Brew Day Shenanigans ( Originally a post on homebrewtalk.com
Oh my head. It feels like it's gonna burst.
Let me tell you a little story...
So I have made enough beer now that when asked " Man, I'd like to see that done - can I come over next time you brew" I told an acquittance "Why not - be there at noon Saturday. I'mma brew an IPA recipe I think will work - we'll have a blast."
If I had only known.....
If I had only know than when I went to the LHBS I would get struck with the crazy notions that
1) I want to do a brown ale from grains
and
2) You know that BIAB method has been pretty smooth - I can do both in a day.
Some of you more seasoned folks are probably all ready shaking your heads - new brewer, 2 AG BIAB batches , and you KNOW we're not just gonna sit around and sip tea.....
Brew Time was set for 12:00 noon. As I have with all my past brews, I settled in an hour ahead of time to drink one of my recent brews, sanitize, check equipment, you know.
Well, that turned into another beer because since the more I brew the better I brew, this last batch is pretty darn tasty...
12:00 - no new brewer. Get a text. Be there in a few. Sorry.
No big deal - fill the first pot with water and start to heat it -figure when he walks in I dough in and really, he is not missing anything at this point.
And so that is how it went - He ( along with some other folks I knew ) showed up and we doughed in. I had 4 adults present who had never had a homebrew, and so we had a round of my most recent Irish Red. Then we started heating some strike water and had a round of my Hazy Days.
Again, the more seasoned brewers are again are shaking their heads I am sure. You know where this bad movie ends, don't you?
I am pretty sure the first batch ( Brown Ale ) is fine - I mashed 3 gals, and lost 1 to grain absorption. I heated 4 gals to strike , had 3.5 when I pulled the grain bag, topped up to 6 and boiled. I would love to tell you the gravities but I dropped my hydrometer last brew session and forgot to get a new one whilst at the LHBS.
Pitched onto a yeast cake ( first time for me with that - she's going like nuts this morning... )
OK - here is where I should have ended the day, but no, I had forced on.
I drank some homebrew and got a great idea- I could go ahead and mash the second batch, since I do it in another pot - while the first was brewing.
OK SO far. I did just that - on another pro[ane burner got 3 gals up to temp, doughed in, walked away. An hour later lifted the bag, and drained grains.
3 gals in , 2 gals out. Just like the first batch. I'm cool with that.
BUT THEN - I had to let the grains set in the filter and wait. And wait. And wait.
See, I strike in my other pot - you know - the one that now is boiling with the first batch , and then has to be cooled, etc etc etc.
As soon as I free the pot up , wash it - I put 4 gallons on water in it and try to get it up to strike temp.
Gas bottle gives out here. Cue the laughter.
Put other tank on, get it up to temp and drop in the grains. Decide to pick up some of our mess while I have the time - and realize I have 5 , not 4 , empty gallon water jugs.
I have no idea how a 5th got in there. But it did.
Pulled the grains out and sure enough had 4 1/2 gallons. Ad when I added the first run It came to 6 3/4 - I guess it sat in the filter so long I gained another quart.
Now here I sit, radio blaring, looking at a long boil.
Best thing i could do would be mess up my hop addition - so I did.
And if my new homemade Hop Spider happened to have the sock come off because I forgot to tighten the clamp - that would be funny, right? Then laugh away - it did.
I ended up , on the second brew a beer like this :
Boil vol 6.75 Final vol 5.25
Citra hops 1 oz at 90 mins, 60 mins and 30 mins
Grainbill - 10 lbs 6 row , 1/2 dextrine , 1/2 carapils
Safale 04 22 g ( 2 packs )
Got it chilled, got it in the buckets, got the two buckets into the swamp cooler - and went to bed.
Now I am awake, with a cup of coffee, my back is killing me, my beer fridge is almost empty - which tickles me - 4 never had homebrew before folks ripping them up makes me feel like i must be doing something right.
And my head hurts.
If you read all of this, I hop you enjoyed it - I surely enjoyed the shenanigans that are described within it.
__________________
Let me tell you a little story...
So I have made enough beer now that when asked " Man, I'd like to see that done - can I come over next time you brew" I told an acquittance "Why not - be there at noon Saturday. I'mma brew an IPA recipe I think will work - we'll have a blast."
If I had only known.....
If I had only know than when I went to the LHBS I would get struck with the crazy notions that
1) I want to do a brown ale from grains
and
2) You know that BIAB method has been pretty smooth - I can do both in a day.
Some of you more seasoned folks are probably all ready shaking your heads - new brewer, 2 AG BIAB batches , and you KNOW we're not just gonna sit around and sip tea.....
Brew Time was set for 12:00 noon. As I have with all my past brews, I settled in an hour ahead of time to drink one of my recent brews, sanitize, check equipment, you know.
Well, that turned into another beer because since the more I brew the better I brew, this last batch is pretty darn tasty...
12:00 - no new brewer. Get a text. Be there in a few. Sorry.
No big deal - fill the first pot with water and start to heat it -figure when he walks in I dough in and really, he is not missing anything at this point.
And so that is how it went - He ( along with some other folks I knew ) showed up and we doughed in. I had 4 adults present who had never had a homebrew, and so we had a round of my most recent Irish Red. Then we started heating some strike water and had a round of my Hazy Days.
Again, the more seasoned brewers are again are shaking their heads I am sure. You know where this bad movie ends, don't you?
I am pretty sure the first batch ( Brown Ale ) is fine - I mashed 3 gals, and lost 1 to grain absorption. I heated 4 gals to strike , had 3.5 when I pulled the grain bag, topped up to 6 and boiled. I would love to tell you the gravities but I dropped my hydrometer last brew session and forgot to get a new one whilst at the LHBS.
Pitched onto a yeast cake ( first time for me with that - she's going like nuts this morning... )
OK - here is where I should have ended the day, but no, I had forced on.
I drank some homebrew and got a great idea- I could go ahead and mash the second batch, since I do it in another pot - while the first was brewing.
OK SO far. I did just that - on another pro[ane burner got 3 gals up to temp, doughed in, walked away. An hour later lifted the bag, and drained grains.
3 gals in , 2 gals out. Just like the first batch. I'm cool with that.
BUT THEN - I had to let the grains set in the filter and wait. And wait. And wait.
See, I strike in my other pot - you know - the one that now is boiling with the first batch , and then has to be cooled, etc etc etc.
As soon as I free the pot up , wash it - I put 4 gallons on water in it and try to get it up to strike temp.
Gas bottle gives out here. Cue the laughter.
Put other tank on, get it up to temp and drop in the grains. Decide to pick up some of our mess while I have the time - and realize I have 5 , not 4 , empty gallon water jugs.
I have no idea how a 5th got in there. But it did.
Pulled the grains out and sure enough had 4 1/2 gallons. Ad when I added the first run It came to 6 3/4 - I guess it sat in the filter so long I gained another quart.
Now here I sit, radio blaring, looking at a long boil.
Best thing i could do would be mess up my hop addition - so I did.
And if my new homemade Hop Spider happened to have the sock come off because I forgot to tighten the clamp - that would be funny, right? Then laugh away - it did.
I ended up , on the second brew a beer like this :
Boil vol 6.75 Final vol 5.25
Citra hops 1 oz at 90 mins, 60 mins and 30 mins
Grainbill - 10 lbs 6 row , 1/2 dextrine , 1/2 carapils
Safale 04 22 g ( 2 packs )
Got it chilled, got it in the buckets, got the two buckets into the swamp cooler - and went to bed.
Now I am awake, with a cup of coffee, my back is killing me, my beer fridge is almost empty - which tickles me - 4 never had homebrew before folks ripping them up makes me feel like i must be doing something right.
And my head hurts.
If you read all of this, I hop you enjoyed it - I surely enjoyed the shenanigans that are described within it.
__________________
Sounded like a blast...Sometimes a good group of people can make the worst mistakes seem unnoticable, as well as drinking enough beer can.
ReplyDelete