You Can't Buy Beer That Taste This Good

Porter #20

 I finished gluing the linoleum down and so I'm ready for a break, so lets see how #20 is doing. Even though I am getting over the flu I can taste beer. First sip and I am thinking, I have never bought beer that tastes this good. And I'm not saying it because I brewed it. Five identifiable flavors are coming thru in a perfect balance. The Dark roasted chocolaty flavors, the overall dark crystal malt, the alcohol from the spray malt and some residual malty sweetness, light hop flavors in varying complexities, and a hint of yeast that is still working on the spray malt. All around total smash hit.

My Little Project

Second floor bath needed a new floor so this time linoleum it is. If you ever decide to do your own floor, remember this, less glue is better than too much. I will, the next time I do another floor.

Bottling Day #20

Novelty Glass

Once again, I am waiting on the yeast to do its thing. In the meantime I am trying this Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale. The glass is a gift that I received from my SIL for Christmas. Thanks, it keeps beer colder than a normal glass. A couple of weeks back I saw the ale on a top 12 of the year list so when I was at the store with wifey I picked up a pack. The head is creamy and frothy and the taste has the perfect balance of hops and malt. Too bad it is a seasonal thing. 

Clear Glass Bottles

I am testing out using some clear bottles because I am interested to see how long it takes for the yeast to settle down. Will take some pics as some time passes. Because I used some spay malt in this batch to boost the ABV, fermentation is taking longer longer than my strict 3 week schedule demands.

Beer Flights

Wednesday evening, two weeks ago, a friend Kris and I had a tasting flight, with  our wings.

Beer Flight

When you make your own 6 pack, the beer is on the self, unchilled. So in order to attain the proper operating temperature is a short time, I converted a waste basket into a cooler. Not to worry, It was lined with a bag and I scrubbed it for several minutes in the tub. I grabbed a handful of salt packages and emptied them in the mix too. All was chilled in half an hour.

Instant Cooler

No pics of wings or cigars. When you are in Miramar FL, you have to go here for wings : http://www.jerseyswings.com.

And when you want a smoke, you have to go here:
http://www.aficionadoscigars.com/index.php/photos

I had an Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur and Kris had an Armondo's blend. Kris normally makes it about 1/3 of the way but this one made it to the end. Next time I am at Aficionados, I will focus my attention on the house blended cigars because they are excellent.

Hoppy Clouds

I go down to check on my project and all I can thing of is Bob Ross painting Happy Clouds.

I have Happy Yeast and a nice cap.

Had I watered back up to five gallons, all my hops would be on the floor because I don't use a blow off tube. In a week, I will siphon to the secondary and then add a gallon of water to the trub to separate the beer from the soupy mixture of yeast, hops and wort, that will by then have settled on the bottom.

Brew #20 Porter #17, Take 3

Brew Date: Dec 19th, 2012

Here we go again. You know by now that something here is not like the other. After making a poor choice of substituting chocolate rye for chocolate wheat on brew #19, I am putting the wheat back, and then adding 3 lb of spraymalt extract to the boil. My mash ton can only hold so much grain and until I get this under control, higher ABV's will have to come by way of extract.

sTevo's Porter, take 3:

10 lbs 2-row
3 lb Plain Extra Light Spraymalt
3/4 lb crystal 80L
1/2 lb roasted barley 300L
1/4 lb chocolate wheat 1000L

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

Safale US#05 dry yeast


Hop Addition Schedule:
Upon Boil after Skimming
1/2 oz saaz  1/2 oz tett t=20
1/2 oz saaz  1/2 oz tett t=40
1/3 oz Kent t=55
dry hop 2/3 kent after active fermentation settles down.

Rinsing Adds ~1 Gallon

Pours like Syrup

My concoction  boiled over on wifey's glass cook top which was a major pain and caused a lengthy delay. I had to cool down the wort, siphon it in a carboy, clean the glass using razor blades and ceramic cleaner. Then I started the boil all over after the mess was cleaned up, an hour and a half later. On the plus side, wifey was to tired to get involved.

Wort hit that cook top and instantly caramelized and then turned to charcoal. Had I continued, the smoke alarms would have started blaring. I used two pots to boil in on the second round so I would not repeat this operation, even though the dross from the break hit the cook top and flowed to the floor. I still have to remove the oven door face to clean out the inside. The blob flowed in through the vents as it proceeded downward.

I was up till midnight getting it done. On the plus side, I got to use my wort chiller twice in one evening.

Deconstruction

Jupiter SAS 767 '89

In order to fully understand something, you must fully deconstruct it. Then put it back together piece by piece.

In some ways the same goes for an excellent brew. You must know all of the components and how to assembly them properly. Each part has its proper place in the assembly. The trick is to figure this out, with minimal rework.

So, now that all of the parts cleaned are cleaned up and ready to be assembled. Will it play? Not without fine tuning and regulation.

Happy Thanksgiving

Have taken way too much time off from brewing. In the meantime, here is a pic of my daughter getting all artsy fartsy with the fruits. Plus, it is 5:00 PM somewhere.