Spiced Apple Cyser Update
I added some info to the Cyser post. Here it is or you can find it in the original post:
The ferment just finished up a couple of days ago. It’s sitting at about 0.990 for the FG. That’s what I call bone dry. So I will rack it off, sulfate it to attempt to settle out any remaining yeast, and then add more honey to back sweeten it. I’ve never tried to kill a fermentation before, so I will keep you updated on how it goes. There’s nothing like exploding bottles of what is supposed to be a “still” drink.
Add comment October 28, 2009
The Clogged Boil Kettle Canundrum
I have been through no less than 5 filtering methods to try and keep hops and other boil sediment out of my beer. I have read article upon article of what works for different people, and I’ve gotta tell you, many did not work for me in the least. So, for what it’s worth, I will take you on a little journey on how I discovered how to filter out hops and prevent clogging when boiling your hot wort.
The Main Issue: Whirlpooling.
Now perhaps I am not patient enough, perhaps I am too weak or uncoordinated, but I have never gotten a nice whirlpool at the end of a boil that settled all of the hop gunk and trubs into a pretty little cone in the middle of my boil kettle. I’ve tried it many times, but each time, I stir with all of my might, I let it sit for 15 or 20 minutes, I throw open the floodgates (the spigot) and let it drain into my fermenter. But each time, it clogs! Almost immediately, I get enough gunk on the mesh filter I have in the pot that it clogs it right up. Maybe I am an anomaly. Maybe I am impatient. but just puting a drain tube to the edge of the pot and whirlpooling does not work. I tried a couple different filters in the bottom, and still it would clog up. Bazooka screen – not good enough.
So I gave up on whirlpooling as the main form of filtration. I moved on to the hop bag. This is a brilliant yet simple and elegant solution for the filtering problem. All of your hops and other large items (spices, etc) go in a bag that floats in the wort as it boils. Then all you need to do is filter out the little bits that get past the bag and you are golden! Not only do you get a better filter, but you don’t have to wait for a whirlpool of any sort. Also, hop cleanup is a cinch – just take the hop bag out of the kettle, and empty the bag into the compost heap (or garbage, or whatever).
The Current Setup
So what I have now is as follows:
- A hop bag for all boil kettle additions that catches most of the large items needing to be filtered.
- Then, I still have my bazooka screen attached to a dip tube to screen out the rest of the gunk that makes it past.
Using this setup, I have never had a clog. Well, I take that back, there was one, but that involved mold buildup in the spigot. Did you know given the correct conditions and time, mold growth can become a hard, ball-like substance? Kids, always remember to clean out your spigot.
Add comment October 28, 2009
Spiced Apple Cyser
I made the cyser a couple of days ago. Nothing too crazy, here’s what I ended up with:
Spice Apple Cyser
Ingredients:
2.5 Gallons Fresh Pressed Apple Cider
4 lbs Clover Honey (from Costco)
Water to fill my 3 gallon carboy
Lalvin K1-V1116 Yeast reconstituted in a cup of water (80°) with a tablespoon of sugarI will add nutmeg, clove and cinnamon to the secondary.
Method:
This time I went the path of least resistance. I just dumped the cider in the carboy, followed by the honey, followed by some water to fill, followed by the yeast. No heating or anything. It was awesome, it took like 10 minutes, but it led to a lot of shaking. What I mean is that if you poor honey in at 60°, it won’t mix with anything without a lot of force. But a good 5 minutes of shaking and it seemed that the yeast did the rest of the work for me.
Numbers:
Brewed 10/13/09
OG: 1.095
It smells wonderful and I am anxiously awaiting my first chance to give it a try!
The ferment just finished up a couple of days ago. It’s sitting at about 0.990 for the FG. That’s what I call bone dry. So I will rack it off, sulfate it to attempt to settle out any remaining yeast, and then add more honey to back sweeten it. I’ve never tried to kill a fermentation before, so I will keep you updated on how it goes. There’s nothing like exploding bottles of what is supposed to be a “still” drink.
1 comment October 16, 2009
Fresh Apple Cider
On saturday my brother Dan had his annual birthday party which entails the following:
- 10 AM: Press Cider
- 2 PM: Walk to the Elysian for the 5th Annual Great Pumpkin Beer Festival
- 6 PM: Stagger home with Cider in hand for hot apple cider, and more importantly, Hard Apple Cider.
This is the first year I have had the pleasure of partaking in the event, and I must say, I am jealous that my birthday is not in mid-October (although it is my half birthday in a few days…)
The cider pressing is so much fun, because you just hack up apples and then press them until they give up all their tasty juices. Pristine, organic juice is all that comes out. If it had a label, it would read, “Apples.” I always love those 1 ingredient foods, like Libby’s.
So I snagged about 2 gallons of cider and I am planning on making a sweet Cyser with it, sort of like the Redstone Version.
Here’s what the pressing looks like, featuring me with my sister and dad on either side:
Add comment October 13, 2009
Fresh-Hop-Pumpkin-Peppercorn-Pale Ale
How’s that for a mouthful? Here’s one of my latest creations, using the hops from my mom’s garden and some other fall time pleasures…I’ll report back once I try it out. I’ll probably keg it this week.
Recipe: Fresh Pumpkin Pale Brewer: Alex Shafer Asst Brewer: Mom Style: American IPA TYPE: All Grain Taste: (35.0) Recipe Specifications -------------------------- Batch Size: 10.00 gal Boil Size: 12.27 gal Estimated OG: 1.051 SG Estimated Color: 6.5 SRM Estimated IBU: 82.0 IBU Brewhouse Efficiency: 76.00 % Boil Time: 60 Minutes Ingredients: ------------ Amount Item 15 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) 2 lbs Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM) 8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) 8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) 5.00 oz Sterling [7.50 %] (Dry Hop 5 days) 10.00 oz Sterling [6.50 %] (20 min) 8.00 oz Sterling [6.00 %] (5 min) 0.13 cup Cloves, Whole (Boil 5.0 min) 1.00 oz Peppercorns, Black (Boil 60.0 min) 1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Mash Schedule: Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Medium Body Total Grain Weight: 18.50 lb ---------------------------- Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Medium Body Step Time Name Description Step Temp 60 min Saccharification Add 18.50 qt of water at 166.8 F 150.0 F 10 min Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 10 min 168.0 F Notes: ------ racked 10/07/09 - added 2oz sterling to string bag, 3oz to stretch bag
Add comment October 12, 2009
What you missed if you weren’t at the Elysian today…
Dick posing with his gourd
Tapping the Pumpkin. I totally snuck to the front of the line and got mine before most people. It really was something!
Add comment October 10, 2009
The Great Pumpkin Beer Festival
GPBF2009
The Great Pumpkin Beer Festival 2009 is almost here! I have never got to go in the past, but when you boast something like pouring beer straight out of a gigantic pumpkin, you can count me in! Nine beers by the Elysian as well as other Washington beer and beers from Allagash, Russian River, and Southern Tier – all amazing world class brewers! If you are in Seattle and here this weekend, I’d have to question your sanity if you’re not there!
Add comment October 8, 2009
Crooked Rooster — A Belgian Pumpkin Ale
So I got the idea for this beer reading the latest Zymurgy (by the way, if you are not a member of the American Homebrewer’s Association, you most certainly should be). AHA’s National Homebrew Competition was covered with an awesome sounding beer in the Spice/Herb/Vegetable Category: “Mashing Pumpkins Spiced Saison”. Now beers like this are why I homebrew.
So it was love at first sight and I needed to get down to the homebrew store. I got my grains, but to my dismay, there was no Saison yeast to be had. But no need to panic, that’s what RDWHAHB is all about, right? So I decided to go with the trusty Wit yeast for some of the spicy phenolic character to bring out the nutmeg. Here is what I ended up wit (heh):
Batch Size: 10.00 gal Boil Size: 12.27 gal Estimated OG: 1.060 SG Estimated Color: 11.2 SRM Estimated IBU: 19.1 IBU Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00 % Boil Time: 60 Minutes Ingredients: ------------ Amount Item Type % or IBU 15 lbs 15.0 ozPale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 80.77 % 12.1 oz Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 3.85 % 12.1 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 3.85 % 12.1 oz White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 3.85 % 1.80 oz Goldings, B.C. [4.20 %] (60 min) Hops 11.6 IBU 0.95 oz Saaz [7.70 %] (20 min) Hops 7.5 IBU 0.33 cup Nutmeg (Boil 10.0 min) Misc 2.00 lb Pumpkin (Mash 60.0 min) Misc 4.00 items Cinnamon Stick (Boil 5.0 min) Misc 6.00 items Cloves, Whole (Boil 10.0 min) Misc 1 lbs 8.3 oz Brown Sugar, Dark (50.0 SRM) Sugar 7.69 % 1 Pkgs Belgian Witbier (Wyeast Labs #3944) Yeast-Wheat Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body Total Grain Weight: 18.22 lb ---------------------------- Single Infusion, Light Body Step Time Name Description Step Temp 60 min Mash In Add 27.33 qt of water at 164.6 F 153.0 F 10 min Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 2 min 168.0 F Notes: ------ didn't take OG Wild ferment on 2 gallons Outdoor: 13 2/3 brix
I was hoping this one would be good. I’m a big fan of pumpkin, but am not impressed with most pumpkin beers. They are mostly budweiser with a little pumpkin pie spice. But this beer was something special. A real Winner. It sports a light copper color with a light and refreshing taste but a suprisingly robust mouthfeel that screams pumpkin! It is truly one of my favorite beers to date, and sadly, I just took the last sip. It was quite poetic as I went to poor a glass before sitting down to write this that I heard the all to familiar “Hissssss” of the last glass.
It may have been short, but it was quite the trip with this beer. I may just be crazy, because this beer only weighed in at about about 5.5%ABV, but I think there was a little extra kick in there. Needless to say, I’m brewing this again. SOON.
Sidenote: You may notice in the notes that I also had a little extra, so I threw it in 1 Gallon jugs and let it go WILD! I put one in the fermenter and one in the porch just to see what would happen. I started by puting a coffee filter over the top to keep out bugs and the like, but that proved to be too much of a barrier. So I just decided to go big or go home and opened them up to whatever would like to go all primordial on my wort. When those finish fermenting, I’ll let you know if this is a good idea or not. I’m hoping for the best. Next time I try this, I will probably stick an airlock on at the first sign of activity to limit the sheer mass of bugs (I am referring to the big ones and the microorganisms here) I get in the fermenter.
3 comments October 7, 2009
More Pumpkin, Please!
I’ve recently decided to promote fall to my favorite season. It’s not necessarily the weather, maybe a bit to do with the colors: but mostly it’s about the beer. I simply love a good Octoberfest beer and wait anxiously for their return each September. But even more so, I await the arrival of the pumpkin beers. There is something magical about throwing a little pumpkin in the mash, or boil, or just dumping a fresh wort right into a pumpkin!
That last point is my mission for this year. I have a lone pumpkin growing out in my garden, destined for greatness. The goal is to set this baby on my thanksgiving table, full of beer, and perhaps even a tad carbonated (if I get so lucky).
Add comment October 7, 2009
Update
So if you haven’t checked it out, drop by Hoppybrewing.com and check out the progress. I’m slowly getting the database set up so that I will have a fully searchable database of batches and all the pertinent data surrounding them. I’m also working on getting the css set up so that it will look good. But function over form for now, I want to get things working before I make them beautiful.
I have this weekend to work on the new site and get it going. I’ll leave this sit up for now, at least until we can import everything over to there from here.
Cheers!
I tried to get all fancy and have come back for some good, old-fashioned blogging. Maybe this way I’ll post instead of coding.
Add comment April 3, 2008
