Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Added Hops!
Added 2oz. Cascade Hops (5.4 AA) to the fermenter!
Boiled muslin bag (not hops), added hops & tied bag and place in wort. Resealed, took reading.
Now we wait.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Getting There!
Cascade Hops (pellets) arrived today. 6oz. (6 vacuum sealed packages).
Monday, December 29, 2008
All but stopped bubbling
Notes: Takes about 4oz./100ml to do this but bubbling has decreased drammatically and I wanted to know! :-) Gotta learn somehow, eh? (*burp* :-) (heater was down to 70 and it's rather nipply in here). Watch too many samples (negative pressure).
I think I will try a 'Primary Dry Hopping'. Leaning towards 3oz. tossed in a muslum bag for the last week (after bubbling stops).
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Still bubbling!
Possible name for my version of Cooper's Australian Pale Ale = Getting Down Under Thunder Ale
(it was thundering and lightning all yesterday and last night!)
Think it's too cliche?
Dec. 27, 1008 - Bubbling like a brewdog
December 26, 2008
Equipment:
- Coopers Beer Kit
- Substituted Australian Pale Ale Kit (batch date=20080317, Best before=20100309)
The info I got from HomeBrewTalk.com in THIS thread made me decide to lengthen fermenting times (primary as well as bottling).
As the thread shows, I had questions and got EXCELLENT responses! I heartily recommend this forum for anyone interested in brewing! Not condescending or elitist at all!
Ok, back to the brew!
Note: All hour formats will from now on be in 24 hour (military) time and date stamps will be in a
YEAR-MO-DY-HOUR format.
2008-12-26-1930: Sanitized w/Coopers Sanitizer
Set-up in Kitchen in the corner of the counter that sees no use, heated the extract, brew enhancer 2 (sugars) and added cool water to get to my target temp.
2008-12-26-2000: It ended up higher than I wanted (27.25C) as target pitching temp. is 21C-27C but I pitched anyways.
2034: 26.75C
2008-12-26-2200: 26.5C. Took hydrometer reading = 1046 (note to self: above the number is lower!)
2008-12-27-1000: 25C. SG=1034.
2008-12-27-2000: 25C. SG=1030.
2008-12-28-1000: 24C.
Ok, I confess, I am waaay to excited and overzealous with my new hobby! I ordered another Beer Kit from Coopers so I will have 2 fermenters going! Wheeeee! I've been reading and reading and decided to not (yet) delve into boiling/grain but it's something I will work towards eventually. Being able to make my OWN recipes will be wonderful!
Disclaimer: I realise some will look at my entry into the hobby as a partial endeavor and that Stupours Brewery is making (pretty much) set recipes at this time (manufactured by Coopers Brewery) but I look at it that each batch is unique to itself (despite even using same ingredients). The most important part is the pleasure of drinking good beer with the knowledge that I made it myself, isn't it? :-)