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 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! 

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.

I was being a bit impatient.  Did I aerate enough?

The temp. was around 67.  I did something (potentially) dumb: I hooked up a heater next to my bucket.  The air temp quickly rose to about 71 and the airlock began bubbling like mad.  I thought better and turned it off.  The bubbling subsided shortly there after.

The airlock seemed to be sucked all the way down and looked like it was pulling water back into the bucket.

Maybe I should just leave well enough alone.

The setup.  A perfect little spot for making beer.

I had read around on some postings that secondary fermenters should be glass, not plastic due to the headroom and the permeability of plastic. So I decided to use the 7.5 gallon bucket I got at HomeBrew USA for my primary. I’ll pick up a carboy later. Plus the old bucket was, well… old.

I put the old bucket to good use however. I cleaned it well and mixed up 5 gallons of Star San. Overkill, yes but it should keep for a long time.

Here’s the recipe I’m making. It is a Pale Ale that HomeBrew USA calls “Cape Henry Pale Ale”

Malt:

• 7lbs light malt extract

Specialty Grains:

• 1lb 40L Crystal Malt
• 1/2 lb 60L Crystal malt
• 1/4 CaraPilsMalt

Hops:

• 3/4 oz Chinook [:60]
• 1/2 oz Columbus [:30]
• 1 oz Cascade [:05]

Yeast:

• WLP005, British Ale Yeast

Original Gravity: 1.058

IBU’s: 54.8

Colo: 12.9 SRM

Alcohol: 6.02%

Boiled approximately 3 gallons of water the night before and put into 3 1-gallon zip locks. Will use this to chill the wort.
Brought approximately 2.5-3 gallons of water to 150 degrees. Dunked grains for 30 minutes at 150-160 degrees.

Removed the pot from the heat and added the 7 lbs of malt. I inadvertantly wasn’t stirring when I was addding it (I was busy taking pictures). I realized this quickly and grabbed the spoon and began to stir.

Boil finally started at 10:30pm. Added 3/4oz chinook hops. The house was already filled with grain and malty goodness. The addition of the hops was even better.

Is this pre-boil over or post boil over?

After adding the Chinook, I had a boilover (damn you Law and Order for distracting me). I expect this was my hot break. It was a pretty big mess. Hindsight being what it is, I should have attempted to move the pot and wipe it up. Instead I left it, cleaning it up after all was over scraping up the burnt wort.

The previous night, I boiled about 3 gallons of water which I put in zip lock bags to freeze. I cooled the wort by adding this ice. Brought the temp down to about 90 degrees. I thought that should be enough and the cold water would bring it down to around 75. I was wrong. I should have added more ice. It took quite a while to get it down to 75. I had to finally put it in an ice bath.

Once I got the temp down, I stirred the wort with my spoon vigourously to aerate the wort. I pitched the yeast and was good to go.

I took a hydrometer reading. The Original Gravity is 1.055 (read at 75 degrees, adjusted that’s 1.056).

Here’s Some things I learned:

• watch the pot. prepare for the hotbreak/boil over
• affix the airlock then add the liquid. Also, use star san as the liquid or vodka.

I finished everying up around 1:00 in the morning.

I saved my grain into 3 ziplock bags in 3cups each to make spent grain bread. Hopefully will make one soon and maybe another when the beer is ready to drink.

Now the hardest part… waiting.