Weekend Projects and Portable Kegging

I got all the equipment I need to make a keg portable this last weekend.

It includes a KEGlove insulated sleeve and ice blanket, a CO2 regulator, a 20oz CO paintball tank with adapter and the hoses and fittings to attach to a keg.  This should keep a keg cool for up to 24 hours outside of the kegerator.

I also smoked two pounds of pilsner malt with hickory chips and toasted 1/2 pound of malt as well.
Here is a picture of regular pilsner malt and then the toasted below it.  I toasted it at 350ºF for 1 hour.  The smoked malt was split into two 1 pound amounts and wrapped in burlap and put in the smoker for a couple of hours.  It darkened a little but not as much as the toasted malt.

The third project for this weekend was my first attempt at a home made tap handle.  Tap handles cost $30+ for even the most basic handle.  The one I made cost just over $5.

I left room at the top to place a label with either the name of the beer or a more generic beer style label.  I haven't decided which I'm going to do.  This was pretty easy to make.

• 1 - Pine block - $1.48
• 1 - Pine spindle - $1.98
• 1 - 1/4" dowel pin - $0.10
• 1 - Tap Handle Ferrule - (Lowe's Part# 137397) - $1.51
• Paint of your choice - ???

It's been about a month since I last posted a message and I still haven't finished off any of my kegs.  It helps that I tend to only drink 1 beer a night.  The Saison should be empty fairly soon which will open up a tap for my American style Pale Ale.  Once it is tapped, I will post a picture and the recipe.

EdWort's Apfelwein

Impromptu brew day today.  After reading up on EdWort's Apfelwein, I had to make some.  This is so much more simple to make then beer.

5 Gallons of 100% Apple juice, 2 lbs Corn Sugar (NOT TABLE SUGAR!!!), 1 package of Wine yeast.  No boiling, no mashing, nothing.  Let it sit in the fermenter for 4-6 weeks, keg and let it sit for another 4-6 weeks.  Drink, but do so carefully since it should be around 9% ABV.  I'll post about it again once its ready so my volunteer taste testers will be ready to pounce.

Storing my grains and my next recipe.

Here is my bulk grain purchase.

The larger containers each hold about 25lbs of grain and contain all the base malts.  The smaller containers can hold about 12.5lbs and hold the specialty grains.

I think I've worked out my next recipe.  This will be the first recipe I've made from scratch.  It will be a smoked American brown ale. 

• 7lbs - Domestic 2-row
• 2lbs - Home smoked malt (Hickory)
• 8oz - Home toasted malt
• 8oz - Crystal 60L
• 8oz - Pale Chocholate
• 8oz - Special B
• 1oz - Centennial Hops (60 minutes)
• 0.5oz - Cascade (First Wort Hopped)
• Wyeast 1332 - Northwest Ale

BeerSmith is estimating this to be:

• OG - 1.056
• Bitterness - 33 IBUs
• Color - 21 SRM
• ABV - 5.1%

I might switch out the 2-row with a mix of Maris Otter and Pilsner malt.  When buying bulk, European grains come in 55lb bags so I have about 5lbs that don't fit in the storage containers.  If I do switch this out, I'll also switch to a 90 minute boil as Pilsner malts produce more DMS precursors than other base malts and I want to drive them off with a longer boil.

The yeast I will be using is from my first attempt at reusing yeast.

My Braggot - AKA Honey Ale

This is a picture of my Braggot

Braggot is the technical term for a half beer half mead.  The brew date was 06/25/11 and it was kegged on 07/29/11.  It was first tapped a couple of weeks ago.  The ingredients are as follows:

• 5lbs - Domestic 2-row
• 3lbs - Honey
• 8oz - CaraPils/Dextrine 
• 1oz - Glacier hops (60 min)
• 1oz - Vanguard hops (flameout)
• Wyeast 1056 - American Ale Yeast

I mashed in at 152F and batch sparged.  OG was 1.046 and FG was 1.000 giving me a 6.0% ABV beer.  Primary fermentation was at 62F for  three weeks.

This is a very light, easy to drink beer.  If I try this again, I think I will throw in some honey malt because there is almost no honey flavor to this.

My next two beers are already in the pipeline.  I have an American Pale Ale that is currently being dry hopped and will be kegged this weekend.  I also have a Scottish 70/- that is in the primary fermenter.  I'll probably move it to the secondary this weekend.  I've brewed the Scottish Ale before as an extract beer, but this one is all grain.  I'm adding a little twist this time though as I'm going to soak some oak chips in Scotch and will throw the whole mixture in the secondary.

My Farmehouse de Saison and Bulk Grain Purchase

This is a picture of my Saison.

The brew date was 03/05/11 and it was kegged on 03/27/11.  It was first tapped in early May.  The ingredients are as follows:

• 6lbs - Domestic 2-row
• 5lbs - White Wheat Malt
• 1lb - Belgium Candi Sugar
• 8oz - Caravienne
• 8oz - Torrified Wheat
• 1oz - Bitter Orange Peel
• 0.5oz - Coriander Seed
• 0.5oz - Seeds of Paradise
• 1oz - Saaz hops
• Wyeast 3942 - Belgian Wheat Yeast

I mashed in at 148F and double-batch sparged.  OG was 1.065 and FG was 1.010 giving me a 7.2% ABV beer.  Primary fermentation was at 62F for  three weeks.

At 7.2%, this is a fairly big beer but deceptively so.  The spices and the fruity esters from the Belgian yeast really hide the alcohol.

I also ordered what should be a years supplies of grains for brewing.  Here is the list:

• 50lbs - Rahr 2-row (Domestic malt)
• 55lbs - Muntons Maris Otter (British malt)
• 55lbs - Weyermann Pilsner (German lager/pilsner malt)
• 5lbs - Crystal 20L
• 5lbs - Crystal 60L
• 5lbs - Special B 120L
• 5lbs - Aromatic
• 5lbs - Roasted Barley
• 5lbs - Carafa III
• 5lbs - Pale Chocolate
• 10lbs - Munich II
• 5lbs - White Wheat malt

For those not familiar with brewing terminology, the 20L refers to the color in degrees Lovibond.  The lower the number, the lighter the color.  Lovibond has largely been replaced by SRM in the U.S. and EBC in Europe.

I still need to do a bulk hops purchase and I will buy yeast as needed.  Tomorrow I'll do another update with my third beer on tap and go over what I have in the pipeline.

My Bohemian Pilsner

This is a picture of my Bohemian Pilsner (name suggestions are encouraged).

This was my first lager I've tried brewing.  The brew date was 04/02/11 and it was kegged (for lagering) on 05/09/11.  It was first tapped earlier this month.

The ingredients are as follows:

• 9lbs - Domestic 2-row
• 8oz - CaraPils/Dextrine 
• 8oz - Crystal 10L
• 2oz - Saaz hops(1oz at 60min, 1oz at flameout)
• Saflager S-23 dry lager yeast

I mashed in at 150F and double-batch sparged.  OG was 1.046 and FG was 1.012 giving me a 4.5% ABV beer.  My efficiency was only 64% but I've since tightened the crush of my grains to give me better efficiency.  Primary fermentation was at 60F and I lagered at 38F.

I've seen many complaints on online message boards regarding S-23 yeast.  Since this is my first lager I have nothing to compare it to, but I'm very happy with the taste of this and absolutely love the hops flavor of the Saaz hops.

Tomorrow I'll post a pic of another one of my beers that are on tap and will also discuss my first bulk grain purchase.

More about my current setup

Here are some pictures of my current setup.  This is my kegerator which is a chest freezer with a wood collar.  The top one is of the disorganized inside.  I'm planning on replacing my 4-way manifold for a 6-way and pinning it to the wall of the collar to make it a little more clean.  I can fit six kegs inside with the 10" collar. 

This picture is the outside of the kegerator with three stainless steel Perlick faucets.  Once I buy the new six-way gas manifold, I will add a fourth tap.

Here is a picture of my fermentation chamber.  It is just an insulated box with a computer fan that blows air past ice and circulates it around the fermenter.  I can drop the internal temperature about 15-20 degrees below the ambient temperature.  This is sitting in my basement which is usually in the upper 60's during the summer and lower 60's during the winter.

This is a picture of my mash/lauter tun.  It is a modified 70qt Coleman Extreme cooler.