We opened one Christmas Eve. It was much better. The buttery feeling almost all gone and only the sweet and bitter taste of a real ale. Happy Christmas. On New Years Eve we opened one again and it was only getting better. The only down side is the rather dry after taste, and perhaps it's a bit too hoppy, not that it's a bad thing, but perhaps not what we were aiming for. So for then next brew, we'll be careful with the temperature and use less hops.
More about that later.
This is a blog about the joy and process of brewing beer
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Monday, December 19, 2011
First taste
Whoopee! Off comes the seal of the first bottle, nine days after bottling day (just couldn't wait). And to our surprise, it was not bad at all!
The taste was good. It tasted like real pale ale. Nothing rich, but a modest flavor. What was bothering us was the creamy or buttery feel on the tongue. I guess any experienced and/or wise brewer already know what the problem is: diacetyl!
Apparently a common problem in under-fermented beers. In our case it doesn't seem to affect the taste, it's more the texture that becomes undesirable. Next time we'll be more patient before bottling and let it ferment properly.
But all in all. We are happy. We want a bit fuller taste and get rid of the buttery feeling. And then we are close to a Barbro perfection.
The taste was good. It tasted like real pale ale. Nothing rich, but a modest flavor. What was bothering us was the creamy or buttery feel on the tongue. I guess any experienced and/or wise brewer already know what the problem is: diacetyl!
Apparently a common problem in under-fermented beers. In our case it doesn't seem to affect the taste, it's more the texture that becomes undesirable. Next time we'll be more patient before bottling and let it ferment properly.
But all in all. We are happy. We want a bit fuller taste and get rid of the buttery feeling. And then we are close to a Barbro perfection.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Bottling day
Oh hooray! It's bottling day. After ten days of fermenting (we just couldn't wait) it was time to pour the beer to be into bottles. The fermenter had been nicely tucked away in the secret closet in the kitchen, silently bubbling.
Final gravity was 1.010, which should give us 5,6% ABV.
First sip: not too good. Disappointment. It tasted sour and bitter. JK thought it tasted like butter. Not really sure about that though. According to our good book this could mean two things: it's under-fermented or contaminated. Given how thoroughly we cleaned every single item that got in contact with the beer during the whole process, I'm leaning towards the first option. After all, ten days of fermenting is barely the minimum recommended.
Well, anyway. We poured it into bottles nevertheless. We though: Well, the process is not completely over. Let it sit in the bottles for a while. Let's see if it improves.
After filling up the bottles there was one that only got half full. So we poured that bastard into a glass an let is sit for about 15 minutes. And to our joy, the taste was much more satisfying than the first drops from the ferment er. It was much sweeter (of course we had added the priming sugar by then) and not at all as foul. I guess it just needs to sit for a bit.
We'll now let it sit in the bottles for at least a week before opening the first bottle.
I'm not expecting any ultra good tasting beer. But I still can't wait.
Final gravity was 1.010, which should give us 5,6% ABV.
First sip: not too good. Disappointment. It tasted sour and bitter. JK thought it tasted like butter. Not really sure about that though. According to our good book this could mean two things: it's under-fermented or contaminated. Given how thoroughly we cleaned every single item that got in contact with the beer during the whole process, I'm leaning towards the first option. After all, ten days of fermenting is barely the minimum recommended.
Well, anyway. We poured it into bottles nevertheless. We though: Well, the process is not completely over. Let it sit in the bottles for a while. Let's see if it improves.
After filling up the bottles there was one that only got half full. So we poured that bastard into a glass an let is sit for about 15 minutes. And to our joy, the taste was much more satisfying than the first drops from the ferment er. It was much sweeter (of course we had added the priming sugar by then) and not at all as foul. I guess it just needs to sit for a bit.
We'll now let it sit in the bottles for at least a week before opening the first bottle.
I'm not expecting any ultra good tasting beer. But I still can't wait.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
We've done it. First brew was made December 1.
We began with Pale Ale:
Malts:
Pale Ale Malt (750 g)
Vienna (200 g)
CaraHell (50 g)
Hops:
Cascade 20 g 60 min
Cascade 10 g 30 min
Cascade 5 g 15 min
Cascade 5 g 5 min
1 kg malt into 4,2 liters water.
After reading 10 times through the recipe and gathering all the equipment needed (it took a while) we started the brew one night. We had calculated 3 hours for the whole process... it took 3 hours and 25 minutes. All went well until the sparge, we somehow managed to let the temp fall down to 55°C for some minutes. Hope it won't make the beer too dry. Next time we might skip the sparge.
We did the mashing for an hour, wrapping the pot in a sleeping bag. That way the heat dropped only two degrees in half an hour (from 67 to 65°C, after that reheating up to 67°C and keeping for another 30 min in the sleeping bag:
Boiled this for an hour, throwing the hops in according to recipe. Now we have a beautiful little gallon bottle fermenting like a madman in the cupboard. We'll give it two weeks until bottling day (ten days if we just can't wait). So we should have few bottles ready to uncap on Christmas Eve! Oh ho the joy!
We began with Pale Ale:
Malts:
Pale Ale Malt (750 g)
Vienna (200 g)
CaraHell (50 g)
Hops:
Cascade 20 g 60 min
Cascade 10 g 30 min
Cascade 5 g 15 min
Cascade 5 g 5 min
1 kg malt into 4,2 liters water.
After reading 10 times through the recipe and gathering all the equipment needed (it took a while) we started the brew one night. We had calculated 3 hours for the whole process... it took 3 hours and 25 minutes. All went well until the sparge, we somehow managed to let the temp fall down to 55°C for some minutes. Hope it won't make the beer too dry. Next time we might skip the sparge.
We did the mashing for an hour, wrapping the pot in a sleeping bag. That way the heat dropped only two degrees in half an hour (from 67 to 65°C, after that reheating up to 67°C and keeping for another 30 min in the sleeping bag:
Boiled this for an hour, throwing the hops in according to recipe. Now we have a beautiful little gallon bottle fermenting like a madman in the cupboard. We'll give it two weeks until bottling day (ten days if we just can't wait). So we should have few bottles ready to uncap on Christmas Eve! Oh ho the joy!
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Startup
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