Nobody Listens

I finally got around to bottling the wit a long time ago.  Drank it and it turned out pretty good.  I think leaving it in the secondary made it uncharacteristically clear.

I brewed another batch, I think about 2 months ago.  I’ve lost track.  It is a clone of Fat Tire.  It has set in the secondary fermentor for ages.  I’m hoping the batch isn’t a goner.  I won’t get to bottle this week because it is jammed packed.  We’re heading to the beach t his weekend and work is pretty busy.  Hopefully, next week when things settle out, I’ll have a chance to bottle.

I’m thinking of doing a winter warmer or some other celebratory ale.  Some recipes I’ve seen you need to let sit for at least 2 months, so I should get cracking soon.

So, it’s been a while since I brewed the wit (April 11th) and I still haven’t bottled it.  I did rack to secondary so hopefully it is OK since it isn’t sitting on the yeast, but I have to imagine leaving it for this long might produce some off flavors (or make it taste great, who knows).  Hopefully, I’ll get around to bottling this weekend.  Things have just been so busy lately.

Finally got around to bottling my first batch of Pale Ale. 

I soaked my bottles in OxyClean to remove them and clean them Friday night thinking I would get to bottle on Saturday night.  One thing led to another and I wasn’t able to get to it until Monday.

I can see why people Keg.  Not only is the whole process a pain, but storing all those bottles sure does take up a lot of room especially considering I’ll need to bottle batch number 2 in a few weeks.

I tasted the brew and it tasted pretty bitter.  I’m hoping the carbination will cut that a bit.

My Final gravity was 1.014 so it hadn’t changed since I racked to secondary (which is expected).  My Original Gravity was 1.056 so that puts the ABV at 5.46%.  Not bad.  My target Final ABV was 6.02%.

Now, more waiting. 

• Total time in Primary: 12 days
• Total time in secondary: 16 days

   I decided to make something my wife might enjoy a bit more than the pale ale.  Homebrew USA had a Wit recipe that I decided to try.  I was pretty excited to get the next batch underway because I was going to do my primary in glass (Thanks, JP for the carboys!).

So on to learn from my first batch mistakes and make new mistakes with this batch (it’s how you learn, right?).

Recipe: “Wit” Way is Up?
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So I racked to secondary.  The kid in me won out (sorry John!).  

 I prepped all my gear and got to siphoning.  The whole process went pretty smoothly.  I did notice a Star San Snake appear out of the top of the carboy, but as I have read numerous times, “Don’t fear the foam!”

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I’m still pondering the same question from a few days ago: should I rack to secondary?

Being the newbie that I am, I e-mailed the Brew Dudes mainly asking what my Final Gravity should be and if when I should rack to secondary.

Brew Dude John was kind enough to respond:

“Now, for the secondary.  For this brew, I would leave it alone until Sunday and then rack to bottles or a keg.  I don’t think you are going to get another 3 points in another vessel for a while (do you really want to secondary for another 3-4 weeks?) if at all.  To me, I think you have gotten what you can from your yeast.  I think it’s close enough and you probably have a good beer on your hands.  So, you didn’t hit your final gravity…you got pretty close and that works most of the time.

I get pretty close most of the time and I am happy with that.I think secondary fermenters don’t need to be used for the ale you are making….I would skip it this time.” 

The impatient kid in me wants to use all my new toys.  I’d like to rack to secondary just to do it and use my new carboy.  The impatient adult in me wants to drink this beer ASAP.  So waiting an extra week or two is a week or two without this beer.

I know John is right.  I’m not going to get much more out of this brew in terms of drops in SG or any increase in ABV.

Decisions… Decisions…

John also pointed me in the direction of BeerTools.  They have a free registration where you can calculate your FG and some other cool stuff. 

Thanks again John! 

In searching out when to rack to secondary, I ran across the Brew Dudes and one of their posts had me cracking up:

” I think my wife is weirded out a little when she sees me in our second bathroom, bent over and sniffing the airlock.”

Glad to know I’m not a weirdo for pressing my nose to the airlock.

Fermentation has slowed significantly. I’m getting about 3-7 bubbles per minute. I’m wondering if I should rack to secondary. I’ve actually been reading up on that. You have those for it, those against it, follow the 1-2-3 rule, or not.My recipe didn’t come with a target Final gravity but did have the ABV listed so I guess I can figure it out that way.I took a reading @ 69 degrees. The SG was 1.018 which I think is my final gravity although the ABV doesn’t add up.  OG was 1.056.

Does this look… right?

According to the recipe, I’m aiming for an ABV of 6.02%. How much will change in the SG with the secondary and how much is gained in bottling? ABV right now is at 4.92%. I don’t think bottling will take it up to that point.In googling about, I found out that my strain of yeast, WLP005, is a bottom fermenting yeast. According to their FAQ:

” We advise to keep it in the primary fermentor until fermentation is complete. You might have to shake it once in a while to rouse it back up from the bottom and make sure it finishes.”

I think I’ll take another reading tomorrow night then go from there. I’m leaning toward going ahead and racking to secondary. I might give the folks at HomeBrew USA a call to see what they recomend.

The kids and I Made spent grain bread today and man was it good.  I followed the instructions and made one big loaf.  Did I say big, I mean huge.

I checked the loaf at 30 minutes.  Inserted a long tooth pick to see if anything stuck.  Looked clean so I cut into it.  The center was still very underdone.  I shoved the loaf back together and put it back in the oven. I suspect the tooth pick method is not the way to test bread doneness.

I checked it every 5 minutes for the next 15-20.  Finally I just pulled it with it still a tad doughy in the middle.

I suspect I may have not let the dough rise enough, the loaf may have been to large, I cooked at too high a temp or all of the above.

Even though parts were still a tad underdone, it tasted great.  The crust was perfect.

I used brown sugar to make the starter and it added a good level of sweetness to the bread.

To my shock, my kids loved the bread as well.  This thing is almost straight grains.

My wife made some honey butter for dipping the bread and was the perfect topping for the bread.

Fermentation is well under way.  Bubbling like mad.  Pretty exciting stuff.  My wife is already tired of me talking homebrew.