Sunday, January 25, 2009
Mike's Homebrewing Notes - Third Mr. Beer batch - 25-Jan-2009
OK ... bottled all of the Brew Ha Ha and 4 bottles of Honey Maibock this morning ... here they are lined up and ready to carb!
Brewed the Coopers Wheat tonight right after dinner (butterfly pork chops - shake 'n bake [and I helped! hehe] with rice and green beans ... unfortunately the gb's weren't fresh but canned ... sigh!)
Notes:
OK ... bottled all of the Brew Ha Ha and 4 bottles of Honey Maibock this morning ... here they are lined up and ready to carb!
Brewed the Coopers Wheat tonight right after dinner (butterfly pork chops - shake 'n bake [and I helped! hehe] with rice and green beans ... unfortunately the gb's weren't fresh but canned ... sigh!)
Notes:
- Much quicker this time ... total of about 40 minutes with sanitizing ... used tap water that has been stored at room temp throughout brewing
- While sanitzing ... cracked open a 5 Barrel Pale Ale (Odell Brewing - Ft Collins, CO) since I didn't have any HB ready
- Warmed the wheat extract
- Took BNB's advice and boiled 6 cups of tap water ... flame out
- Opened extract (sanitized lid this time ... just in case ... haha) and poured into brew pot ... mixed well with whisk
- Wort temp over 140F ... so chilled the brew pot in ice bath
- About 5 minutes gone ... wort temp approx 115-120F (depending on where the probe tip is in the pot ... dumped into MB keg (prefilled with 4qt of tap water
- Filled MB keg to 8qt mark ... mixed well ... temp at 76F
- Opened the Coopers Ale Yeast packet ... 7g quite a bit more than MB
- Sprinkled the yeast liberally atop the wort ... kept sprinkling ... kept ... man ... that's a lot of yeast!! dunno if you can see in the below pic, but the yeast are covering the entire surface of the wort!
- Five minutes on the timer ... then aerated the wort like crazy for about 30 seconds ...
- Cap on the keg ... took downstairs and labeled with Coopers Wheat, pitch date, and 2 week date ... hmmm ... this should be ready to bottle the day before I leave for New Orleans!
- I need another cooler ... Wrapped the keg well in flannel blanket and placed under bar ... running out of room for coolers ... probably use the heating pad on this one until next weekend when I finish bottling the Honey Maibock ... then can move the keg into cooler
- Time for another beer ... proost!
Mike's Homebrewing Notes - First 2 Mr. Beer batches - 25-Jan-2009
Bottling day! Taste tested both brews @ 2 weeks + 1 day. The Honey Maibock has mellowed considerably ... still cloudy, not such a kick in the a-- from the alcohol (flavor or smell) ... going to bottle only 4 (2 DP PETs + 2 EZ caps) today and let the remainder sit in the fermenter until next weekend.
The Brew Ha Ha has clarified quite a bit ... very mellow on the nose and palate even flat ... going to bottle this whole batch then start the Coopers Wheat Extract in the empty fermenter.
Bottles are sanitizing as I type ... time for another cup of coffee and a smoke (plus enjoying the little buzz these 2 shotglasses of beer have given me!) :o)
Bottling day! Taste tested both brews @ 2 weeks + 1 day. The Honey Maibock has mellowed considerably ... still cloudy, not such a kick in the a-- from the alcohol (flavor or smell) ... going to bottle only 4 (2 DP PETs + 2 EZ caps) today and let the remainder sit in the fermenter until next weekend.
The Brew Ha Ha has clarified quite a bit ... very mellow on the nose and palate even flat ... going to bottle this whole batch then start the Coopers Wheat Extract in the empty fermenter.
Bottles are sanitizing as I type ... time for another cup of coffee and a smoke (plus enjoying the little buzz these 2 shotglasses of beer have given me!) :o)
Friday, January 23, 2009
Mike's Homebrewing Notes - Batch #3 in waiting - 23-Jan-2009
