February 11, 2008

Still Good

Category: ESB 4 — Josh @ 10:10 pm

I had a few of these at a Super Bowl party. They have aged they seem less creamy and sweet. Also there was a slight astringent flavor. I had another tonight and I still say that this is the best one I have brewed to date.

December 6, 2007

Amazing

Category: ESB 4 — Josh @ 9:24 pm

OMG…omg…OMG…This beer is amazing.

December 2, 2007

SG calc possibly off

Category: ESB 4 — Josh @ 8:59 pm

looking at the numbers on this, it appears that my initial SG may be off. If I calculate it by points, I come up with a SG of 1.065. I think I may have been reading the hygrometer wrong

Mash = 139 pts
LME = 237.6 pts
Sugar = 46 pts
422.6 Total / 6.5 gallons = 65 ppg

I am thinking that the initial SG reading was 1.060 (1.062 corrected) This would bring the ABV of this brew up to 6.2 %. I guess I will have to brew this one again. It all does not really matter. This brew tastes really good.

November 25, 2007

Tasted

Category: ESB 4 — Josh @ 12:18 am

I tasted this one tonight …and It is really really good. It should age well.

November 21, 2007

Bottled

Category: ESB 4 — Josh @ 10:21 pm

I bottled this beer tonight. Primed with 6.5 ounces of corn sugar. The beer tastes awesome. The FG was 1.014 @ 70F ( 1.015 Corrected). This calculates out to 4.8 % ABV. I can’t wait to try it. next time I will try a little less water so that the ABV is higher, and maybe I will loose a little less through the blow off tube.

November 20, 2007

Fermentation update

Category: ESB 4 — Josh @ 9:52 pm

Fermentation has slowed down to almost nothing. I am getting a bubble every 40 seconds through the airlock. I started cleaning bottles today and plan on bottling tomorrow.

November 15, 2007

Fermentation update

Category: ESB 4 — Josh @ 10:59 pm

The beer is still fermenting away, but has slowed and is starting to clear. Currently one bubble every 20 seconds.

November 13, 2007

BOT Removed / Airlock installed

Category: ESB 4 — Josh @ 10:53 pm

I removed the BOT tonight and installed an Airlock. SG reading was 1.018 @ 69F. I sampled and it tasted really good.

November 11, 2007

Fermenting away

Category: ESB 4 — Josh @ 11:41 am

Just checked on this. Fermentation has really exploded, foam from the blow off tube.. etc.

Beer brewed and fermenting

Category: ESB 4 — Josh @ 12:30 am

I finished brewing late. The carboy is happily sitting in the freezer. Here is the final recipe

4 lbs. Maris Otter Pale Malt
8 ounce CaraPils
6 ounces flaked wheat
2 ounces cooked oatmeal
6.6 lbs. Briess Pilsen light liquid malt extract
1 lb Hawaiian Turbinado Sugar (sugar in the raw)

1 oz Chinook Hops 60 mins
.5 oz Kent Goldings (whole) 20 mins
.5 oz Kent Goldings (whole) 15 mins
1 tsp irish moss 15 mins
1 tsp Wyeast nutrient 15 mins
1 oz Cascade (whole) 10 mins
Add Turbinado Sugar @ 10 mins
.5 oz Kent Goldings (whole) 5 mins
.5 oz Kent Goldings (whole) 1 min

The final SG was 1.050 @ 76.5F in 6.5 gallons (1.052 corrected)

The oatmeal was prepared by cooking it in 2 cups of water on the stove for 8 minutes then adding another cup of water to thin it out.

The mashing went ok. I had a problem getting the wort to flow. I found that the knot in the hop sock used in my improvised manifold had clogged up the spigot. I ended up dumping the mash into a pot, fixing the manifold, and dumping everything back into the mash tun. I tried to minimize the amount of spashing, but we will see how it goes once fermentation has finished. I collected 13 quarts of wort from the mash. SG was 1.040 @ 87.4 F(1.043 corrected).

The boil was uneventful save a small boilover. I found that wort has a tendency to boil over a min or two after hop additions. I used the airstone for about 40 mins once the wort was in the fermenter to introduce oxygen.

I was going to make an attempt to let the hot and cold break settle once I sparged the wort into the fermenter, but My second carboy that I was going to syphon into had some crud on the inside that I was not able to scrub out. so I left that carboy soaking overnight to see if the crud will come out. I am going to look for something to clean the insides of carboys that is better than a carboy brush. They just don’t seem to be able to get this crud off.

I sparged into the carboy as normal, but this time I only put in 1.5 gallons of water then sparged into the carboy. I rinsed the hops a little to extract the remaining sugars, and topped off with another 1 gallon of spring water and the remainder distilled and RO water.

The only thing to note is that I should have added the yeast starter, then topped up with water to 6 gallon mark, then aerated. This would have worked the best.

The next time I need to remember to chill the water. Also make sure I have a fermenter cleaned so I can let things settle and syphon off the hot and cold break.