The excitement of a new batch of home brew has taken over and it has been an excellent day overall.  This morning The Wife and I participated in the Rock ‘N’ Run 5K here in town.  I wasn’t quite sure why I agreed to do it, but I was certainly glad I did and had a great time!  The Wife and some friends (Caitlin, Meghann, Kelly, and Megan) did a wonderful job recapping the event, so I encourage you to check out what they had to say if you are interested.

Back to the excitement of home brewing.

My brewing supplies arrived on Tuesday as scheduled from Austin Homebrew Supply.  I do have a local option for supplies, but my interaction with the people there hasn’t been all that pleasant so I found another (better) option.  Austin Homebrew has a ton of recipe options (which is where I am at) and they have a flat shipping rate of 8 bucks if you don’t need your supplies for a few days (I don’t mind).  This was my first experience with them, but it won’t be my last.

Before going too much further I should say that I probably won’t get into all of the specifics of the how and why of home brewing in this first brewing post.  I am still learning and will share my successes and errors and what I gain from each.  If you stick with me, all of the pieces should come together along the way as I brew more and more batches.  In the meantime you can check out the brewing page on Brew and Bake since I think Matt did a great job of explaining the home brewing process.  If you would rather go the book route, of course check out Charlie Papazian’s “The Complete Joy of Home Brewing.”

Killing germs

After work on Tuesday I put everything that I would need for brewing in a sanitizing solution (I use the bleach and water method) to sit overnight to be ready to go on Wednesday.  After taking a short time to enter a contest after work Wednesday, I brought 2-1/2 gallons of water up to 160 degrees.  I put the crushed grains into a grain bag and into the heated water to steep for 45 minutes (maintaining 155 degrees or so).  Toward the end of that time I brought a half gallon of water up to 170 degrees.  When the time was up I lifted the grains out and poured the heated water over the grains (with the help of The Wife) to make sure all of the grainy goodness was not lost.

Steeping away

Mmm . . . grainy

After moving the liquid off the burner, the malt extract and honey (5 pounds total) was next to enter the pot.  The honey was added since the recipe is for a honey porter.  I stirred in the malt and honey until it was dissolved, then moved everything back to the heat to bring it to a boil.  Once the heat was adjusted to maintain a good rolling boil without boiling over (tons of sugar in there now), I was ready for the addition of hops.  The hops came in (2) one ounce packs, so I had to break out the scale to get the 1-1/2 ounces of bittering hops I needed.  I added that amount of hops and set a timer for 55 minutes.  After the timer sounded I added the remainder of the hops (the bittering hops and aroma hops are the same in this recipe) and set a timer for 5 more minutes.

Malt and honey

Hop pellets

After the time was up my goal was to bring the temperature of the wort down to 80 degrees s quickly as I could (ideally 15-20 minutes or so).  I had some ice in my cooler and added a lot of water in to get a good cold bath to sit the pot into.  After stirring and stirring and adding more and more ice, the temperature came down.

Stirring away

The wort was then poured into my (sanitized) primary fermenter through two strainers to get as much of the hops out of the mix as possible.  I added water to the bucket to get up to 5-1/4 gallons total.  At that time I checked the specific gravity of the wort using my (sanitized) hydrometer.  The reading was 1.054 which was very close (and close enough) to what the recipe said it would likely be at that point.  After double checking the temperature, the yeast was given a good shake and pitched in.  The lid was securely fit to the fermenter and the airlock was installed.  Happy days!

Into the bucket

I will be watching you

This is where things went a little off the preferred path (for me at least).  Fermentation should start after 12 hours (plus or minus), so I figured to see something by lunch time on Thursday.  Twenty four hours passed and no sign of fermentation activity.  Per suggestion of the recipe I sanitized a spoon, opened the fermenter, gave it a good stir, and put the lid back in place.  The next day came and still nothing.  My thought was that the Labor Day weekend extended the shipping time beyond the norm and the yeast didn’t make the trip unscathed.  I pulled out the hydrometer just to be sure that there was nothing going on.  The reading was the same, so I had to come up with a new plan.

After calling Austin Homebrew I knew that I could still save the batch if I could get my hands on some more ale yeast.  Since I didn’t want to wait days for shipping, I decided to make the trip across town.  Not surprisingly, I didn’t end up with the exact recommended yeast for the recipe (we will see what that does to the flavor), but I did get some Wyeast ale yeast so there was hope for the batch yet.  Having to propagate the yeast overnight, I took some of the wort from the fermenter to give the beasties something to eat.  I was sure to sanitize evreything each time when opening the fermenter, but it may be a small miracle if the batch isn’t contaminated at this point.

So today came and I was getting ready to pitch in the (new) yeast.  As I approached the fermenter I heard faint signs of life!  Could it be?  It seems the original yeast came back to life a bit or at least enough to make its presence known.  Since it was so faint and it had been days, I went ahead and pitched in the new yeast anyway (I did go to all of that trouble after all).

The cavalry

We will see what all of this yeast trauma does to the final product, but the good news at this point is that it’s alive!  The yeast are doing their thing and the spare bathroom (the fermenter is living in the bathtub) is filling with the aroma of fermenting beer.  The Wife maybe not appreciate the smell, but I am so glad that it is there.  As I wait (and watch the airlock), I will be sure to keep updating the status of the soon to be honey porter.

Before I forget to mention it altogether, I will be on vacation starting this Wednesday (9/23) through Sunday the 4^th of October.  I plan on doing my best to continue posting everyday, but there may be a day or two that it just doesn’t happen for whatever reason.  It is a vacation after all and I do have some research to do for this site!

Per the recipe, I transferred my in process homebrew to a secondary fermenter Thursday (with a little help).  The initial fermentation activity was no more so I siphoned the (soon to be) beer into a sanitized carboy and moved the (again sanitized) airlock over to continue its work.  I am going through this step for the first time and I don’t know everything about it, but I will share with you what I think I know (as usual).

Chief of sanitation

Getting started

Secondary fermentation is a bit of a misnomer since most, if not all of the fermentation is already done by the time you make that move.  It’s not a necessary step for many homebrews unless you are going to be leaving the (soon to be) beer in the fermenter for an extended period of time.  That is basically because you want to avoid extended contact with the spent yeast at the bottom because they can impart flavors that you just don’t want (for more on that visit the master of yeast).  Once the beer is moved into the secondary fermenter you can leave it there for longer without those worries.

A beautiful thing

Almost beer

This is your yeast on malt

This step also allows your beer to settle again with less stuff in the mix and leaves you with a clearer product in the end.  That seems to make perfect sense to me.  Though the yeast won’t hurt you if you ingest them (and I think they may even be good for you in a way), they can throw off the flavor of your beer.  I want to take any precaution I can to ensure the best possible flavor at this point in my brewing experience.

Another thing is that doing this can help the beer finish fermenting.  I read somewhere that the inactive (spent) yeast that has fallen to the bottom can hold back the still active yeast from finishing their job.  When the contents are moved and the spent yeast is left behind, the mixture is also agitated which gets the still active yeast worked up, pushing them to complete fermentation (faster).  If more of the little beasties finish their job and fall to the bottom then there are less still in the solution, meaning there are fewer that can have an effect on the flavor of the final product.

That is all that I think I know on this topic for now, though I will still be doing some research into the pros and cons knowing that many future batches will be made.  Some of you may agree and some may argue against secondary fermentation for the beginner homebrewer.  However, what I do know for sure is that my recipe called for it so I did it!

I should mention that I also poured some of the (almost) beer off into another container to give the hydrometer another crack at it.  The reading was down to 1.016 which means that it currently is about 4.978% ABV.  So it seems that I can at least make something that is alcoholic.  Some of my friends would settle for that.  I did taste what I kept aside for the hydrometer and it was not bad.  The Wife didn’t recoil in horror or spit her sample out either, so it might just turn out OK after all!

Greetings from Maine!  It’s looking like another beautiful day here as it continues to be much warmer than I anticipated.  There should be plenty to share from this trip in the coming weeks.

On to the next step for my Honey Porter.

It happened to work out perfectly that I was able to bottle the day before leaving to go to Ithaca.  That was important to me because I was scheduled to see family and friends along the way and wanted to drop off a few bottles if I could.  I also did not really want to leave it all alone in the carboy while I was gone.  Not sure why, but I felt more comfortable to have it bottled while I was away.  Hopefully I will return to no exploded bottles!

The night before sanitized everything that I was going to need, including all of the bottles, and made sure that nothing was missing.  When the day came I rinsed the bottles in hot water and allowed them to air dry utilizing the top rack of my dishwasher (which was run before to ensure cleanliness).  It worked well because I was able to allow them to dry without the mouth of the bottles coming into contact with anything.  I will be looking into a bottle washer because it was somewhat of a pain to rinse that many of them using the kitchen sink.

Taking a bath

I brought a few cups of water to boil and then added the corn sugar, allowing that to boil for a minute or so.  After that it was cooled to below 80 degrees.  The mixture was then poured into the sanitized bucket.  These additional sugars give the remaining yeast something to eat while in the bottle and provide the carbonation for the finished beer.  It is a good idea not to exceed the recommended amounts because too much carbonation will likely lead to exploding bottles.

The contents of the secondary fermenter was siphoned into the sanitized bucket, leaving behind the last bit containing the spent yeast at the bottom.  The process of transferring incorporates the simple syrup evenly.  The sanitizing tube and bottle filler were attached to the spigot on the bucket (now on the counter) and bottle filling went on rather smoothly.  Filling the bottle to the top was the way to go since removing the bottle filler leaves the proper amount of space at the head.

It almost transfers itself.

Looks good so far

Leaving some behind

Into the bottle

During this process I also pulled a bit off to the side to give the hydrometer a go again.  Shortly there after it fell into the sink and broke!  As a result I really do not know the final alcohol content and I need a new hydrometer before starting the next batch.  I guess I will use the previous reading as a ballpark estimate.

The bottle caps were boiled for five minutes to sanitize and capping went very smoothly.  It was actually the most fun part knowing that the end was near.  Now I wait.  The recipe suggests a shelf time of three weeks, though I will likely sample a few along the way to see what the development is like.  Everything tasted OK when I bottled so hopes are fairly high for a good first (bottled) homebrew.

Getting closer

Bottled at last

Stay tuned!

It felt quite good to brew another batch of beer at home and this time a little baking entered the equation.  So far I have mixed feelings on how things are going with this brew, but I am learning to just relax and not worry about my home brews as much.  This is supposed to be fun for me, so there is really no reason to stress out.  There is no failure, only lessons learned.

Speaking of lessons, if you missed any of the process or review for “Practice Makes Porter,” be sure to check out the “Brewing” page above.

Prior to putting any water to boil or getting out the grain bag, there was pumpkin to bake.  The recipe I used had real pumpkin as optional and I decided to take that option.  I cut what turned out to be 3 pounds 9.5 ounces of pumpkin into cubes and baked it at 400 degrees for a half hour.

Pumpkin cubes before

After putting the heat to them

After bringing 2.5 gallons of water to boil, I loaded the grain bag with 1.25 pounds of 2-Row Malt, 1.25 pounds of Vienna Malt, .5 pound of Caramunich, .5 pound of Crystal 60L, and the baked pumpkin.  All of that steeped in the water for 45 minutes while maintaining the temperature at about 155 degrees.  The grain bag was then lifted out and 2 quarts of 170 degree water was poured over it to make sure to get as much of the grainy, pumpkiny goodness out as possible.

Into the grain bag

One final rinse

Next I added the malt extracts.  Pulling the pot off the burner for a moment, I added 4 pounds of Extra Pale Extract and 1 pound of Munich Extract and stirred the mixture until it was all dissolved.  Then it was back to the burner to bring the mix to a boil.

Into the pool with you!

Once at a controlled, rolling boil the bittering hops (.5 ounce of Kent Golding) were added.  After 45 minutes another .5 ounce of Kent Golding was added as the flavoring hops.  After another ten minutes the spice pack consisting of cinnamon, mace, nutmeg, and sweet orange peel was added for aroma.  All of that was boiled for five more minutes before removing everything from the heat.

You will get your turn

Last but not least

From there the mixture was cooled to 80 degrees and then went into the (sanitized) fermenter where water was added to bring the volume up to 5.25 gallons.  A sample was poured off, then the lid was put on the bucket and the airlock was put in place.

Chilling out

The initial hydrometer reading (at 77 degrees) was 1.045, which was slightly lower than what I expected from the recipe description.  Today, five days later, the reading was 1.015 giving me an alcohol content just shy of 4 percent.  Since the initial reading was low I expect a slightly low alcohol content, but perhaps secondary fermentation will bring the final gravity reading down a bit more.

As I wait a few more days to transfer the mix into a secondary fermenter, I realize that I learned a few things from this batch.

• It is time for me to graduate to a bigger pot.  Sure I could continue to brew as is, but the process would be made easier.
• With the bigger pot it would be time to utilize a gas (propane) burner.  The temperature control is OK now, but it could be better.
• The cooling process was extra difficult this time.  It is time for me to build a wort chiller or at least develop a better method. Take a look at what I resorted to for the final few degrees!

My last option

Brewing more often will teach me even more, so I intend to get a few additional fermenters to give me the ability to brew more than one batch at a time.  I really want to refine my process a bit and more practice certainly cannot hurt.  Stay tuned!

For the second entry regarding my attempt at brewing a pumpkin ale at home I decided to take a break from writing and give you all a break from reading.  I wanted to get some more practice with making video content and this was a perfect opportunity for that.

Now that the mixture is back in the friendly confines of the bathtub bubbling away, I present you with how it got there.