Change!
I’ve done a lot of thinking lately about the focus of my blog. Of course I love to brew beer, but I also like to cook and now my wife and I are getting into gardening. So, I’ve come up with a new blog called The Thirsty Commuter. It’s been a good year plus run with this blog, but I feel change is necessary. I’m not going to take down this blog, because I plan on keeping it for nostalgia sake.
So, I invite you to come and join me at my new blog!
Extra Special Bitter Tasting
I’m down to my last few bottles of my ESB, and I realized that I haven’t posted about the results yet! I better get crackin’ before it’s all gone!
Aroma: Malt forward aroma with hints of caramel.
Appearance: Golden brown
Flavor: Malt malt and more malt! I’m getting more hints of caramel and the beer is not sweet. It’s got a great finish.
Mouthfeel: The carbonation level is between low to medium, and overall the beer is not too heavy.
Overall Impression: I am very very happy with this beer and the Thames Valley yeast! I think next time I will try and use British Crystal malts to see if it makes a difference.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Results From First Competition!
You are looking at the third place finisher in the Scottish/Irish Ale Category at the 2010 UNYHA Home Brew Competition! I was quite shocked to see the results as soon as it was posted on the competition’s website. In the competition itself, there were over 300 entries, and in my category I was one of 17 entries. Not a bad result for my first ever competition, eh? Placing third in my category was a very nice accomplishment, but the main purpose in my mind was getting feedback from a trained palate.
I have received my score sheets in the mail from the judges and my final assigned score was a 35/50. With the score sheets I also got my certificate and ribbon (pictured above) and I also received a $25 gift certificate to Nikobrew.com for hops!
Judge No. 1 (non-BJCP certified)
Aroma: Coffee Odor, mild hop, slight fruity odor. Caramel. (8/12)
Appearance: Brownish, slight red hue. Good head, light brown in color. Good clarity. (2/3)
Flavor: Sweetness lasts into finish, good malt/hop balance. (15/20)
Mouthfeel: Medium body, light-moderate carbonation, maybe a bit low. (4/5)
Overall Impression: Pretty good example of style, and a good drinker. (8/10)
Total Score: 37/50
Judge No. 2 (Nat’l Judge-C0100)
Aroma: Some sweet maltiness. (7/12)
Appearance: Color and clarity good, head didn’t last. (2/3)
Flavor: Malt dominates the hops just a little (appropriate for style). A little caramel flavor evident. (13/20)
Mouthfeel: Good body & CO2. (4/5)
Overall Impression: A light drinkable ale. (7/10)
Total Score: 33/50
I am very pleased with the feedback I received from both of the judges! In the future I will be a lot more confident in my brewing abilities when it comes to entering more competitions. However, part of me wonders if they could’ve elaborated a bit more. I’m sure this is probably the norm for a competition of this size with the number of entries. Am I wrong for feeling a little slighted with their comments?
Now, the fun part will be figuring out what kind of hops to get with my gift certificate! Cheers!!
Extra Special Bitter Brew Day
It’s an absolutely beautiful, cool day outside today. I picked a perfect day to brew my next batch which will be an Extra Special Bitter. This is a style that I have never brewed before. The only commercial experience that I have had with this style is Fuller’s ESB. I’m excited to see how it turns out! I am also trying out a new yeast, which is Wyeast 1275 Thames Valley Ale. The recipe below is from Brewing Classic Styles.
BeerSmith Recipe Printout – http://www.beersmith.comRecipe: Extra Special BitterBrewer: KarmabrewAsst Brewer: Style: Extra Special/Strong Bitter (English Pale Ale)TYPE: All GrainTaste: (35.0)
Recipe Specifications————————–Batch Size: 5.25 gal Boil Size: 7.61 galEstimated OG: 1.057 SGEstimated Color: 8.1 SRMEstimated IBU: 42.6 IBUBrewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:————Amount Item Type % or IBU 11.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 93.62 % 0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt – 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 4.26 % 0.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 2.13 % 2.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (60 min) Hops 42.6 IBU 1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (0 min) Hops – 1 Pkgs Thames Valley Ale (Wyeast Labs #1275) [StaYeast-Ale
Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch SpargeTotal Grain Weight: 11.75 lb—————————-Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch SpargeStep Time Name Description Step Temp 60 min Mash In Add 17.63 qt of water at 164.0 F 154.0 F
Notes:
Time For Feedback
One of my goals this year with home brewing is to enter one of my brews into a home brewing competition. So, what better way to get that goal accomplished by entering my first batch of the year! I’m not really trying to win an award. My main focus is to get some honest feedback from an impartial judge. Don’t get me wrong I love all the positive feedback from my wife, friends and family that I get with most of the stuff I make.
In the latest issue of Zymurgy magazine, I saw the listing of upcoming competitions and I decided to enter the Upstate New York Homebrewers Association’s annual competition, which is being held on March 27th. With shipped entries being due on March 12, I better get ready to pack and ship my beers!!
Early Irish Red Version 2 Tasting
This weekend marks two weeks that my first brew of 2010 has been in the bottle conditioning. Ever since I bottled this brew I have been dying to try it. I’ve been feeling like a total newb to the hobby with all this nervous anticipation! Today, I decided to chill a bottle and give this brew a taste to see how it turned out. The beer is still relatively young, but I am pretty impressed with the results.
Move Over Smithwick’s!
Literally two weeks to the day I brewed my first batch of the year which is an Irish Red Ale. This was also the inaugural brew using my new Barley Crusher (BC)! It took me a while to crush the grain because I was turning the crank the wrong way! It wouldn’t be a real brew day without a little user error. Once I got the hang of it the BC went through all the grain with no problems. The recipe I brewed (below) was taken from the book Brewing Classic Styles (BCS).
Due to my user error with the BC, I had to run most of the grain through twice, and I got a lot more fine of a crush than I should have. I ended up with a 1060 SG wort that went into the fermenter.
Today, I was ready to get this brew bottled. I checked the gravity and it ended up at 1015. Perfect! The hydrometer sample tasted amazing. I believe I nailed the malt character beautifully this time for my second attempt at an Irish Red Ale. I can’t wait to taste it once it’s fully carbed!
Back in the Saddle
After a few months break, it feels good to be brewing again. I’ve used the time off to save little by little to purchase a grain mill so I can start buying my ingredients in bulk. The grain mill I purchased was the Barley Crusher. I purchased the 7 pound hopper model.
I have done a lot of online research on where the best place is to buy your grain in bulk without a whole lot of success. Each site I visited seemed to have a good base price, but in the end you get killed with shipping ($20 or more!). In the end, the best option is to visit your local home brew shop and buy a sack of grain. $52 for a 50lb sack of 2-row is a great price when you factor in the price of gas to drive to the shop. As far as specialty grains go, I still purchase them from my regular online supplier. I can’t tell you how nice it is to have all of your grains on hand ready to crush and brew!
The only other part of the equation that’s still a work in progress is the hops. When the time comes for me to start buying my hops in bulk (by the pound) I will be using Hops Direct. The only problem with buying hops by the pound is that you want to have a good idea of what recipes you want to brew. Right now I’m doing some dabbling in a few different styles. For the time being I will still buy my hops by the ounce.
Yeast Washing
After brewing my Chocolate Porter, I decided to give yeast washing a try so I can try to save some money on buying yeast. Yeast washing is when you take the yeast left over from fermentation and separate it from the trub (protein particles, hop particles and other stuff). After reading this post on HBT, I got enough confidence to give the whole process a shot.
Before you are ready to bottle, you need a couple big mason jars, some small ones and their lids. You put the jars and lids in a big pot with enough water to cover, and then you boil for about 20 minutes to sanitize the jars and the water. After the boil, take the jars out of the pots keeping the water in the jars and cool in the fridge overnight. Once you have finished bottling your beer, you dump all the water from the jars into the fermenter and give it a really good swirl.
At this point, you have a slurry of yeast and trub. Carefully (I made a mess of course), pour the slurry into your big mason jars, put the tops on and let it sit for about half an hour. Since the trub is a lot heavier than the yeast, the trub is quicker to settle to the bottom. Once you see a nice layer of trub settled, carefully pour the liquid on top into the smaller jars. The liquid on top still has the yeast in suspension. After you transfer the liquid to the smaller jars, put on the tops and stow it away in the fridge. Yes, it’s that easy!!! Below, is a picture of the washed yeast the next day. The yeast I washed was White Labs Irish Ale Yeast.
White Labs Irish Ale Yeast
That, my friends is PURE yeast on the bottom of those jars!! Once you are ready to re-use your yeast you take one jar, pour most of the liquid out, giver ‘er a good shake and pitch into your yeast starter. They say you can keep doing this through four generations, but I think if I can use these jars for four batches, I’ve definitely gotten my money’s worth. 🙂
Tap-a-Draft!!
Alas, it’s been a couple weeks since my birthday and my last post. The day after my birthday, Amy and I went to my Parents house for a cookout with ribs! My Dad has really gotten the hang of BBQ-ing ribs, they keep getting better and better each time he does them!
There was one gift that was yet to be opened and it came in a huge box. What could it be? A Tap-a-Draft system! This was the gift that I was really hoping that I would get for my birthday. Now I know what my Wife and Parents were scheming about. 😀
There it is in all its glory (with our cat Cooley as the equipment model, lol)! These 6 liter PET bottles are so much bigger in person compared to what it looks like in the catalog. Three 6 liter PET bottles will hold almost a full five gallon batch of beer. I am chomping at the bit to try this out, and I’ve got a beverage that’s ready to be racked into these bottles. Tomorrow I will be transferring a malt cider into each bottle.
From what I’ve read, you prime the bottles with corn sugar just like you do when you are using regular glass bottles for your beer, wait a couple weeks, then tap the bottle. After you tap the bottle, you put a CO2 cartridge in each spot and that’s what is supposed to maintain the serving pressure. Thank you so much Mom and Dad, I can’t wait to try it out!!
Karma's Nanobrewery 