Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Witbier in Secondary

I moved the witbier out of the primary fermenter and put it in the secondary. Smelled and tasted good. Will bottle in a couple weeks.


Monday, October 26, 2009

Hard Cider Video

The cider is still fermenting, but wanted to get the video uploaded....


Saturday, October 24, 2009

Hard Cider is flying!

The hard cider is really fermenting vigorously! The spiced one seems more active, but they are both really going.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Countertop Hard Cider

Just put 2 - one gallon jugs of hard cider up. Purchased store bought cider. No preservatives. Poured them in, yeasted them up, set them aside.

I spiced one gallon with cinnamon and nutmeg. The other gallon is straight cider.

Video and photos to follow.

Plan on a quick ferment, then bottle and chill. All within a week.

Witbier update

The Witbeir is still in primary fermentation. It is cooler in there now and is taking a bit longer. Plus Wit should be slower. It is now 11 days and it is moving slower now and I'll move it to secondary early next week.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Witbier Fermenting & Brew Class info

The Witbier is in the fermenter and happily bubbling away. Going to let the yeast do it's job for a bit longer with this beer. Maybe 2 weeks...we'll see how the number are.

Lonerider brewing in Raleigh is adding a homebrewing series to it's offerings. The intro course is Nov 8th at the brewery. I'm going to check it out.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Sunday, October 11, 2009

It's Big, it's Orange, It's a Squash and it Tastes Great!

The Sneak peek of the Pumpkin Ale was delicious! Spices were obvious, but suttle. The pumpkin added a nice orange color without a great deal of taste. The beer has a nice mouthfeel and is easy to drink. I like dark beer generally anyway, but this is good. (sorry...have to say it....)

I am going to let it continue to age and try to stay out of my stash for another couple weeks. It will be even better then......

I'll definitely brew it again next season!!

Friday, October 9, 2009

Sneak Peek at Pumpkin ale

I put a 1/2 liter bottle of the pumpkin ale in the fridge. Taste test tonight. It is early....but...just gotta do it!

Witbier postponed!

I didn't get yeast....had to put it on hold until early next week.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Cider....hmmmm

Thinking about putting together a batch of cider. It is a longer term aging thing, so if I "brew" it now, probably not really ready for 4 or 5 months...or more! So put it in the fermenter and forget about it for a while.

Thinking about it.....

Brew Day Tomorrow! Witbier!

So I got a good recipe today and most of the ingredients for witbier. I need to get a couple oranges for the peels and some camomile. Going to use the new brew burner and chiller. So there is a lot of new stuff going on. It is a good recipe with a few cool spices. I'll post it later....

By the way. Most of the Hefe is already gone. Some of the brown ale is gone and still waiting for the pumpkin ale. (it has only been a week in the bottle).

Cooker and Chiller Test

I put together my immersion chiller and tested it and the brew burner. I boiled the chiller in a vinegar and water bath to take off the crud on the copper. (Look closely at the copper and you can see the boil level on the input/output lines).

Both work great. Going to setup a recycle system to pull from an ice bath. That way we chill faster and don't waste water.