#18 Turned Out Just Fine

 A few pictures, hic!

Bottling Day #18

 Notice the little coke bottle.

Quaker IPA @ 3 Weeks Old

 Perfect recipe. We were tasting it at 2-1/2 weeks and it was good then, even had some bubbles too.

Back By Popular Demand sTevo's Porter

We'll have to see if the judges like.

Update: They didn't like it, as a Porter. The mistake (cause of low ratings) I made was using chocolate rye instead of wheat or barley. Essentially this batch turned out more like an English Ale. Recipe #17 was definitely a Porter.

Porter # 19

 Brew Date: Sept 1st, 2012

Joined the Brewers Guild and had a great time at the August meeting at Smith Mountain Lake. Later this month there will be a Porter competition so I can recycle recipe #17 because it was so good. While I was at the shop I noticed that Chris restocked the shelves with a few more roasted varieties of grain.

Because I am never content to leave a good thing alone, I am substituting the chocolate wheat with chocolate rye. Will it still be a Porter? I don't know, will have to consult the experts.

I need get busy and hope this can be ready in time.
 
sTevo's Porter Take 2:

10 lbs 2-row
3/4 lb crystal 80L
1/2 lb roasted barley 300L
1/4 lb chocolate rye 500L

1 oz saaz @ 4.9%
1 oz tettnang @ 4.8%
1 oz kent golding @ 4.5%

Safale US#05 dry yeast

Update:

From the Beer Advocate http://beeradvocate.com/beer/style/80

Baltic Porter

Description:
Porters of the late 1700's were quite strong compared to today’s standards, easily surpassing 7% alcohol by volume. Some brewers made a stronger, more robust version, to be shipped across the North Sea, dubbed a Baltic Porter. In general, the style’s dark brown color covered up cloudiness and the smoky/roasted brown malts and bitter tastes masked brewing imperfections. The addition of stale ale also lent a pleasant acidic flavor to the style, which made it quite popular. These issues were quite important given that most breweries were getting away from pub brewing and opening up breweries that could ship beer across the world.

Average alcohol by volume (abv) range: 7.0-10.0%

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OK, looks like I am on the light side of the ABV.

Feel The Grain, See How It Converted

Sometimes it can feel doughy. Today, only empty husks and little spouts.

I Need A Bigger Juice Box

 I want to go for a higher ABV but the box is too small. I need a 7.5 gallon one to help the mash.

My Latest Arrangement

It's all about ergonomics.

Strained Bits

At the learn to brew day I noticed one of the guy straining the flow  coming out of his sparging unit. So I figure I could do a similar thing.