The Magic Imperial

So tonight I decided to finally rebottle my Imperial Russian Stout.  I still have 6 gallon’s of red to bottle unfortunately, hopefully it’s still alright, it hasn’t been touched for a few months now.   Well, regarding the stout.

I recently ordered 3 bags of “Munton’s Carbtabs.”  For those of you who don’t know what they are, they are basically CO2 tabs that you can use to simplify the carbonation process.  After almost two failed attempts to carbonate the stout I found out about these through my good buddy Justin B.  Basically, doing the normal carbonation process requires cooking up two cups of corn sugar in a cup of water, then dumping it in the fermentor(primary or secondary), and it requires still active yeast to carbonate.  BUT, with the carbtabs, they are already CO2, so it requires no interaction with the yeast.  Problem solved.

So to make a long story short, I took six clean sterile bottles, put 4 tabs in each, and got ready to recarbonate the stout.  I pop open a bottle, and a very satisfying PST! makes it debut.  In surprise, I stare at it for a couple seconds, then grab a glass and pour.  It was a little light on the head, but the carbonation taste was perfect for a stout, and the taste has really developed in the six months or so since it’s conception.  A real shock.  I still rebottled two with 3 carbtabs just to see how they come out.

I love to experiment, and this was a great opportunity, and a real breakthrough for me.  Just teaches me to be more patient in the future with heavier alc. content brews that I make.  I’m guesstimating at least a %10 after drinking a glass.  Very different taste, almost sweet, less heavy in the bitter, just the way I wanted to make it.  Give it another six months in bottle and it will be almost wine. yikes.

Now to bottle the red.  =)

The flying saucers called Disc Golf and the requested de-occupation thereof.

Well, I’m not really the source to come to for this type of information, but here’s the basics.

There was a vote cast last week to determine the fate of disc golf here in Chico, CA.  It was turned down by 4-3.  So what do we do?  We start a petition, or a “referendum.” and get a bunch of signatures, and overturn the ruling.  Easy as pie right?  Well we only have 30 days to get this done.  Wanna help? sign up here:

http://www.restorediscgolf.com

also you can keep track of the news here:

http://www.norcalblogs.com/commission

So… sorry I’ve been away from my blag for so long, I’ve been unemployed for a little while here, and most of my energy has gone into finding a new job.  Surprise surprise.  I haven’t really brewed at all in the last few months, which sucks.  I still have some beer that needs rebottling, as well as some that’s been sitting in secondary for about 2 months now, which needs to be bottled as well. Yikes.  I promise you, I will get back on track, hopefully before I get a job in the next month or two.

In the meantime, stay classy.

New Batch of Red

Well I had an interesting night last night. I started a new American Red (Amber) batch. I made this one a little darker than the last, and maybe a little lighter on hops. I’ll post the new recipe at the end of this post.

After the Imperial Stout blew it’s head, I decided to try using one of my carboy’s as a primary. We’ll see how that works, so far it looks pretty good. already bubbling (thanks to the yeast starter, which I will talk about in a few), and due to it not having a plastic lid, no sign of exploding.

I did a yeast starter last night, and something interesting happened. It did what it was supposed to, but on the second day, the yeast separated from the wort in the flask. Which made it really simple to then pour off the “wort” and then dump the yeast slurry out and separate it into two parts. One of which I still have saved in the fridge. I’m really starting to get the hang of the whole yeast deal. I just wish I had something to measure how much yeast there was, like cell count, etc. I also saved that wort and threw it in the fridge to settle further, hopefully I’ll get more yeast out of it and then I can do another starter, and then split it in half again for the next time Mr. Bergson and I brew. Was that confusing?

Using a wort chiller outside is very unsatisfactory. I couldn’t get it to go below 80f. So I ice chilled a bucket filled with the rest of my filler water to about 60f, then dumped the 80f wort in, and checked again, and let the ice chill it down to about 70f. Then pitched half the yeast slurry, siphoned it into my carboy, and threw it in my office with a shirt over it.

No pictures this time around, I can’t seem to find the digital camera. Here’s the recipe for you:

New American Red -=6 Gallon=-

Grain:

1lb British Pale
2lb British Munich
1lb British Crystal 120L

Malt Extract:

7.25lb Light Munich LME

Hops:

2oz Willamette %5.5 60min
2oz Cascade %6.1 30min
1oz Cascade Aroma

London Ale Yeast Wyeast. (Starter)

Est %7.2 v/v

American Red Recipe

Here is the recipe that I created for my American Red. I had originally intended for it to be a Irish Red, but I made it way too strong. Irish Red’s are lighter in consistency and have less alcohol content.

American Red

Grains:
1 lb. British Munich
2 lb. British pale
10oz. British Crystal 120L

Steep:
Steep at 170f for 20 minutes.

Malt Extract:
6.6lb Munich Light malt
1lb. Brown Sugar

1tsp irish moss at 30min

Hops:
2 oz. Kent Goldings (5% AA, 60 min.)
2 oz. Mt. Hood (4.5% AA, 60 min.)
1 oz. cascade for 2nd ferm. dry hop.

Yeast:
Irish Ale yeast slappy.

The original gravity is: 1.064
The alcohol is: 6.5% v/v (5.0% w/w)
The color is: 27 HCU (~14 SRM) (Dark RED)
The bitterness is: 44 IBU

Imperial Stout Recipe’s

I have posted up both recipe’s, the old and the new, in succession. check them out. The old was wayy too thick, Literal sludge. I’m going for a clearer brew with more taste and less sludge this time.

Old Imperial Russian Stout Recipe:

8oz British Chocolate
8oz British Crystal 70-80l
12oz American Chocolate
12oz American Black Patent
12oz Roasted Barley

6.5lb Amber Malt Extract
6lb Dark Malt Extract

2oz chinook
1oz centennial
3oz willamette

scottish ale yeast slap pack.

New Imperial Stout Recipe -=6 Gallon=- 2.5 boil.

Grain: Steep for 30 min @ 140-160

3oz. British Crystal 95-115L (probably be 120L)
2oz. British Chocolate
4oz. British Black Patent
2lb. British Brown

Malt Extracts:
8.6lb Amber (or similiar quantity)
6.6lb Dark (or similiar quantity)

Hops:
2oz. Centennial 60min
2oz. Centennial 30min
2oz. Chinook 60min
2oz. Chinook 30min
1oz. Willamette or Fuggles(if available) Aroma

1tsp Irish Moss @ 30 min.
British Ale Wyeast Slappy slap.

The original gravity is: 1.121
The alcohol is: 12.4% v/v (9.7% w/w)
The color is: 124 HCU
The bitterness is: 44 IBU

Yeast Starter 2

This week marks the cooking of Imperial Russian Stout, build no. 2.0, officially dubbed “Immortal Ale.” Today I am starting off with the Yeast Starter again. This time I am going with a 1200ml size with 6.1oz, or .76 cups of Light DME.

I am trying out a cheap way to keep the starter cool, using household items. I have a collapsible cooler that we use for picnics, that I have placed the stirrer in, and will be accompanied by bags of ice wrapped in a towel to help moderate the temperature. Of course I will keep a thermometer in there to make sure it doesn’t get TOO cold.

Also I made a makeshift funnel out of a dixie cup so that I didn’t make so much of a mess, like last time (see previous yeast starter post, picture of hand being used as funnel).

I am also attempting to build a cooler plate to help keep the temperature inside the fermentor down, using things that I have around the house. Sofar my method is to use a USB powered soda can cooler, and a steel computer case side panel.

The Starter has started boiling, in 20 minutes I will cool it, which should take about a half hour most likely. After that it’s just pitching yeast, setting the stirrer, and go. Updates to follow on my twitter account, linked on the side of the blog. I will also be posting up the recipe that I have re-worked and will be using tomorrow.

Second First Run

Tonight, was part two. The wort chiller.

Things went great. I did a brown ale, and Mr. Bergson did a wheat ale. I can still smell the wort. Great stuff. Recipe’s will be posted up later. Anyway, tonight was the maiden voyage of the wort chiller.

Run one, I have a skinnier, taller pot. The wort chiller ran off about 100 degree’s fahrenheit in under 20 minutes. Great work for ten feet of 1/2″ copper pipe. Run two, Mr. Bergson’s pot. It is a shorter, squatter pot, the chiller didn’t quite fit into the whole wort. Still, ran off over 100 degree’s fahrenheit in less than a half hour.

All in all, I think if you want to run a 25 foot copper line instead of something smaller, it’s just maybe a 5 minute difference. I am really impressed.

I ended up squashing the copper pipe down together (view the previous pictures a few posts down for the original look.) so that it could fit into the whole wort. I didn’t take into account that the wort would be around 2 gallons of water, instead of 5 or 6. =)

Anyway, success! 2 out of 2! The yeast is still really to be determined. We split it in half and pitched it a little earlier. Cross your fingers. Here’s some silly pictures of us sitting on our buckets.

Alright, so right before those pictures, I accidentally stepped on the siphon plug on my bucket. Great. It was a little over 6 gallons anyway… still, i’m a little unhappy at my oversized feet.

All in all sofar we are doing great! After this it’s smooth sailing provided everything goes well. If you have any suggestions or idea’s feel free to let me know.

The First Yeast Starter

Alright! Sit tight, this is a long one.

So tomorrow is the next brew day with Mr. Bergson. I am somewhat excited, as I haven’t been able to brew in over a month. I’d say probably almost two months now, since my red. Which is delicious by the way.

Anyway. I am starting this yeast starter now, it is currently 9:53pm. We plan to use it sometime around now tomorrow night. So hopefully it will be a 22-24 hour spin on the yeast stirrer. I don’t know if there are pictures posted up on the blog for that yet, but if not I will post some up with this post. I just checked, and I do. But I will post pictures of it in action tonight.

It was a little silly, I think the Harvest Ale is making thinking a little tougher right now, I decided to try and convert 1000ml to a cup based measurement, and when i got 4.226, I said “oh man, that’s going to be hard.” But, then I realized that I have a 1000ml pyrex measuring cup. DUH. Alright, on with it!

I’m using an Amber DME for the extract, and 1000ml of tap water. I have purified water from k-mart, but i’d rather save that for the actual wort. From the pictures, I had a fun time getting the DME that i’d measured out into the beaker. (I am using just over a 1/2 cup of DME. that is 1oz per 200ml. or .522 cups.) I need to get back to stirring. This will take about 20 minutes to finish once it boils. Also, ignore the bottle of Red Label… Not sure why that was there.

Now I’m a little nervous about this, as it’s the first time I’ve ever put a glass beaker on an electric range. Although I just have to look over at my coffee machine to see a glass pot sitting on an electric burner. huh. ok not so bad now.

I just popped the inner thingie in my wyeast package, I don’t really think it matters if I do or don’t, I just can’t remember for the life of me which is the yeast, the tan stuff or the brownish clear stuff in the inner balloon. So I figure it’s best just to combine the two before I chuck it in the mini-wort.

Spoon!

Finally boiling. I pussyfooted it ’til just now. Still scared of glass on a electric burner. But, it’s boiling. Seems to be boiling off a lot of water, it’s down to 800ml now. Once it’s cooled i’ll probably recompense the lost liquid. Also, apparently it doesn’t like wooden spoons. And I burned my fingers. And again. Damned steam! I guess the best course is to just let it sit and bubble. 20 minute boil.

Time to let it sit for a while. after the glass has cooled to touchable temperature, gonna drop it in some ice in the sink for a few. the icebox needs to be dumped anyway.

Alright, Here it is. The temp hit 65, i yanked it from the ice, and put in the yeast. Here are the final two pictures. The first pic is the yeast mixing into the mini-wort, and the second is the yeast sittin and spinning on the stirrer. The first trial run of the yeast starter will hopefully be a success! We shall find out tomorrow. Also, to clock, it was put on the Stirrer, at about 11:45/12. so it should be about a 20 hour sit and spin.

And thus, another tale comes to pass. Stay tuned for tomorrow, for part two in this series of “The Firsts” when we try out our homemade wort chiller for the first time!

anticipation.

I’m really itching to start a new batch or two. Now that I have all day to do what I want, I can do a few batches.

Also, now that I have a yeast stirrer, I can turn one wyeast slap pack into two 5-6 gallon batches.

What say you, I start a new batch of a revised porter recipe, and a batch of brown (for Milan and Shannon) ?? That sound like a plan?

Good. I thought so too.

Here’s some pics from my Wort Chiller. Basically all it is, is a 10 ft segment of 1/2″ copper tubing, attached to two 5ft segments of hose. The connections are screw-clamps, and underneath are rubber washers to waterproof them. The first test, water leaked like all get out, so I added the rubber washers in to help, and they helped marvelously. Also, I bent the copper tubing by hand. I didn’t have a model to wrap it around, so I just tugged and bent by hand. Anyway, it’s a simple enough setup, and here’s the pic’s:

I fail.

Well, my other blog, International Zombie Threat Awareness Day has officially been dubbed a failure. Double FAIL goes to me, who somehow had auto-renew checked on the domain for that (iztad.net)… and it renewed for another year. oh well, i’ll leave the website up as a reminder to myself of my fail.

I haven’t been able to brew in the last month due to losing my job, and the resulting lack of fund’s. I would love to make it my full-time job, but I just can’t afford that kind of setup right now. A micro-brewery would be awesome, even if I ran it out of home for now.

However, that doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy. Before I lost my job I had picked up some stuff to build a few things. I built a stir-plate, and a wort-chiller. Here are some pics of the stir plate, I will post some info up on the wort-chiller later.