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RE: Whats everbody brewing?
03/05/10 7:56 PM
I have a batch in right now, getting bottled this Sunday, that consists of the following: about 3.5 lbs of a mixture of Crystal malts: C-40 and C-80 6 lbs of a Gold malt extract (liquid type) 3.75 lbs of dark malt extract (stuff is really gooey, and tastes like molasses... hehe) 3 ounces of Kent Goldings hops 4 ounces of Cascade hops As far as the yeast goes, I ran into a snag. I wanted to use a good ale yeast, but after a goof-up of keeping the liquid yeast too long, I had to improvise. Unfortunately, in my location, I need to either drive 120 miles to get brewer yeast, or order it online, so I used bread yeast. I plan to duplicate this later with some good yeast, but anyway, here's a quick rundown of my creation, but feel free to mess around with it: Got the water (about 1.5 gallons) up to 160 degrees F-ish, turned off the propane burner, dropped in the grains, threw the lid on, and set the timer for one hour. After which I walked the dog with my dad, drank a couple from the last batch, etc... anyway, threw out the grains after that and added the extracts. Once those were stirred in good, I added a bit more water, to about 2 gallons, then fired up the propane again. Once it got boiling, I threw in a mix of both the hops. Next time I hopped was after 30 minutes, with both types of hops again, then at the last 15 the same way. I only changed things up when I threw in more hops at the last 5 minutes, when I just added Cascade hops. After the boil, I took the pot off the burner and threw in the remaining Kent Goldings hops. While that cooled, I got the fermenter ready, filled it, pitched the yeast, and you know the rest. I reserved some of the Cascade hops in the fridge and hopped it again after a couple weeks, when fermentation slowed. When I popped open the lid to hop it again, it smelled wonderful!!! Can't wait... on Sunday I'm going to bottle the stuff up and see how it tastes. With the amount of hops I added to this, I would recommend either using muslin bags for your hops, for each hopping. I didn't, and had quite a fight with my strainer... Next time I will though. I'll hop back on to let you know how it comes out with my yeast improv., but hopefully the next time I do this one, it'll be with the good stuff. Happy Brewing!!
Joe, backyard beach beer brewing in Western Washington!
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