If I'm posting to LJ....
...it must mean BEER!
Yes, like many of you I find myself posting less to LJ and spending most of my time on Facebook. I know it ain't right, but...
So, I'm brewing beer on a school night. This is a first. And maybe a last. We'll see. Given the day that I had today, I can hardly believe that I have the energy to do this. But chite is out knitting this evening and I have the house to myself. And if I get it done tonight, I'll have more time this weekend for family. Or taxes. We'll see.
So, Little Man was in bed by 2000 (8pm). Bad news was that I still needed to boil (and cool) the water for the fermenter, so that took up the first hour-plus of my time. It's now 2145 and I just added the grains, which steep for 30 minutes before starting the boil. So I'm going to be at this until midnight. 'Sok, I don't have to get up early tomorrow.
This batch is a Brown Ale. The vital statistics are:
0.5lbs Crystal60 Malt
0.25lbs Chocolate Malt
5lbs Light DME
0.25oz Columbus hop pellets for 60 minutes (14 IBU)
0.25oz Northern Brewer hop pellets for 30 minutes (6 IBU)
0.5oz Willamette hop pellets for 15 minutes (5 IBU)
White Labs Pitchable 005 British Ale yeast
Target Original Gravity: 1.047
Bitterness: 25 IBU
Target Final Gravity: 1.013
Target Alcohol Content: 4.3%
The interesting bit is that I have some dirty chores I need to do while this is going on. Clean litter boxes, take out garbage and recycling. Yeah. Lots of hand-washing.
I've decided to name this brew:
"You're A Good Beer, Charlie" Brown Ale :P
2210 - Added DME. Based on the timeline I established last time, I should have about an hour and a half to go. Which puts me just about on track to finish around midnight. Still on schedule (sort of).
Woah! Almost had a boilover. Hot break wasn't supposed to happen for another 5-10 minutes. Guess I got off schedule somewhere after all. Anyway, bittering hops (0.25oz Columbus) are in. 30 minutes until next hop addition.
So a lesson learned from last time that I've incorporated this time: I added more than 3gal water for the boil so that the water absorbed by the grains and the water that evaporates while steeping the grains doesn't make the wort too dense.
2330 - Last hops added. Wort chiller in to be sterilized during the last 15 minutes of the boil. Still on track to finish around midnight. Getting tired.
So! Midnight on the nose, the fermenter's in the basement and all I have left is a little clean-up. Target OG was 1.047 and actual is 1.048, so I'm very happy with that! It is definitely brown in color and will probably end up a similar color to the Amber Ale that I brewed first, although with less amber color since I only used a small amount of caramel roasted malt.
Other random thoughts: The grain bag I used this time was one that said it was OK for up to 1lb of grain. Well, I used 0.75lbs and it was more full than I'd have liked. I think I'm going to stick with the larger grain bags from now on.
That's all for now. Hope you enjoyed my stream-of-consciousness. Or at least weren't too annoyed. ;)
G'night!
Yes, like many of you I find myself posting less to LJ and spending most of my time on Facebook. I know it ain't right, but...
So, I'm brewing beer on a school night. This is a first. And maybe a last. We'll see. Given the day that I had today, I can hardly believe that I have the energy to do this. But chite is out knitting this evening and I have the house to myself. And if I get it done tonight, I'll have more time this weekend for family. Or taxes. We'll see.
So, Little Man was in bed by 2000 (8pm). Bad news was that I still needed to boil (and cool) the water for the fermenter, so that took up the first hour-plus of my time. It's now 2145 and I just added the grains, which steep for 30 minutes before starting the boil. So I'm going to be at this until midnight. 'Sok, I don't have to get up early tomorrow.
This batch is a Brown Ale. The vital statistics are:
0.5lbs Crystal60 Malt
0.25lbs Chocolate Malt
5lbs Light DME
0.25oz Columbus hop pellets for 60 minutes (14 IBU)
0.25oz Northern Brewer hop pellets for 30 minutes (6 IBU)
0.5oz Willamette hop pellets for 15 minutes (5 IBU)
White Labs Pitchable 005 British Ale yeast
Target Original Gravity: 1.047
Bitterness: 25 IBU
Target Final Gravity: 1.013
Target Alcohol Content: 4.3%
The interesting bit is that I have some dirty chores I need to do while this is going on. Clean litter boxes, take out garbage and recycling. Yeah. Lots of hand-washing.
I've decided to name this brew:
"You're A Good Beer, Charlie" Brown Ale :P
2210 - Added DME. Based on the timeline I established last time, I should have about an hour and a half to go. Which puts me just about on track to finish around midnight. Still on schedule (sort of).
Woah! Almost had a boilover. Hot break wasn't supposed to happen for another 5-10 minutes. Guess I got off schedule somewhere after all. Anyway, bittering hops (0.25oz Columbus) are in. 30 minutes until next hop addition.
So a lesson learned from last time that I've incorporated this time: I added more than 3gal water for the boil so that the water absorbed by the grains and the water that evaporates while steeping the grains doesn't make the wort too dense.
2330 - Last hops added. Wort chiller in to be sterilized during the last 15 minutes of the boil. Still on track to finish around midnight. Getting tired.
So! Midnight on the nose, the fermenter's in the basement and all I have left is a little clean-up. Target OG was 1.047 and actual is 1.048, so I'm very happy with that! It is definitely brown in color and will probably end up a similar color to the Amber Ale that I brewed first, although with less amber color since I only used a small amount of caramel roasted malt.
Other random thoughts: The grain bag I used this time was one that said it was OK for up to 1lb of grain. Well, I used 0.75lbs and it was more full than I'd have liked. I think I'm going to stick with the larger grain bags from now on.
That's all for now. Hope you enjoyed my stream-of-consciousness. Or at least weren't too annoyed. ;)
G'night!