Well, I wasn't sure if my inaugural post would be on the subject of brewing and hopping or quilting... Brewing and hopping... Or quilting... I am flummoxed!
I flipped a coin in my head and brewing and hoping it is!
Last night Hubby and I stayed in and brewed a new American style pale ale. Lets say for the sake of my American brethren that it was in celebration of the Fourth of July. It wasn't. But lets just say it was.
Happy Fourth!
Hubby and I use the brew in a bag method. This means that after we get our water up to strike temperature we pop a huge voile bag in the Birko.
Then we add the yummy malted grains in a slow steady stream, stir to get out the beer clumps, and them clamp her up tighter then a bum on a cold bench. Ewwwww!
No, we wrap her up with towels, blankets and anything else to keep her warm. Yes, even a housecoat. Then we let her sit and think about what she's done for 90 minutes.
Brewing in our apartment is an adventure in close quarters. Last night, as Hubby and I danced around each other in the 6'x3' galley style kitchen with a 40 litre Birko in the middle of the floor, I imagined us in a submarine. After burning his foot in a hot water accident some 3 months ago, I have this horrible fear that I might swing a hip with too much vigor and all that glorious steaming hot brew will come swishing out of the Birko and onto the floor. I imagine being at the helm of a nuclear powered submarine is very similar. The sticky heat and steam on the walls, the urgency of a well timed task on your mind and then, boom! You press the wrong button and its all 'Red October'. But no, we kept our cool. No one got burned. I think he and I would make very good submariners.
But I digress. After 90 minutes we pumped up the temperature and got a boil going. 35 litres of beer at a rolling boil is an impressive site! The sugars swirl around and as we add the hop bags the colour changes a little. Soon our walls are slick with moisture and Hubby and I are commenting on how warm the little apartment has become. We started brewing at an ambient temperature of 14-16 degrees. After 90 minutes of a rolling boil the temperature in our little home is 21 degrees!
At 10:30 last night it was 'flame out', or in our case 'unplug'. Hubby donned his big red gloves and we emptied the Birko into our two 'no-chill' cubes. Its nice and cold outside so he put them out for the night and in the morning we had such chilled brew the gods let fly a chorus of angels!! When next we meet, I will tell you about fermentation and the process of waking up those tired and cold friends of ours, yeast. Or I may just post something about the quilted patchwork pillow case I made... Decisions, decisions.
Time wasted to date: 12 hours
Then we add the yummy malted grains in a slow steady stream, stir to get out the beer clumps, and them clamp her up tighter then a bum on a cold bench. Ewwwww!
Woohoo! Glad to read your brewing adventures! I was very curious about this brew in a bag method. So do you pull the bag out with the grains after 90 minutes? And I'm assuming that the water you let them soak in is your pre-boil size?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'll need an American translation on 14-16 degrees... That seems pretty damn cold. Does the yeast freeze?
Yeah! My first comment!
ReplyDeleteYup, we just pull out the bag, squeeze the heck out of it then start the boil/hop for another 90min. Pre-boil is 35 litres and when its all done have about 23-25 litres. The rest ends up as moisture on our walls!
14 degrees celcius - its around 57 degrees in our apartment (when we are too cheap to turn on the heater). We store our yeast starter by the hot water tank while its getting peppy. I will post about that next.
Darryl has constructed a digital themostat to install in a yet-to-be-bought bar fridge so we can temperature control the fermentation. The temps vary so much here! My first priority is to try a lager. Is it silly to have three fridges in a one bedder? Hell no!
Ah, making beer is not wasting time.....
ReplyDelete