14 of 30 - Beer!

[aggienaut]

   A month and a half ago Mark and I made an imperial stout (ie dark strong beer). We then placed most of it in my barrel, which I had been filled with homemade rum until immediately prior (rum is now in a Gallo wine jug). The barrel, obviously, still had rum soaked into the wood. We let the beer age in this barrel for about a month. Today we bottled it.

   Even warm and uncarbonated, the beer tasted like awesome! We mixed priming sugar with it as we bottled it, so it will ferment just enough more over the next two weeks to become carbonated. I am extremely excited about how it is going to be when we try it cold and carbonated. This is a beer we can be proud to take to a brew club gathering.


   And then Mark opened a bottle of the belgian ale he had made while he was gone. He aged this one with oak chips (theoretically giving the barrel age effect without the barrel), and had mixed in orange peels and some other things. It had fermented so hard it blew the lid off his bucket.
   This beer also tasted fantastic! Our first batch I'm not gonna lie had been kind of dubious. The second one was barely passable. After that we got pretty good. The oatmeal cream stout I'd made was downright good, but it was, after all, only following a recipe. I feel these last two beers we made though, we could win contests with!


When Things Go Wrong
   Mark reported to me that while I was gone, he was making a barleywine (a really strong beer). One Friday evening just before he went out he decided to check on it. He noticed that the fermentation lock (the valve on top that lets air out but not in, so it doesn't build up pressure but unwanted bacteria doesn't get in) had blocked up. So he pulled it out to clean it.
   As soon as he got it loose however it shot out and yeast gunk shot everywhere, covering him and the surrounding area. Unable to see because he had gunk in his eyes he had to feel his way to the kitchen sink to clean off. Once he was able to see again he could see green handprints all over the walls where he had felt his way to the kitchen. And of course now he had a fantastic mess to clean up. Good times.
   Moral of the story: make sure you're fermentation lock doesn't clog!! (and if it does, be very careful opening it?)

And more pictures of light refracted through bottles because I can never resist

Comments

[chite.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh, I really want to try that stout! It sounds unreal. :) What a great idea to ferment it in rum barrels!

[emosnail.livejournal.com]

I'm so excited about it. I seriously think I've got something I can take to local brewing club gatherings and be damn proud of / even enter into some contests.

And of course it's not just any rum but rum we made ourselves as well, which is totally ace, and the rum is very flavoursome ... altogether I'm just so proud. (:

[doodlemaier.livejournal.com]

Those airlocks are a modern convenience. A lot of times I'll just jam some clean cheese cloth down into the neck of the carboy since they will express pretty reliably for the first couple of weeks. I've noticed as must (or, wort) cools slightly to room temperature and shrinks it creates a vacuum and the airlocks will allow whatever you fill them with to be drawn into the carboy - not good!

WWVD - What Would A Viking Do?

[emosnail.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, that's not good! (in re drawing the airlock contents in)

We were thinking for future high gravity productions to just put a tube into another bucket full of water, to create a giant airlock.


in re "Those airlocks are a modern convenience." -- whenever I'm starting to stress out about a more complex detail (like recipes that talk about pH!) I tell myself "hey if the vikings could do it..."

Re: WWVD - What Would A Viking Do?

[doodlemaier.livejournal.com]

That bucket idea works well in instances where there's not quite enough headspace for kreusen. It's nice to kick open the door after a long days' work into a house that smells entirely of beer, until you realise it's poured out all over the floor and everything.

Re: WWVD - What Would A Viking Do?

[emosnail.livejournal.com]

kreusen?


At least it's not like the still where a pressure explosion might result in a combustion explosion (:

Re: WWVD - What Would A Viking Do?

[doodlemaier.livejournal.com]

Kreusen is a German word, because the Germans have a word for everything, refering to that really active part of the fermentation.

What's the story with the 30 posts?

Re: WWVD - What Would A Viking Do?

[emosnail.livejournal.com]

It's a tradition some people started a few years back, to try and write 30 entries in the 30 days of June. It's kind of a grueling endeavour but I'm a sucker for tradition.

And once you use up all the ideas for things you've been meaning to write anyway and start getting desperate for topics it really forces you to be creative.

[pavel-lishin.livejournal.com]

That's a hilarious mental image :P