Imperial Pumpkin Ale

posted by Jon

Despite the worst storm in Great Lakes history (based on air pressure) we decided to forge ahead and continue with our scheduled brewing night.

The brewing of the October batch was attended by Jon, Ryan, Jeff and Kevin.

On Monday afternoon I did a starter and pitched our yeast (WhiteLabs English Ale Yeast WLP002) and had some good bubbling by Tuesday. Tuesday afternoon I roasted a couple of pumpkins for 2 1/2 hours at 275°. I then scooped out the meat. I figure we had about 4 lbs of pumpkin to work with.

Time line:

7:20 2 gal water started

7:40  Water at 155, started steeping grains (4 lb Crystal 10°L) and pumpkin (in a grain bag)

8:10 Grains sparged with 1/2 gal hot water

8:20 9.3 lbs light LME added

8:50 Rolling boil. Pumpkin removed and 1 oz Magnum hops added

9:20 1/2 lb lactose added

9:35 1 oz Sterling hops, 1/2 tsp ginger, 1/2 tsp cloves, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1 vanilla bean (sliced and cut into eighths), 2 tsp irish moss and 1 tsp yeast nutrient added

9:50 Flameout

10:00 Chilling wort

10:35 Yeast pitched @ 77°

The gravity was 1.070. We were hoping for around 1.080. This should end up at around 7% ABV.

This is the first batch of beer that we've ever added lactose. Those of you who remember your high school science no doubt remember that lactose is a type of sugar, commonly found in milk. The difference between lactose and other sugars is that lactose will not ferment. Any other sugars, whether is is regular old table sugar or the sugars we get from the malted barley will ferment when yeast is added. The lactose stays as lactose, which means that once the beer is finished, it will provide sweetness, rather than alcohol.

As usual, there were some tasty beverages consumed.

Some of us also consumed some not so tasty foods, such as pumpkin that has been simmering for an hour.

Next up is November's brew, Breakfast stout. We will be brewing in a few weeks. More details later.

The House Cider Rules!

posted by Jon

We've decided that in honor of autumn in Michigan, we will be doing a hard cider.

"Now wait," you say, "I'm not paying $10.00 a month for some wussy drink like hard cider. I'm paying for BEER!"

You're right. You're not paying for $10.00 a month for hard cider. This will be done in addition to our normal monthly beer. Once the cider is done we will be selling 6-packs for $6.00 each (limit one). It should be drinkable around Christmas. You may choose whether or not to buy any at that point.

And yes, my apologies to John Irving.

"Just a Man Loving His Beer"

posted by Ryan and Jon

Dry-hopping is a method used by brewers to give more of a hops taste to a beer. After the beer has had time to ferment in the primary fermenter it is moves to a secondary fermenter to allow it to clear up a bit. Dry-hopping is adding hop pellets to the carboy (secondary fermenter) at the same time as the beer. Usually the beer is swirled around a bit to get the hops mixed in well.

Apparently the line between "dry-hopping" and "dry-humping" is not as clear as one might think.

73 lb Package

posted by Jon

If you had $212.00 of other people's money, how would you spend it?

Yup, me too.

What you see pictured here is all of the ingredients for our next two batches (October's Pumpkin Ale and November's Breakfast Stout) as well as enough liquid malt extract for 4-6 more batches and extra magnum and nugget hops.

How to Drink Beer

posted by Ryan

Hey, I thought I'd pass along this video I found on the website Lifehacker.  I've got to get me one of those Sam Adams glasses.

 

Also, enjoy this picture of Jon trying to catch a salmon this past Wednesday.  It could have been one of the greatest moments of our lives, but he missed...better luck next time!

Also, Jon and I are awaiting the next shipment of beer and will be setting a date for the next adventure. Stay tuned for dates!

Black IPA

posted by Jon

I woke up on Tuesday morning to find a healthy bubbling in the yeast starter, so brewing day was moved up 24 hours. The brewers of batch #1: Jon, Ryan and Steve.

Time line for beer geeks:

7:06  2 gal water started

7:31  Water at 155, started steeping grains (1 lb American Munich, 1/2 lb De-bittered Black, 1/2 lb CaraMunich, 1/2 lb CaraPils)

8:07  Grains sparged with 1/2 gal hot water

8:13  10 lbs light LME added

8:47  Rolling boil, hops added (1/2 oz Summit, 2 oz Willamette)

9:02  1/2 oz Simcoe added

9:17  1/2 oz Simcoe added

9:32  1/2 oz Amarillo, 1 tsp irish moss and 1/2 tsp yeast nutrient added

9:37  Servomyces (yeast nutrient) added

9:47  Flameout. 1/2 oz Summit, 1/2 oz Amarillo and 1/2 oz Simcoe added

10:05  Chilling wort

11:08  Yeast pitched @ 75

The gravity reading after pitching yeast was 1.072. We were hoping for an OG of 1.082. This means that if we achieve the intended FG, we will be right around 7% ABV. Not too bad. Also, the IBU will be close to 100, maybe just a bit under. This is going to be one hoppy beer. We will be dry-hopping the secondary with 1 oz Amarillo and 1/2 oz Simcoe.

Those of you who missed this occasion missed out on some tasty beverages.

You also missed out on Steve having some major battery/wiring issues on his preferred method of transportation.

It took Steve about 15 minutes to get from the driveway to the end of the block. As far as we know, he still hasn't arrived home. If any of you see him between Zeeland and Jenison, please give him a ride home.

Beer was bubbling in the fermenter quite well on Wednesday morning. The bubbling was loud and rapid enough that Kendra was afraid to go into the fermenting room (the rest of the family calls it the bathroom) by herself. Look for this one to be drinkable around the end of October.

Preparations

posted by Jon

The ingredients for batch #1 arrived on Friday:

Clockwise from top right we have liquid malt extract (plastic jugs), hop pellets, grains for steeping and dry malt extract (plastic bag hiding under grains).

The plan is to brew our IPA this coming Wednesday. One of the most helpful steps in brewing a tasty beer is using a yeast starter. I will run you all through the process of why and how this is done.

First, the "why".

The step in the brewing process that is probably the most important is the step that hardly anything is done to the beer. It is the period of time between when the beer is taken off the stove and when the yeast is "pitched". When this cooling process starts, the wort (beer before the yeast is added) is usually over 150 degrees. Yeast is a picky little guy that works best about 70 degrees and will be killed if the temperature gets too high. Yeast is usually pitched in a beer at 75 to 80 degrees. While the wort is cooling it is quite susceptible to other things (bacteria and such) floating around in the air that are looking for a nice warm spot to land where they can eat and reproduce. The longer a wort takes to cool, the more time these bad guys have to jump into the wort and start reproducing. Because of this you want to cool the wort as quickly as possible.

The yeast starter brings the big guns. By the time you pitch your yeast, some stuff has already more than likely landed in the wort. If you've got 5 gallons of wort, that's enough food for bad strains to coexist with the good yeast for a while. The longer the bad stuff has, the worse your beer is going to taste. Enter: Yeast Starter. A yeast starter is essentially a small batch of beer, between 1 pint and 2 quarts. When the yeast is added to the starter it has a chance to reproduce like crazy without competition. After 48 hours or so, the amount of yeast in your starter has increased exponentially. Once the wort is cooled and a few of our bad strains of junk has had a chance to get in there, instead of adding a little bit of yeast, we have a whole army of yeast, ready to devour any sugars and reproduce even more. Our bad little beasties never had a chance.

Now, the "how".

The first thing we do is make our little batch of beer. I'm using 1 quart of water and 1 cup of dry malt extract (DME). The DME is the fermentable sugar that the yeast is going to eat and turn into alcohol.

We let the starter boil for 10 minutes and then let it cool. I put the sauce pan in an ice water bath to cool it off as quickly as possible. Once it has cooled to 70/80 degrees I pour it into a growler and shake it vigorously (yeast likes oxygen).

The yeast we are using is yeast that was harvested from another batch of beer. It has been in a canning jar sitting in my fridge for a couple of months. I took it out earlier to get it to room temperature. The yeast is poured into the growler and our starter is done.

By Wednesday the airlock on top of the growler will be bubbling like crazy as the yeast starts to eat the sugars and release carbon dioxide.

Hope you enjoyed your lesson on yeast starters. Look for a new post on Thursday with a play by play of the brewing of our IPA.