Moving on to All Grain, but first I need a Mash Tun...

I decided I wanted to take the next step in homebrewing, which is undoubtedly the jump from extract to all grain brewing. All grain brewing includes the step of actually creating a sugary wort by "mashing" grains, instead of just adding extract like I have been doing in the first three homebrews. So before the boil starts, you have to soak all your grains at a precise temperature (multiple times) in order to most efficiently break down the enzymes and create a sugary wort liquid. Once there is enough liquid, the wort is brought to a boil and the hops and other ingredients are added, just like in extract brewing. All grain brewing allows you to have more control of the profile of the beer since you can tweak grain amounts and types, where as there are only a hand full of malt extracts to mix and match with.

In order to be able to do all grain, I needed a bigger boiling kettle (I got a 9 gal stainless steel one for a hell of a price online), but more importantly, a mash tun. A mash tun is the vessel in which you soak grains in order to get a liquid rich with fermentable sugars. You can buy mash tuns from local or online homebrew shops, but it is quite a bit cheaper and not very hard at all to make your own. 

Here is what I went out and bought from McGuckins Hardware:

-48 qt rectangular Coleman Cooler

- (4) 3/4" Stainless Steel Washers

-1/2" to 1/2" Brass Nipple

-1/2" Brass Ball Valve

-1/2" Brass Barb to 1/2" FIP Hose Barb Adapter

-1/2" Stainless Steel Hose Barb Adapter (don't know the dimensions but it is a male piece)

-16 gauge Stainless Steel Wire
-Stainless Steel Hose Clamp

-Braided Stainless Steel Water Supply Line

-Teflon Tape

Before I put everything together, I had to clean the brass in a 3:1 white vinegar/hydrogen peroxide mix in order to make it safe to be in contact with the beer. Apparently there is lead in the outer coatings of the the brass pieces, so it was pretty important to take the necessary steps to get rid of that.

The basic steps I took in putting together the spout of the mash tun:

1) Remove the drain pieces from the cooler. It comes off in three pieces, one of which is a rubber washer that is used in the conversion.

2) Stick the rubber washer from the cooler somewhere near the middle of the Brass Nipple. Wrap ends of Brass Nipple in Teflon tape

3) Put together the drainage system by assembling the pieces in this order on the Brass Nipple: 

-Brass Hose Adapter -> (2) Stainless Steel Washers -> Rubber washer from the cooler-> Cooler Wall -> (2) Stainless Steel Washers -> Brass Ball Valve -> Stainless Steel Hose Adapter

Then I made the filter that is inside the mash tun, which allows water the run out the spout while leaving almost all the grains and sediment behind in the cooler. I bought the braided stainless steel water supply line, which is used for appliances like washing machines and hot water heaters, simply for the braided stainless steel mesh. This meant I had to cut the hose adapters off the ends with a hacksaw (I am now a proud owner of a $7 hacksaw!), and finagle the braided mesh off of a rubber hose that was inside the mesh. The braided stainless steel mesh is like one of those Chinese finger traps, so I had to push the ends towards each other in order to compress it enough to get the rubber tube out from inside it. It is a lot easier then it sounds. Once I had the braided mesh by itself, I folded one of the ends over with pliers in order to seal it off. I twisted the 16 gauge wire around a pen and put it inside the braided stainless steel mesh to keep it from collapsing under the pressure of the grains. I then attached the open end of the mesh to the brass hose adapter inside the cooler with the stainless steel hose clamp. 

Finished.

And that is it. One homemade mash tun. All grain here I come.

UPDATE: How the Red Ale (HB#2) is stacking up after three weeks in bottles

It was hard to get a good picture of
the color. The flash made it look like
a stout and no flash was too dark at
night. I ended up shining my iPhone
light from the back which lit it up a bit.

It has been just over three and half weeks since I bottled the Red Ale (HB#2) and over the past week or so, the flavors have really developed, though I'm still not sure if it is where I would like it to be yet...

At exactly two weeks, I opened a bottle and was really having high hopes of tasting a bready, malty, and sweet Irish Red, but that wasn't really the case at all. There was a lot of subtle malty flavor, but it was all over powered by a harshness that was pretty unpleasant. Since it wasn't even that great, I decided I wouldn't write about it until it started to taste okay.

At exactly three weeks I opened one and poured it into a glass. It had a really great red color and much more of a sweet malty aroma than at the two week point, though still very subtle. I was relieved when I tasted it because the dominant harsh flavor had mellowed out a lot. Now their is a prevalent sweet maltiness with some very subtle fruit flavors. The finish is full, though I am hoping it will develop more of a breadiness. All in all though, I am really happy with where the red is right now, especially with how "ungood" (I won't say the b-- word) it tasted just a week ago. I ended up drinking a few more and it really is a half decent beer, especially with food.

It is still possible that the flavors will develop more in the coming weeks, but I would assume it is getting clsoe to the point of being stable. I really don't know though.... We will have to wait and see.

UPDATE: American IPA (HB#3) now in bottles

I had the day off today (12/5) so I decided to transfer the American IPA from secondary, where it has been dry hopping for a little over two weeks now, into bottles. The process was the same as the last two times: clean/de-label bottles, sanitize all equipment and bottles, transfer beer from carboy into bottling bucket with 5oz of boiled sugar in the bottom, fill bottles and cap.

While you would think on my third go at bottling I would have it down to an error-proof science, that was not the case tonight. My method of dry hopping was to simply poor the hops into the carboy and let them float and soak freely. Some people use hop-bags to keep all the hops together, but I didn't in this particular case because it seems like it is a pain in the ass to fish a bag of hops out of a carboy with an opening barely wide enough for a few fingers. If I were dry hopping in a bucket than I would more than likely use a hop bag since there would be zero problem getting it out. Anyways, since the hops were not in a bag, there was a lot of sediment floating around. The first 3-4 gallons siphoned into the bottling bucket went without a hitch, but once I got to the 1 gallon mark things started to go wrong. I noticed more and more sediment going through the siphon and the flow starting to decrease, and eventually come to a stop. The hop sediment gunked up the bottling wand and was not allowing beer to flow through it anymore, so I dug all the hops out with a fork. Unfortunately I also knocked loose a rubber piece that didn't want to go back on, so the bottling wand was a bit leaky. Next time I will put a piece of cloth over the end of the siphon in order to keep sediment from clogging things up (unless I use a hop bag, which would leave the beer sediment free). Lesson Learned: avoid clogging your siphon when transferring dry hopped beer by either using a hop bag or covering the siphon in some sort of strainer.

The gravity was right on target with the recipe at 1.014, which was a bit surprising since I had that sizable boil over that seemed to skew the numbers in the beginning. I tasted it too, and it was delicious despite being uncarbonated. VERY hoppy. I can't wait to drink this beer, I really think it is going to be a keeper.

Tasman Red: my first encounter with a "Red IPA"

I was walking through the liquor store the other day and saw some bombers that looked new to me. Upon inspection I found out they are brewed by Boston Beer Co. as part of a specialty release of Sam Adams bombers. Today I picked up the Red IPA which they call "Tasman Red" for $4.99.

I have never officially seen the term "Red IPA" before on a bottle of beer, which really caught my eye. On top of that, red ales and IPAs are among my favorite beer styles, so hearing them both together got me all giddy. In my mind I was expecting something along the lines of Grand Teton's Pursuit of Hoppiness. I started searching around the internet because I couldn't remember exactly what style Pursuit of Hoppiness categorized it self as, and it seems that hoppy red ales are referred to as "American Reds." From reading a lot of recipes and drinking an assortment of beer, it is becoming apparent that the word "American" in front of a style (i.e. IPA, Brown, Amber, Red) usually means that it has more bitterness from more hops. However, after mentioning all of this I think it is important to point out that the Tasman Red is brewed with hops from Tasmania, which do have similar flavor profiles to American hops. Maybe the fact that they used Tasmanian hops instead of American hops is why Sam Adams went with the "Red IPA" label as opposed to "American Red?"

This picture does not does not
do the color any justice at all.
You can sort of get a sense
of the color at the bottom
of the glass.

The pour did in fact have a red glow to it, though more amber red than brick red, and produced a head that was pretty thick and very creamy (my "dirty" glass probably didn't help the head's retention). The nose was definitely very hoppy with strong pine notes and some citrus if you inhale deeply. Clear aromas of caramel also come through in the malt profile as well as hints of toffee.

The most prominent flavors of this beer are absolutely the Topaz and Galaxy hops from Tasmania. The bitterness engulfs your whole tongue as if you just ate raw hops and really is, I would say, the star of the beer. Like the nose, the hoppy tastes come through largely in pine notes but also with a level of citrus. There is also an apparent caramel flavor and breadiness from the malts, which really warm up the beer. The breadiness fills up your mouth, but the finish is still dry and hoppy.

All in all, I would say Sam Adams was successful in creating a Red IPA. Tasman Red has the hop profile of a super bitter IPA, while at the same time capturing the caramel, roasty malt, and bready flavors of an Irish Red Ale.

UPDATE: Foreign Extra Stout (HB#1) just about ready to drink!

November 22, 2011

This past Friday (November 18) was the end of the two week bottle conditioning period that the Foreign Extra Stout recipe called for. The two weeks is more of an estimate/minimum number, and from past experience and what I have read, weeks three, four, and even five may produce a more uniform beer with fully developed flavors.

On Friday, I opened a Foreign Extra Stout and poured it into a glass admittedly hoping the beer would be "done" and taste perfect. The taste had definitely developed more of a full finish, which was something lacking when tested after week 1. However, there was also a more prominent and somewhat off putting alcohol flavor for a beer only ~5.5% ABV. Honestly, it gave the stout a "homebrew-y" taste that comes across as semi-artificial and overly syrupy (molasses-y almost). When the glass was tipped so a small layer of liquid was at the top of the glass, you could even see a clear line where there seemed to be a water layer surrounding the dark extract inside (a bit hard to explain). I assumed the worst, which is that something went wrong during brewing or the fermentation. Everything from two small of a boil when adding the liquid extract to decontamination can cause off-tasting alcohol flavors. My main concern was that the off-flavor could be a result of temperature fluctuation that I experienced during primary fermentation. Needless to say, everything that could have went wrong was going through my head in order to sift through what probably did and didn't happen. In the end, I just have to wait to see if the alcohol off-flavor remains or settles down and allows the other flavor profiles to come through...

Fast-forward five days later to today (November 22) and the prominent alcohol flavor is no more. Now, let me point out that I only opened one bottle so it is possible, for example, that the beer I had on Friday (11/18) could have been some freak turn out, or the one I am having now is some miracle bottle that tastes delicious and not something brewed in a tub (not that it was...). I am hoping, and choosing to assume, that all the other bottles consistently taste as good.

The pour produced a big head on top of an almost black colored liquid. When the glass was tipped, the liquid was uniformly dark and did not appear watery around the edges. The nose has notes of chocolate, dark and roasty malts, and a slight rummy smell (perhaps the remnants of the overly alcohol flavors from a few days ago). The beer has a full bodied mouth feel with a robust malt flavor, though it does not taste as chocolatey as it smells. There is a definite bitterness that hits the back of the tongue during the finish, which I am happy to say is more full and complete, from the hops, though it is not overtly "hoppy" like in an IPA.

All in all, the Foreign Extra Stout is better then I could have imagined. It really does have a full taste that doesn't have that "homebrewed" tang that I was sensing this past Friday. I am now comfortable to say that the Foreign Extra Stout is just about done. Though, it is not unreasonable to think that the flavors could develop and settle out even more, thus resulting in an even better brew. Either way I'm marking Homebrew #1 as a success.

UPDATE: American IPA (HB#3) is now dry hopping in secondary

Hop layer now covering the wort

After the first day of riding at Keystone this year, I came home today and racked the American IPA to a secondary fermenter. Secondary is only really necessary for adding fruits, hops and/or other adjuncts to the fermenter or if you want to improve the clarity of the beer. In the case of the American IPA, I am racking to secondary in order to dry hop for two weeks. Dry hopping is simply the process of adding hops to the fermenting wort in order to create an intensely hoppy smell and maintain oils that are usually lost during the boil on brew day.

Wort being added to hops

I started the process by dumping 1 ounce of Centennial hops into an empty carboy. The wart was then siphoned out of the primary fermenter into the secondary fermenter. As the wort started filling the secondary, the hops became more and more saturated and eventually turned into something that resembles green pond scum (only not as gross). For the next two weeks I will agitate the secondary fermenter once a day to try and get the hops to sink from the top of the wort. However, I have to somehow agitate without aerating the water even the slightest bit in order to not effect the yeast's process.

If you have read the brew day post of Homebrew #3: American IPA, than you are aware of the the boil-overs and subsequent low gravity reading (the target gravity was 1.064 and I got a 1.060). I took a sample before transferring the wort into the secondary and the gravity was at 1.014 (it is supposed to be within 2-8 points of the target final gravity), which just so happens to be the target final gravity. Obviously my numbers were off to start with, so all the measurements will be a little skewed.  On an upside, I tried a little bit of the sample and am extremely happy with how the flavors are developing. The sample was super bitter and hoppy before being dry hopped, so the additional hops in the fermenter should push the hoppy aromas over the top. It is going to be tough to wait on this one.

UPDATE: Red Ale (HB#2) now in bottles

Bottling day set up

I realized very late last night that today was bottling day for the Red Ale (HB#2). In a hurry, I filled my plastic tub with water and Oxyclean, and I soaked as many bottles as I could find, which happened to be just enough. Today was a long day that started with de-labeling and scrubbing the bottles and ended with transferring and bottling. The process was more or less the same as the Foreign Extra Stout (HB#1), so I will not go into too much detail on the bottling process.

Cracked bottle

Great amber red color

We did have a few bottles break on us when being capped. The broken bottles, on top of only having 4.5 gallons of beer (instead of the usual 5 gallons), produced only thirty-six 12 oz bottles and three 22 oz bottles. It is a little under the typical forty-eight 12 oz-ers, but like I said, the volume was a half gallon less than usual (because some was lost on brew day when transferring from the kettle to the carboy), so it was expected.

The gravity reading was spot on the target at 1.013, so everything seemed to have gone as planned. In two weeks, this beer should be ready to drink....but I will probably crack one open in a week just to see how it is coming along.

UPDATE: First taste of bottled Foreign Extra Stout (HB#1)

I bottled my first homebrew, the Foreign Extra Stout, last Friday (11/4) and am supposed to wait at least two weeks before I opened one. Well, I only waited one week and decided I wanted to crack one open to see how progress is going.

First off, the cap came off with a hiss, letting me know that carbonation is building up. The pour into the glass gave a good sized head.

The taste was about what I expected, but the finish was a little weak. I feel like stouts generally have a lingering thick and malty after taste, but mine didn't have much going on after the sip. Like I said, though, I tested this a week early so the beer still has some conditioning to do. Hopefully the flavors will balance a little more and there will be a stronger finish. From what I am told, the beer will only get better in weeks 2, 3, and 4, so I am looking forward to see how this beer progresses over the next couple of days and weeks.

Homebrew #3: American IPA

After brewing a stout and red ale, I knew for my third brew I wanted to make something with a strong hop profile. India Pale Ales, one of the most bitter beer styles, are loaded with hops. Back in the 19th century when Britain was occupying and colonizing India, they had to find a way to preserve ales being sent over on East India Company boats. Hops are a natural preservative, so Pale Ales were loaded with extra hops to ensure the beer made it to India in drinking condition for Englishmen. The result has left us with what is now known as "India Pale Ales" which are generally characterized by more intense hops and thus higher IBUs (bitterness).

I decided to make an American IPA, which generally has a more citrus-like hop profile. Hops grown in the Pacific Northwest (i.e. Cascade, Amarillo, Columbus) produce bitterness reminiscent of grapefruit, which really adds a level of freshness to the hoppy bitterness when done well. Luckily Hop To It had an American IPA recipe kit all packaged out, so I didn't have to weigh out ingredients. It was slightly more expensive (~$60) than the last two brews since a lot more hops are involved. What really caught my eye about this kit was that after primary fermentation, the beer is trasnferred to a secondary where the beer is "dry hopped." I'll talk more about dry hopping when I transfer the beer.

Quick Notes:

-Brew Day: November 6, 2011

-Target Starting Gravity: 1.064 (Actual Starting Gravity: 1.060)

-Target Final Gravity: 1.014

-Target ABV: 6.5%

-Target IBU: 64

Ingredients (less the yeast):

Speciality Grains:
- 8 oz Cara Hell
- 6 oz Victory
- 6 oz Cara Pils (Dextrin)
-2 tsp. Burton Water Salts

8.5 lbs Light Liquid Malt Extract

Hops:
- 1 oz Columbus
- 1 oz Amarillo
- 1 oz Cascade
- 2 oz Centennial
- 1 oz Cluster

Process:

-Bring 5 gallons of water to 160 degrees F. Remove from heat and steep specialty grains for 30 minutes.

-Remove grains and drip dry. Add liquid malt extract.

-Once extract is dissolved, bring to boil.

-When boil is reached add 1 oz Columbus hops and boil for 45 minutes.

-Add 1 oz Amarillo hops and 1 oz Cascade hops and continue boil for 5 minutes.

-Add prepared Super Moss mixture (clarifying agent) and continue boil for 8 minutes.

-Add 1 oz Centennial Hops and 1 oz Cluster hops and continue boil for 2 minutes.

-Remove from heat and chill to below 80 degrees F via wort chiller.

-Bring volume to 5 gallons (had to add ~0.5 gallons).
-Aerate wort by dumping back and forth between fermenter and kettle a few times.
-Pitch yeast (Wyeast 1332 Northwest Ale) and seal the fermenter with an airlock.


Notes on brew day:

Gravity reading

This was one of the more eventful brew days I have had. There was a lot of things going on (and going wrong) so I didn't have much time to take pictures (hence the picture-less process section). The biggest issue I had was a boil over right at the first hop addition. Almost instantly after I added the Columbus hops to the boil, it started to foam up. I had my friend Andrew manning the kettle handles in case we had to move the pot off the heat quickly. Unfortunately, due to the large boil volume and Andrew's broken back, we didn't get the pot off the heat quick enough and had quite the boil over. A fair amount of wort got out of the kettle and onto the propane burner. This may sound harmless, but a few unfavorable things resulted from the boil over. First, boiled over wort got all over the propane burner which turned into a sticky mess and resulted in the propane burner going out quite often for about 30 minutes after the boil. Second, since the boil over happened right when I added the hops, I undoubtedly lost some hops, which isn't necessarily the end of the world, but it just means the beer I will be drinking in a couple weeks will not taste the way the recipe intended (though it will probably still taste good). Last, a boil over that dumps a fair amount of liquid out of the kettle can effect the gravity of the wort. The target starting gravity was set at 1.064, but my wort was reading at about 1.060.  From what I understand, the combination of losing liquid and the ratio of malt extract to water changing causes gravity readings to be off. Fortunately I was only a few points off so I think everything will be fine. It sounds like the only downside of my IPA will be that if I end up really liking it, I will have a hell of a time making it again, since recreating an identical boil over is not an easy task. So I will end with a Lesson Learned: Be ready for boil overs the second you add hops, and don't rely on a guy with a broken back to quickly lift 5 gallons of boiling wort.

2011 Boulder Brew and Music Festival

Boulder Beer and Music Festival 2011

A couple friends and I got tickets for the Boulder Brew and Music Festival at the Fox Theater this past Saturday. To be honest I didn't expect much since I had been to the GABF not too long ago with all of the nations best breweries, but the small size and atmosphere really created a festival that I would most definitely go back to next year.

At GABF, I would sample a beer or two from a brewery and move on to the next. I felt like I needed to try as many beers from as many places as I could, which left no time to go back and try ones again that I had liked. The Boulder Brew and Music Festival had about 15 breweries, most local but a few out-of-staters, which was a great chance to go around a try everything once and then go back and try the ones you liked again. It was also a good chance to meet some of the brewers and talk with them without feeling like you were holding up a line.

Walking into the Fox, I was most excited for Copper Kettle's Mexican Chocolate Stout, which was definitely one of my favorites at GABF this year. Needless to say I had my fill of the stout and was even able to talk to the owner for a bit. (He has a tap house in Denver that he runs with his wife and one other bartender. They brew 3 barrels at a time, which is not much, but he said they have been getting great business and plan on bottling soon.)

I also spent a lot of time at the Grand Teton taps drinking their imperial red, IPA, and coffee porter and talking to the guy behind the taps, who I learned was "in the family." Grand Teton's Pursuit of Hoppiness is still one of my favorite reds to date, and their IPA and coffee porter were right in line as well. Unfortunately, I'm having a tough time remembering the name of the IPA.

Odell's had a few bottles of Mountain Standard, which is a really hoppy Double Black IPA. I was lucky enough to get to try it, but it was gone by the time I went back for seconds. I will most definitely be looking for this in liquor stores.

Alaskan Brewing Company, whom admittedly I am not a huge fan of, really surprised me with their Winter ale. It had a great spice to it and a bit of a hoppy finish. It had me going back for more. They also had a White ale that was a little too flowery for my liking, but my roommate Zach decided to have the guy pour a mixture of the Winter and White which actually was quite the concoction. The spice of the Winter toned the floral notes down on the White and actually created something with a good balance of spice, citrus and flowers. Not sure how the Alaskan guys would feel about it though...

Last, I want to mention some cider I had that was like something I have never tried before.The Colorado Cider Company had a cider with hops in it on tap, and it was one of the most delicious (non-beer) alcoholic beverage I've had. It had the usual really crisp, dry, and carbonated flavors of a good cider mixed in with just enough hops to put some bitterness on your tongue and make you realize you are drinking something very unique.

This was only the second year of the Boulder Brew and Music Festival, but judging by the turn out I would say there will most definitely be a third, and I will be there.

UPDATE: Homebrew #1 (Foreign Extra Stout) now in bottles

This past Friday (11/4) after the first day of snowboarding of the year, I racked Homebrew #1: Foreign Extra Stout into bottles.

A few days prior I soaked all the bottles I collected (big thanks to Andrew) in ~10 gallons of water with 2 tbsps of OxyClean in it to get any sediment out of the inside and try and get the labels off. I let them soak for about 36 hours and then took each one and scrubbed the label/glue off with a sponge and used a bottle cleaning brush to get the inside clean. The de-labeling actually went a lot smoother then planned. Avery bottles, for example, would come out of the soak free of labels and with no glue, so little to no attention was needed. However, others, like Rogue, must have been glued on with rubber cement because I had to pick at them with my finger nail pulling off tiny little chunks at a time. I don't think I will be wasting my time with bottles like that if I can help it.

Come bottling day I boiled 5oz of corn sugar in 2 cups of water for 5 minutes. The purpose of the sugar is to add a little more "food" for the yeast to eat, and since the bottles will be capped air tight, no gasses can escape thus creating carbonation. It is important that the sugar water is mixed well through out the wort, but at the same time you want to add as little oxygen as possible, so I dumped the sugar water into the racking bucket first and then siphoned the wort in a whirlpool manner in order to stir things up with out aerating it. Once the wort was transferred it was time to start bottling.

I hooked up the bottling tool to the bottling bucket's racking spigot and began filling bottles. With the bottling tool, you just fill the beer bottle to the top and then when you pull to bottling tool out it is at the right level. Then the bottle is capped and that is it. Chris and I repeated this 45 times until all the bottles were filled.

With a 5 gallon batch I should have technically got 48 bottles, but somehow I miscounted and only cleaned 46, and on top of that a screw top got in their somehow which cannot be recapped. So I ended up with 45 bottles. I also donated one bottle's worth to science to measure the gravity and taste. The gravity was right on point at 1.014 and despite not being carbonated tasted quite delicious. It had some very good chocolaty notes to it.

The bottle filler. When the pin at the end is pushed against a bottle, it lets beer flow.

Filling bottles.

Mr. Bottle Capper

Foreign Extra Stout in test tube

So now the bottles need to condition for 2 weeks and carbonate before I crack one open. They will probably taste even better after 3-4 weeks once the flavors and everything settle.

Patience is a virtue in homebrewing. 

Rumpkin: A beer worthy of its pumpkin name

In the spirit of Halloween, my awesome girlfriend went out and got us a bottle of Rumpkin by Boulder's own Avery Brewing Co. It set her back about $15 for one 12 oz bottle of the pumpkin ale, which may sound like a lot, but I would say it was definitely worth the amount to try out this unique creation. They only brewed 512 cases of this beer and it was only bottled on October 6th, so it was fresh off the line. From what I heard, there was a two hour long line at Liquor Mart the day it was put on the shelves, and you could only get one bottle!

Instead of selling a syrupy beer with off-putting, artificial-tasting pumpkin flavors, Avery really created something special and unique that sets itself apart from the rest. As hinted by the name, Rumpkin is aged in rum barrels which really adds impressive traits to everything from smell to color to taste. I popped it open and put my nose over the bottle and instantly got a strong rum smell, which isn't usually something I get excited about in a beer, but this one was different. When poured into the glass, it had a warm amber color (more on the orange side than the red) and a very small head that disappeared not long after the pour. Like I said, the nose had blatant rum qualities, but once in the glass you could really smell the spices and the real pumpkin.

The taste is what really sealed the deal. Even though I was expecting something with an overpowering rum flavor, what I got was a delicious pumpkin beer with malty and caramel flavors, a product of its aging in an oak rum barrel. That being said, it still had a strong alcohol flavor, but not a harsh one that lingered in the back of your throat. After all this beer has a whopping 15.9% ABV, so it is going to have that alcohol taste.

I would absolutely urge people to go out and try this. It is definitely something two or three people can split and sip on since Rumpkin drinks more as a fine liquor than a keystone light.

UPDATE: Homebrew #1: Foreign Extra Stout

So I tested the gravity of the Foreign Extra Stout on 10/23 to see how things were going. The kit's recipe said to test it after 7-10 days, which would have been when I transferred to secondary (but I didn't), but I took it a few days late and the gravity reading ended up being at the final gravity (1.014). So everything seems to be going swimmingly.

I also ended up moving the bucket from the basement barthroom to my bedroom since it's starting to get cold out here in Colorado. The ambient temperature was around 59 degrees for a few days, and the yeast was supposed to be fermenting between 62-72 degrees. If the temperatures are too cold for the type of  yeast I am using, than they basically go to sleep and do not complete the primary fermentation stage. I'm sure fermenting at 59 degrees was probably still okay, since the temperatures within the fermenting wort are sometimes up to 10 degrees warmer than the ambient temperature because of more yeast activity, but it is only going to get colder out here so I decided just to move them. So now the Foreign Extra Stout and Red Ale are in my room sitting at about 65 degrees.

Only a few more days until bottling!

Homebrew #2: Red Ale

*I am new to this blogging thing and am trying to figure out the best way to record all this information in an interesting and concise way. So, I'm going to try out different formats and things to see what works best*

I really love red ales. It started with Sam Adams Irish Red and evolved from there into a infatuation of searching for new and interesting reds to try. For this second homebrew I really wanted to make something along the lines of my favorite reds (Pursuit of Hoppiness, Hop Head Red, Jamaican Red), which tend to be a little hoppier then traditional dry, Irish reds. That being said, I still decided to go to Hop To It! and use one of their recipes, since I am still learning and don't feel ready to make my own recipes yet (but I did use about 1/2 lb more malt, since that is supposed to help increase ABV). So I spent another ~$40 and came out with ingridients for what was described to me as, more or less, a traditional Irish red.

Ingredients:
-6.5 lbs Light liquid malt extract (I used 7 lbs)

-Specialty Grains
        -6 oz CaraRed Malt
        -6 oz Medium Crystal 
        -4 oz Extra Dark Crystal Malt
        -2 oz Roasted Barley

-2 oz U.S. Kent Goldings hops

-Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale

Again, I followed the procedure fairly closely, but I tweaked the water volumes because the closer to 5 gallons your boil is, the better it will turn out (from what I've been reading online and in recipe books). Also, I only started  with 1.5 gallons on the Homebrew #1 (Foreign Extra Stout) and it was not enough water to cover the whole steeping bag, so I wanted to make sure I had at least enough to submerge the specialty grains.

Procedure:
-Heat 3.5 gallons to 160 degrees
-At 160 degrees, remove from heat and steep specialty grains

We tied the steeping bag to the spoon with fishing line so the bag wasn't
 sitting on the bottom of the pot. I'm not sure how necessary this is, but I didn't
want the speciality grains to be burning against the bottom of the hot pot

-After 30 minutes, remove speciality grains and let drip dry
-Add extract

-Once extract is dissolved, bring volume to about 4.5 gallons
-Return to heat and bring to boil
-Add 1 1/2 oz U.S. Kent Golding hops and boil for 50 minutes
-Add 1 1/2 oz U.S Kent Golding hops and boil for 10 minutes
     *five minutes into the boil, I added the SuperMoss

Total Boil Time = 60 minutes

Post Boil:
-Cool wort down below 80 degrees

Wort being chilled via wort chiller

-Aerate
-Take gravity reading

The glass instrument sticking out of the top is the
hydrometer, which is used to measure gravity. We  were right on
the money with the target starting gravity of 1.051

-Pitch yeast (Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale)

Quick Notes:
Brew Date: 10/20/2011
Starting Gravity: 1.051 (which was what the recipe set the target at)
Target Final Gravity: 1.013
Target ABV: 5% (but I'm hoping a little higher since I used a bit more extract)

And that is it. I don't feel like I need to add every little detail of brewing since each post would be more or less the same, but if their are questions or confusions, just post comments and next time I will address them.

Oh! And I wanted to point out a near disaster Chris and I had. We use a propane burner while brewing since our electric range isn't strong enough, and I assumed 1 tank could do 2 brews, but boy was I wrong. When trying to bring the wort to a boil (at 4.5 gallons), it plateaued at 199-201 degrees for about an hour and half and showed no signs of going up. I thought it was the burner messing up, but Chris was smart enough to realize that we didn't have enough propane. So I ran out to a gas station I knew sold propane at 11pm and bought a tank right before they closed. Had I not been able to get more propane, this whole batch would have been a throwaway. (I'm not sure what effect a super long and slow rise to boil has on beer. Hopefully nothing negative!) Lesson Learned: Make sure your propane tank is full, and maybe even have an extra one on hand!

Homebrew #1: Foreign Extra Stout

*Before I jump into my first homebrew, let it be known that I decided to seriously make this blog after this batch, so this post might be a little bare compared to posts to come in regards to pictures. It might also be a bit longer and more detailed then ones to come since it is the first*

If I were to bet a few weeks ago on what style of beer I would have attempted to brew first, I would probably have put my money on an Indian Pale Ale or Red Ale. However, after going to Great American Beer Fest in Denver, I got a mean case of the "stout bug." Copper Kettle Brewing Co. out of Denver took gold in the Herb and Spice Category with their Mexican Chocolate Stout, which was easily one of my favorite samples of the day. It was a heavy stout that had a noticeable thick, chocolate flavor, but the kicker was a spicy after taste that would linger in the back of your throat and burn up through your nose because of chilies that were added during brewing. This more or less sealed the deal that I wanted to brew a stout.

So I went to Hop To It and bought their recipe kit for a foreign extra stout for about $40. The kit came with 8 lbs of Amber liquid malt extract, specialty grains (1 lb Roasted barley, 6 oz Black Patent malt, 4 oz Chocolate Malt), 1 oz Challenger hops, 1 oz Styrian golding hops, 5 oz of corn sugar (not used until bottling day), and yeast (Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale). From the smell of the grains it seems like it should have slight chocolate and maybe even coffee flavors.

On brew day (10/11/2011), I more or less followed the recipe to the tee. (However, instead of using the Irish Moss it recommends, I got some SuperMoss, which is basically a concentrated form of Irish Moss):
-Bring 1.5 gallons of water to 160°
-Once at 160°, remove pot from heat and steep specialty grains for 30 minutes
-Take grains out and let drip dry. Add the 8 lbs of extract.
-Once the extract is dissolved, bring water volume up to about 4 gallons and return to heat.
-Bring wort (the word for unfermented beer) to a boil. Add 1 oz Challenger hops and boil for 45 minutes.
-Add 1/2 oz Sterling Golding hops. Boil for 5 Minutes. (*This is where the recipe says to add the Irish Moss, so the timings are a little different from here on out compared to the kit recipe)
-Add Super Moss. Boil for 5 minutes. (The SuperMoss is prepared by taking 4oz of the wort and cooling it in a sterile glass jar. Once it is cooled you add a little less than 1/4 tsp of SuperMoss and shake vigorously. Then it's ready to go)
-Add 1/2 oz Sterling Golding hops. Boil For 5 minutes

*Total boil time = 60 minutes

Once the boil is over, it is important to cool the wort down to below 80° as quickly as possible. Because the book I read stressed the importance of a fast chill, I bought a wort chiller (~$65) in order to easily cool beer down as fast as I could. Wort chillers are a spiral of copper tubing with hose adapters at the end. You hook the hose up and run cold water through the copper coil. You stick the coil in the pot and run the water through (with the excess coming out another tube which we had going outside). We got it to about 70° in, I would guess, under 10 minutes.

Side note: Chris and I had a little scare when using the wort chiller. The hose adapter wasn't screwed on tightly and when we turned the hose on, water was spraying out of the chiller. If this water were to get in our beer it could ruin everything since their could be contaminants that would prevent the yeast from doing their jobs. Luckily we didnt get any water in the pot, so everything should be fine. Lesson learned: Run some water through your chiller to make sure their aren't any leaks that could lay waste to a pot full of hard work (and money).

Once the wort is cooled below 80° we topped it off to 5 gallons and then dumped it back and forth between the fermenting bucket and the pot in order to aerate it. This is the only time you want the wort to be aerated from here on out. At this point, it is critical to aerate the wort in order for the yeast to survive.

After the wort is sufficiently aerated, it is dumped in the fermenter. We took a sample in order to test the gravity (we nailed the target starting gravity at 1.055), and then added the yeast to the wort. Last thing to do was put the lid on, plug the hole with the airlock, and put it somewhere to ferment at 62°-72°.

And that's it. In 7-10 days it says to transfer wort into a secondary fermenter, but I am just going to keep it in the primary fermenter, since from what I read it is not entirely necessary to use a secondary for this recipe. But I will take a gravity reading at about 10 days to see how things are going.

Since I am writing this after brew day, I can also note in this post that the airlock started bubbling after about 6 hours and was bubbling rapidly at about 12 hours. The bubbling in the airlock is a good sign that the yeast is at work.

So that is it. My first beer, a stout, is fermenting (at about 61°, a little low) in a 5 gallon bucket in my room. I will update at the next gravity reading!

The only picture I got. This is the tube I put the sample in to test.
The hydrometer (which measures the gravity) isn't in there though

And it begins...

So I did it. I started my very own blog. I've been thinking about it for a while and decided why the hell not? I'm not really expecting hundreds, or even tens, of people to read my blog, but I am using this as more of a way to chronicle my journeys into homebrewing. I will primarily be sharing all the beers I will be brewing by posting recipes, procedures, and pictures from brew day(s), but I will also use this as place to highlight some of my favorite beers/breweries/pubs and other things like helpful resources (books, forums, web sites, etc).

So welcome to those lucky few who get to be here from the beginning (Mom and Dad), and come back often to see what is new. I am going to try and brew a new beer around every two weeks, so there should be plenty of super exciting stuff to post about regularly. 

Until then, have a beer for me, and I will have a beer for you...