A blog dedicated to my trials and tribulations in homebrewing.
I have lived in Spring for 20 years I attend Champion Forest Baptist Church.
I boiled 6 lbs of Raspberries in 2 qts of water for 15 minutes. Cooled it. Added 4 drops of pectic enzyme.
It took it about an hour and then those yeasties had a party.
Will transfer to secondary when the airlock is 1/30 or next Tuesday, whichever comes first.
Will need to bottle my IPA tonight. Look forward to this one. It was my first full boil.
Until later
I will start with the ingredients and the process, with added notes to think about at the bottom.
Ingredients:
10 lbs Pale Malt
2 lbs Wheat
2 lbs Carapils
3 oz. Strisselspalt (4.5% alpha acid)
1 tsp Irish Moss
1 vial German Hefeweizen Yeast
6 lbs Frozen Raspberries
Prep:
Originally decided to use 1.2 Qts per lb of grain. This would yield 16.8 quarts (4.2 gallons), but thankfully I heated an extra gallon. The mash should have been 153 degrees when adding 4.2 gallons at 166 degrees to 14 lbs of grain. I added 1 more gallon to make it 1.5 qts per lb which is still acceptable.
Mash:
5.2 gallons of water to 14 lbs of grain to 153 degrees for 90 minutes.
Sparge:
Heated 6 gallons of water to 170 degrees. Next will make it 7 gallons. 5 gallon Rubbermaid can't handle hot water and had slight leak. No biggy.
I sparged 6 gallons and ended up extracting 6 gallons of wort. Added 1/2 gallon water to accomodate evaporation.
Boil (Start):
After the wort foaming subsided, I added 2 oz Strisselspalt hops into the boil.
Boil (40 minutes in):
I added the wort chiller (to sanitize it) and 1 tsp Irish Moss (clarifying agent).
Boil (45 minutes in):
Added remaining 1 oz Strisselspalt hops.
End of boil:
Allowed 20 - 30 minutes to cool the wort to 100 degrees without too much stirring.
Transfer to Primary:
I syphoned all 5-gallons (too much evap - will avoid such a rapid boil next time). Pitched vial of shakened yeast and attached airlock.
First Day Fermentation:
The next morning I checked it and the fermentation was already kicken it.
Second Day Fermentation:
Foam has reduced, but the fermenting still quite active. Will add the raspberries in tomorrow.
Notes:
1 - Have an extra gallon of hot water handy.
2 - Do not boil so rapidly. To conserve gas and not boil away as much wort.
3 - Find another Sparging vessel. The 5 gallon rubbermaid is warping and has a tiny leak :(
Bye for now
Bought furniture on Saturday and Father's Day was Sunday.
Therefore no brewing :(
I guess another week of preperation won't hurt. I still haven't calibrated my pH meter and need to better understand the Promash software.
Who know's I might even change my first AG choice.
Today is Friday and I am stoked about creating my first AG beer tomorrow.
I like to hang out at the homebrew.com forum as that is where I have gathered most of my knowledge and confidence in taking this huge step.
Up till now, I have created the following beers:
Australian Golden Ale (Coopers) - First and only canned extract
American Pale Ale - This is when I started my partial mashing
Hefeweizen - I learned how yeast can produce polyphenols that imparts a banana clove flavor
Fruit Ale (Strawberry) - My wife really loves. Could have a better head. Easy to drink
Oatmeal Stout - Had to try a dark one. I really like the Young's Oatmeal Stout in the can.
Red Zeppelin - My favorite beer I've made - Smoooooooth.
Fat Tire Clone - Taking forever carbonate, but then Fat Tire isn't very carb'd anyway.
Cream Ale - So far this is turning out to be pretty good and is only the second beer my wife will drink.
IPA - Had to make a hoppy beer - My first full boil
I have all the equipment ready and have decided on another fruit ale, seeing that my wife is almost out of Fruit Ale.
Here it is: (from thekgb.com)
Recipe Name: Panty Remover (Doug Piehl) Batch Size: 5 gallons
Posted By: MOP Andy Date Posted: 11/24/2003
OG: 1.044 FG: 1.002
Grain: Two Row Amount (lbs): 6
Grain: Munich Amount (lbs): 2
Grain: Cara Pils Amount (lbs): .5
Grain: Medium Crystal Amount (lbs): .5
Grain: Special Roast Amount (lbs): .25
Grain: Fresh Blueberries Amount (lbs): 6
Mash Schedule: Mash all grains (not the blueberries! -- see comments below) for 60 minutes at 155°F. Sparge 6 gallons.
Hops: Willamette (5.7% AA) Amount (oz): 1 Time (minutes): 5
Yeast: White Labs California Ale Yeast
Starter ?: N
Comments: 1st place 1999 Dixie Cup. On the second day of primary fermentation, place fresh blueberries in a large pan and cover with water. Bring to a simmer for 5 minutes, cover and allow to cool. Add to primary after cool. Let stand for 5 days at 68°F. Rack to secondary for 1 week. Rack to keg.
Sound good? Will post tomorrow.