The Next Step...

So I've decided to take the next step on my journey to all grain: Partial Mash. I've been wanting to get a bit more customization in my brewing lately and this is the only way how to do that with out some how going all grain. A partial mash is done by replacing a portion of your extract with grains. I've decided to make a Belgian Witbier, because of its quick turn around and it will be a good summer beer.

My recipe is as follows:

Ingredients:
3.3# Pils Extract
4# White Wheat Malt
.5# American 6 Row malt
.5# Carapils
.75oz Sterling (6.0%AA) pellets @60 minutes
.64oz Sterling (6.0%AA) pellets flame-out
Wyeast 3942 Belgian Wheat

Spices:
Bitter Orange Peel 1oz 5 minutes
Coriander Seed, crushed 15 minutes

First of all mashing is the process of converting starches from grain into fermentable sugars. To mash you bring 1-1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain you have to a temperature of 170°F then add the grain you wish to mash. Adding the grain drops the temperature of the water significantly. Once you have the grain in you want the mash temp to be between 154 and 158 depending on the recipe. With a partial mash you can adjust the temp if it gets too low. It takes about an hour to convert the starches to sugars. After the mash you have to drain the water from the grain, which can be done using a mesh grain bag or stainer. Once separated you need to sparge, or rinse the left over sugars off the grains with hot water. The amount of water used for sparging doesn't seem to matter as much with a partial mash than it does with all grain. How much sparge water I will use I will figure out later. All of the runnings are collected in the brewpot and then you add extract then bring to a boil as normal with extract brewing.

Cannibalism

Well I took my Amber Ale and cannibalized it to make a full on brown ale. Basically I uppped the Special B to the full 8 oz thus resulting in a darker beer. I am brewing it for my best friend's birthday. Hopefully he will enjoy it. It will be sufficiently malty, but it should have good balance.

17 days later...

Well I finally brewed another batch today. It was a kit beer from Midwestsupplies.com. Its called Amarillo Pale Ale. It seems like its gonna be a hoppier beer, which I like. Now just two weeks until I brew the recipe I posted below but tweaked a bit I am thinking about turning it into a porter of sorts for my friend's 22nd birthday...Who knows i might change my mind between now and then. Not a long post today but thanks for reading anyway.

Next Brew

Since I decided on American Amber Ale its been tough trying to formulate something that I think will be really tasty but also fit the style. It took me a few days and a guy with some know how to help me out. I've decided to go as dark as I can with it still being an amber ale. I also designed it around having a toasty flavor with a lot of caramel notes. I am going to use a good amount of caramel malts to really hit that flavor profile I'm looking for. It will also contain a bit of roasted malt for extra toast and to balance with the sweeter specialty grains. As for hops I've decided not to go the traditional route and only use American hops with a citrusy profile. In stead I am using Czech Saaz, a Noble hop that you would find in pilsners and Sterling which shares some characteristics of Saaz. Both hops have a spicy, cinnamon-like flavor profile. As far as yeast goes I'm using a strain called Denny's Favorite. It is a Wyeast strain noted for bringing out caramel notes but still having good attenuation. This means the beer will have the flavor I want with out being cloyingly sweet. The recipe is this:

6lbs. Gold Liquid Malt Extract
8oz CaraMunich II
8oz Caramel Malt 80L
8oz Special Roast
2oz Special B Malt
2oz Roasted Barley

1.5oz Sterling (6%AA) pellet hops for 60 minutes
1oz Czech Saaz (3.1%AA) pellet hops for 5 minutes
.5oz Sterling (6%AA) pellet hops for 5 minutes

I think I will throw in some Irish Moss or Whirfloc tablets to make sure it clears properly. I will primary this for 2 weeks another 2 weeks in secondary and 3 weeks in bottle. Hopefully it will be as amazing as I am planning if not you live, you learn and such.

Well thanks for reading. Again any questions/comments/feedback you may inquire at firestone2489@gmail.com

Brewing Up Some Joy

Since most of the people reading this probably don't know much about the process I figured I'd go over it quickly. This set up is for 5 gallons extract brews.

On brew day you want to make sure you have the following:

Stock pot/kettle at least 20 quart/19L
6.5 gallon fermentation bucket w/lid or Carboy/6 gallon better bottle w/stopper
Bottling bucket
Racking cane
Siphon tube
Airlock
Hydrometer
Thermometer
Bottling bucket
Capper
Bottles(Pry-Off)
Bottling tube
Sanitizer
Ingredients:
Most full boil kits include malt extract, specialty grains, bittering hops, finishing/aroma/flavor hops, yeast, and priming sugar.

When it comes to brewing sanitation is key. So before you even start boiling water it is good practice to get out everything you need and clean it so it is ready for sanitation. Once you brew a couple of times you will get into a routine and it will be easier to make sure everything is done.

Once you are ready to boil you fill your brew pot with 3 gallons of water. Usually ingredient kits have a specialty grain or two to steep in in 155 degree water for 15-30 minutes. After the steep you remove the grains, and take off the heat and stir in the malt extract it may be liquid(syrup-like) or dry(powder)being careful not to scorch it. Once all of the extract is stirred in you bring it up to a boil and as soon as you see a roiling boil you add your bittering hops. Usual boil time is 1 hour. During this hour stay close to avoid boil-overs. Close to the end of the boil you can sanitize your fermenter, siphon hose, racking cane and airlock, stopper and fermenter lid or stopper. I recommend using no rinse sanitizer. Sometime at or after 5 minutes to end you would add your finishing hops. Once you have finished the boil you need to chill the wort(unfermented beer) as quickly as possible in order to avoid bacterial contamination. You can use an ice bath it cool but I would recommend buying a wort chiller to get it down to temp quickly. In the fermenter it is good to put in 2 gallons of cool water to help cooling. Once the wort is cooled you siphon it into the fermenter and bring up to a full 5 gallons with cold water. At this point it is a good idea to take a hydrometer reading to find the Original Gravity of the beer. The OG tells us how much dissolved sugar is in the solution. It is a good idea to use a whisk or pour wort back and forth between two sanitized buckets to aerate the cooled wort so the yeast get a good start. Once aerated you pour in the yeast. Put the lid on the bucket. Put the airlock with stopper attached in the hole in the lid and make sure you fill the airlock halfway up with water, sanitizer or vodka. After that you wait to see bubbles issue from the airlock. When you no longer see any bubbles take a hydrometer reading again. If you get the same reading 3 days in a row its ready to bottle.

When you bottle you need to sanitize your bottling bucket, bottles, bottle filler, caps and siphon/racking equipment. Boil the priming sugar with a cup of water and add to the bottling bucket. Transfer the beer off the sediment in the fermenter, leaving all of the crud at the bottom behind. Then you attach the siphon hose to the spigot on the bottling bucket and attach the bottle filler to the other end if the siphon tube. You then proceed to fill the sanitized bottles and cap them. From there its about a two week wait for the beer to be sufficiently carbonated and ready to drink. I bottled Saturday so in about a week and a half I will try a bottle to see how it is. If you have any specific questions email me at firestone2489@gmail.com, or just leave a comment on here.

Sorry it was such a long post but I feel it should give some insight on how to homebrew.

Procrastination

Because of the time element of brewing, it is very easy to procrastinate. 2 days ago I planned on bottling my beer, but my friend called me up and asked if I wanted to go grab some food and a couple of beers. I couldn't turn down a meal and some beer with friends so here I sit killing time before work. I have a short shift today so as soon as I get done I will be coming home and bottling some beer. Then as I said its just a waiting game again.

Bottling Day.

Well today is bottling day. I will be transferring my beer from my fermenter into my bottling bucket. The bottling process is kind of a pain in the ass but its worth it about 2-4 weeks later when the beer is carb'ed and ready to drink. When you bottle you have to add a bit more sugar to the situation because when ready to bottle there isn't enough fermentable sugar left to carbonate the beer. I just use corn sugar because it doesn't impact the flavor and ferments cleanly. I all I have to do for bottling is sanitize about 40 bottles, fill them, cap them and let them sit at room temp for 2-4 weeks. Now since this is a Wheat I want a lot of carbonation. I'll be letting the beer sit at room temp for 4 weeks to make sure its good and carb'ed.

I ultimately plan on switching to all grain and kegging, but right now I have limited space. Extract brewing is just too convenient for apartment brewing to switch. When I move out I will probably start going all grain. All-grain brewing is a bit more advanced than extract. You have to do a mash and then sparge to get the necessary sugars needed to produce the finished beer. Mashing is using very hot water to cause the starches in the grains to convert to fermentable sugars. Sparging is then the act of rinsing all of the sugars off the grains. With all grain you are able to get better tasting beer. Its said that extract beer has a twang to it that all grain does not.

Kegging involves the use of Cornelius kegs which are the stainless steel cylinders that Pepsi used to put their fountain pop in. With kegging you use CO2 to dispense and/or carbonate. I would like to keg because it gets rid of all of those bottles. I would only have to sanitize a keg instead of 40 bottles. Also with force carbonation you don't have to wait as long to drink the finished product. Its a long way away but I still like to have the knowledge ready for when I get ready to make those leaps.