. That might also be evidence of not enough fermentation as my attenuiation on this batach ended up quite low (55.6%).

*As time went on I took less and less photos of each brew day, but figured I share most of my earlier ones.

Second Brew Day - Full Boil

Date - November 10, 2007

The big change for batch #2 was obviously moving up to a full boil and using my new wort chiller. Not much was different from the first day and I was much more comfortable with the process, equipment, etc. This also marked my first porter, which has long been my favorite beer style.

But wow, what a long brew day compared to the first. Heating up 5+ gallons on your stove takes some serious time. On later batches I brewed with the oven on, but not sure how much that really helps.

The chiller worked pretty well; cooling the wort in about 30 minutes. Pretty good, but not that great and room for improvement. I did haven't nearly enough ice, so will stock up more next time. To sanitize the cooper, place the chiller directly into the wort during the last 10-15 minutes of the boil.




5+ gallons of boiling wort



Getting ready as the boiling nears completion



Chiller in at the end of the boil to sanitize



Chiller in and running



Finished w/ sample; nicely aerated

Batch No. 2 - SnoPack Porter

SnoPack Porter

Brewed - November 10, 2007

Style - Porter
Source - Northern Brewer Kit (St. Paul Porter)

Ingredients:

• 6.0 lbs. Dark LME
• 1.0 lbs Dark DME
• 0.5 lbs. Simpson's Chocolate
  
• 0.5 lbs. Simpson's Dark Crystal
• 1.0 oz. Chinook (60)
• 1.0 oz. Cascade (1)
• Wyeast #1187 Ringwood Ale

OG - 1.054
Primary - 13 days
Secondary - 16 days

Bottled - December 9, 2007

FG - 1.024
Attenuation - 55.6%
ABV - 3.9%

Notes:
- first time doing a full boil (5.5 gals. at start)
- took 100 mins. to get that much water boiling
- took 30 mins. to chill via wort chiller
- need more ice next time
- took over 8 hours w/ extended boiling time!!!

Home-made Wort Chiller

After my first batch, I decided to go ahead and do full boils. I had originally purchased a big, 8 gallon kettle with thoughts of future needs and the more I read, the more I was convinced that if you have the capability, you should do a full boil.

The only caveat here would be that I'm what is known as a "stovetop" brewer. I life in a condo in downtown Seattle, so I don't have an outdoor area or garage where I can set up a propane burner and instead brew in my kitchen and on my stove (electric range at that). So, I was soon to learn how long it takes to heat up 5 gallons of water.

But the first issue was how to cool 5 gallons of boiling wort, which is very susceptible to infection in between the boiling stage and pitching the yeast at 70°. With my first batch, I placed the kettle in a ice water bath and that even took more than 30 minutes to cool only 1.5 gallons. The only option would be a wort chiller. I had seen many online, but felt reasonably confident that I could make my own for cheaper. Plus it would be a fun project.

Material:

1. 50' Copper Tubing - 1/4" inner diameter (25' would have worked)
2. Plastic Tubing
3. 2 small clamps
   
4. Beckett M250 Fountain Pump (257 gph)
   

Total cost was about $60 (including the pump). Copper was pretty pricey at the time and ones made with 25' of copper tubing were about $50 at the hombrew supply sites.

Some that I saw online were soldered together for added stability. After I shapped the coil around a small bucket, I brought the ends up from the bottom (along the inside). This worked out to help stabilize it and acts as a handle for lifting in and out of the wort. It may not be much to look at, but works like a charm.

For people who brew outside, you can force the water through the copper using a hose and the same can be done inside using an attachment for your sink. I live in an old building where water pressure isn't the best, so I'm not sure where I first saw the idea for a fountain pump, but it is a great idea and works perfect for me. I first picked up one with was 150 gph (gallons per hour), but it was way too weak.

One of the concerns I always have with brewing is the amount of water used throughout the process. I start with a bucket of ice water and pump it through the copper. As expected, it is very hot when it first comes out. But after about 7 minutes, the water is cool enough to recycle into the ice water bath.

In general I'm able to cool 5 gallons of boiling wort to 70° in approximately 15 minutes.



Coiled shape w/ tubing



Fits in the kettle


Practicing with the fountain pump



Chiller all hooked up; ice water bath on the right