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

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!

Hop shopping.... the last stop before lift off!

There are so many factors to a beer and so many types to try.... I've been doing way to much reading on yeast and hops and I think I'm ready to get back into the brewery (now partially located in the garage) and get my brew on.
As a keen hop head and lover of the IPA I figured the best way to get some of my commercial beer drinking (mainly lager) mates over to the ale was to brew steam/common and lager of my own. Then hop over to the pale ales and by next Christmas they'll be drinking porter like the best of 'em!

I've purchased some San Francisco yeast which will allow me to brew 'common' beer types and lagers. This will also force me to practice rinsing and propagation. Mainly because the yeast is so damn expensive!

I've purchased a few little add ons and will be making use of the fridge in the garage. Item's I've purchased are as follows:

Siphon upgrade - My current one is pants and this is a very important step to get right!
A fermenter with a bottler attached - This will be my lagering vessel and making bottling a lot easier!
Concial flask - This is for propagation
Thermostat - This is to control the fermentation and lagering temperatures in the fridge.

I'm now working out my four brews and what hops I'll need for each of them.... here's the list so far:

Cascade
Tettnanger
Centennial
Saaz

I'll post some info on these at some point soon as well as the base recipes I want to work from.