It’s been a relatively good day (despite having to work)—I’ve had a good birthday, my wife bought me some nice clothes and two new German-style growlers (which brings me up to four now), I had a nice dinner with some close friends at Great Waters Brewing Company, and I’ve finally finished bottling my beer.

I’ve got a shelf that currently is holding 35 bottles and 1 growler of my Winter Warmer and 46 bottles and 1 growler of my 3.2 version of an oatmeal stout. I’m actually surprised it finally reached 3.2% (ABV) given that just two weeks ago it barely was at 2% ABV. I guess shifting the carboy around must have stirred up one last hurrah of activity out of the yeast.

Yay for active yeast!

And in a matter of a week I’ll be ready to bottle up my Witbier, too. I guess that means I should start thinking about my next beer to brew. I think I might do an apricot ale (like Pyramid Ale’s celebratory Apricot Ale). It seems like a great beer to start spring out with. Granted, it sure doesn’t feel like spring out there, but in beer brewing cycles, it’s time to start thinking about spring brews, as you usually have to start thinking out six to eight weeks from now—and that’s, well, towards the end of March.

Apricot it is.

I may follow it up with another Witbier, as that always seems to go so quickly.

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Well, being the web geek that I am (and the beer brewing geek that I’ve become), I’ve decided to create a blog just for my brewing, documenting current brews, as well as covering any resources or links that I find interesting or helpful. Unfortunately mtbottle.com was taken — doh! So I got the next best thing:

http://www.mtbrewing.com

Be sure to add it to your RSS feeds.

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Measurement for Dry Irish Stout:
SG: 1.027; CSG: 1.033

I picked up the next two kits that I’ll be brewing, the infamous Scottish Wee Heavy and a refreshing Honey Brown Ale. I’m brewing two at once because the Scottish Wee Heavy takes about three months to reach an acceptable maturance and the Honey Brown Ale only six weeks.

Earlier this week I had been able to finally taste the (ready) fruits of my labor with the Winter Warmer kit and it was quite good — and strong. I’ll have to cherish what little I’ve left as I’ve only got about eight bottles left of that stuff and have given about two dozen away.

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Dry Irish Stout — OG: 1.05; SG: 1.036
Winter warmer — OG appx: 1.065; FG: 1.016

Today is the beer bottling party for the Winter Warmer kit. I picked up a number of snacks and some other beers, as the beer isn’t ready to drink yet — it obviously lacks the carbonation that comes in the bottling process.

Should be a fun night!

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Specific Gravity readings for:

Dry Irish Stout (primary fermenter) 1.024
Winter warmer (secondary) 1.015

My cats had broken my hydrometer that Natalie got me, so I went and picked up a refractometer, which gives a much more accurate measurement of sugar levels. Of course, you have to use a series of formulas to measure out the actual gravity level. A guy from Northern Brewer recommended this one. The first form gives you a general gravity level. However, when you get further along in the fermentation process and nearing the bottling stage, you’ll want to use the second form. Enter the original gravity level (OG) and the brix measurement and you’ll get your current and corrected gravity reading.

I’m probably going to bottle up a bottle or two of the winter warmer for the bottling party, just so we’ve something to try out (and is semi-carbonated).

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Gravity reading for Dry Irish Stout on day four: 1.02. Coming along quickly. One more week in the primary and then four weeks in the secondary and then ready to bottle. MMM Beer.

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The brewing went smoothly and a bit faster than it took with my first attempt with the Winter Warmer extract kit. It’s not so much the difference in the kit as it was gaining experience with brewing itself and using an immersion wort chiller this time around. It helped cut down on the chill time compared to an ice/water/snow bath. I had the wort down to under 100 degrees in 17 minutes, which is quite good.

I remembered this time to take my starting gravity measurement as well: 1.05. The grains in the stout kit smelled great, smooth with a coffee-like aroma. According to the description on the kit, it’s supposed to finish quite smoothly with a coffee finish to it and that it’s at its best when it’s served draft as opposed to bottled. Northern Brewer sells a five-gallon draft kit for $140, but I don’t have a spare refrigerator… and I’m not ready to invest in one of those just yet. So it’ll have to be bottled for now. But who’s complainin’?!

Anyway, a successful night of brewing. I got some good video this time around and hope to make a good beginner’s tutorial out of it. What would be really cool, though, is to have DVD tutorials and do some sort of bartering with Northern Brewer — like video tutorials for materials, etc, or given the opportunity to sell them wholesale to NB.

At any rate. A fun night of brewing. I can’t wait to taste the stout.

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I went to Northern Brewer to pick up a few more items to help make the brew process a bit easier, some more sanitizer and a new brew kit. I know I was talking about going with either the Dark Cherry Stout or the Honey Brown Ale, but decided to go with the Dry Irish Stout. I decided that it’s just still too early for the Honey Brown Ale — I’ll do that after the stout. And the Cherry Stout? I just wasn’t so sure about that one. I like cherry… but only in certain contexts… and I just wasn’t so sure about it in the context of a dark stout. Perhaps I’ll try that in the fall.

The Dry Irish Stout intrigued me with its dry, coffee-like taste. I think that’ll be a good evening beer to relax with.

In other good brewing-related news, I took a thief sample of my Winter Warmer kit that I’ve got going in the secondary fermenter and it was remarkably different in finish compared to the last sample I took. While the gravity level was near the same (1.018 - 1.019), the taste was a bit more full-bodied than before and the alcoholic finish also stronger. I think this is going to be a good beer. I may let it mature for another two weeks before bottling to bring out the flavor and increase the finish. One thing’s for sure though, it will be a strong beer — meaning, if you have more than two, you’ll probably want to rest it off for a bit before driving.

I am thinking of having a bottling party on the 11th of February for the Winter Warmer and invite various beer-loving friends of mine to help in the bottling process. Invites will be coming.

I’m starting the Irish Stout this evening and with the last kit in mind, I think I’ll be taking a few extra steps to ensure that it goes well.

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With my first extract brewing kit nearing the bottling stage, I’ve been giving some thought to trying the all-grain approach to brewing. I’ve looked on numerous websites and forums for information on getting started (without getting confused) and at this point, I’m leaning towards sticking with the extract kits.

I did find a web-based book by John Palmer, where he talks about the all-grain brewing process and ALL of the chemistry behind it [it was almost like reading a college textbook], but it sort of left me drowning in information overload. Granted, I’ll give him credit for providing comprehensive and detailed information for the advanced brewmasters, but it was overwhelming for me.

There are added steps involved in all-grain brewing and also requires additional investment in equipment — the investments aren’t that bad, but it’s the fact that there are also more opportunities for user error that intimidates me from venturing into the all-grain world. Adding to the user-error factor, it also requires a heckuva lot more space. For a five-gallon brew, you need about a nine-gallon boiling pot (with plenty of overhead) — and if you’ve seen our kitchen, we really don’t have a lot of space. The only way to get around that is to set up a propane system… and I’m not quite ready to go that far just yet. So I may stick with the extract kits for the next several rounds of brewing and perhaps I’ll be comfortable enough with the brewing process to try an all-grain or partial mash kit.

I was originally going to try the Oatmeal Stout, but that isn’t available as an extract kit. So instead this time around, I’m going to try the Dark Cherry Stout or the Honey Brown Ale extract kit from Northern Brewer. It sounds like a pretty interesting brew.

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I took a gravity measurement this evening as well as a sneak taste at the brew — and I’m mildly concerned that something went wrong somewhere along the way. For starters, I’m not sure whether or not the gravity level is supposed to go down. When I added the brew to the secondary fermenter, the reading was at 1.02 — tonight’s reading (a week and a half later) is at 1.018. I was reading the documentation for high gravity kits (which the winter warmer kit falls under), and the gravity level there suggests that the level be around 1.064 or higher.

I think I’m doing something wrong.

In addition to that, the brew tasted kinda watered down and I can’t imagine why. I followed the procedure by the book — er documentation — and can’t think of anything that’d cause this inconsistancy. The only thing I can think of is that the grains didn’t steep long enough in warm enough water. However the instructions explicitely state to steep the grain mixture for up to 15 minutes or until the water reaches 170 degrees. My water was slow going, so the grains steeped for 15 minutes in about 90 degree water I think.

I may call Northern Brewer tomorrow to see if something might have gone wrong.

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