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.

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.

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