Sunday morning. I am trying to brew before I go to the store. It'll be tight. I started at 9:30 a.m. It's a pilsner with the Wyeast Staro-Prague yeast. This is a new one for me. All light dry malt and US Saaz pellets. Some carafoam, light wheat & a bit of flaked barley.
Some thoughts on this 2 hour deadline:
1. I will need to cut back on boil time to 50 minutes. Depending on how much I boil, it takes more time to come up to a boil. So today I'm starting with just a bit less than 4 gallons. It took about 30 minutes to get to full boil.
2. Mixing in dry malt: Tried something a bit different. Poured dry malt into pot then I used the sprayer attachment to add water. Used hot tap water. This worked really well. It dissolved pretty fast, nothing stuck to the bottom. The paddle is the right tool for a flat bottom pot.
3. The oatmeal stout grains were a pain in the ass. Oats got really big. Hard to rinse well. I don't think I got all the color from the dark grains, so I might have to rename this as an English Brown ale. Don't think I'll do use oats in a post boil steep again.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
2 hour brew,part 2
Okay, the schwartzbier seems to be coming along just fine, so I want to try another 2 hour brew.
Start time, 11:00 am
fermenter is already filled with sanitizer
about a gallon of water heating on the stove to make dissolving the malt extract easier
starter is made, yeast looks very good
oats go into cool oven to toast as it preheats to 350F
The recipe:
Toasted Oatmeal Stout
#1 toasted oats
12 ounces chocolate rye
8 ounces 90L US crystal
12 ounces dehusked carafa 1
4 ounces roasted barley
4 ounces mild ale malt
#6-6 ounces Munton's amber malt extract
After I mixed the extract into the gallon of hot water on the stove @11:12, stirred well with spatula, then I started topping off to boil volume with quarts of H2O that I had heating up for 3 minutes in the microwave. That should get everything up to a boil quicker. Oats toasted to a golden color in about 20 minutes. Don't forget them! As soon as you can smell them, it's time to stir or take them out.
11:36 Boil! Set timer for 1 hour
Hops:
1-1/2 ounces E. Kent Golding pellets, 5.5% AAU @ 60 minutes
1-1/2 ounces E Kent Golding pellets, @20 minutes
12:15 am rinse out funnel, cup, strainer, fermenter Add wort chiller to boil. Add 20 minute hop addition
12:39 Boil is done; wort chiller hooked up. Grain bag is in the middle of the chiller.
1:05 Pitched and covered @ 72F
Because the oatmeal grain blend was bigger than most recipes, it really filled the funnel/strainer. Luckily I had the better part of a suitcase of water, so I was able to use that to rinse the grain bag. Did that, then topped it off with tap water.
Okay, a little more than 2 hours, but not bad. done!
Start time, 11:00 am
fermenter is already filled with sanitizer
about a gallon of water heating on the stove to make dissolving the malt extract easier
starter is made, yeast looks very good
oats go into cool oven to toast as it preheats to 350F
The recipe:
Toasted Oatmeal Stout
#1 toasted oats
12 ounces chocolate rye
8 ounces 90L US crystal
12 ounces dehusked carafa 1
4 ounces roasted barley
4 ounces mild ale malt
#6-6 ounces Munton's amber malt extract
After I mixed the extract into the gallon of hot water on the stove @11:12, stirred well with spatula, then I started topping off to boil volume with quarts of H2O that I had heating up for 3 minutes in the microwave. That should get everything up to a boil quicker. Oats toasted to a golden color in about 20 minutes. Don't forget them! As soon as you can smell them, it's time to stir or take them out.
11:36 Boil! Set timer for 1 hour
Hops:
1-1/2 ounces E. Kent Golding pellets, 5.5% AAU @ 60 minutes
1-1/2 ounces E Kent Golding pellets, @20 minutes
12:15 am rinse out funnel, cup, strainer, fermenter Add wort chiller to boil. Add 20 minute hop addition
12:39 Boil is done; wort chiller hooked up. Grain bag is in the middle of the chiller.
1:05 Pitched and covered @ 72F
Because the oatmeal grain blend was bigger than most recipes, it really filled the funnel/strainer. Luckily I had the better part of a suitcase of water, so I was able to use that to rinse the grain bag. Did that, then topped it off with tap water.
Okay, a little more than 2 hours, but not bad. done!
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Two hour homebrew?
I've had an idea for awhile about how to brew more efficiently. Normally we steep the grains for a 1/2 hour or so, while the kitchen gets cleaned up and the fermenter gets filled with sanitizer. Then add the malt, boil for an hour and chill. Can I brew a five gallon extract w/specialty grain homebrew in two hours?
What if:
1. the kitchen was already clean/tidy?
2. dissolve the malt in the pot and get the boil started right away?
3. steep the grains in the wort while the chiller runs?
Schwartzbier, Jan 5, 2010
9:00 am Dissolve #6.8 d.m.e. in 3 gallons of H20
9:20 am Boil starts, get fermenter filled with sanitizer, start adding hops
10:10 am Wort chiller into pot
10:15 am Drain fermenter, rinse strainer, measuring cup, lid, airlock
10:20 am Add whirlfloc tablet
10:25 am Boil finished
What if:
1. the kitchen was already clean/tidy?
2. dissolve the malt in the pot and get the boil started right away?
3. steep the grains in the wort while the chiller runs?
Schwartzbier, Jan 5, 2010
9:00 am Dissolve #6.8 d.m.e. in 3 gallons of H20
9:20 am Boil starts, get fermenter filled with sanitizer, start adding hops
10:10 am Wort chiller into pot
10:15 am Drain fermenter, rinse strainer, measuring cup, lid, airlock
10:20 am Add whirlfloc tablet
10:25 am Boil finished
11:00 am Wort chilled, topped off, pitched and in the cellar
Done in 2 hours. I realized that the grains weren't really in the pot very long while the chiller was running. So I poured the wort in the pot through my strainer first to get rid of the hops. Then I put the grain bag in the strainer and rinsed through the grains as I topped off the fermenter. There was a nice color in the wort coming out the strainer and I think I probably ran a gallon and a half of water through the grains.
All in all, this seems like it works. I had #2 of specialty grains. I'll be looking forward to seeing if I get all the color and roastiness I want in this schwartzbier.
Done!
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