One Brew, Two Brew, Old Brew, New Brew
I've been a busy little brewer! And expect to be so pretty regularly, now.
Last week, my faithful flunkies and I bottled up the previous batch. From the smell, I thought that something had gone wrong - it smelled kind of like apples and rising bread dough. We went ahead and bottled it up anyway (no point in wasting it just because of a little funk - maybe I'd get lucky, and it'd turn Belgian).
Anyway, I cracked one open today, and it wasn't funky at all. There was maybe just a hint of unwanted fruitiness or sweetness, but not enough to notice if you aren't looking for it. Actually the biggest fault that I found with it was that it came out way hoppier than I expected - pretty intensely bitter, actually. Thinking back, that's probably because I waited too long before the dry-hopping, and there were some hop fragments still floating around, which got siphoned off into the bottles. Maybe it'll mellow out in another week or two, when everything settles. My only other concern is that the bottle I opened today was fully carbonated. After one week. Which means I should probably warn the eventual recipient to be on the lookout for bottle bombs. Just in case.
*EDIT*: For everyone who's keeping track (that's pretty much me, I think), that last batch finished with a FG of 1.006-1.008, which puts it right around 4% abv.
Today, I did up batch number three of my learner's PA. And it went pretty smoothly. Only problem I had was hitting that damn 155-158 saccharification rest temp during the mash. Iodine test showed complete conversion, though, so that probably only means it'll be thin and dry again. On the bright side, I got an OG of 1.049. At 70-75F, no less! For reference, that's almost exactly what the recipe predicts, and 11% better yield than the last batch. Of course I'm still using proportionally more malt than the recipe calls for, but hey, I'm still learning.
And yesterday, I got myself two new carboys, buckets, and airlocks, and all the bungs I could possibly need. That's enough to brew two batches of beer at once, and still have space left over to keep a batch of mead going on the back burner all year round. Did I mention I'm going to start making mead? Apparently it's way easier than beer, as long as you've got a carboy or two that you aren't going to use for anything else for the next year. I also picked up ingredients for another batch of beer, which I will probably get going tomorrow. It's a stout, in case you're wondering.
Last week, my faithful flunkies and I bottled up the previous batch. From the smell, I thought that something had gone wrong - it smelled kind of like apples and rising bread dough. We went ahead and bottled it up anyway (no point in wasting it just because of a little funk - maybe I'd get lucky, and it'd turn Belgian).
Anyway, I cracked one open today, and it wasn't funky at all. There was maybe just a hint of unwanted fruitiness or sweetness, but not enough to notice if you aren't looking for it. Actually the biggest fault that I found with it was that it came out way hoppier than I expected - pretty intensely bitter, actually. Thinking back, that's probably because I waited too long before the dry-hopping, and there were some hop fragments still floating around, which got siphoned off into the bottles. Maybe it'll mellow out in another week or two, when everything settles. My only other concern is that the bottle I opened today was fully carbonated. After one week. Which means I should probably warn the eventual recipient to be on the lookout for bottle bombs. Just in case.
*EDIT*: For everyone who's keeping track (that's pretty much me, I think), that last batch finished with a FG of 1.006-1.008, which puts it right around 4% abv.
Today, I did up batch number three of my learner's PA. And it went pretty smoothly. Only problem I had was hitting that damn 155-158 saccharification rest temp during the mash. Iodine test showed complete conversion, though, so that probably only means it'll be thin and dry again. On the bright side, I got an OG of 1.049. At 70-75F, no less! For reference, that's almost exactly what the recipe predicts, and 11% better yield than the last batch. Of course I'm still using proportionally more malt than the recipe calls for, but hey, I'm still learning.
And yesterday, I got myself two new carboys, buckets, and airlocks, and all the bungs I could possibly need. That's enough to brew two batches of beer at once, and still have space left over to keep a batch of mead going on the back burner all year round. Did I mention I'm going to start making mead? Apparently it's way easier than beer, as long as you've got a carboy or two that you aren't going to use for anything else for the next year. I also picked up ingredients for another batch of beer, which I will probably get going tomorrow. It's a stout, in case you're wondering.