Brewing Update from Tuesday, January 25, 2011

1/25/2011


1 pound of Muntons Dry Malt Extract and .
5 oz of Centennial hops AA 9.1. 7:50 pm
25 oz Centennial hops @ 30 minute mark.
25 oz Citra hops 12.3 AA @ 55 min mark.
1 can Mr. Beer Bewitched Red Ale Hopped Malt Extract and
1 can of Mr. Beer Classic American Blonde Ale Hopped Malt Extract put in hot water bath.
Wyeast 1332 Northwest Yeast Slap Pack slapped @ 6:15 pm.
Brewing beverage: Fat Tire Amber Ale
.Add 1.5 lb of honey and the 2 cans of hopped malt extract at 60 minute mark.
Dry hop with .25 oz of Citra and .75 oz of Simcoe (12.2 AA) stir in hot wort.
Add cold water to bring up wort to appx 2.25 gal (perhaps just a little more)
Temperature of wort - 88.5. Put the wort out on the front porch to cool.
Yeast is ready to pitch when the wort is cool enough. I would like to get it cool enough so I can make a proper original gravity reading.
While the wort is cooling, it is time to clean up -- everyone’’s favorite part of the brewing process (besides bottling).

OG - 1.078 @ 70 degrees + .0016 = 1.079

Shooting for OG @ 1.080 - pretty darn close!

Whipped my wort with the wine whipper. I am hoping that with this big of a beer, that having a well aerated wort will assist in full fermentation. Lots of sugars to ferment.

I then pitched the yeast into the wort (wort at about 73 degrees at the time).

Concerns

1 - not a complete fermentation with this big of a beer.
2 - The amount of hops in this thing. Hopefully it is well balanced. I wanted really strong citris and tropical smells. I just hope that I didn’t overdo it.
3 - carbonation problems again.

Time will tell. Wrapping up at 10:30. Do your work, yeasts! Good night.

1/30/2011 -- Update - everything appears to be up and running. The yeast appear to be actively chewing away at the sugars. Since this is such a big beer, I am going to plan to keep it in the fermenter for at least 21 days.  If I remember, I will check the fermentation and measure the specific gravity in 2 weeks to see where I am at. Then, wait another week to bottle. That is the game plan at this point.