Protharsus Homebrew
Home brewing is a recent development in my life. It all started with the appreciation of a finely-crafted beer taught to me by my father, morphed by my college days into anything labeled "beer" with a non-zero alcohol content, and finally now, my post-college "what the hell am I going to do with my life" phase.
Fortunately, there's always more beer to be had. I happened to learn, quite by accident, that my girlfriend's dad owned parts of a home brewing kit that he offered to me at the very reasonable price of, "get this shit out of my garage and you can keep it." So, needless to say, I did. Unfortunately, the remnants of the home brew kit were not as complete as I had hoped, so it cost me a small fortune to purchase the remaining parts (I'm sure my girlfriend's old man is laughing at me right now-but we'll see who has the last laugh when he finds out my beer kicks ass!).
Two 5 gallon carboys of oatmeal stout on the left and two 5 gallon carboys of hefeweizen on the right.
Batch #5: Hefeweizen
Batch #5 |
Notes |
| Hefeweizen | 7/3/2005 Bottled. Tastes excellent wish I didn’t have two wait a few more days to drink it. |
| 6/15/2005 Transferred beer to carboys; good transfer efficiency. | |
| 6/11/2005 The Hefe was second in line today (see batch #4) and again, the RAIN! Everything went extremely well with the Hefe, desipite the residual wettness in our clothing obtained while monitoring the brew kettle, standing in the rain. | |
Data |
Value |
| Ferment Start Date | 6/11/2005 |
| Ferment Start Time (HHMM) | 2000 |
| Brew Time (min) | 60 |
| Hopping Time (min) | 3 |
| Yeast Start Temp (F) | [liquid] |
| Ferment Start Temp (F) | 80 |
| Start Specific Gravity | 1.036 |
| Start Volume (gal) | 10.0 |
| Carboy Start Date | 6/15/2005 |
| Carboy Specific Gravity | 1.022 |
| Carboy Check Date | 7/3/2005 |
| Carboy Specific Gravity | 1.020 |
| Alcohol Content (% by vol.) | 2.06; |
Batch #4: Oatmeal Stout
Batch #4 |
Notes |
| Stout | 7/3/2005 Bottled. Tastes excellent wish I didn’t have two wait a few more days to drink it. |
| 6/15/2005 Transferred beer to carboys; most efficient transfer to date. | |
| 6/11/2005 Process went well. I don't know what it is, but
I always forget to add the yeast at the very end and inevitably
have to rip the lid off the fermentation bucket five minutes after
sealing it. This time, the yeast was even more complicated (of course,
I assumed it was no different and failed to read the instructions);
there was a small pouch inside containing the yeast, which was
surrounded by nutrients. Apparently, you are supposed to rupture
the inner pouch and let the yeast activate for 1-3 hours prior to
use. Stupid me. In the end, everything worked out. As a side note, we added a special ingrediant - Rain! Yep, go figure that the only time it rained today was after the wort started to boil. Oh well, Seattle's rain is rumored to have near mythical qualities. |
|
Data |
Value |
| Ferment Start Date | 6/11/2005 |
| Ferment Start Time (HHMM) | 2000 |
| Brew Time (min) | 60 |
| Hopping Time (min) | 3 |
| Yeast Start Temp (F) | [liquid] |
| Ferment Start Temp (F) | 80 |
| Start Specific Gravity | 1.057 |
| Start Volume (gal) | 10.0 |
| Carboy Start Date | 6/15/2005 |
| Carboy Specific Gravity | 1.017 |
| Carboy Check Date | 7/3/2005 |
| Carboy Specific Gravity | 1.014 |
| Alcohol Content (% by vol.) | 5.55 |
Batch #3: Stout
Batch #3 |
Notes |
| Stout | 6/1/2005 Transferred the brew to the carboy. Good transfer, finally got the hang of it. |
| 5/29/2005 The fermentation process has already started. The little yeast boys are hard at work eating and belching (I wish I had their job). | |
| 5/28/2005 Brewed my first batch of stout. Special thanks to Dad who drove 60 miles to brew with me. | |
Data |
Value |
| Ferment Start Date | 5/28/2005 |
| Ferment Start Time (HHMM) | 1800 |
| Brew Time (min) | 60 |
| Hopping Time (min) | 3 |
| Yeast Start Temp (F) | [liquid] |
| Ferment Start Temp (F) | 69 |
| Start Specific Gravity | 1.052 |
| Start Volume (gal) | 4.9 |
| Carboy Start Date | 6/1/2005 |
| Carboy Specific Gravity | 1.020 |
| Carboy Check Date | 6/11/2005 |
| Carboy Specific Gravity | 1.022 |
| Alcohol Content (% by vol.) | 3.87 |
Batch #2: Amber Ale
Batch #2 |
Notes |
| Amber Ale | 2/28/2005 Tasted--Amazing! Great color and clarity. Bold flavor. |
| 5/22/2005 Bottled--final volume 4.25 gallons. Good taste, good color. | |
| 5/13/2005 Beer specific gravity stable at 1.024, ready for bottling. Tastes good. | |
| 5/9/2005 Transferred the beer to the carboy, made a bit of a mess. | |
| 5/6/2005 Noticed a leak in the airlock. Problem Fixed. | |
| 5/5/2005 The brewing process went smoothly. I remembered to use my extensive knowledge of thermodynamics to ensure a quicker cool-down period for the wort--turns out that college was good for something. | |
Data |
Value |
| Ferment Start Date | 5/5/2005 |
| Ferment Start Time (HHMM) | 1948 |
| Brew Time (min) | 60 |
| Hopping Time (min) | 3 |
| Yeast Start Temp (F) | [liquid] |
| Ferment Start Temp (F) | 75 |
| Start Specific Gravity | 1.070 |
| Start Volume (gal) | 4.8 |
| Carboy Start Date | 5/9/2005 |
| Carboy Specific Gravity | 1.024 |
| Carboy Check Date | 5/13/2005 |
| Carboy Specific Gravity | 1.024 |
| Alcohol Content (% by vol.) | 5.93 |
Batch #1: Wheat Beer
Batch #1 |
Notes |
| Wheat Beer | 5/28/2005 Tasted--Amazing! Great color and clarity. Very smooth, well-rounded flavor. |
| 5/22/2005 Bottled--final volume 3 gallons. Tastes ok, good color. | |
| 5/13/2005 Beer specific gravity stable at 1.020, ready for bottling. Tastes good. | |
| 5/2/2005 Cool-down period was unexpectedly long. To save time since it was getting late, I opened the lid periodically to encourage convection--possible introduction of outside bacteria. Yeast was introduced to wort at 84F. A bit high, again to save time. Recommendation, brew on weekends or days off to beat the sunset. Also, buy materials to create an ice bath for rapid cooling and store add water at fridge or freezer temperatures. | |
| 5/5/2005 Transferred fermented beer into the carbory. The siphoning process went poorly--I learned my lesson. | |
Data |
Value |
| Ferment Start Date | 5/2/2005 |
| Ferment Start Time (HHMM) | 2330 |
| Brew Time (min) | 55 |
| Hopping Time (min) | 3.0 |
| Yeast Start Temp (F) | 80 |
| Ferment Start Temp (F) | 84 |
| Start Specific Gravity | 1.040 |
| Start Volume (gal) | 5.0 |
| Carboy Start Date | 5/5/2005 |
| Carboy Specific Gravity | 1.020 |
| Carboy Check Date | 5/13/2005 |
| Carboy Specific Gravity | 1.020 |
| Alcohol Content (% by vol.) | 2.58 |