More pictures after the break and you can view all of the pictures here.

PS.  Coronitas sneak up on you.

Building Sand Castles

The kids built a cricket hotel/maze.

Jason and Faith

Angie and Megan

Megan and Linda

View all of the pictures here.

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.

I hope to start posting again more regularly.

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?