Rack Idea

OK,
So I do all of my fermentation and storing of bottled beer in a cabinet under my kitchen counter. Its dimensions are roughly a cube 22" on all sides. Usually, the bottles are all stood up next to each other. This is pretty inefficient as I lose the ability to use vertical space which would allow me to store all the brewing equipment when the beer is conditioning in the bottle. It would also allow me to store the bottles when they are not in use. So I have designed a rack that I will be able to set in the back of the cabinet to hold the bottles so they are lined up on their sides left to right with the cap facing the door. The illustration to the right is a rough sketch.

I will let you know how it turns out. It only requires about $5 dollars worth of wood. I'll put it together one of the days this week before we bottle on Friday.

Sigh of relief

Well,
I just racked the beer to secondary and laid it to rest under the cabinet until Friday. It looks like a good brew. The final gravity measurement came in at 1.020 with our original gravity being around 1.050. So that gives us an ABV of around 4%. If any more fermentation takes place in secondary (which it certainly did with the witbier) we'll get somewhere around 4.5% or 5% ABV which is right in line with the Irish Stout style definition (anywhere between 4-5%).

And, as always, in the course of the siphoning, I got just a tiny taste of the beer and it definitely tastes like a Guiness-type Stout.

This wort left a HUGE amount of trub (pronounced "troob", I have found out). Not only was there a lot at the bottom, but there was a thick, green paste in a rim stuck to the side of the fermenter about 2-3 inches above the top of the beer itself. I think this was the result of the Irish Moss being present in the fermentation vessel. Judging from the aforementioned taste, it seems there were no ill effects from the inclusion of the hops and moss during fermentation

It does seem that all the hops and irish moss particulate matter fell out of the beer because it went into the secondary fermenter clean and clear.

So, it seems like a success so far.

Recent Tastes

Over the past month or two I've been previewing beers to both get a better idea what I like in a beer and to develop my ability to discern different tastes. So... the report so far is that almost all of the Rogue beers are good, especially, the Chocolate Stout.

The absolute worst beer I have ever had... period, and this includes a really caustic Pilzner from czechoslovakia, is this beer right here, imagine Heineken laced with hershey syrup and Nyquil.

Probably the best beer I have ever had would be the Black Mocha Stout from the Highland Brewing Company based in Asheville, NC. Its hearty and bold. I'd recommend it to any human. Every offering I have had from Highland is really good. I will probably try their Cold Mountain Winter Ale next.

Next time I'm in Greensboro, I want to go down to Natty Greens and get a taste of their dark brews to compare with some of these.

Anyway, if you guys try anything new or awesome post about it. Maybe we can start up the Dark Brown Beer Review. Regional publication to start, and quickly expanding to become the Nation's most important periodic literature for the connoisseur of spirits both fine and crude!

Cider?

So, it was great seeing you on our way back to Savannah, Alex. You said that you had come by a pretty good Cider brew using walmart juice/cider. We should definitely pursue that. Post the details when you can or take a shot at it and keep us posted on how it goes. I've got some wine bottles that are just waiting to hold something good. I know that cider would be a big hit with everyone for xmas/thanksgiving too.

Here are a few cider recipes from TastyBrew.com:

"First Cider" - This one does the trick real fast! ABV=8.8%
"Fiesta Cider" - cheap and easy from concentrate
"Siler Cider" - real light, for a wider audience (ABV=.9%)

Back again - Guiness Clone and Mini Kegs

Hey guys,
Well its been too long since we've posted to the blog so I'd thought I would let you guys know where I'm at in my brewing. Right now, I've got a Guiness clone (Irish Stout) sitting in the primary fermenter. I'll be moving it to secondary tonight. This will be my fourth beer and its definitely getting more routine. I am getting tired of bottling though... I can't seem to get all the bottles off my counter at one time. And storing and cleaning the things takes up a lot of time. I've looked into kegging the whole batch to a Cornelius Keg but the system ends up costing around $250-$300 once you buy the keg, the tap, the CO2 regulator, etc. But I have been seeing these little Heineken mini kegs at the store and I wondered if they could be reused to store homebrew. It turns out that the Heineken kegs can't be reused, but in searching I stumbled onto a system that uses similar mini kegs (5 liters). Basically it is composed of these 5L mini kegs (requires 4 minikegs for a 5 gallon batch of homebrew), a combination tap and CO2 regulator from the Tap-a-Draft system and an adaptor that goes between the keg and the tap/regulator. The Tap-a-draft system itself uses 6L plastic bottles to hold that beer that look like giant soda bottles. Personally, I think the minikeg option is better in terms of portability and long-term storage and the cost comes out to about the same. THe minikegs are around $7-$10 each and the tap/C02 regulator runs around $45. The neat thing about the tap/CO2 regulator is that it uses 2 CO2 cartridges (box of 12 is $7 and lasts about three homebrew batches). Since it uses 2 cartridges, you can substitute an N20 cartridge and have the necessary gas mixture for that characteristic Guiness Foam in your stouts. Anyway, I thought that this setup could really be used if we wanted to bring some seasonal ale up to the Mountain house or to Greensboro during the Holidays.

I've been brewing with a guy that Jenny works with, Patrick. He and his girlfriend are very much into brewing and this will be the second beer we've worked together on. This Guiness clone has been very different from the others. First off, its uses much darker roasted grains and a much thicker malt extract. In addition to the hops it also called for Irish Moss which acts as a clarifier during fermentation.

The brew was so thick, in fact, that the hops and Irish Moss particulates did not settle to the bottom during the cooling process after the boiling. In both the porters and the Witbier, simply siphoning the cooled wort into the fermenter and taking care not to let the hose suck from the bottom of the pot was all that was needed to avoid adding the boiled hops into the mix. But this time around, pretty much all of the hops and irish moss made it into the primary vessel. I am hoping that the addition of the spring water will have diluted the mix enough that that stuff settles out and I won't have to strain the beer into the secondary vessel. I am also hoping that the particulates won't make the beer too bitter.

Guiness is a really bitter beer and definitely has a touch of sourness to it (actually the sourness comes from a special "Acid Malt" that is steeped along with the other roasted barleys and malts ), but I'm curious to see if it is too bitter. I really hope not.

Anyway, I will be moving it to secondary tonight (Monday 10/22) and bottling (yes, unfortunately, the mini keg system will have to wait) it probably Friday. So in about a week or so, I will have a taste report for you.