Witty Ging Update

The Witty Ging bottles have been conditioning in the fridge for close to three weeks now since people say that some flavors can mellow out with more time. I decided to try another bottle last night and it was quite drinkable! The tart taste was still stronger than I would have liked, but it was still a huge improvement. I am going to give this recipe another shot for my next brew session. The cooler set up should keep the temperatures in check and the beer should turn out better.

Fusel Alcohols

Unfortunately, the Witty Ging is barely drinkable. It’s not completely terrible, but it’s not something I would want my friends to try either. The bad taste can be attributed to the major temperature swings during fermentation. The summer heat crept up pretty quickly and the fermenter was showing readings of warmer than 80 degrees. Anything over 80 degrees is way too high and it most likely led to fusel alcohols being produced. I now have a cooler that will help control temperatures and am going to try and brew the Witty Ging again. I have to find a mini-fridge big enough to fit two fermenters at once so I can get my pipeline back on track!

New Labels

New bottle labels! These are slightly different than one I made in Word a few months ago. My brother works for a printing company and he was able to get the labels designed and printed. The labels are 4" X 5" and almost wrap around the entire bottle. There is about a 2" gap of exposed bottle in the back which I think looks good. Hopefully the labels will stay on through a sanitation phase before they are filled.

Big Mistake

I noticed some mold growing around the lid of the fermenter when I went to take the final gravity reading on my Irish Red last night. I have been keeping the fermenter in a cooler and adding ice every day to maintain a constant temperature. I took off the lid to see what the beer looked like because I assumed it was contaminated. At the time, I saw what I thought was a big chunk of mold floating in the beer. I immediately brought the fermenter to the sink and starting pouring it out. It turns out it was just one of the hop sacks... (Ugh). The beer most likely was fine. I now know that most of the beer is salvageable even if there is mold actually in the fermenter.

I just put the first test bottles of the Pilothouse Pilsner and Witty Ging to the fridge. I only have a cooler big enough for one fermenter at a time, so the pipeline will be diminished after these two batches are done.

Cold Crash

I took a gravity reading of the Pilothouse Pilsner on Friday that came in at 1.012. The 1.012 reading was perfect, but the beer was extremely cloudy. I decided to "cold crash" the beer before I bottled it. Cold crashing is as easy as just putting the fermenter into your refrigerator. Some people do it for a couple days, some at least a week. The drop in temperature makes a lot of the yeast fall to the bottom of the fermenter, ultimately making a clearer beer. I only cold crashed for two days and definitely noticed an improvement when I bottled. With a final gravity of 1.012 the beer has an ABV of 6.0%.

Irish Red

Steeping the roasted barley and crystal

I brewed an Irish Red extract recipe that included specialty grains last night. It was the first time I brewed using any kind of grains and it was actually very simple. Using specialty grains adds certain flavors and/or color to the beer that you cannot get from using extracts. The only downside, which is true with steeping any grains, is that the entire brew process takes longer. I purchased a 20 Quart Pot because I was tired of boil overs! If I ever decide to start brewing 5 gallon batches, this pot is big enough to handle it. I bought the pot for $59 on Friday and the price already rose to $67! The pot is perfect for pouring the wort into the fermenter as well. Here is the Irish Red recipe:

3 lbs. Golden Light Dry Malt Extract (DME)
2 oz. Light Roasted Barley (30 minutes)
8 oz. Crystal 60L (C-60) (30 minutes)
1/3 oz. Fuggles hops (60 minutes)
1/3 oz. Willamette hops (60 minutes)
1/3 oz. Fuggles hops (15 minutes)
1/3 oz. Willamette hops (15 minutes)
1/8 tsp. Irish Moss (15 minutes)
1/3 oz. Fuggles hops (5 minutes)
1/3 oz. Willamette hops (5 minutes)
Safale US-05 dry yeast

The recipe might look complex, but the bulk of it is 1 oz. of Fuggles and Willamette hops each broken down into thirds. I put the specialty grains in a ziplock bag and crushed them with a rolling pin. This method worked fine, but

2 of the 3 hops bags that I used

I will have to come up with something better if I ever use larger amounts. I started brewing with 2 gallons of water. I could have used 1 gallon, but some people recommend an "as close to full volume boil as possible" so I gave it a shot. I added the C-60 and light roasted barley for 30 minutes while maintaining a temperature between 150°-160°. After 30 minutes, I removed the specialty grains, added the 3 lbs. of DME, and brought the wort to a boil. Once boiling, I restarted my timer for 60 minutes and added the first hops bag containing 1/3 oz. Fuggles and 1/3 oz. Willamette. I added the second hops bag and irish moss at 15 minutes, and the third hops bag at 5 minutes. The original gravity was 1.056. Even though it didn't look red at this stage it still smelled great!

Witty Ging bottles

I bottled the Witty Ging on Monday night, which free'd up the fermenter for this Irish Red recipe. The final gravity settled at 1.014, meaning the beer has an ABV of 6.2%. I'm very excited to see how this one turns out because it was my first brew that was not based from a Mr. Beer kit!

Another Success!

I just opened up a bottle of the Sticky Wicket after conditioning it in the refrigerator for two days. The head dissipated rather quickly, but can most likely be attributed to the short time spent in the fridge. The beer tastes just like an oatmeal stout should. I prefer oatmeal stouts to be a little more creamy, but overall this is a delicious beer made from a Mr. Beer recipe. I put most of the remaining bottles into the fridge, but left a few out to see if more time in phase 2 will improve the beer at all.

I also put the remaining Witty Monk bottles into the fridge. The Witty Ging and Pilothouse Pilsner are almost done fermenting. I have to come up with more empty beer bottles in order to move them along!

Not quite ready?

This wasn't the best picture, but there wasn't much to see anyway. I put one Witty Monk in the refrigerator to condition after 14 days of carbonating. The head quickly dissipated, and the beer seemed a little watery. The overall flavor was awesome. It had a distinct orange taste much like a Blue Moon. I am going to let the rest of the bottles carbonate for a total of 21 days to see if that changes anything. The beer was good, but I wish it had a little more body to it.

Hot Break

This is a picture of my boiling pot (from Sunday) and what is called the "hot break". The hot break is foam caused by proteins in the wort that coagulate due to the rolling action of the boil. The wort will continue to foam until the protein clumps get heavy enough to sink back into the pot. The hot break is a good thing! It only becomes a problem when it boils over and messes up your stove (happened twice to me...). If you are adding hops, some people recommend waiting until the hot break finishes before adding the hops and starting the times.

This picture shows part of my set up on brew day. There are really only five things to note here. All the way on the left, you can see the two cans of Mr. Beer Hoppe Malt Extract (HME). They are soaking in hot water so they are easier to pour into the wort (they are still very sticky, but it helps). Before I add the HME cans, I replace the warm water with the sanitized solution from the

fermenter. I dip the opened can into the hot wort to get any remaining extract out. The fermenter is sitting next to the HME cans and is just filled with a gallon of the sanitized solution. In the back, there is a measuring cup covered with foil. That is what I use to rehydrate the yeast in one cup of water. To the right of the fermenter is another measuring cup filled with sanitized solution. I keep utensils (can opener and spatula in this picture) in there until I use them. The last thing is a small plate with the whisk. The plate has a little bit of the sanitized solution on it so I can continually put down the utensils without the risk of picking up any unwanted nasties.

Pilothouse Pilsner

Yesterday I brewed a batch of the Pilothouse Pilsner from Mr. Beer. Like the Witty Monk and American Devil IPA, I added one pound of dry malt extract (DME) (Pilsen DME for this recipe). The original gravity came in at 1.058, which is a little lower than what I was anticipating (also just like the Witty Monk). The Pilothouse Pilsner was the last of the Mr. Beer ingredients that I have, but I will definitely be buying more in the future considering how well the American Devil IPA turned out.

Taste Test

The American Devil IPA turned out fantastic! As you can see, my fiance Devin thinks so as well! The beer was very hoppy and I think the taste is extremely similar to Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA. This beer is also sporting a 6.7% ABV, and is definitely something I will brew again. Since the beer has only been in the fridge for 5 days, I am looking forward to seeing if the taste gets even better after a full 14 days of conditioning.

Witty Ging

Last night I brewed a witbier that was my first non Mr. Beer recipe. I picked up the ingredients from Corrado's Home Beer Center and everything cost about $20. The good news is that I have some coriander and orange peel leftover for another batch since the recipe only called for half an ounce. I crushed the coriander using a rolling pin and plastic ziplock bag. I am calling this beer a Witty Ging:

3 pounds Wheat Dry Malt Extract (DME)
.75 oz. Hersbrucker (50 minutes)
.5 oz. Coriander (15 minutes)
.5 oz. Bitter Orange Peel (5 minutes)
Safbrew T-58 Yeast

As you can see in this picture, I clearly need a bigger brewing pot. I have only used 1 pound of DME before this recipe, and the amount of volume that 3 pounds took up was a little surprising. This was also the first time I used a hops bag for the boil. It was a little surprising how buoyant it was even after it was completely saturated (If you are using a hops bag, remember to sanitize the bag before you put the hops in it). The volume eventually decreased as water evaporated, but there were a few close calls with boil overs (luckily the stove top escaped unscathed).

The beer turned out a LOT darker than I was expecting. My hydrometer reading came in at 1.061, which is a lot higher than my expected 1.050 that QBrew estimated. This just means that the Witty Ging will be a higher ABV than I thought!