Back to base kits

Well, I've managed to spare 2 hours to sort out a kit brew and even that was tough.  It was a 'simply' beer kit so I'll let you know how it turns out.

Additionally my first all grain brew has been pushed back again (sob)...next month definitely.

In the mean time an old gaming and brewing buddy has been tinkering on his own. I'm hoping we can combine forces and produce a few decent batches together.

watch this space!

Barrel Racer - 29th Jan 2012

Barrel Racer - 29th Jan 2012

Brupak dry lager yeast
Rehydrated in 250ml for 1.5 hours
Added to 250g - 300g light DME in 1500ml (topped up with boiled water)
1/4 tsp yeast nutrient added during boiling
Yeast pitched after a good aeration
Aeration repeated every 2 hours (except overnight)

Heated 3 gallons of water up to 68c
Add 500g malted wheat for 45 mins
1.5 kg - extra light DME
Bring to boil
Add 0.9 oz cascade - Shoud've been 1.0 oz (28g) but ran out
Boil for 30 minutes
Add 1.5kg of extra light DME
Left to sit for 10 minutes
Brought back to boil for additional 30mins
Added 1/2 tsp yeast nutrients
Added 1/2 tsp irish moss
Added 0.7 oz Tettang hops
All in last 10 minutes
Turned off heat sieved hops
Counterflow cooled - need to work on cold break removal
Added tap water - unfiltered 2 gallons
Pitched yeast still fermenting in starter
Shaken for a few minutes to aerate
Placed in fridge at 12c
OG 1.050
Eadwin
@scribblinghorse

Pulling the pony up the mountain

The new counterflow chiller works, but I had a big fight with it yesterday to get my wort cooled for pitching. 11pm in the cold garden trying to fit the piping, cutting myself on the copper and covering myself in hot and cold work alike.
The beer is in and the yeast is pitched. Let's just hope my multi-mouth powered siphoning hasn't tainted the beer. Time to have a head to head with engineering to get the kinks (to put it mildly) out of the process.

I have to return to the crime scene tonight to clean the pipe work and some of the items I couldn't face dealing with at 12:30am

Pilsner in bottles and here's the pit pony recipe

Thought I post this lovely picture of the bottled pilsner before it get's drunk in a couple of weeks.

I'm definitely getting more effcient at the ole bottling and a little bit better at the yeast rinsing..fingers crossed it'll be ok for the pit pony brew in a few days time.

Pit Pony

3.5 KG Extra light dry malt extract
500g Crystal Malt
250g Chocolate malt
1kg Black malt

60 g Tettanger (Bittering)
30g Cascade (Aroma)

California Lager yeast
Dextrose for priming

Steep grains at 68c for 30 minutes. Rinse and remove spent grains. Add bittering hops and half the extract (if boil is under 5 gallons) boil for 45 minutes. Add second half of the extract boil for 15 minutes more. Remove from heat add aroma hops and steep for 5-10 minutes.
Cool wort pitch yeast.

Ferment for 5-7 days at 18c - 22c
Transfer to secondary fermentrt (optional)
Reduce temperature and ferment for an additional 14-21 days at 4c - 7c.
Bottle age for 7-10 days

See, I told you I'd get a recipe down one day. Now all I have to do is brew it!

Homebrew vs Life

My increasing passion for brewing on the whole is supported by my family, friends and also my partner (rare indeed). However oft there are other homely duties which get in the way of the schedule. How do I deal with? I pack the lot up and hope that tomorrow will bring a more favourable day for the beer gods.
The pilsner is ready for priming and after being reassured that the diactyl rest approach I employed would mean that three weeks isn't too short a lagering time (it can be up to 8 weeks) and that there would be yeast enough for priming, I'm just trying to get 2 hours to get it in the damn bottles!
Attermpt 1 failed as I needed to get the new kilner jars ready for yeast harvesting and the next attempt is now looking like Thursday.  I'm also getting hassled by my engineering department (read Dad) who wants to know how the counterflow chiller is getting on.
MEMO to Engineering
RE: Counterflow chiller
I've not had time yet! - Stop hassling me!
Regards
Brewmaster Ead

So I thought today was a good day to jot my recipes down here for Barrel Racer, Oldenburg and Pit Pony (TB released for Christmas)
I also figured I'd put them in separate posts so I can reference them later.
So here they are....

C'mon Pilsner

Lagers take ages! I need a second fridge to get another brew going!

The current candidate names are:

Hanoverian

Oldenburg

or

Holsteiner

Currently Oldenburg is proving the most popular but we'll see.

In the meantime I need to start jotting down my recipes for the next brews in the hope of making them repeatable. So recipes should soon start appearing on the blog which is a lot more interesting that me wittering on about random rubbish. It's like talking to myself really.

Barrel Racer has run out!

Showcasing your beers is very satisfying as you prove to many that homebrewing doesn't produce the yeasty slop that many experience on their first and only outing into homebrew.
The down side is that the beer gets drunk and you run out ...fast! I've managed to retain three bottles which I'm meant to conserve until Christmas...fat chance!

Here's the only photo I managed to capture of it: *sigh*

You have to move on and I have. The pilsner is coming along nicely I replaced Spalt with Tettanger but otherwise I remained true to the recipe which I will be putting up here. - watch this space!- and letting you know how it tastes too. Although the lagering is going to take this brew up to Mid- Novermber which wont leave much time for the steamship porter I have planned.

My engineering department (read Dad) has made a counterflow chiller for the next batch with is very exciting. After this set of ingredients is used up I'm thinking of getting the equipment for all grain. I'm scared.