This is
my first brew—I know, the title says it all.
We had some supplies in the basement from a year or so ago when my
husband tried his first brew. I decided
to be a good Lutheran pastor, I should probably learn to brew, too. So, on this day of Sabbath, I’m resting from
work and learning to make this pale ale.
Day 1: Prep and Brew
1.
Get stuff ready.
This recipe uses:
a.
a nylon straining bag for grains
b.
a small muslin bag for hops
c.
a large stock pot with lid, perhaps 2
d.
a thermometer
e.
large spoon (wooden or plastic)
f.
a timer
g.
a funnel
h.
a 3-piece airlock
i.
1 gallon carboy
j.
bung (with a hole for airlock)
k.
2 C Pyrex measuring cup
l.
a glass bowl to hold sanitized stuff
m.
a set or two of tongs (for handling sanitized
stuff)
n.
cleaner and StarSan (or you can bleach and/or
boil most of the supplies)
o.
a small pot for boiling water to make yeast
mixture
p.
The following are actual ingredients for brew day:
i.
2 gallons of tap water (plus water for StarSan
solution and yeast solution)
ii.
2 lb Great Western 2 Row (American/Pale Ale Malt)
, crushed
iii.
½ lb Weyermann Munich I malt, crushed
iv.
½ oz US Cascade Hop Pellets
v.
Fermentis SafAle US-05 (use only 1/5 to ¼ of packet)
q.
The following supplies/ingredients are for
bottling day (about day 10):
i.
½ C water
ii.
1 T granulated sugar
iii.
sanitized bottles (or carboy) and lids
iv.
sanitized spoon
v.
sanitized funnel
2.
I began by setting out all my supplies to
double-check that everything was present.
Then, I used my largest stockpot for boiling water to sanitize
stuff. I melted my airlock—because, duh,
it’s not glass—and went back to the store and invested in StarSan and a
non-melted airlock. (I was taking a
Sabbath from thought, okay?) After
returning from the store, I dumped my previously boiled water and went on with
my merry experiment.
3.
I put two gallons (two carboys) of water in the
large stockpot and put it on to warm up to 156*. While the water was warming, I opened my
grains and put them in the nylon bag and tied the top of the bag in a knot. When
temperature was reached I shut the heat off, dropped in my bag of grains,
stirred for 2 minutes, then covered the pot for 1 hour. (I left it on the same
burner…maybe I should have taken it off?)
4.
While that was doing its thing, I mixed the
StarSan solution according to the directions right in my carboy. I shook the carboy up, let it sit a few
minutes then dumped the solution into my smaller stock pot. This left some bubbles in the carboy. I didn’t want bubbles, but I didn’t want to
contaminate, so I dropped a turkey baster into the solution, then gently rinsed
the bubbles out with more solution.
Then, I rinsed the glass bowl (which, yes, was already cleaned in the
boiling water) and tongs with the solution.
Next, each piece of airlock, the funnel, the bung, the foil, the
measuring cup…and anything I could get my hands on…was put in the solution with
the tongs and put in the glass bowl to air dry.
5.
After 60 minutes, I removed the lid and pulled
the grain bag out of the pot. I let the
bag drip for a while to get as much moisture out as possible (without
squeezing…I read that I shouldn’t do that to the mash?).
6. I turned the burner back on. When the water
started to boil I put the hops into the small muslin bag, tied it shut, and
threw it in the pot. I boiled the hops for
about 1 hour without the lid. While that was boiling, I put the spent grain in
a bucket and took to the chickens next door.
7.
Also, while the hops were boiling, I boiled a
small pot of water. I dumped one cup of
the water into the sanitized measuring cup (and put in a sanitized thermometer). When the water is down to 90* add the yeast
and mix with a sanitized spoon. (Reserve
and keep sanitized the rest of the water in the small pot to put in the airlock
later.) Let rest until mixing with wort.
8.
Near the end of the
hops boiling, I put ice water in the sink.
When the boiling was done, I set the whole stockpot in the sink (careful
to not get anything in the wort) to cool.
When it got down to about 75* (which took FOREVER, even in cold water) I
used the sanitized tongs to put the sanitized funnel in the sanitized
carboy. Then I poured half of the wort
into the carboy, then the yeast into the carboy, then the wort. I left some room at the top for head…maybe
enough, maybe not?
9.
After putting the liquids in the carboy, I put
the sanitized foil over the top, held it tightly and shook it up to mix the
yeast. If you’re smart enough to get a
lid for your carboy, you could sanitize that and use it instead of the foil.
10. I filled the airlock
to the line with previously boiled and therefor sanitized water (leftover from
mixing the yeast), put the airlock together with the bung and popped it in the
carboy and put the carboy on a towel under a table in the dark, cool basement.
Day 2-3: Watching, Waiting, Commiserating
On Days 2 and 3, the yeast really grew… Turns out I didn’t
leave enough head space. So, on Day 3, I
popped out the bung and airlock, used a sanitized turkey-baster to suck out
some of the foam/liquid, covered it with a sanitized piece of foil, sanitized
the airlock and bung and replaced them.
I was pretty convinced that my beer was ruined.
Day 11:
1.
2. Sanitize bottles/carboy, lid(s), funnel.
3.
Pour carboy into sanitized pot with sugar water
and mix with a sanitized spoon.
4.
Pour beer into sanitize bottles/carboy, cap, and
put in cool dark place for 14 days.
Note: I filled three 22 oz bottles and had
probably a glassful leftover for a taste-test.
It tasted like flat beer—a good sign?!
Day 27
1.
Put beer in the refrigerator for 2+ hours.
2.
Drink beer.
3.
Record tastes.
Verdict:
The beer tastes like beer! It’s a little under-carbonated, maybe a few
more days of sitting in the dark before refrigeration would help. I’m more than surprised that this pale ale is
palatable. Both my husband and I agree
that this recipe is a keeper—onto a larger batch!
No comments:
Post a Comment