Ale Yeast Mead Experiment - Bottled

It is done. Bottled. It was also a lot more work than I had anticipated, so nothing else has been bottled yet. *sigh*

There were a few surprises in fermentation, but they all seemed fine. I'm not going to say much yet because I'll be doing a few blind taste testings and I don't want to give anything away.

Time to get some rest.

Bottling Time

This weekend will be all about bottling. I need to bottle the blended dry oaked batch and the orange cinnamon batch. I will also be bottling the mead ale yeast experiment and prepping bottles for shipment.

I tried the dark mead again this last weekend, this time with a partial mash and extract. I got better results, but not as good as I hoped. I did a smaller full AG batch for a lager just before which came out within 2 points of the target, so I know something else is going on. I think it may be the way ProMash is determining the gravity potential of the grains. I used Beer Tools Pro to calculate the same recipe, and it came out very close to where I ended up. This has made me go hrmmmmm...

I Learned A Lot Today

Oy.

My big bear brew went fairly well, all things considered. I even hit my mash temperature dead on. The problem: I was trying to use 15 lbs of grain for a 5 gallon batch. Any experience all grain brewer will see the folly in this, especially if they've tried it. I only have a 7.5 gallon boil pot. End result: I missed my FG by about 15%. That's a lot, folks.

I should have realized what I was doing, and I ran into the same issue that AG barley wine brewers run into. They can boil for several hours; I don't have the patience for that. End result: The next time I do this recipe I will be using extract.

I'm still going to ferment this batch, as there's more firsts I'm working with here. I'm going to milk this experience for all it's worth. If the beer sucks, so be it. If it doesn't, all the better. Either way, I learned a great deal.

Big Brew A'Comin'

First, an update. I racked the two California Common test batches yesterday. All looks well, and they are clearing nicely. Fermentation has ceased, and I have taken the temp down from 60 to 50 in the lager fridge. They'll sit there another week and half or so, then I'll taste.

I racked the dark mead batch as well. Wow was there a lot of yeast at the bottom of that one! It clogged the blow-off tube a couple of times, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. It's a nice dark color and smells great. The body is a little thin, as expected, and I'm making plans to adjust for that in the AG batch.

Speaking of...

I have my recipe set for a full run of the dark mead batch for Sunday. I'm not going to share specifics, but I will say I'm shooting for 12% ABV, and the grain bill is the most involved I've ever attempted. It should make for a very interesting brew day.

A hint to the future

Just for fun, I created my own stein and t-shirt at Zazzle. It should give you an idea of what I'm working on for my dark mead project. :)


create & buy custom products at Zazzle

It Never Ceases To Amaze Me

Fermentation. Simply that.

I don't know why. It just does. I prepare a must or a wort, I toss in the yeast and place my airlock. Sometime over the next few hours it starts. It's like magic. And even now, years after I started homebrewing, and with dozens of batches in the last year alone, the onset of fermentation still fascinates me.

I keep throwing new things at the fermentation process, just to see how versatile those little yeast organisms are. Not new to homebrewing, sure, but to me it's still magic. A high-gravity beer, over 1.090, with ale yeast. Pitch big, and it ferments. Just amazing. And now with lager yeasts, where the happy place for fermentation is at low temperatures. Carboys in a fridge, and I come in the morning after a night of fermentation and the krausen is up at the airlock. I was not expecting that.

I watch my son whenever we're out and around, and a fire truck drives by. No matter how many times he sees one, he's still excited when he catches one out of the fire station, or driving down the street with its lights and siren going. That's about how I feel when it comes to fermentation except unlike my son, I get to drive the fire truck.

Triple Batch Day

All one gallon batches, but still...

Two were my inaugural batches of lager, both of the California Common type. One I made with Northern Brewer hops, and one with Tettnang hops. The recipes are within 1.5 IBU of each other, so very close. I saw a recipe recently that many liked that used Tettnang, but of course the classic recipe uses Northern Brewer. Worst part of today was the boilover, which ended up resulting in one batch being a whole 2 BRIX different from the other. Oh well. This is a hop flavor experiment, so hopefully no harm.

The other batch is, well, a bit of a secret. I will say it is in line with my obsession last year with Dark Mead. I had tried a few things but the last batch I made died because my brew room got too cold overnight. I decided to try again now that I have a heater in the room. I also finally have a recipe that I'm happy with. If this batch goes well, I will make a full batch, oh yes, I WILL make a full batch, and I will bottle it in brown fliptops, and it will have to carry a warning label...

New Toys, Take 4

This should be the last installment of toys for a while.

First, I got a Beer Gun, along with the accessory kit. I had to pick up a new regulator so that I can have CO2 going to my 6-port splitter to my kegs at one pressure, and then to my beer gun (and forced carbonation line) at another pressure. No pictures yet because I don't have the special adapter to tie my two regulators together.

What I DO have is a lager fridge!!! Here is a picture of my brew room, re-arranged to fit all my new toys.


The lager fridge makes a great place to put a computer monitor, keyboard and mouse. Of course, the fridge is a Sanyo 4912. It's actually a 4912M, and I think the M stands for Metallic, as in metallic door.

Here's a picture of the inside in its current configuration:


I'm going to start small with 1 gallon batches, thus the 1 gallon fermenters. You can't fit 4 in with airlocks in all, but you could put two in the bottom with plastic wrap instead of airlocks, or whatever. I figure I'll use that to cold-crash some 1G batches or something. At any rate, I could take the shelf out and put 3 with airlocks on the bottom. Technically I could put 3 on the tray, but I think that's just too much weight for comfort. I also bought a Johnson Controls Refrigerator Thermostat for it because I'm too lazy to set the fridge at each of the presets and wait to see what temperature it comes out at. With the controller, I just set the temp and walk away. Nice.