Sunday, July 28, 2013

Fermentation

Saison on left - can ferment at room temperature.

Black IPA on the right - needs to stay about 65 degrees (hoping to keep it below 65). If you look close you can see the floating alligator pool-thermometer in the tub.

....21 days and counting.


Brew Day 7/28

Slightly Confused Brewing Company

Movin' On Saison

Ingredients
Pilsen Light LME
Dextrose
Castle CaraBlonde
Weyermann Wheat Malt

Hallertau Aroma (pellet)

Belle Saison Dry Yeast

Stats
OG: 1.038 (estimated); 1.045 (measured)
FG: 1.011 (estimated); 1.006 (measured)
ABV: 4.8%
IBU: 18
Color: 4 SRM

Brewing Steps
Steeped grains for 30 minutes at 150F in 3 gallons
Boiled for 60 minutes adding hops and LME/dextrose
Wort chilled to about 75 degrees in about 15 minutes using wort chiller and pre-chiller (in ice bath)
Pitched re-hydrated yeast; fermentation for 14 days at room temperature (75-80 degrees)
Prime and bottle in 14 days.

Due to uniqueness of yeast (and the number of hot months in Florida) going to wash yeast to save for future batches.

Update (8/11/13)
Bottled the saison.

Update (8/20/13)
Tried the saison over the weekend and it was pretty good; spicy with some lemon flavor.
Tried it again today and the spicyness calmed down and the lemon flavor became more pronounced. Need to wait more than 7 days to try the beer.

7/28/13 Supplemental entry:

Wort chiller and the pre-chiller in action.  They reduced the cooling time from ~35-40 minutes to about 15 minutes and cost less than a single chiller from the store.  Gotta' love do-it-yourself projects.

Brew Day - 7/27

Slightly Confused Brewing Company

Centennial Falcon Dark IPA

Ingredients:
Vienna Malt
UK55-65L Crystal Malt
UK 15L Caramalt
C III Sp (from Hoggetowne Ale Works)
Deb. Black (from Hoggetowne Ale Works)

Magnum/Horizon Hops
Centennial Hops
7Cs Hops

Dry Hop: Simcoe ('4-7 days)

Stats:
OG: 1.062 (estimated); 1.055 (measured)
FG: 1.015 (estimated); ?? (forgot to measure)
ABV: 6.2%
IBU: 70

Brewing Steps:
Steeped grains at 150 for 30 minutes
Boiled for 60 minutes, adding hops and LME/DME
Wort cooled to about 75 degrees in approximately 20 minutes using wort chiller and pre-chiller
Pitched yeast, placed in swamp cooler (maintained between 60-65 degrees using frozen water bottles changed about every 12 hours)

Ferment for 2-3 weeks adding dry hops after 2 weeks. May consider secondary fermentation for this batch.


Update (8/15/13)
Cold crashed fridge on 8/13 (down to 40 degrees).
Bottled on 8/15/13; dark color, smelled awesome, forgot to measure final gravity and almost forgot to add priming sugar.
Going to wait until at least 8/23 to try.

Friday, July 26, 2013

Stir plate



Stir plate - $9. Now we just need the yeast.
First Post - 7/25/13

Going to make a wort chiller tonight (maybe even a pre-chiller) and brew tomorrow.

Thursday, July 25, 2013