Kegging today. It's a Maibock, but I don't have a name for it yet. I'm interested in how it will taste, since it's been in the secondary for four weeks now (usually, I rack the beer into the keg in two to three weeks).
Well, all the questions will be answered tonight. In the meantime, hope everyone's enjoying the weekend.
In less gloomy news, the 2008–09 brewing season kicked off with a bang (well, not a bang, thank God, but it started well). Five gallons of wort that I hope will become the Mediterranean and Baltic Porter (the style is Baltic Porter, hence the name) currently reside in a brand-spanking new primary fermenter (because the old fermenter, well, went away).
Added an ounce of 8.8% extra hops as the flavor hop, and took the ounce of 5% hops that was supposed to split between flavor and aroma hop, and used 'em all as aroma hop. The original gravity was 1.070 on the nose, which means the beer should end up in the 6–7% range (I thought it would be 8; I was wrong). And right now, it tastes like malt, because well, none of the malt has fermented yet. I'm hoping the flavor of the roast barley comes through but with a nice hop finish. Whether this happens, only time will tell. But I am optimistic, because even if the flavor doesn't come out right, it'll still be beer.
Forgot to mention I brewed again on Monday evening. This one is a Scotch Ale, and so thick that the thermometer wouldn't sink. It sort of laid there on its side. I remembered, finally, to take an original gravity reading, which means I'll finally know ezactly how much booze is in my booze. When fermentation is over, I'll take a final gravity reading, which will be lower than the original gravity.
The reduction in gravity is the denser malt being turned into less dense alcohol. Subtract, then multiply the difference by the magic number and Frank Viola, the ABC (booze by volume). The reading was 1.088, which is pretty high for a OG reading, but then this will be a pretty damn alcoholic beer.
Also, learned a very important lesson about making malty beers with a four gallon pot: You have to bring the pot to a boil to add the malt, lower the temperature while dissolving the malt to avoid scorching and then bring it back to a boil. Important safety tip: Don't add the hops while the pot is boiling or it will boil over. Bring it back to a boil then turn the heat down to add the hops. Or just add the damn hops before bringing it back to a boil. Must remember that.
So the kegging did not go entirely as planned. Well, that's not quite true. The kegging went fine, but the carbonation could have worked better. See, for carbonation you need CO2, which we didn't have. Well, we had enough to start the carbonation, but we didn't have enough to finish it. The purchase of another CO2 tank will be followed by some recarbonaation. Then, and only then, will the 2007–2008 season be off and running.
Also, next year on my birthday, I'm definitely playing "The Happy, Happy Birthday Song" by the Arrogant Worms. Otherwise, I might actually have a happy birthday, and where's the fun in that?
Thanks to the wonderful thisnthat for my wonderful new brewing icon, shown here. The timing is great too, as I'll be kegging the Angry Black Sheep Imperial Stout II: Electric Boogaloo tomorrow.
And on Sunday, when I'm hungover, I can update all the other brewing posts with the new icon.
I still need a brewing icon. That said, the Angry Black Sheep Imperial Stout lived up to its name. There was a little crisis—a beermergency, if you will—in that fermentation did not begin on schedule. However, we pitched some more yeast last Friday and it fermented explosively all last week. It is apparently a very angry beer. To propitiate it, I headed down to my friend's place and transfered it on Saturday.
Transferring is a very tedious process. Brewing is fun and kegging in fun, but transferring is dull. You sanitize the carboy and sanitize the siphon. Then you rinse the carboy and the siphon. Then you siphon the beer. Then you sanitize the old carboy, which is filthy, because beer fermented all over the inside of it. You get a teeny sample, but none of the wonderful smells that you get while brewing. And you don't get to sample carbonated beer like you do when kegging. It's better than bottling, though, which is an hours-long ordeal.
Also, not appropriate to a brewing post at all, noted Afraid of Brown People Representative Tom Tancredo (R-Asshat) has said he will not run for reelection to the House if his bid for the Presidency falters. Since Tancredo has exactly the same chance of becoming president as I do—none at all—that means his odious ass is out of politics come January 3, 2009. Couldn't happen to a bigger asshat.
So I did in fact rack the Hop-a-long Dopplebock (yes, that is its Official Name: Hopplebock for short) and watch House last night. I'm a little worried that primary fermentation isn't done yet, but there's only so long you can leave fermenting wort over dead yeast before the fermenting wort gets nasty, so we'll simply have to live in hope that secondary fermentation is vigorous. If worse comes to worse, we can pitch more yeast and rack it back into the primary before kegging.
As far as House goes, it was pretty depressing. The most significant thing is ( Collapse )
It's May 1, which I will spend neither marching with my fellow exploited masses of the proletariat nor dancing round the Maypole in celebration of Beltane. Instead, I'm going to spend it working, then going home, doing laundary, possibly racking the Hop-a-long Dopplebock, and watching House.
Also, I went to the doctor last night and learned I've gained 12 pounds in the last two months. I'm not surprised by this for a number of reasons, the most important of which is this: If you take the bus to and from the T every day and eat fast food because you're too lazy or tired to cook, you will gain weight. Or at least I will. So today, I had a nice salad and took a long walk at lunch. Wish me luck. I'll never be what intellectuals like Daria refer to as a "totally buff hottie," but I'd like to be back to something resembling a normal weight by the end of the summer.
Speaking of Daria, I dug out my VHS "taped off MTV" episodes of Daria this weekend. They're mostly from the inferior 4th and 5th seasons, because that's about all MTV showed when the show was winding down toward the series-ending movie. So I don't have that many really good episodes on tape. But I have to say that while not every episode was good, they almost all have instances of really good writing.
Lastly, appropos of nothing, the song I'm listening to is the Police's version of "Shadows in the Rain." I'm not usually one for artists rerecording their own songs (see Clapton's lame-ass second version of "After Midnight" or even the Police's own "Don't Stand So Close to Me II: Electric Boogaloo"). But the version Der Stingle did on The Dream of the Blue Turtles is so much cooler than the original that it's not even funny.
Well, the fermentation has come unstuck without direct intervention. Yeast, much to my joy, is hardy and difficult to kill entirely. I merely had to wait for the surviving yeastie beasties to reproduce enough that sufficient sugar consumption should occur. My brewing partner and I will have to check on the fermentation throughout the week to make sure it's continuing to occur, but we should be okay to rack early next week.
Also, I really need to learn to work my way into things slowly. As evidence, I offer my need to start exercising again. For me, exercise means walking. Problem: I haven't been doing much of it lately because the weather has sucked. It's sucked too much to walk to the T; it's sucked too much to walk to the store. So I've probably put on several pounds in the last month. To combat this, I decided to walk to work. From my apartment. It's, I think, about four miles on foot.
I made about two and a half before I decided to stave off the incipient heart attack and get on the T at Kendall Square. My roommate, with whom I was doing this, was very understanding—to my face, anyway. I still think it's a good thing to do once a week, but the first week will probably be in late May, and I'll be sure to bring at least a quart more water. For now, I'll concentrate on walking to and from the T every morning. That's one of the things I love about living and working in areas with good public transportation. It's amazing how much walking you can build into your day just by not being lazy.
And apropos of nothing, "Driver 8," after weeks of effort, is now at 100 on iTunes Play Count—I passed it yesterday, but the 'puter had numerous crashes and the last three plays got wiped. So I'll shut down iTunes as soon as I pass 100, preserving that count for all eternity (or until I get a new work 'puter, which should be within the month). Yes, I know. All it proves is that I'm a dork. But I'm okay with that.
Crisis! The fermentation of the dopplebock has stuck! The yeastie beasties are not doing their duty, so steps will have to be taken. If we can't get the yeast to do their job, my wort will not become beer. It's a thin like between beer and soup stock, and I don't want to be stuck on the wrong side of it.
We'll actually be pitching new yeast tomorrow, unless the fermentation becomes unstuck. Got a couple of good suggestions for replacement yeast from another friend, so we'll see how it works now. Updates will follow, even though it's probably not that interesting to all the nonbrewers who read this.
curious
disappointed
happy
cranky