Centenial Blonde Batch #2

December 21, 2009

  Last Friday, I mentioned that I was going to be doing some brewing, which I did do yesterday. It was the first time I had attempted a 10 gallon batch, usually brewing in 5 gallon batches, and things went pretty well.

It took quite a bit more time to get the water to boil off, I ended up with almost 14 gallons of wort to start with, but it ended up only taking an hour or so more than I’m used to. I also ended up with 11 Gallons of wort instead of 10, which was good because after reviewing the recipe, it turns out it was actually for a 11 Gallon batch.

I think I’m going to have to buy a real immersion chiller soon, that would probably cut close to an hour from my brew day.

I was a little worried that the Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast that I had rinsed from a previous batch wasn’t going to be ready in time, but Saturday it just took off, and I was able to use it in one carboy after all. The second carboy has the Nottingham yeast that the recipe calls for.

So my storage room now has 2 carboys full of the delicious Centennial Blonde. I’m curious to see if I can tell the difference in flavor between the two batches, since I used different yeasts.

I’m planning on doing a quick extract American Stout recipe in 2 weeks, and I’m going to put it on the American Ale yeast cake.

The only strange thing is that I still seem to be running a pretty bad efficiency, this time it seems to be 65%, but I keep hitting my Original Gravity targets. So I’m not too concerned with it.

Once I open a bottle of the Centennial Blonde, in about 4 weeks, I’ll have to take a picture.

Of course, this week is Christmas, I hope yours is wonderful!

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Excitement is Brewing

December 18, 2009

Or is it that brewing is excitement? A few weeks ago, I set a brew date for myself, and it’s this Sunday! I started getting excited as soon as I set it, and have just been gearing up since.

I won’t be brewing at Great Divide Brewing Co, but it was a fitting picture for the post.

This time, I’m making a 10 gallon batch of a recipe called “Centennial Blonde” that I found over at Home Brew Talk forums. I’ve made it once before and everyone loved it, but I only made 5 Gallons of it, so this time I’m going to double the pleasure, double the fun.

This will also be my first 10 gallon batch, so I’m hoping it doesn’t add too much to the brew day. The original idea was to use some yeast that I “rinsed”, which is basically a way to re-use yeast, but my starter doesn’t seem to be active, so I think those yeasties are either really sleepy, or dead.

To add a little interesting twist to the recipe, I think I’m going to use the Nottingham yeast that it calls for in the recipe for one of my 5 Gallon Carboys, and buy some new American Ale yeast for the second carboy. This way I can compare them and see if I can tell a difference.

I’m already plotting to try and put a Stout on top of the yeast cake after I bottle, but we’ll see if that happens.

Oh yea, and Christmas is coming up too. I am pretty psyched up for Christmas, I think I got some good gifts for my family, and I’m looking forward to having some good friends over for Christmas Eve dinner. Maybe they can help me empty some beer bottles for my next batch.

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Good Boy!

October 21, 2009

This last Monday, October 19th, 2009, our family lost it’s best friend.

For 14 years, you were our child, our companion, protector, and friend. Always happy to do whatever it is that we wanted, or go where ever we were going, enthusiasm wasn’t in short supply with you.

I can’t put into words what those years meant to us, or what they meant to me.

We will never forget you.

Good Boy Fantus!

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Poor Man’s Immersion Chiller

September 6, 2009

Now, is this what they meant by “immersion chiller”

I was worried about getting my un-fermented beer cooled down quickly, and had been looking around at immersion chillers. Having spent enough this week on brewing equipment, I was thinking that I could probably just use a clean garbage can full of water, and pump cold water from the bottom every now and then.

I know it’s not a perfect solution, but it worked pretty good. I only had water in the pot, and it brought it from boiling to 100 degrees in about 20 minutes, and I wasn’t changing the water out very much.

It took about another 20 minutes to get it to 70 degrees, but when I have real beer in it, I’ll have some ice on hand to help it out.

I’m sure I’ll be in the market soon for a chiller, but for now, I think this will do.

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Brew Your Own Beer?

August 28, 2009

March? Really? I haven’t put anything here since March?

In my last post, I mentioned that I had been doing a lot of reading about beer, and was thinking of starting to brew my own. Well after a summer of not being home, between various work travels and vacation, I’m now pretty far along with that hobby.

Directly after the last post I ended up brewing a delicious Hefeweizen, and I was incredibly pleased with how well it came out. Then came all the travel.

My next batch of beer was a “No Sham Shamrock Irish Ale” from the book “The Complete Joy of Homebrewing”, and I only have 6 of those left. They also came out terrifically.

Right now, I have a few weeks before the next batch is ready, it is Presidential Pale Ale, which I hope I like as much as I like Bristol’s Red Rocket.

Then last night I brewed Thunderstruck Pumpkin Ale, which I found on the most useful Home Brew Talk Forums. Highly suggest a visit there if you are interested in the subject.

I’m up to 20 Gallons brewed, and I’m looking forward to my next batch.

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