I have no regret getting rid of it.  Sure, it was fun, but it was 30′ and took up almost my whole back yard.  We’re thinking about planing a garden this year instead of grass.

I fought off the kids running through the puddles from the pumped off water from the pool as long as I could.  The begging won out this time.  Plus it kept them busy for about a hour and I got some good pictures.

This took the good part of 2 whole days.  The last about 1.5 - 2 inches of water we dumped into the yard.  Needless to say, there was a flood in the back yard.

Lots of jumping and splashing.

Big splash, funny face.  

This is one of those pictures that will embarrass Elliot when he’s a teenager.  We have lots of those kind of photos.

We celebrated our 9th anniversary on May 1, 2008.  We celebrated by having a picnic with the kids on the beach at East Beach in Norfolk.  Some PB Sandwiches, some chocolate chip cookies, some chips.  Good times.  Hard to believe it has been 9 years.  Love you, Megan!

Mom & Gracie.  Please note, Gracie has a chocolate chip cookie in every picture.    

Why do I have such a weird smile?

Beach Bum Elliot

Hmmm… need to work on that “smile.”

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

Wonder if the Easter Bunny can pay our dental bills?

Elliot’s famous “CHEESE!” with smurf-blue teeth.

Gracie was serious about her Chocolate bunny.

We visited Nannie’s and Poppies. Chole (and Uncle George & Aunt Shelly) was there!

Boys on the couch

The Fam

Orin

The kids had a great time finding easter eggs at Nannie’s and Poppies.

Gracie’s Haul

Chloe found an egg.

Orin’s haul

And of course, a trip to Nannie and Poppie’s wouldn’t be complete without bouncing on the trampoline.

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?

Malt Extract:

• 4 pounds Wheat LME
• 2 pounds Pale LME

Grains:

• 4 oz. Aromatic Malt
• 4 oz. Wheat Malt

Hops

• .75 oz Willamette [:60]
• .5 oz Willamette [:15]
• .5 oz Cascade [:01]

Other ingredients

• 1.25 oz Bitter Orange Peel
• 2 tsp Coriander

Yeast

• WLP400 Belgian Wit Yeast

Specs:

• Target OG: 1.053
• IBU: 16.5
• SRM: 3.8

A friend of mine, Erik Petermann, came over to assist.  He also brought over a bunch of bottles for me so I can bottle up that first batch.

We dove right in.  I used spring water this time instead of tap.  Usually our water is OK, but the night before it was giving off a very chlorine smell.  

Brought the water up to 150 and steeped the grains.  There is much less grain than in the pale ale batch.  MUCH less.  The aroma was great and the color was a light yellow to light brown.

I brought up the heat after 30 minutes of steeping.  As the water began to boil, I noticed some bubbles floating on top of the water.  Rainbow bubbles.  Uh-oh: soap residue?  I cleaned out my pot with oxyclean free and thoroughly rinsed.  Maybe not thoroughly enough.  There wasn’t a great deal of these bubbles but it does concern me.  Nothing I could do about it now!  I guess I’ll find out in about a month.

After the boil, I removed from the heat and added the malt extract.  Next step was the .75 oz of Williamette hops.  I’m hoping to learn more about the different kind of hops soon.  I picked up How to Brew a week or so ago.

Waited a 45 minutes, and added the second batch of Willamette and half of the orange peel and coriander.  

Looks earthy

After the final addition of the orange peel, coriander and hops, breathed in the aroma.  There was definitely a smell of hot tea in the air.  Hot tea mixed with beer (which I’ve heard is good in a brew).

Next step was to cool down the wort.  I decided not to add ice to cool the wort down like I did with the first batch.  Instead, I used the tried and true ice bath.

Since I was going to ferment in the carboy this time, I decided to first add the wort and water to the primary bucket I have to add the additional water and to aerate.  First batch, I don’t think I aerated enough.  I just used a plastic spoon before to try to stir up as much oxygen as I could.  I used the stir paddle instead.  It seemed to do the trick nicely.  I stirred for about 5-7 minutes.

I had JP’s old carboy sanitized with star san and ready to go.  The funnel didn’t fit how I expected it to.  Since Erik was long gone by now (it was around 11:45 pm), I was doing this by myself.  The funnel held, but I wonder if I shouldn’t have got a smaller one.

I decided not to leave the orange peel and coriander in the fermenter.  I tried to find a consensus about what the best practice is for having this stuff in your primary, but like all things in the brew world, it was a split.

The strainer in the funnel got clogged with hops.  I finally poked the screen loose and got the rest of the wort in.  I was able to keep most of the spices in the bucket.

I removed the funnel and shook up the yeast.  I poured it in the carboy, spilling a bit on the outside and having much of it run down the neck inside.  I’m not really sure why I didn’t use the funnel.  I rocked the carboy to get the yeast that was stuck up in the neck of the carboy.  It also helped to get rid of the star san bubbles.

Took my OG and I’m pretty much on target with the recipe from Homebrew: 1.051

Nothing nerdier than a picture of a hydrometer

I’m shooting for a FG of 1.014.  

So here’s what I learned with this batch:

• Rinse really, really well.  I think instead of rinsing in the kitchen sink, I’ll use the bathtub.
• Use the funnel for pitching the yeast into a carboy.

I hope the beer turns out.  The potential soap reside has me concerned.  We’ll have to wait and see!

 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!”

Siphoning the brew

 I took a sample for a hydrometer.  The SG had dropped a bit since my last reading.  Adjusted for temp, the SG reading was 1.014.  

I had a few sips.  The aroma was still pretty hoppy but the taste had more of a “New Castle” type taste to it. Not quite sure how to place that or if that was due to the British ale yeast that was used in this recipe.  The flavor has mellowed out even more than before.

Pay no attention to that Star San bubble.

 I think John had a point, I shouldn’t have racked.  The beer was pretty darn clear.  I held it up to the light and could see some particles floating about, but it had cleared up quite a bit since the last check.  

Not quite sure why I put this on the laptop.

Even though I probably should have listened to the more experienced brew advice, I did have fun racking to secondary and getting to use my new equipment.  I don’t think I’ll wait a full 2 weeks in secondary to bottle.  I think I’ll be lucky if I last a week before I bottle.

How will it all turn out?  

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! 

” 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.

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.