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Linux and Beer Brews

Just a note on this one wince I have not posted about it. It has been three months since bottling, and this brew tastes really good now. I will brew this one again in the middle of September. I will probably back off on some of the spices just a touch.

Tasted this one tonight. It was ok. It is very carbonated. The spices seem to overpower it a little. It has very little malt flavor due to the yeast that I used. I may have consumed it while it was too cold. Age should help some.

Bottled this one tonight. I used 6.5 ounces of corn sugar in 2 cups of water for priming. SG was 1.010 @ 71.3F (1.011 corrected). This calculates out to 6.1% ABV. It tastes really good. Some of the spices are a little strong…I think enhanced by the higher alcohol content. This should age and blend well by Christmas.

I removed the blow off tube and installed the airlock. The SG was 1.014 @ 70F (1.015 corrected). This tastes really good. I am planning on bottling this next Wednesday.

It took a while for this brew to start fermenting, but this afternoon the krausen fell. So far it looks and smells good.

I brewed what I call a Winter Brown ale Today. The recipe is as follows.

3.5 lbs Maris Otter Pale Malt
.5 lbs 40L Crystal Malt
.25 lbs Cara-Pils
.125 lbs Black Patent
.625 lbs Flaked Wheat
.125 Raw Oats – cooked
3.3 lbs Briess Golden Light – LME

2 ounces Fuggle (Whole) 60 minutes
1 lb Dark Brown Sugar 15 minutes
1 lb Clover Honey 15 minutes
1 tsp Wyeast yeast nutrient 10 minutes
1 ounce Fuggle (Whole) 10 minutes
1 tsp whole cloves 10 mins
1/2 tsp allspice 10 mins
1/2 tsp coriander 10 mins
1/2 tsp nutmeg 10 mins
5 cinnamon sticks 10 mins

2 – 11g packages of Danstar Nottingham dry yeast

5.125 lb of grain was mashed at a ratio of 1.3 quarts/lb. Initial mash in was 6.5 quarts of water at 175 F. Half distilled water and half tap water with 1/2 tsp gypsum. Mash settled at 158F. Total mash time was 2 hours to extract sugars from the poorly ground malt. The mash was sparged with 8 quarts of water @ 175F (half distilled and half tap w/ 1/4 tsp gypsum added). SG of the wort was 1.033 @ 83.1F (1.036 corrected). 13.5 Quarts was collected. This calculated out to 69% mash efficiency.

The wort was boiled per the schedule above. The brown sugar and honey additions were delayed to keep the SG of the wort low to allow the hops more time to bitter the wort.

The wort was cooled in an ice bath in the sink (10lbs ice). The ice bath can’t get the wort down cold enough to pitch the yeast. The wort was sparged into the carboy with 2 gallons of chilled water (half distilled and half spring water). After wort was sparged, the carboy was topped up with half distilled and half spring water to the 5 gallon mark. Yeast was pitched. Wort was then aerated for 40 mins with air stone and aquarium pump. After, the the carboy was topped up to the 6 gallon mark with half distilled and half spring water. Blow off tube installed and placed into the fermentation freezer.

The SG of the wort after pitching the yeast and topped up to 6 gallons was 1.057 @ 71.1F (1.058 corrected).