OK, so yesterday I was messing around and I'm trying a batch of 1 gallon apple juice and 1 packet of bread making "highly active" yeast.

Well, 4 hours in (when I got back home) it was rocking and rolling.
Today, it's even faster!!! Here's a video of the neck of the gallon jug. Just look at how many bubbles there are!



Also, today I did some maintenance on most of my batches. I added gelatin to my 3 batches in secondary (apfelwein, cider and cream ale). I had also gotten some oak cubes to try to get my cider to age quickly and smooth out. Well, it never even occurred to me that sanitation might be an issue (bonehead, right?), so I just tossed the cubes in. I'm wondering now whether I might have an infection. Here are a couple of pictures.





What I can't figure out is this:
1. This layer of stuff at the top popped up VERY quickly (like in less than an hour)
2. It has the appearance of re-hydrated yeast
3. Airlock activity has resumed. This batch had only gotten down to about 1.010, but it should be down to about 1.000. So, is this simply an inadvertent re-activation of the yeast? Did the addition of the gelatin do this? Too many variables.

So far, the smell from the airlock isn't off or weird.

OK, so I've got the IPA in the keg now, chilling in the fridge as we speak.

The Bitter turned out well. It's not as clear as I'd like, but it's very, VERY drinkable.

The Apfelwein is currently in secondary. So is the cider. The cider only got down to 1.011, so I re-pitched some yeast on it this morning to try to get it down to about 1.000.

Here's the video!



As you can see, it just about blew the airlock out! I'm not thinking this was actual fermentation, so it appears that a ton of CO2 was still in solution, which may have been giving me a falsely high gravity reading. Anyway, my plan is to leave this alone for about a week and take another reading.

Cheers!

Arrrrgh!!!

I could have sworn that I did a post last week. I can't believe I forgot to hit the "Publish Post" button! Arrrrgh!

Anyway, since the kit IPA I brewed at the end of last month, here's what I've been doing:

1. Kegged the English Bitter last night. Used 5 oz. corn sugar and am naturally carbing the keg. Have labeled it not to be opened before 8/31 (3 weeks)
2. Apfelwein (8/6) - 3 gallons cost $18
3. Apple Cider (8/10) - 5 gallons cost $22

#2 was a 3 gallon batch made with 3 gallons of Mott's "Natural" Apple Cider and 2 lbs. of Dixie Crystal regular table sugar. The yeast used was a Lalvin Champagne yeast (EC-1118). There was no boil. There were no hops. OG was 1.081. Expected FG is somewhere between 0.995 and 1.000. This would give an ABV of 10-11%.

#3 was a 5 gallon batch made with 5 gallons of Kroger brand apple juice (from concentrate with only water, apple juice concentrate and vitamin C added). The yeast used was Danstar Nottingham. There was no boil. There were no hops. OG was 1.048. Expected FG is somewhere around 1.000 to 1.002. This would give an ABV of about 6% or so.

I hope #3 (Apple Cider) will take about a week to 10 days in primary, followed by a 2 week secondary, followed by kegging with sugar to naturally carb in about a month.

#2 (Apfelwein) will take substantially longer. Because the apple juice/cider I used was "natural" (read: cloudy), it will probably take a long time for all of the sediment to settle out. Also, because the OG was so high, it will take a while for this to completely ferment. Further, with such a high ABV, this product will be raw for a long time. I expect something like a 1 month primary, a 1 month secondary and 2 or more months in the bottle (yup, gonna bottle this batch) before they lose their "green-ness."

Anyway, both batches were extremely easy and substantially shorter to "brew," even though I've been told that without a boil, you're "making" cider, not "brewing" it. all told, the longest part of either batch was cleaning (OxyClean Free) and sanitizing (StarSan). The actual assembly of the ingredients only lasted long enough to pour in 3 or 5 gallons of juice (straight from their store-bought containers) and toss the yeast on top. Easy peezy, lemon squeezy.

Batch Update

I hadn't posted since 7/7, and I just posted about my batch from last night, but I've also done 2 more batches in the meantime:
1. English Bitter
2. 1 gallon of Mead

I racked both last night.

The mead had a slight rubbery smell (like the stopper I was using), but to my knowledge it had not had any contact with the stopper in any way. Hopefully that's just a raw characteristic that will age out of it. The small taste I took was good except for that flavor.

The English bitter was dark, much darker than I remembered, but it smelled good and was very, very clear during racking to secondary. Since I have 2 kegs full of beer right now, I'm planning to leave this beer in secondary until a keg comes empty and then use sugar to naturally carb the beer in the keg. Therefore, this beer will probably not be on tap until the end of August or the beginning of September. Maybe this time I'll get a draft beer that's not so crappy :). (My first two kegged batches were much lower quality than I've experienced in bottles. I think it has to do with fine-tuning my keg pressures and letting the beer age properly. Why force carb if you still have to let the beer sit?)

I have a kit for a simple American Cream Ale that I might do next, but I also tasted some of the Belgian Dubbel/Tripel/Wedding Ale I made at a bachelor party last weekend (the groom got an early taste!), and it was AWESOME!!!! I'm thinking about doing another batch of that and buying a new keg when it's ready in order to let it age for a long time. So, I'm not sure what's going to come next.

American IPA (from kit)

If anyone has actually been reading this blog, I'm sorry for the lapse in postings. I've done a few batches since my last post, and have progressed to kegging my batches. Results are mixed so far.

Here's the latest batch I just put into primary:

American IPA
*******************************
Target Ranges:
*******************************
OG: 1.056-1.075
FG: 1.010-1.018
COLOR: 6.0-15.0 SRM
IBU: 40.0-70.0
ABV: 5.5-7.5%

*******************************
Measured Values:
*******************************
OG: 1.056 (1.054 @ 77.4F)
Color seems to match color panel displayed in Beer Smith.
No idea how to measure IBU, but Beer Smith calculates 42.7. This might be a little low for what I want, but we'll see.
*******************************
Ingredient list:
*******************************
6.6 lb. Munton's un-hopped Pale Liquid Malt Extract (2 cans)
1.0 lb. 60L Crystal Malt
0.5 lb. Victory Malt
1.0 lb. Karo Syrup (to make sure to bump up the OG)
2.00 oz. Cascade (7.90%) @ 60 minutes of boil
1.00 oz. Cascade (7.30%) added slowly from 20 to 8 minutes left in boil
1 package SafAle US-05 dry ale yeast

*******************************
Procedures:
*******************************
Used a Bayou Classic SP-10 propane burner for all heating tasks.
Used a modified 5 gallon Home Depot water cooler with false bottom. Put1.5 lbs. of grain into cooler and added 2 gallons of water at about 160F for 40 minutes.
Drained "mash" straight into brew pot.
Added both cans of liquid extract and bottle of Karo (corn) syrup.
Began boil.
Had little foaming action (most of it was at hop addition).
At 40 minutes of boil, I began slowly adding the 1 oz. of flavoring hops, continuing to do so until the pellets ran out at about 8 minutes remaining.
At 15 minutes remaining, I placed my heat exchanger in the boil to sanitize.
When I cranked the water on to cool the wort, my heat exchanger was spraying water. Luckily, I had placed the lid over the pot, so I don't think any hose water got in, but I had to go to plan "B", which was an ice bath in the kitchen sink. I try to be very careful with sanitation, but my wife accidentally spilled about 1 or 2 oz. of tap water into the wort as it was chilling. I hope it doesn't introduce a bacterial infection to the beer. It took a LOOOOONG time to cool the wort down to 110, but luckily I had 3.5 gallons of chilled spring water to bring the temp down further.
After putting the concentrated wort in the bucket, adding water to 5 gallons and taking a gravity reading, I simply covered the top of the wort with the yeast, not stirring it in.
I rigged a blow-off solution into a 1 gallon plastic water jug, and there was fairly significant activity this morning.
The goal for this beer was a nice, strong, hoppy, yet quaffable summer beer.

Blackberry Hefeweizen Update

OK, so I've taken a little time off from drinking the Blackberry Hefeweizen. It's been about a week since I last popped one and the time seems to have helped out a lot. As I was hoping, the blackberry flavoring (2 oz. of concentrated flavoring added when I racked to secondary) has mellowed out a little bit and gone towards the back of the flavor profile. This has allowed more of the overall hefe flavor to come out, and it's now getting toward a nice marriage of flavors. It's still a little heavy on the blackberry flavoring, which seems to be a little musty when it's so strong, but it's getting better. I now have higher hopes for the other 3 gallons I bottled last week. Now, I guess I just need to give it about a month before I start drinking those.

On another note, I realized I had a small stash of batch #6 left. These were the roasty/smoky dunkelweizens I did a few months ago. The flavor is still a little off for my taste, but it's turned into a fairly solid beer. Carbonation is nice. Lacing is good. I wish it had been a standard dunkel, not roasty, but it's still good enough to keep me from buying beer instead of drinking it.

Batch updates

I've bottled 13 gallons of beer in the last week alone!
5 gallons of Imperial IPA
5 gallons of Belgian Grand Cru/Tripel
3 gallons of Blackberry Hefeweizen

I used Munton's "drops" as my bottling sugar for the Hefeweizen and am interested to see how it will turn out. After 3 days in the bottle, I checked one and noticed that all of the "drops" (they come as small pills or tablets of sugar) had broken apart, but a good bit of sludge at the bottom indicates that they still need to fully dissolve into the beer.

I'm a little disappointed with the 2 gallons of Blackberry Hefeweizen I've bottled so far. The blackberry taste seems to overwhelm the hefeweizen taste, but not in a good way. I hope with more time in the bottle that this beer will mellow out and the flavors will marry well.

I was very happy with the tasting of both the Imperial IPA and the Belgian at bottling. I have high hopes for both. I went ahead and tasted one of the Imperials last night (only 5 days after bottling) and it was well short of full carbonation, although it did have some bubbles to speak of. In any case, the flavor was right on for what I want, so I believe when it's ready it will be great! For the belgian, I laid out some money and bottled them in true belgian style with the proper bottles and corks and wire caps. A good number of these will be given away to my friend for his wedding. I'm also planning to age quite a few and give him more on his first anniversary. I also laid out some money for labels from MyOwnLabels.com, and I've very pleased with the results. I got both body and neck labels for this batch, and it makes the bottles look quite good indeed. I'll post the pictures later.

I have also purchased similar labels for other batches (Pale Ale, Irish Stout, Hefeweizen, among others) and will continue to do so. When applied to a clean and dry bottle, these labels stick very well and really make the beer bottle look classy. The only down side is that they're somewhat expensive, adding about $0.40 per bottle. I know this doesn't sound like much, but for some batches, that's as much as the cost for the beer inside! That said, I'll probably look for an alternate solution that will allow me to print the labels at home. For a special batch, though, the professional quality of these labels is sure to please!

American Pale Ale (Batch #???)

If anyone has actually been reading this blog, I'm sorry for the lapse in postings. I've done a few batches since my last post, and have progressed to full grain, full 5 gallon boil batches. It makes the process a LOT longer, but also simpler in certain ways, and it also has the advantage of making the batches cheaper. Going all grain costs significantly less than using DME or LME.

Here's the latest batch I just put into primary:

American Pale Ale
*******************************
Target Ranges:
*******************************
OG: 1.045-1.060
FG: 1.010-1.015
COLOR: 5.0-14.0 SRM
IBU: 30.0-45.0
ABV: 4.5-6.0%

*******************************
Measured Values:
*******************************
OG: 1.051 (1.049 @ 75.5F)
Color seems to match color panel displayed in Beer Smith.
No idea how to measure IBU, but Beer Smith calculates 30.9. I was going for a slightly less hoppy beer this time, on the lower end of the range, and I seem to have hit it.

*******************************
Ingredient list:
*******************************
10.00 lb Pale Male (2-Row American Briess)
0.50 lb Munich Malt
0.50 lb 20L Crystal Malt
0.25 lb Carapils/Dextrine
1.00 oz. Cascade (6.00%) @ 60 minutes of boil
slightly more than 0.50 oz. Cascade (6.00%) @ 20 minutes of boil
slightly less than 0.50 oz. Cascade (6.00%) @ 5 minutes of boil
1 package SafAle US-05 dry ale yeast

*******************************
Procedures:
*******************************
Used a Bayou Classic SP-10 propane burner for all heating tasks.
Used a modified 5 gallon Home Depot water cooler with false bottom. Put all 11.25 lbs. of grain into cooler and added just under 3.5 gallons of water at about 160-165F for 60 minutes. (Sometimes it's hard to measure the exact temperature of the water, as it's different from spot to spot. I went on the lower end of the suggested temperature range to avoid overheating the mash.)
Drained mash, putting about the first 2 or 3 quarts back on top to aid with filtering.
Added 2.5 gallons of water at about 190F for batch sparging for a period of 10 minutes.
Drained sparge, putting about 3 quarts back through again.
Began boil.
Had a large foaming action, requiring the addition of almost 2 gallons of cool water to prevent boil over. When foaming action had subsided, I added 1 oz. of Cascade and began the boil clock.
At 40 minutes of boil, I added in just over 0.50 oz. Cascade and placed my heat exchanger (copper tubing hooked to garden hoses) in the boil to sanitize. At 55 minutes of boil, I added the rest of the second ounce of Cascade (just under 0.50 oz.).
The last all grain batch I did had a few small flies in the primary when I racked to secondary, so I placed the lid on top of the kettle when I was cooling the wort to attempt to prevent as many flies from coming in. It took almost 45 minutes to get the wort temperature down below 80 degrees. I then transferred the cooled wort to my primary and pitched my yeast.
I hope to have this beer drinkable by the 24th of July, as I'm going on a bachelor party weekend and want to take some along. A taste of the wort sample was good, but with a surprising bitterness. I hope the fermentation process smooths that out.
The goal for this beer was a light, refreshing, quaffable summertime ale.

So, I've got two things to talk about this morning.

1. I did an Amber Rye Ale last night and it came out pretty well. The OG was a little low (1.041) because I think my mashing/sparging needs work. I'm modifying a 2 gallon water jug with a hole in the bottom. The built-in spigot wasn't very good, and coupled with my high percentage rye mash, it got stuck, so I think I lost a few points there. Also, I didn't boil down enough (had about 1.1 or 1.2 gallons wort at the end) which would also lose a few points of OG. Anyway, the point of the picture is to show that necessity is the mother of invention. I have been buying 1 gallon glass bottles to do my 1 gallon fermenting. The problem last night was that as soon as I pushed the stopper into the mouth of my new glass bottle, the mouth broke! Now, I don't know about you, but I don't like glass in my beer. So, I had to improvise. I had this on hand and it seems to be working just fine. And it's cheaper, too!




Now, the second thing I wanted to post. Here's a video of my Imperial IPA a day after brewing. Can anyone tell me what the crap is going on in there?

Status update on Batch #8 (Dunkelweizen)

Well, I've been drinking my #8 as time has gone on, and it appears that it is peaking just about now. In fact, the carbonation is getting a little bit too high for the style (bubbles clinging to the sides of the glass in large groupings), but all in all, the aroma, flavor, mouthfeel and overall impression are back where I like a Dunkel to be. I'm still not sure what happened with my #5 batch (also a Dunkel), but although the aroma is still a little funky, the taste has mellowed and I can drink the beer happily. Actually, it seems to exactly match Michelob's Dunkel Weisse, which is a good product, but doesn't quite capture the essence of the Dunkel I seek.

Cool pics of All-Grain

So, this batch got started really, really fast! I'm not sure whether it's because I pitched enough yeast for a 5 gallon batch (into a 0.75 gallon batch) or because I pitched at a higher temperature (about 80 degrees), but the picture below is only 2 hours after pitching! I've never done a batch where the primary fermentation occurred in a glass bottle, so I've never actually seen the first part of fermentation. I do think it's weird, though, to see the thick sediment layers at both the top and bottom.


This picture is the next morning, about 12 hours after pitching. Bubble activity in the blow off tube has sped up a fair bit (1 bubble every couple of seconds), but the weirdest thing to me is that all of the sediment at the bottom is gone! Where'd it go? Was it processed by the yeast? Did it float to the top? How weird!!! (No, I didn't mess up and switch these pictures.)


On another note, the Imperial IPA I did (5 gallon batch) 2 nights ago is rocking along! It has to be the fastest bubble activity I've ever seen in a blow off or airlock. I'm seeing probably 2 big bubbles PER SECOND! Of course, since the OG for that batch was 1.092, it has a long, LONG way to go before it's done. Man, brewing is fun and interesting!

First Try in an All-Grain

OK, so it's been awhile. Since the last post (Irish Stout), I've brewed #11 (American Pale Ale - bottled), #12 (Blackberry Hefeweizen - in secondary) and #13 (Imperial IPA - in primary).

I was in the car and had little to do (not driving), so I looked up all-grain brewing techniques on my iPhone (love it!). I found a web page describing how to brew 1 gallon batches at home on the stove with basically nothing more than I already had. The only thing I needed to buy were the ingredients (duh!) and a 1 gallon bottle for primary/secondary.

So, here's my journey through the wonders of all-grain brewing. I found a simple, straightforward 10 gallon batch recipe for an American IPA and all I had to do was move the decimal place.

My ingredients were:
2.1 lbs. American Two-Row Pale Malt
.3 lbs. Rye Malt
.1 lbs. 40L Crystal Malt
.33 oz. Cascade hops (6.3% for 60 minutes)
.33 oz. Cascade hops (6.3% for 15 minutes)
.33 oz. Cascade hops (6.3% for 5 minutes)
1 sachet SafAle US-05 Dry Yeast

I didn't quite follow the recipe exactly, but we'll get to that later.
Here's a shot of the entirety of my ingredients:


I steeped (maybe "mashed") my grain at 150 degrees for 90 minutes. I was supposed to do it for 60, but I like big, strong, flavorful beers at the moment, so I wanted to wring out whatever these grains had to offer. Here's a shot of the grain almost as soon as I added it to my brew pot.


Here are the 3 hop additions. This was simply a 1 oz. bag of Cascade to start with. I separated them as evenly as possible (one for you, one for you, one for you...)


After I mashed the grain for an hour and a half, I strained it through a grain bag to get all of the stuff out that I could. Then, I added the wort back into the brew pot and started the boil. Here's a shot of the pot as it's starting its boil. Not much foaming action here.


These are all of the accessories I needed to use. Note the absence of any sort of racking or siphoning devices. I used the 1 cup measuring cup to get my sample for gravity readings and used the funnel to pour straight from my brew pot into the fermenting bottle. I'll probably skip the racking equipment when I transfer from primary to secondary, too. I think I'll simply carefully pour the beer through a grain bag into a sanitized pot, clean the fermenting bottle and pour the beer back into it through the funnel. Small batches are easy!!!


Here's the wort as it's cooling. If you look closely, you can see some weird looking stuff under the surface. Not important to brewing (I don't think), but a cool picture nonetheless.


Here's the batch in its final setup, ready to ferment in primary.


So, I kind of messed this batch up a little. I was supposed to add 2.25 gallons of water to my mash, but when I added 2, it looked like so much that I didn't add the next quart. Then, I was only supposed to boil for 60 minutes. By the time I started my boil, I was afraid I'd end up with 1.5 gallons or more, so I started planning for a 90 minute boil. Well, about 50 minutes in to it, I was shocked at how much water had boiled off, so I did a 75 minute boil (yes, 75 minutes of .33 oz Cascade for bittering) and I added my flavor hops at 20 minutes. I still ended up with well under a gallon of wort at the end, as you can see in the picture above. From my measurements, I actually brewed an Imperial IPA (again) rather than a standard American IPA. Oh, well, not a bad miss in my opinion.

*****Targets*****
Batch Size: 1.0 gal
OG: 1.066
SRM: 6.6
IBU: 67.9

*****Actual*****
Batch Size: ~0.75 gal
OG: 1.088
SRM: 8.6
IBU: 70.3 (not a ton of difference)

*****Hoped-for final numbers*****
FG: 1.017
ABV: 9.3%

It was a fun first foray into all-grain brewing! I might try another batch, say, Thursday or so. Well, I'm off to smoke a no-name brand cigar to see whether I've become too spoiled by my Padrons!

Batch #10 - Irish Dry Stout

Batch #10 (Brewed Saturday, May 23, 2009)

Goal: A Guinness-like beer, but with more body and flavor

Ingredients:
6.6 lbs. Plain Dark Malt Extract (liquid)
8 oz. Malto Dextrin
12 oz. Crushed Crystal Malt 60L
4 oz. Crushed Black Patent
4 oz. Crushed Roasted Barley
1.25 oz. Palisade 6.7% bittering hops
1.5 oz. Argentine Cascade 3.2% flavoring hops
Nottingham dry yeast

Notes:
This was a fairly straightforward, but lengthy batch to brew. I steeped the crushed grains at 150 degrees for 30 minutes, then drained and removed the grain bags. Following that I added in the liquid malt extract and heated to boiling. The foaming action was minimal, and I added the Palisade hops right when the boil hit. With 5 minutes to go, I added the Argentine Cascade hops. When the boil was done, I covered the pot and cooled it in an ice bath in the kitchen sink until the wort was right about 80 degrees. I poured the wort through a strainer filter (there was a bunch of crap in the boil) and added water to 5 gallons. I measured the temperature (it was 72 degrees), measured the OG (1.056 @ 72 = 1.057 adjusted) and pitched the yeast on top. I stirred vigorously to disperse the yeast, put the lid on and put the fermenter in the closet.
By Sunday morning this thing was ROCKING!!!
3 nights later (tonight, Tuesday) I went ahead and racked to secondary. I didn't take a temperature measurement, but the gravity was 1.022, and if the temp was 70 degrees (shoulda been), I've already got about 4.5% ABV. A sample taste of this beer showed a good, complex flavor. It was nice and roasty, with a good balance of sweetness and bitterness. The hop flavor seems to be nice, too. I think this batch will turn out great! I am probably going to bottle it Friday night.

What I'm smoking...

OK, so my beer production is on hold while I wait out my Belgian Tripel.

My golf is on hold (well, playing anyway) until this weekend. Then, I'm trying out Country Club of Roswell (in GA) to see if I want to join. I've been practicing this week, and Wednesday night I had the best night at the range I've ever had! Only 1 or 2 shots were errant and about 90% of the rest were on target! I'm excited about Saturday!

Anyway, in the meantime, I've been smoking some cigars...

The 2 reviews for tonight include the Padron 3000 Series (again, but this time with pictures!) and the Padron Londres Series.

I started the night with the 3000 Series. In my experience, this is a solid, consistent smoke. I've never, I repeat NEVER had a bad 3000 Series cigar. I smoke the Maduro version.
Here's the cigar pre-light:










These cigars smell great and always draw well! I taste a little bit of pine and leather, which apparently is exactly what I want in a cigar. These are yummy, yummy, YUMMY!

Here's the cigar after it's burned for a few minutes:







Notice the uneven burn. These cigars are not quite as well-constructed as their Anniversary Series (1964 and 1926) brethren, but this could have also been due to an uneven lighting. Without a touch-up, the burn line evened out during the smoke. No unpleasant effect was ever noticed due to the initial uneven burn line.

Here's the cigar right before its first ash-fall:














Here's the cigar right before I put it out. I smoked this baby to the nub! What a smoke!




















Here's the Londres Series cigar pre-light:


Notice that this cigar is more slender, but the same length as the 3000 Series.

I consider this cigar more of an "around the house" smoke. It's not as big as some of the other Padrons, so it smokes more quickly, but it's every bit as tasty as the others! It does smoke a little bit hotter to my taste, but I find that I can get a nice pace that keeps the smoke cool and enjoyable. Just don't puff hard and often on this one!










Here's the Londres right before its first ash-fall:




















Here's the Londres half-way through. Notice that the burn line is staying fairly consistent.





















Here's how far I smoke the Londres down!



















My final take: Well, Padron is definitely my favorite brand of cigar. Whether it's their standard "brown label" (any Series will do), or their upscale Anniversary lines, I am rarely disappointed with any of their smokes. These two tonight were especially good paired with a Chimay Blue (Grande Reserve) beglian ale. What a night! I'm not sure I'll get any sleep I'm so excited!!

Until next time...

More Golf!

While I'm killing time waiting for my Belgian Tripel to finish primary fermentation, I went out and played some golf this weekend. This is kind of a mixed review, in which I'll cover 2 golf courses and a few cigars.

Friday:

Played Woodmont in Canton, GA. The layout is always nice here, and the conditions were top-notch for us. I played poorly (shooting a 95 from the White tees), but it was a fun day. It's too bad the cost of admission was $70, though. That's a little steep, and if I hadn't been with a group, I would have found somewheres else to play! The course was nice, though, and it was a great day for golf.
During the round, I smoked a few different cigars.

Bad: Onyx Reserve Toro
I don't know why I keep buying these cigars. I had one of these, ONE! that was good. The rest have all been OK, but with bad draws and uneven burns. I end up burning my tongue just trying to keep this thing lit. I threw it out when I was about halfway done. Waste of $5.

Good: Padron Maduro 3000 Series
This is a good stand-by cigar. I think of them as my cheap-top-shelf cigars. They rarely disappoint. I like the flavor, the draw is always good and the burn is usually so, too. This is normally a quick cigar, despite its size. Great flavor with cool smoke. Yummy!

Disappointment: Padron 1926 Series Maduro Robusto
This cigar is usually such a treat. I mean, I'm normally drooling just waiting to smoke it, and it NEVER disappoints. Well, until Friday. These cigars are normally perfect; perfect smell, perfect draw, perfect burn, perfect EVERYTHING. This was true of this cigar for the first half, but the second half just didn't burn right. It went out twice! WTF? I won't quit smoking these cigars, but for $10 (for such a small stick), I was disappointed to only get to smoke half of it. Oh, well, what are you gonna do?

Surprisingly Good: Rocky Patel Maduro "The Edge" Robusto
I bought a bunch of these in a sample pack from Thompson Cigar last September or so. If I remember correctly, I got 2 12 packs (3 each of 4 styles) of Rocky Patel maduro cigars for about $39 / 12 pack. I smoked a few and wasn't impressed, so they've spent several months maturing in my humidor. Every once in a while, I'll pull one out as a "filler" cigar. I never expect much. Well, I got a lot from this cigar on Friday! The smell was great, the draw was excellent and the burn was even and long-lasting. It produced a ton of cool, nice-tasting smoke and was thoroughly enjoyable. I was shocked, so when I got home I picked out another one (different style) to try, and it was great, too! I'm guessing that maybe the disappointment back in the Fall was due to the cigars being packaged and shipped in shrink-wrapped plastic. Apparenntly, one they got a chance to age for several months, they opened up and blossomed into great cigars!

Saturday:

Played Stonebridge in Rome, GA. What a course! I liked this one much better than Woodmont and it cost $37 to play! The course was fun, the layout was challenging and best of all, I played well! Shot 86 from the Blue tees. As a huge perk, Nan, the cart "girl" was the best, hands down, I've ever had. She was friendly and fun! I'd go back just for her! The downside to this course (for me) is that it's and hour and a half from my house. Ouch. I'll be back, though.
Again, I smoked a few stogies during my round.

Good: Padron Maduro 3000 Series
I couldn't resist going back to the well here, and I wasn't disappointed. Another good, solid smoke.

Great: Perdomo Lot 23 Churchill Maduro
I normally don't buy big cigars. I like variety and I rarely have enough time at home to smoke a 6 or 7 inch cigar. This one, though, was so cheap and only $0.50 more than the smaller version I thought I'd give it a whirl. Plus, the middle of a round of golf is a good time to smoke a big cigar.
It didn't disappoint. I've had the robusto size in this cigar a few times, and it is always a nice, enjoyable smoke. This cigar was the same, though it gets a little more pungeant and strong toward the end. I actually got the shakes a little at the very end, but it was a very enjoyable smoke. The only down size to this cigar, which is the same for all Lot 23 sticks, is the label. It's huge, it's stiff, and it's hard to get off. (Wow, that sounds dirty!) Really, though, I've damaged a couple of these cigars just trying to get the label off. Plus, it's so long that you can't smoke the cigar without taking it off. I wish it had more of a tab to grab, was made from slightly less stiff paper, or had some way by which it was easier to remove the label. Other than that, though, this is a great smoke at $10, but a steal at $6.

That's all for now. More later. Still waiting on that Tripel..... yeah, primary fermentation is still going strong. At least it will be a strong beer...

Batch #9 Update (Belgian Tripel)

So, yesterday morning (Wednesday), I checked the blow-off/airlock activity of my Belgian Tripel that's in primary (batch #9). I timed the lag between bubbles as averaging 22 seconds. I timed it again last night and the lag had gone down to about 20 seconds. This morning the lag is down again to about 18 seconds between bubbles!!!

Let me get this straight: almost a full week into a VERY active primary fermentation and the pace is SPEEDING UP?!? Um... I wouldn't have gotten that one right :).

In the meantime, I've updated my profile's picture to show what I'm drinking to pass the time. I figured I would go out and get a good representative of what I'm brewing. Yeah, I know it should be the Chimay White in the picture, but the red is what I was drinking last night. Maybe I'll post the White tonight...

Ah, the waiting is such sweet sorrow!!!

My other hobbies... The "General" at Barnsley Gardens Resort

So, as I've made it clear, my other main obsession is golf. I'm not terribly good (17 handicap), but I love the game. I love the feel of hitting a shot pure and watching it sail. Making a 30 foot putt. Just being outdoors in the glory of nature.
Last Saturday, I had the remarkable chance to play the "General" course at Barnsley Gardens Resort, located in Adairsville, GA. If you walk in and play, the fee is $125. YIKES!!! I can't afford that kind of course, right? Wrong!
I subscribe to Last Minute Tee Times (www.lmtt.com), which is a free* service that allows golfers to book their tee times through lmtt.com, often at a large savings off of the walk-in price. In addition, every time you book through LMTT (*$1.99 per golfer, per booking by the way) you earn "yards" that you can later redeem for money off of a particular type of booking. To me, the $1.99 is definitely worth it because I've normally saved more than $2 off the price of a round already, plus I've played FOR FREE when I've redeemed yards. Also, it's nice to see, on one page, what's available in my area for singles this Saturday.
Anyway, what did I pay to play the "General?" $53.50!!!
The course was phenomenal!!! I was spoiled last year and got to play the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island and also Ross Bridge in Birmingham, AL (part of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail). Those are 2 courses that are so nice they host professional events. The General is up there with them. It probably takes third place out of those three, but it is GREAT nonetheless.
This picture doesn't really do the course justice, but it was just so gorgeous I had to take it. This is on a fairly long, downhill-then-uphill par 5. It was AWESOME!

I went as a single and got paired up with 2 other guys. We had a ball even though none of us played particularly well. Still, though, it's a tough course and I shot a 90. Not too bad.

Anyway, if you love golf and nature, give this course a shot! Even the waste areas and grassy areas next to tee boxes are in pristine shape! Areas that don't (or SHOULDN'T) matter to your golf game are still well-kept. I'll be back for sure!!!

Modified Airlock/Blow-off Solution

So, I'm gonna go ahead and show everybody what kind of blow off solution I've been taught by my LHBS. Basically, as described before, it's a modified 3-piece airlock coupled with 1/2" rubber tubing.

This first picture shows the standard, 3-piece airlock that I can get at my LHBS for $1.25. It works well, but the tip kind of limits the flow of anything except gases through it.

In this next picture, notice that both airlocks are the exact same, with the exception that the airlock on the right has had the "star" crushed off of the end. Once that is done, flow through the tip is almost as good as it gets. There is a small area near the tip (still intact on both airlocks shown) that narrows from the full gauge of the inner chamber. On other airlocks, I have cut above this so as to reduce this limitation. In my opinion, this is of negligible effect. Getting rid of the "star" is what makes the big difference.

Now, here we have the airlock inserted into the rubber grommet in the lid of my primary fermenting bucket. ½” rubber tubing has been pressed onto the outside of the inner chamber of the airlock. Everything is, of course, sanitized before being installed.

Here’s a picture of the entire blow-off solution, from bucket to catch container. Here, I’m using a wine bottle, half-filled with water. You can use water, sanitizer, vodka, etc… I use water because I check my blow off frequently, so I don’t have to worry about suck back. If water DOES get sucked back into the primary fermenting bucket, your batch could be screwed. Use caution.

A side view of the wine bottle, half-filled with water. You can see my other obsession in the background. GOLF! Yeah, baby!!! This solution also makes a nice, satisfying “glug” noise when CO2 is expelled through the water. I find that I can hear the sound into the next room, if I’m quiet. It’s cool!

Batch #9 (Brewed Thursday May 7, 2009)

Goal:
A Belgian Tripel or Grand Cru (a lightly hopped golden ale with ~9% ABV)

Ingredients:
3.3 lb. can of BrewFerm hopped Grand Cru liquid malt extract
2 x 3 lb. bags of LD Carlson Briess DME (Pilsen Light)
8 oz. bag of Belgian Light Candy Sugar
Wyeast Trappist yeast slap pack (3787)
1 oz. Spalt hops (2% AA) added with 10 minutes left in boil for aroma only
5 gallons Publix Spring water

Notes:
Everything went well and normally. Wort was VERY foamy for a long time, and it took a while to get the boil over effect to quit. Boiled 20 minutes after that time, adding the Spalt hops with 10 minutes remaining. Cooled the wort in the sink with an ice bath, covered with the pot’s lid. When wort was down to about 98 degrees, poured it into fermenting bucket and added 2.5 gallons of lightly chilled Publix Spring water. Temperature at pitching was 81 degrees. With an adjusted OG of 1.0849, this should be a big Belgian.

Status: still in primary.

Original Gravity: 1.082 @ 82 degrees (corrected value is 1.0849)
Final Gravity: As yet unknown
Calculated Alcohol: As yet unknown

Lesson learned: Here's the blow-off solution provided by my LHBS. Take a regular airlock, and cut off the star-shaped tip, opening up the full diameter of the inner chamber at the bottom. Using about 2 or 3 feet of 1/2" tubing, attach one end to the top of the inner chamber of the airlock, and run the other end into a wine bottle 1/3 to 1/2 full of liquid (I used water). This means that the outer chamber for the airlock is completely useless during this setup, though it can be converted back to a 3-piece airlock easily. Even using this solution, I've still had to clean and rinse the blow-off twice. Airlock/blow-off activity has been a lot stronger than usual, and is lasting much longer than typical, too. Maybe that's what you get with an OG of 1.085!

Update: 5 days into primary and this brew is still going strong! Fairly significant airlock activity every 15 to 20 seconds. These aren't small bubbles, either; they are big and loud. I would guess if I was using the regular airlock it would be bubbling every few seconds!

#8 - Back to the beginning #2 (Dunkelweizen)

Batch #8 (Brewed Tuesday, April 28, 2009)

Goal:
My #5 turned out a little funky (we poured out a bunch of them) and my #6, which wasn’t quite a regular Dunkeles, was a little bit off, too. For that reason, I started back over with a simple, pre-made malt extract recipe. Just trying to make a good, high quality beer; I don’t care about the “crafting” when I am saving so much money over the store. Also, my #1 (which was good) got a little bit too carbonated and lost its banana aromas after bottle aging for 2-3 months. Was it too hot in the bottle, bottled too soon? Hopefully, this batch will answer those questions.

Ingredients:
3.3 lb. can of BrewFerm hopped Belgian Wheat liquid malt extract
3 lb. bag of amber dried malt extract (Munton’s)
Wyeast Weihenstephaner 3068 slap-pack

Notes:
I was supposed to use a pound of grain, but was rushed and didn't have time to steep and sparge (I had to rush to dinner and the slap pack was already swollen).
Everything was sort of normal. All went well, except during the 20 minutes of boiling, the boil over effect kept coming back and back, never going away.
I pitched my yeast @ 85 degrees, but the next morning there was a ton of activity with good aroma to indicate proper activity.
After 2 ½ days of fermentation in primary, blow off activity is still going strong. This type of beer (especially pitched at a higher temperature) seems to need a good blow off solution, not just what I’ve rigged up. (NOTE: LHBS worker told me to modify an airlock and attach 1/2" hosing as a blow off solution. I am using this in batch #9 to good effect.)

Racked to secondary after 5 days.
Bottled after 6 more days.
Tasted 1 bottle after 1 day, and there was a VERY slight amount of carbonation (normal for my batches). Taste was good, but thin body, as expected. When carbonated, I expect this batch to rival my #1.
Tasted another bottled after 1 more day (2 days total). There was more carbonation and the taste was better, but the body is still a little bit thin and the beer definitely needs more carbonation. I'm thinking 2 more days and it will be perfect!

Original Gravity: 1.044 @ 85 degrees (corrected value is 1.0473)
Final Gravity: 1.015 @70 degrees (corrected value is 1.0161)
Calculated Alcohol: 4.09% ABV

#7 - Come and get ya hops! (IPA)

Batch #7 (Brewed Wednesday, February 18, 2009)

Goal:
Big, hoppy IPA

Ingredients:
2 lb. 2-Row (Briess) Barley Malt
2 lb. 2-Row (Maris Otter) Barley Malt
½ lb. 40L Barley Malt
¼ lb. Carapils Barley Malt
3 lb. bag of Light Golden DME
1 lb. bag of Light Golden DME
1 oz. Simcoe hops (for bittering)
2 oz. Cascade hops (1 oz. for flavor, ½ oz. for aroma, ½ oz. for dry hopping)
Wyeast American Ale 2 slap pack

Notes:
Everything went normal. My "assistant" sparged the grain after steeping, and we got a good bit more liquid out of the grain.
Boil times were 60 minutes for 1 oz. Simcoe, 20 minutes for 1 oz. Cascade and 5 minutes for ½ oz. Cascade.
I racked to secondary after 2 weeks. Dry hopped with ½ oz. Cascade hops.
The beer was bottled on Tuesday, April 28. (Yes, 7 weeks in secondary!)
After 2 days, mild carbonation was seen and the beer was very tasty! Took the beer to my LHBS owner and was told it would score something like 32 or 33. His main concern was a dry finish, probably attributable to leaving the brew in secondary for so long, bringing the FG to a low 1.011. Also, dry hopping adds to the dry finish. The dryness is less apparent at serving (chilled) temperature than at room temperature. Even at room temperature, though, I liked the dryness that was apparently a knock against my beer. To each his own, I guess :).

Original Gravity: 1.050 @ 77 degrees (corrected value is 1.05206)
Final Gravity: 1.011 @ 72 degrees (corrected value is 1.0123)
Calculated Alcohol: 5.20%

Lesson learned: Hops are TASTY! Yeah, Weizens are still my favorites, but I'm no longer afraid of a big, hoppy monster. We TORE through this batch, drinking the entirety of it in less than 2 weeks. Lord, we're gonna be fat! But it was awesome!!!

Batch #6 (Brewed Tuesday, February 17, 2009)

Goal:
Chocolate Dunkelweizen (a regular one with chocolate and more body and a little bit roasty)

Ingredients:
2 ½ lb. Munich Barley Malt
2 ½ lb. German Wheat Mal
½ lb. Chocolate Barley Malt
¼ lb. Chocolate Wheat Malt
3 lb. bag Wheat DME
1 oz. Tettnang Hops (for bittering)
1 oz. Hallertau Hops (½ oz. for flavor, ½ oz. for aroma)
10 or 11 oz. harvested Weihenstephaner yeast slurry (from batch #5)

Notes:
Everything went without a hitch. Boil times were 60 minutes for 1 oz. Tettnang, 15 minutes for ½ oz. Hallertau and 5 minutes for ½ oz. Hallertau. I put the wort into my 6 gallon carboy for primary, and used a blow off tube instead of an airlock. As of Wednesday morning, there was a large amount of CO2 blowing through the tube. Not a large amount of kräuzen, but some.

Racked to secondary carboy after 7 days.
Bottled after 7 more days.
Bottles were carbonated after 4 days.

This beer is a hit! While I think it's OK, but not great, EVERYBODY who has tried it has raved! I'm not quite sure what the attraction is, but everyone else seems to love it.

Original Gravity: 1.044 @ 72 degrees (corrected value is 1.04537)
Final Gravity: 1.011 @ 72 degrees (corrected value is 1.0123)
Calculated Alcohol: 4.32% ABV

Lesson learned: Try new things. Even if you don't like them, someone else might. My wife loved this batch!

#5 - Back to the beginning

Batch #5 (Brewed Tuesday, February 03, 2009)

Goal:
I was trying to recreate the first batch with slightly different ingredients. Also, this was my first batch utilizing only primary fermentation. I will wait 10 to 14 days and rack to bottling bucket and bottle. No secondary fermentation. This is following advice seen today on home brewing website that Weizen beers don’t benefit from the clearing action of secondary fermentation.

Ingredients:
1 x 4lb. can Edme Microbrewery Series Wheat Beer hopped Liquid Malt Extract
1 x 3lb. bag Munton’s Amber DME
Irish Moss
Publix brand Spring Water to make just over 5 gallons wort
Wyeast Weihenstephan slap pack (#3068)

Notes:
I brought 2 gallons water to 180⁰ and added can of LME and bag of DME. I brought the wort to a boil and added 2 cups slightly chilled water to stave off the foaming action. I brought it back to boil and had to remove from heat to prevent foaming action. I brought it back to a boil and added some room temperature water to stave off another foaming action. Foaming action finally subsided and boiled for about 8 minutes. Added Irish Moss and boiled another 12 minutes. Covered with lid and placed in ice bath in kitchen sink.
It took a little while to get the temperature down, but at 125⁰ I poured the hot wort into my bucket. I spilled about a cup on the floor. I added water to make slightly more than 5 gallons wort. The slap pack was bulging when I added it to the wort.
Wednesday morning, quite a large amount of airlock activity was evident, making me happy. When I got home from work, however, it had turned into a complete blowout! There was about 1 cup of beer/foam on the lid of my bucket and on the ground around it. The airlock was COMPLETELY gummed up with dried wort. I quickly tried to clean up the spill and get the airlock back on, but it took a little while, and I eventually had to take the lid off twice, and I had to clean the airlock 3 times! I finally got fed up with this solution and rigged up a blow off hose. I’m glad I did, because overnight about 2 more cups of foam came through the hose. Heavy fermentation still continues, causing the lid to bow up noticeably. I guess that slap pack was ready to rock and ROLL!

I'm now thinking that this batch was a stinker!
Bottled after 14 days.
Carbonation present in a couple of days.
Too bad this batch stinks! Literally! It smelled like feet! Nothing like the first batch. Crap! Poured out half of the bottles, but kept a few that weren't half bad. In any case, none of the bottles had the nice banana flavor/aroma that makes Weihenstephaner my favorite beer.

Original Gravity: 1.054 @ 79 degrees (corrected value is 1.05637)
Final Gravity: 1.018 @ 72 degrees (1.0193)
Calculated Alcohol %: 4.86% ABV

Lesson learned: My LHBS owner was right: ALWAYS RACK TO SECONDARY!!! I won't make that mistake again. This batch was a good learning experience, but nothing else.

#4 English Bitter

Batch #4 (Brewed Wednesday, January 28, 2009)

Goal:
A lighter, less hoppy version of an ESB; more like a plain English Bitter

Ingredients:
1 lb. Maris Otter Pale Malt – Munton’s
½ lb. Crystal Grain – 40L - Briess
¼ lb. Carapils (Dextrine) Grain - Briess
2 x 1lb. bag Munton’s Amber DME
1 x 3lb. bag Munton’s Light DME
2 oz. Kent Golding (5%) Hop pellets (see addition schedule below)
Publix Brand Spring Water (enough to make almost 5 gallons wort)
About ½ gallons filtered tap water to top off at just over 5 gallons wort
Irish Moss (added with flavoring hops; 15 minutes total boil)
White Labs WPL002 English Ale Yeast

Notes:
Brought 2 gallons water to 150 and steeped grain for 30 minutes. I maintained much closer to exactly 150 than last week when brewing the Hefeweizen. Removed grain bag from pot and placed in colander over another pot. Turned heat to maximum and when temperature reached 180, added all 5 lbs. DME. When wort reached a boil (initially) added just over 2 cups chilled spring water to reduce temperature (and foaming action). I added drained liquid from grain bag. When boil resumed, foaming action was almost nothing.
Added 1 oz. hops with 60 minutes boil time remaining.
Added ½ oz. hops and Irish Moss with 15 minutes boil time remaining.
Added ½ oz. hops with 5 minutes boil time remaining.
Chilled wort in covered pot in ice bath.
Reduced temperature of the wort to 115 and poured the wort through a two stage filter process of colander and strainer filter. Colander took out a good amount of crud, and the strainer filter removed a lot more.
I added water to make just over 5 gallons total wort and took original gravity reading. I pitched the yeast and realized I hadn’t checked the temperature, which proved to be 81 F.
Stirred yeast into wort and placed lid on bucket.

Racked to secondary carboy after 5 days.
Bottled after 5 more days.
Beer was carbonated within a week.

Original Gravity: 1.051 @ 80 degrees (corrected value is 1.0535)
Final Gravity: 1.015 @ 72 degrees (corrected value is 1.0163)
Calculated Alcohol %: 4.8% ABV

Lesson learned: Not a bad batch. Tasted when freshly bottled, and it hadn't carbonated yet. There was a noticeable lack of any body to the beer, however, a week later, the carbonation really brought the body out. There was a VERY noticeable change while the carbonation took place. Great batch!!!

#3 Regular Hefe

Batch #3 (Brewed Wednesday, January 21, 2009)

Goal:
Normal ("helles") Hefeweizen like Weihenstephan or Paulaner

Ingredients:
3.3 lb. can of un-hopped Munton’s Plain Wheat liquid malt extract
1 x 3lb. bag of Munton’s Wheat DME
0.75 lb ground Weyermann Munich (Light) Grain
0.75 lb ground Briess White Wheat Grain
2 oz. Hallertau Hop pellets (see addition schedule below)
Deer Park Spring Water
About 1/3 gallons filtered tap water to top off at 5 gallons wort
NO Irish Moss (forgot to get it at the store)
Wyeast Strain 3068 (Weihenstephan Weizen)

Notes:
Brought 2 gallons water to 150⁰ and steeped grain for 30 minutes. Removed grain bag from pot and placed in colander over another pot. Turned heat to maximum and when temperature reached 180⁰, added liquid and dried malt extract. When wort reached a boil, added 2 cups chilled water to avert initial foaming action. When boil resumed, started 60 minute boil clock. I stirred the batch occasionally throughout.
With 40 minutes boil time remaining, added 1 oz. hops.
With 12 minutes boil time remaining, added ½ oz. hops.
With 2 minutes boil time remaining, added ½ oz. hops.
Chilled COVERED in ice bath. Reduced temperature of the wort to 120⁰ and poured the wort through a strainer filter.Helper let go of his grip and the filter fell into the wort. Dumped crud, washed and sanitized filter and another bucket. Poured wort into new bucket and filtered again into primary fermentation bucket. Put on lid and prepped airlock. Realized hadn’t taken gravity measurement, so removed lid, sterilized turkey baster and took sample. I replaced the lid without further sanitization.
Opened primary fermenter on Saturday, January 24, 2009, and there was quite a bit of foam on top of the beer. I replaced lid to continue watching for further fermentation. There was a slight bit more and by Monday evening, I was convinced that primary had ended.
Took sample using wine thief and hydrometer; measurement was 1.013 @ 72 degrees.
Racked to secondary carboy after 5 days.
Bottled after 3 more days. My buddy, Mark Jensen, was here to help.
Two nights later, Saturday, we had a friend over for dinner and tried a few out. They had already bottled conditioned, or at least they were already fully carbonated.
Color was a little bit dark (but still OK to me) and the beer is slightly cloudy (well, for a Hefe; it’s probably VERY cloudy for a regular beer). Aroma was great, nice and thick with banana and clove. Taste was wonderful!
Put the whole batch in the fridge on Tuesday, February 03, 2009.

Original Gravity: 1.051 @ 72 degrees (corrected value is 1.052)
Final Gravity: 1.013 @ 72 degrees (corrected value is 1.014)
Calculated Alcohol %: 4.99% ABV

Lesson learned: Even small screw-ups can be fixed. I was very leery when the filter fell into the beer, but a new rack with a freshly santized filter seems to have worked like a charm! Great batch!!!

Try #2

Batch #2 (Brewed Friday, January 16, 2009)

Goal:
Brown ale similar to Newcastle Brown Ale

Ingredients:
64 oz. can Ironmaster Northern Brown Ale un-hopped liquid malt extract
1x 3 lb. bag of Munton’s Amber DME
Publix brand spring water (enough to make 5 gallons wort)
Irish Moss
White Labs English Ale Yeast (WLP002)


Notes:
This was the first batch I did without help. After adding 1 gallon of water and the malt extracts, it became very clear that my pot was too small. I'm still not sure how the first batch worked out so well. Anyway, I tried running 2 pots, but that didn't work at all, so mid-brew, I let the wort cool and went to the store and purchased a 20 quart stainless steel pot. If you're just starting out, this is probably the single most important piece of equipment for ease of use.
This was another 20 minute boil, with Irish Moss added at the 10 minutes mark. This time, just for kicks, I added the supplied dry yeast with the Irish Moss to kill it and give the liquid yeast a little more food to eat. Chilled the wort in an ice batch, but when combined in the fermenting bucket with the rest of the water, it took a long time to get all 5 gallons of wort down below 80 degrees. When the wort was down to 75, I pitched the yeast and stirred vigorously.
Racked after 5 days to secondary carboy.
Bottled after 4 more days.
Beer was carbonated after 3 days.
Trying to create a Newcastle clone was a goal that I missed a little bit. The beer was good, but not quite on par with my first batch, which is a little disappointing.

OG: 1.058 @ 80 degrees (1.061 adjusted)
FG: 1.021 @ 72 degrees (1.022 adjusted)
ABV: 5.02%

In the beginning... Batch #1

Here are the results of my first batch:

Bear in mind that I was very, VERY new to a lot of the brewing processes.

Batch #1 (Brewed Monday, January 5, 2009)

Goal:
Create a clone of Weihenstephaner Dunkeles Hefeweizen

Ingredients:
3.3 lb. can of Munton's hopped Wheat Liquid Malt Extract
3 x 1 lb. bag of Munton's Dark DME
Deer Park Spring Water
Irish Moss
Wyeast Strain 3068 (Weihenstephaner Weizen)

Notes:
Used a small pot, using approximately 1 gallon of water. There was a small boil over, losing probably 4 to 8 ounces of liquid. This was an all-extract recipe, so the total boil time was only 20 minutes. Added Irish Moss at 10 minute mark. Cooled pot uncovered in ice bath in sink. Added wort to fermenting bucket and added water to 5 gallon mark. Temperature was 78 degrees, so immediately pitched yeast. Did NOT stir.
Racked to secondary after 6 days.
Bottled after 4 more days.
Beer was fully carbonated after 4 days. I suspect that I rushed this batch and got a little extra fermentation in the bottle. No bottle bombs, however.

For a first try, this beer was Great!!! I hit the nail on the head. For about $0.65 / bottle, I created a clone of my favorite beer, which costs $3.19 / .5 liter bottle at my local beer store.

FG: 1.020 (really should have waited until 1.015 or 1.016)

Failed to do a proper OG, so ABV is unknown. Seemed to be right for the style, however.

AFTER NOTE: I saved a few of these bottles for 2 months to let them bottle condition. This was a mistake. After 2 months, they were HIGHLY carbonated, resulting in a beer that wasn't too much fun to drink. The taste was skewed. Lesson learned: when a beer is good, DRINK IT!

Getting started

This is my first post (as I'm sure is plainly obvious). I am going to track my brewing process here. I am fairly new to brewing beer, and would like to get in touch with some people to talk about this extremely fun subject! Maybe I have some advice to give; more likely, others can give me advice. I'll be posting my last 2 batches here soon, with all the nitty gritty details.

Thanks!

Mike