Carbonating IPA

I kegged and carbonated the IPA earlier today.  Out of a need to explore other options I spent some time watching videos on Youtube to get a primer for quicker carbonating.  I find that the technique I used this time worked out pretty well. 

I am of a mind to think that it might have overcarbonated, but I also think that I might be pouring a bit prematurely. 

Now for the technique I used:

I laid the keg on its side and turned the pressure up to 30.  For 15 minutes I rocked the keg back and forth.  After that I returned the keg to the kegerator and released the excess pressure.  After turning the pressure back down to serving pressure I poured a glass of carbonated beer.  In a pinch this works out pretty good I think. 

My next keg I will be using the overnight approach.  I will turn the pressure up to 30 again and let it sit for roughly 24 hours.  I have a feeling this method will be a bit less harsh to the beer itself. 

Mind you, both of these techniques are still much faster than the way I have been doing it.  My normal modus operandi has been to allow the beer to sit under serving pressure for roughly 2 weeks.  Not exactly rocket science but it did get the job done.  The trouble with this method is that it ties up the space when you might be needing to move stuff around and get other kegs ready for service. 

Major lesson learned, the more you explore the more options you open for yourself.

And now, time for another pint...

Brew day Dopplebock

Here we are at brew day again. This time is a dopplebock and my second decoction mash. I dare say this one has gone much smoother than my first one. I managed to hit my target temps for each of the steps (I did a triple decoction). At this time now I am in the middle of the sparge.

An interesting thing to note... it has been so cold lately that my propane had grown sluggish with cold and I had to bring it inside to warm up the tank. This happened on the first two decoctions. Luckily the pot I do the decoctions in is small enough to fit on my kitchen stove; I was able to do the first two temp rests inside. The disadvantage is having to step between the house and the garage a bit more than I normally would.


  Recipe and method now follow:
10 lbs Munich malt (dark)
4 lbs Vienna malt
1 lb Demerara sugar

1 oz Sterling hops 60 min
1 oz Czec Saaz 20 min
1 oz Czec Saaz 5 min

Used water to grain ratio of roughly 1.7:1

Protein rest at 122 degrees

first decoction 140 degrees 20 minutes (pulled and rested at 150 for 30 min boiled for 15)
second decoction 152 degrees 30 minutes (pulled and rested at 150 for 20 min boiled for 10)
last decoction at 160 degrees 10 minutes (boiled decoction for 5 min)

Should be an interesting beer when done

now time for a pint...

Moving along

I will be putting the kegerator/lagering unit to work again this weekend. My plan is to brew up a dopplebock. I will be making a major change to this one as opposed to the first dopple I brewed. This one will be a true lager. The original one was fermented with San Francisco lager yeast and left to condition at roughly 65 degrees. The one I will brew on Saturday will lager at roughly 40 degrees with a German yeast (although I have not yet explored which one I will be using yet). Another major change will be, I will be doing a decoction mash again. This is the joy of having the flexibity to brew how I want, I can change my mash schedule at my leisure. As I write this, a thought occurs to me. I spend quite a bit of my brewing time honing my skills by brewing different beers and using different techniques. It really makes me appreciate the times when I am in the process of brewing a beer I really enjoy. I dare say that dopplebock is one of my all time favorite styles. The anticipation of waiting for the finished product can sometimes be overwhelming. I suppose over the next few months I may have to pick up some Salvator and Consencrator to make ready for my own to finish. Enough of this, let's find a pint...

New Year IPA

Finished a couple transfers today (finally!). The first transfer was the cider I was aging on oak. I will be carbonating it soon and then bottling, most likely within the next week or so. One thing I have realized, the new kegerator is perfect for storage even though I don't have a second CO2 tank in it yet. I can keep kegs cold while waiting to go onto main line.

The other transfer was the New Year IPA. So far it seems to be doing pretty good. I do regret forgetting the demerrara sugar during brewing. Although it should be a decent beer, it isn't quite what I had envisioned for this one. An interesting observation was the affect of the vienna malt. The beer has a bit more of a darker red tint to it than what you might normally expect from an IPA. A second observation, I believe that a bit of the New Zealand hop is shining through. It will be a good time sampling this one (looking for the different flavor nuances, yep thats it!) when it is done.

To the future, I am looking at brewing a blood orange wheat soon. I do believe that it is getting to be time to brew a dopplebock again as well.

Now that the holidays are over I am beginning work on brewery expansion again as well. We know some of the changes I have been working on include finishing the kegerator, and expanding equipment to include sour beers. I have a few more things I will start discussing more as they come into better focus. All in all, I think this may be a busy year...

Let's find a pint, it seems only the proper thing to do...

First brew of the year

So I started this brew on the 2nd (my typical brew day tends to be late at night). I might have started on the first but that was my wife's last day of vacation so I spent the day with her instead. But I digress...

New Year IPA, crappy name but its fitting. If all goes well this should be a decent double IPA. So far, the mash and sparge have gone quite well. Multi-step infusion mash that pretty much went exactly as it should have. I tried a new sparge method (basically stabbing the mash with my stir spoon as if it were a mash rake). I am hoping that this helps to increase my yield, but then we should know soon enough.

I am using Pacific Gem hopes from New Zealand as my bittering hops. I have never used these before and these are the highest alpha acid hops (15%) I have ever used. I love the aroma they carry, I can't wait to see what they do to the beer.

Well, I have some work to do and some beer to drink (currently drinking my kolsch off the tap).

Go find a pint, this one is mine...