Grizzled Veteran

I am by no means a 'grizzled veteran' of homebrewing, I just wanted to say that.

Anyway, I had the KGB Russian Imperial Stout (can't find the product page, so I linked to the beeradvocate.com page) the other day, and it made me think of my own Russian Imperial Stout from the Brewer's Best kit.

I wish I had left the beer for several more weeks, possibly months, as my beer tasted extremely similar to the KGB, and would have probably surpassed it, given the right amount of aging.

However, now I know what a 'green' beer tastes like, and will remember the lesson.

SG Readings and Procedural Thingys

English Brown Ale
So while doing the English Brown Ale, I wasn't pleased with how long it took to get back up to a boil. I did something stupid and put the lid on the huge brewpot. It took just seconds for it to overflow. I think that also removed several of the good fermentables, because there is almost no krausen buildup on the edge of the primary. I think that also might be because of the gas release valve setting - I put it deliberately low after having the Russian Imperials Stout literally explode all over my dining room. Oh well. I am going to siphon now, using the water-in-tube method suggested by Papazian.

The OG was 1.040, and the SG now - moving to secondary - is just over 1.010. Assuming that's relatively stable, the ABV% is going to be about 4% ((1.040 - 1.010)*131.25)

Belgian Tripel
While brewing the Tripel I cut some of the recipe out. I did not wait for the wort to come to a boil before adding the LME/DME/candi/maltodextrin and dumped it all in.

I must say, it was one of the coolest reactions ever to see the hops go into that. I put just a few at a time in because I knew it would cause major foam with the enzymes mixing, and that thing was bubbling like MAD for a good 5 minutes. It was pretty cool.

OG was 1.080 - this is gonna be a strong one! Hopefully it'll get down to about 1.010, making it just over 9%

This is a quick video of the airlock after just over 12 hours - there is a steady, but not huge amount of CO2 being released.

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_cqfWoGNslLQ/S78VT8qSGOI/AAAAAAAADFE/yCwSAXmqYnc/s128/Fermentation%20048.jpg


Next Up: Hard Cider

Impulse Buys and Second Tries

I headed out to the Brew and Grow two days ago and made an impulse buy. They have an expanded selection, so I purchased the planned English Brown Ale, but also saw and purchased a kit for a Belgian Tripel. Apparently, you have to age them for over 3 months, so I'm going to purchase a second carboy today when I go again, and try to bulk age it for the 3 months and then bottle it.

My buddy also pointed me out to a new site where I saw this:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/14-gallon-fermenator-f3-14-tri-clamp-fittings.html

So I have a 5 gallon plastic carboy, I wonder if there is a sanitary way for me to attach this to the bottom:

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xmi/R-100079386/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

The most difficult would be the secondary nozzle for tasting, but I was thinking I could use to the one I already have with nozzle in it, not necessarily in the funnel. The nozzle at the bottom is easy, but sealing the two together - especially in a way that is known to be sanitary.

On another note, I also found that I had not been sanitizing my equipment properly, which I believe is the odd taste to my stout. I had been using the iodine sanitizer before the cleanser, and apparently you're supposed to do the opposite - the iodine sanitizes for human consumption those things the chemical cleanser removes/loosens from your equipment. Whoops!

Russian Imperial Stout

I created a Russian Imperial Stout three weeks ago, and it was very good, though I'm not a stout person myself. The English Brown Ale ranked higher on my list. I've also started collecting bottles to be able to have two batches going at the same time. The stout ingredients were:

Fermentables:
6.6 lb. Dark Liquid Malt Extract (2 cans)
2 lb. Dark Dried Malt Extract
8 oz. Maltodextrin

Specialty Grains:
8 oz. Crystal 60L
8 oz. Roasted Barley
8 oz. Black Patent

Hops:
1 oz. Bittering
.5 oz. Aroma

Yeast:
1 Sachet

I sanitized everything the way I did the English Brown Ale, and then I combined everything per the Brewer's Best procedure again, and had even more difficulty siphoning. I am going to try their recommended siphoning procedure next time.

On par with my last recipe, I opened a few bottles a week early. This stout wasn't anything to write home about for me, but I'm hoping another week will give it time to gel (and give me time to empty out a few more bottles for another batch).