Aqua Vitae

Let the malting experiment begin!

Keith has procured a small bit of grain for us to begin experiment malting grains with. We have a few different projects planned for the barley, wheat and triticale. We’ll probably begin with a couple batches of wheat beers for testing the process.

Tags: barley, malt, malting, triticale, wheat

2 3-gal batches: 3.6brix (~.995FG) - Transferring to new carboys and adding 2.50z of oak chips to one

1 6-gal batch: 3.6brix (~.995FG) - transferring to new 5gal carboy. Will split and add oak to 1/2 next week.

Tags: Cider

I repitched the Black Lager with a German Ale yeast and let it rest for three days and then bottled it. It doesn’t seem to have suffered any ill effects from sitting in the primary fermenter for MONTHS. I suspect being held at 48°F for the whole time gave me a bit more leeway. The beer should be carbonated and conditioned in time for July 4th.

Next up:

•  Test and bottle ciders
• Brew another Golden Bitter
• Malt wheat and brew some wheat beers
• Start planning and brewing strong beers for fall/winter drinking

Tags: dunkel

I’m going to repitch the black lager with a Kolsch yeast (WL) in anticipation of bottling the batch. I assume, since the beer has been sitting dormant in the freezer for months, the yeast is weak, if not dead.

Tags: dunkel

I brewed an English Bitter 7 1/2 weeks ago. The brewing process went smooth, using Wyeast 1968 London ESB was a good call - the wort had a classic fruity, malty nose and a great taste.

The only problem was the final gravity, which ended up at 1.018, about 6 points higher than I was aiming for. The temperature of the wort fluctuated greatly during primary fermentation, from 60 to 74, and from what I’ve read Wyeast 1968 is very sensitive to low temperatures (the yeast is prone to heavily flocculating if the temps get too low).

But here I am all of these weeks later and I’m still waiting for the beer to be fully carbonated (even accounting for the style’s usually low-level of carbonation which I aimed for). I last tried one about 3 weeks ago and it still wasn’t ready. I’m chomping at the bit because it has so much promise, but trying to be patient and just wait.

And wait.

And wait.

This is a clear indication that I need to get a Party Pig.

Lately I’ve been really interested in cask-style English bitters, pale ales, and milds, ever since going to the New England Real Ale Exhibition last month. So today I’m brewing my first English-style Bitter, using a recipe for Bluebird Bitter from Beer Captured. Based on my usually terribly 60% efficiency, I’m aiming for this to be a 3-gallon batch.I’m interested to know why the authors of Beer Captured chose to include roasted barley in this recipe. Only .5-ounces, but it still seems odd. I looked at the BJCP style definitions for English bitters and roasted barley wasn’t included in the malts for any of the related styles. The Brewer’s Handbook has this to say about roasted barley,

“Roasting unmalted barley at high temperatures makes roasted barley. Roasted barley is not black in appearance; it is rather a rich, dark brown. It has an assertive, roasted flavor, similar to roasted coffee beans, with a sharp, acrid after-palate, and is especially used in the making of dry stouts and porters. It contributes significantly to the color of the beer, enhances head production and stabilization, and whitens the head on the beer. There are no enzymes in roasted barley. Roasted barley produces a stronger, drier, more bitter taste than roasted malt and is less aromatic and drier, with a more intense burnt flavor than black malt.”

 Based on that explanation, it seems an odd choice for an English Bitter. Maybe it’s for some additional color (very slight, given the .5-ounces), maybe some additional bittering, who knows. But I’ll to try it, and see what comes of it.