Prince of Fatness
That sounds tasty. How long do you generally ferment in the secondary? And how long do you bottle condition.
I am thinking that there is no way I will not crack open a bottle or two 5 - 6 weeks after brewing just to get a taste. But as a general rule I'd like to get ahead of things and brew 3 - 4 months before I would be looking to drink most of the stuff.
Not at it at all.
Good Bad & The Monkey
I think I will plan to drink it in the Fall, maybe around Monkey time. I will likely bottle in a couple months, but who knows. I have loads of other prior batches to keep me drinking. That is the key. And if I make a rye (saison or hefe), that will be done much sooner and drinkable in the Summer.
It sho is tasty!
Following it with a DFH Chicory Stout right now. Very different.
I'm running somewhere tomorrow. It's going to be beautiful. I can't wait.
Poor baby
Yeah, I don't have the luxury of prior batches yet. I changed my mind and went with the Belgian Blonde because it will be ready for the summer and should be a nice summer brew. I'm thinking that the brown ale would be better for early fall/
I can't wait to get to the stouts, porters, etc. And nice with the DFH. I am going to Rohoboth early May and would love to score a growler full of that stuff.
Former runner
Yeah. I guess I was asking because I am not sure that I will fit everything in my 21 quart pot. I have 10.5 pounds of grain plus 4 gallons of water. Do you know how much volume that much grain occupies?
You don't have to add all the water at one time. The one thing I've used is the water to grain ratio. A starting point is usually around 1 qt of water for every pound of grain. So if you use the 1:1 ratio you would only need 10.5 quarts of water for your 10.5 pounds of grain. Once the mash is complete and the enzymes convert the starch you just sparge with more water to extract the sugars from the grain. You either add enough water to get your boil volume or stop when the gravity drops below a certain point. Measuring the volume of wort coming out of the mash tun will allow you to figure out how much water you need to sparge with.
Either way if you end up with a little extra or a little less it will still ferment and make beer.
Ross
yummy.
any specific amount of head space you allow in the carboy?
I can see having to brew at least a batch a month to have something in the pipeline. My first batch is almost gone.
Get off my porch
That looks inky black. Awesome.
Today was my first bottling day. It went real well. I used the oven to sanitize the bottles. It's too easy, and no mess! I racked into the bottling bucket then bottled right off the counter over the open dishwater door. Again, no mess. I have some pics and will post them later.
And I sampled. It tasted like a flat, damn good, dunkelweizen. I can't wait until it is done bottle conditioning.
A few pics from bottling day.
Here are the bottles in the oven. I covered the tops with foil, put them in, and set it on time bake. I took them out once they cooled. I could fit 32 bottles so I did 2 loads. This worked great. It was easy, there was no mess, and as long as you leave the foil on the lid you can do it ahead of time.
Sniffing the goodness. It smelled and tasted great.
Filling the bottles. Once I racked into the bottling bucket, I bottled right over the dishwasher door. Again, no mess.
rectumdamnnearkilledem
Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to
remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.
~ Sarah Kay
Updated list of things I need:
1 5 gallon glass carboy
1 8 - 9 gallon SS stock pot (cheapest price I found is $75)
2 1 5 gallon food grade buckets for zapap (still need my son to get one)
1 spigot
1 floating thermometer
extra tubing
grain bags
Stock pot has been ordered and will arrive early next week. Other than the bucket all of the other stuff I will get at the LHBS.
Assuming I have all of the supplies I plan on brewing my first all grain batch next Saturday. Mrs PH is real happy about that ... we are having company for Easter dinner the next day.
Make sure the missus knows you've got the kitchen for say 5 hours. (maybe I'm just slow) or maybe that 3rd or 4th homebrew slows me down. My blog description with to much detail.
Have you tried the elbow dunks, yet? Or still another week in the bottle?
Anyone use a scale or just guessitimate? Any suggestions?
Make sure the missus knows you've got the kitchen for say 5 hours. (maybe I'm just slow) or maybe that 3rd or 4th homebrew slows me down. My blog description with to much detail. Have you tried the elbow dunks, yet? Or still another week in the bottle?
I will only be mashing in the kitchen. Sparging and boiling will take place outside. I bought a propane burner and and big brew kettle so I can do a full boil outside (probably in the garage). The mess inside should be minimal. I'm using the zapap for sparging. I'm going with a Belgian Blonde recipe that I found on the internet. It seemed pretty straightforward and will be a good beer for when the weather gets warm.
I have not had any dunkelweizen yet. I just bottled it Sunday. I may try some next weekend, but I would prefer to wait a couple of weeks more since it only spent two weeks in the fermenter.
As for the scale, my wife counts her portions and has a small food scale. I would think that something like that would be good for hops. I don't know about grains.