Lack of Updates (July 13th 2008)
The last few months have been a very happy time as we have awaited the arrival of our little bundle of joy. No, I am not talking about a new HERMS system - I'm talking about my son. With all of the gearing up for new baby, I haven't had any time to brew. It seems that each weekend was filled with some sort of preparation such as painting, cleaning, putting things together, etc. The last batch of brew that I made was my Amber Waves brew as you can see below. I never brewed it in February as planned, it was more like April. The keg only lasted 3 weeks so that means it must have been good right? It was probably my best brew to date or at least a top 3. I wanted to have 3 of them every night when I came home from work. Sadly, the last drops poured out and the kegerator was empty. It was a sad day at the Trompeter Brewery. We should be gearing up for some wine soon. Looking at doing another white, most likely a Riesling and then a Cabernet Sauvignon to round out the summer. I have had ingredients to make my stellar Kolsch beer for months now but haven't found time to mash in. I may try to sneak in an extract batch (shhhh don't tell the Wootowners) just to get something in the fermenter while I am busy changing diapers and feeding a little one. I really want to make another stout and see if I can do better with my recipe from last year. If I brew Amber Waves soon enough I am going to enter it into Oktoberfest this year and see how it fares. Sadly, I am about to toss the makeshift Brown Ale I made end of last year. The brew just didn't turn out. I had fermentation issues, yeast that didn't cooperate, pitched ontop of a Pumpkin Ale yeast so that imparted some weird flavors. All in all, bad beer and not worth trying to save anymore. I will attempt another Brown Ale in the future as I really dug DuClaw's latest Brown Ale they made called Consecration. Check back here soon as I should be starting the burners and mashing in here in the next couple of weeks.
Brewing Again.....Finally (Saturday February 22nd, 2008)
I will be brewing up this recipe this weekend finally. It's an American Red ale, based off of a recipe that was in BYO Magazine a few months back. I tweaked it with some different hops because of the hop shortage but should really turn out to be a good brew. It's been months since I've brewed last, hopefully I remember how.
Amber Waves:
9.50 lbs American 2-Row
0.75 lbs Crystal 40L
0.50 lbs Munich Malt
0.25 lbs Crystal 120L
.50 oz Millennium at 60
.25 oz Amarillo Gold at 10
.25 oz Cascade at 10
.25 oz Amarillo Gold at 0
.25 oz Cascade at 0
Yeast: Us-05 Chico
I think this will be a good spring brew. The brewery should be ramping up here soon with a fwe new batches coming soon. I will be doing a Belgian Dubbel or Tripel, possibly just some generic Pale Ale, and then a batch of Kolsch for summertime.
Pumpkin Ale and Brown Ale (Tuesday October 2nd, 2007)
The brewery has been quite busy in the last few weeks. We brewed up a nice Pumpkin Pie Ale a little over a week ago and this past weekend used the British Ale yeast cake for a nice Brown Ale. The pumpkin brew went well, I hit around 1.049 in OG and I ended around 1.012 after 7 days in primary. I broke my old hydrometer so I picked up a new one at the Thirsty Brewer so I could verify and check my Refractometer readings. I think my efficiency was a little off on the Pumpkin beer because of miscalculating some sparge water. When the Brown ale was brewed though, I hit the target OG of 1.052 exactly and felt I had a nice solid mash out of it. I pitched overtop the WLP002 yeast cake and after 24 hours didn't see any airlock activity. I think possibly I didn't cool down to below 80, could have been hovering right around there. My city water doesn't get all that cold coming out of the tap so I may need to setup a pre-chiller icebath next time and coil up a little of the hose inside of there and see if I can't get the next batch down to 75 or so. I stopped by the shop and grabbed a vial of WLP005 and pitched that overtop of the 002. After a day it was fermenting again and all was right with the world, or so we hope. It wasn't vigorous but maybe the British strains aren't vigorous to ferment and they just go slowly. The Pumpkin seemed to be fairly slow but it attenuated well.
I still need to bottle up the Chianti that has been sitting for a few months now. Possibly this weekend, have to see how things go.
Tasting notes: I tasked the pumpkin brew and it tasted like pumpkin pie. It has an awesome aroma to it and the color is spot on with a nice orange hue. I used 2 tablespoons of McCormick Pumpkin Pie Spice, 1 tsp of Nutmeg, and 1 tsp of Cinnamon with 5 minutes left in the 60 minute boil. I think it will end up being just the right amount of spices for this batch. Hopefully we will all be drinking it around Thanksgiving, possibly sooner.
I entered my last stout into the MD Oktoberfest Homebrew competition at the Fairgrounds in Timonium. I have no idea if it will win or not, or if the judges will taste it and tell me it tastes like crap but there is only one way to find out. In the future I would like to get into the habit of bottling up at least a 6 pack and maybe as far as a 12 pack of all of my brews before kegging the rest so I will have a stock of beers on hand for competitions. I honestly think some of my recent beers have been great and others have enjoyed them immensely also. The only way at this point that I can make better beer will be to get some results from the judges with tasting notes to see where I need to improve. At this point in my brewing career, I am about 30 batches into it. I've only had 1 batch that I didn't care for and that was an Irish Red Ale that I made a couple years ago. It was wayyyy too malty and I didn't think it tasted much like beer.
Pumpkin Pie Recipe can be found HERE (Adobe PDF)
Made a Stoooooot (Saturday September 1st, 2007)
The weather was perfect this weekend so I decided to brew up a stout. I haven't made one since I tried to clone Spooner Stout about a year and a half ago. I decided to use the same basic recipe as Spooner but instead of Ringwood yeast I used Wyeast 1084 which is the Irish Ale Yeast. The brew day couldn't have gone better. I think at this point in my brewing career I am comfortable with my equipment and I know what to expect and what will yield a good beer. The recipe was as follows:
8 lbs British 2-Row Malt
1 lb Crystal 120L malt
.50 lb of Roasted Barley
.50 lb of Chocolate
.50 lb of Black Patent malt
Hop schedule was .75oz of Target at 60 and .75oz UK Northern Brewer at 30 mins.
I doughed in with 13 quarts of 169 degree strike water and I hit a target mash temp of 153 degrees. I let this sit and stirred twice during the 60 minute mash. I did a top-up step after 60 mins of 7 quarts of boiling water. Usually this raises my mash to about 166 degrees but this time I was just over 160. I think I may have lost some heat during the initial mash. I vourlafed and ran that off into the kettle and I hit my projected 2.5 gallons from the first runnings. I sparged with 4 gallons of 190 degree water which brought the mash temp to 170 even. I considered adding a little cold water to bring it down but for a stout I didn't worry too much about tannin extraction. I vourlafed after a 10 minute rest and ran off into the kettle. I ran until I hit 6.5 gallons into the kettle. I ended up letting the rest of the mash water run out into another pot and had about a half gallon of wort before it stopped which is pretty much perfect.
The boil went as planned and after the hop additions I cooled it down to 78 degrees and started running into the fermenter. I smacked the Wyeast packet yesterday morning and it's been sitting in the fermentation room since then so temperature would adjust to what it will be during the fermentation. I aerated as usual and pitched the yeast and cleaned up. I started gathering gear at 9am to start this morning and finished at 1pm. I think I get faster at this or more efficient each time I brew.
Today was a good day to deal with the Chianti as well. I racked that over again for the 3rd time and topped up with a 1.5L bottle of some off brand Chianti. It tasted fairly good out of the siphon hose, only time will tell on that one. Next wine we will make will be some sort of white, maybe a Riesling.
(Sunday August 19th 2007)
Of course it's been months since the last update but then again, most brewers don't brew in the summertime anyway. I thought I'd update on the few things I have going right now and what I did this weekend to clean up the brewery in preparation for fall brewing. A few weeks back the Thirsty Brewer had a 2 year anniversary party out back of the shop. We were informed that it would be a welcome addition for us to bring our own brewing gear and light the fires up and cook up a batch of whatever we like. I took the opportunity to brew that day and I think I was able to show a few people how easy All Grain brewing really is. I ended up making a basic Pale Ale OG of about 1.052. My recipe was a simple one with 10 pounds of 2-row, 1/2 pound Crystal 60L and then 1/2 pound of Carapils. I hopped with 1/2oz of Target and 1/2oz Cascade at 60 and then a 1/4oz of each at 30 with no aroma additions at all. That day went well, I was a point off in OG at 1.051. I fermented it down to 1.011 and racked to secondary. Since we went to Maine and tasted a lot of Blueberry Ales I figured now is the best time to take a shot at that so I added 3 pounds of blueberry puree last Sunday. I will rack it to a keg on Wednesday and see how it tastes. I'm going for a decent blueberry flavoring but not overpowering.
One other item I have going is a batch of Chianti. It's one of the Selection kits that you can buy just about anywhere right now. I did the initial fermentation a few months back and racked it to secondary after a week or two but there it sat for a long time. I was worried about it spoiling but was told it's just fine to leave it like that as long as it was off the primary yeast. Sometimes barrel aged is better than bottle aged when it comes to the kits. I just put the clarifying agents in last Sunday so this Wednesday will be the last racking and then it will be onto bottling. I'm looking to do a Riesling next, sometime in September.
Yesterday was a good day at the brewery. I finally finished up the Venom Pale Ale, the Belgian Witbier and the Dunkelweizen that were on tap. The fridge was basically left with no brew and 3 dirty kegs. I ended up doing a really good cleaning of the kegerator most of the day and cleaned 6 cornies. I washed the taps out with Oxyclean and hot water for a 2 gallon rinse each, then ran clean tap water through them for another 2 gallons each. Finally, I ran 2 gallons of sanitizer in each line to get them ready for the fall. While the Oxyclean was running through, I could see some of the gunk that was built up in the lines washing away. They are totally clean now which amazed me. I cleaned each keg in the same manner. Oxyclean soak for half hour, rinse with 3-4 fills of water, then ran sanitizer all through them and the lines. Some of my kegs are in need of some new o-rings as they look a little chewed up. I know I need 1 new lid gasket for one of them as well. I guess it's normal wear and tear for gaskets to chip up after 4 or 5 uses each.
The club will be brewing September 8th, I believe an Altbier. I plan on putting together a few recipes here in the next few weeks for the cooler weather. I'm planning an IPA, a nice Stout, possibly a RyeIPA again, and then a batch of london ale or a brown ale. I need to start filling up those empty kegs. :)
(Wednesday June 6th, 2007)
I racked over the 3 different brews last Thursday finally. The first one I did was the brew that we did on Sunday the week prior, the California Common. Original tasting notes include a slight bitter taste, but it's still young. The FG came in at 6.5 brix which equates to ~1.012 which is perfect for this beer. I racked it secondary until it's time to bottle. We're looking for 3-4 weeks conditioning in secondary before we're ready for bottling.
The other brew I racked was the Wootown Belgian. What a nice tasting beer!!!! I am not doing anything crazy with that batch as some others are doing as I've never made a Belgian Strong Ale before so I want to see how it turns out all by itself. Belgians really interest me recently even though I've never brewed one. I want to pickup a few tasters at the local store and get familiar with some of the styles. That's the best thing about the Belgian brews, there are a lot of different styles you can do and a lot of customization that can be done with each beer with regards to adding spices and different sugars. This will sit in secondary for a few weeks at least. The brew itself had quite a strong alcohol flavor to it which I know will calm down in Secondary.
The last thing I was able to get to that same night was to rack over the Chianti wine kit that I made up about 2 weeks prior. I left it in primary for about 2 weeks instead of the 7 days they say because it was still bubbling like crazy. I never took an OG reading on it so taking the FG wouldn't have done me much good with the refractometer. The Chianti itself tasted like a good red wine. I only had a small sample (after the Belgian I didn't need a lot) but it had a nice nose to the wine. I will compare it to come commercial Chianti's when it's finished. This one will sit in secondary for another week or so and then I will go through clarification for it and get it all bottled up.
This week I ran out of CO2 in the kegerator. It's not that old and when I took the tank out to examine what was going on, the nut to the regulator was actually loose. I can't for the life of me figure out how that happened inside the fridge? So, I need to go get a new tank today to get the brew back to carbonated again. The price of CO2 fluctuates so much as you go from store to store. Racers charged $9.50 for a swap of a bottle. Ronnies up in Forest Hill charges about $15 for an exchange. The last replacement I went to Roberts Oxygen here on York Rd and they wanted $19 and some change for an exchange. I told the guy that seems really high but he said that's their normal price. Unfortunately that is the most convenient place for me to get a replacement.
(Sunday May 20th, 2007)
We brewed up a batch of Big Steamer beer this morning. I taught a buddy to brew this morning for the first time and we made what should be a pretty decent California Common brew. The recipe was fairly simple with just one grain to steep for flavor. We steeped 1 pound of Crystal 60L in 3 gallons of water at 165 degrees for about 30 minutes. I started the burner and added 6.6 pounds of Coopers Light Malt Extract syrup and we got it boiling. My hop additions were 1oz of Northern Brewer at 60 mins, a half ounce of NB at 30 and then the last half ounce addition at knock off. I used an ice bath to chill it down to about 75 degrees and then siphoned the brew into the fermenter. I topped up with about 2.5 gallons of water to make a full 5 gallons. I eyeballed it but it looked right. I aerated very well with an aeration wand hooked to the drill and then took a gravity reading. It came in at 12.3 brix which at 78 degrees when I took the sample equates to about 1.050. The target OG for this was 1.051 so maybe I added a quart or so too much water. I pitched the yeast starter and as of about 9:30pm it's off and running. It was a fairly straightforward brew day with no surprises.
We sampled a little of the hard cider and it was not really carbonated at all yet. That will need a few weeks before I try another one to see if it really turned out. We also had a little sampling of the 3 beers I have tapped at the moment in the fridge. I think the Dunkelweizen is pretty much perfect to drink right now. After tasting the Belgian Wit a little more today I would like to alter the recipe for the next time I brew it. I want to use more coriander and orange peel next time as I feel this didn't have the crisp citrus flavor I was looking for in this brew. It's not a bad beer, I just think it could be better than it is now.
I still need to find some time to brew up that batch of Pale Ale that I have sitting around. Might have to wait until middle of June before I get to it.
The Chianti is just chugging away right now in the basement. The whole basement smells of wine which isn't a bad thing. Hopefully that will be ready for Secondary this week sometime. The Belgian Strong Ale is also still fermenting. I read some posts in the club forums about some guys saying the beer was finished and it was ready for secondary but mine isn't yet. It still had a nice head of foam ontop and is still bubbling the airlock. I will take a brix reading Tuesday and see where it is. My hydrometer broke so I will need to find the OG somewhere so I can calculate the final gravity of this brew.
(Wednesday May 16, 2007)
I did some homework on the club video last night. We had a videographer in to do a documentary on the club and the guild and homebrewing. You can see the short 12 minute film below:
From Grain to Guild: The Art of Homebrew by Michelle Williams 12/06
(Sunday July 13, 2008)
The brewery has been fairly active this spring. We made a batch of Shiraz a few months back from one of the Selection kits and it's finally starting to taste like good wine. We had some at dinner yesterday on Mother's Day and it was fairly tasty. I thought the oak flavor would be more pronounced than it was. It was a little sweet and fruity so I believe it will be best to age that a few more months before drinking any more of it.
I plan on brewing this weekend for just the 2nd time in the new house. I am teaching a friend to brew so I will be doing an extract batch of the ever favorite "Big Steamer" beer. The recipe will look something like this:
6 pounds of LME
1 pound Crystal 40L
Northern Brewer Hops - 3 additions
San Fran lager yeast
(Friday April 27, 2007)
Wow, it's really been almost 3 months without an update. I guess it's time to make some changes. We moved residences so that took away from my brewing for a while and also the site was down while the box was being moved to the new house. The brewery opened up March 30th in Abingdon with a batch of Bavarian Wheat Beer. This batch was a little bit special as it was my first batch in the new place and a first attempt at a wheat. My recipe was as simple as it could have been. I used 5 pounds of Wheat Malt and 5 pounds of Pilsner Malt. Hallertauer was my hop choice for this with it being maybe 1.5oz for 60 minutes. The brew day went as planned and I hit my target OG by 2 points over. I think i was around 1.051 shooting for 1.049. I set my barley crusher back to stock settings so maybe that made the difference there. I used 2 big handfuls of rice hulls in the mash at the suggestion of the LHBS owner. I sparged as usual and never had a problem with it getting stuck. It ran off just fine into the keggle. I racked this beer to a keg a few days ago but forgot to give it a taste test. It will be tapped on Saturday.
The NFL Draught Party is coming up Saturday, if anyone needs directions let me know.
I'm still working on a new logo for the site and the brewery. Check back soon for that.
(Thursday February 1, 2007)
Been quite some time since an update but that's mainly because we're moving houses. I haven't been brewing but will be this weekend. I plan on making a Belgian Wit with Coriander and Bitter Orange Peel. If anyone remembers I brewed this last year and it turned out great. I will have this is secondary for a little time and hope for it to be ready sometime around May for those early warm days we'll get. After I move, I think the next batch will be 5 gallons of Stout and then 5 gallons of Rye Pale Ale again. I can't get enough of that beer. I'm also working on a new brewery label which should be ready next week.