Bottling the Holiday Ale

Twenty-six 22 oz. bottles and three 12 oz. bottles - that is the final result of today's bottling of Tomten's Jul Ol, the holiday ale that has been aging since the middle of the summer.  Luckily I had a half of a bottle too much and was "forced" to taste it.  This is the second time I have brewed this beer and it is just as good now as the first time.  A few weeks of carbonation and it will be ready to pop.  'Tis the season to be jolly!

One adverse note: this bottling session leaves the Brewhus with all vessels empty.  It's time to brew again.

Bottling the Pumpkin Ale and Pale Ale

Yesterday was a busy bottling day.  Boo-Ya (pumpkin ale) smelled and looked great.  The extra 30oz. of pumpkin definitely paid off.  The end result was forty-two 12oz. bottles and one 2-liter growler.

The pale ale was broken into two bottling sessions: one for the original and one for the dry hopped version.  Obviously, the dry hopped was second, so not to taint the other with fantastic Nugget flavor.  Each of these produced twenty-three 12oz. bottles.

In a few weeks we will discover if Boo-Ya is (yet again) a crowd favorite and whether all-grain brewing lives up to the hype.

Moving the Pale Ale

While moving the pale ale today, I decided to try dry-hopping for the first time.  Recently, a friend gave be some home-grown Nugget hops.  For experimental value, I used two 2.5 gallon carboys - one for the original pale ale and the other for the pale ale with the Nugget hops.  I added half an ounce of the hop flowers for the two week secondary period.  Here's to a little more hoppiness.

Finishing gravity: 1.010 (4.3% ABV)

Brew Day - Pale Ale (All-Grain)

Yesterday was my first all-grain brew day.  I have been putting off moving to all-grain until I felt settled in a place and had the space to store the additional equipment.  I chose a pale ale recipe because it seemed like a good "standard" beer to attempt and compare quality results.  We shall see.

For those who are not aware of the difference between all-grain and extract brewing, here is a very brief (and elementary) explanation.  In all-grain brewing, we take malted grains and "mash" them to release the sugars needed for beer brewing.  Essentially, mashing is soaking them in water around 152 degrees F and sparging (i.e. rinsing) the grains to pull the sugars out.  After this is done, you take the sugar liquid and begin brewing.  With extract brewing, this process is done commercially and arrives in a syrup (liquid malt extract) or powdered (dried malt extract) form.  The claim is that the extract produces a more noticeable flavor (often referred to as a "twang") that identifies it as homebrewed (versus commercially-brewed).  I don't know how much truth exists in this claim nowadays, with maltsters and extract manufactures producing some very high quality products that result in very good beer.  One other difference is that extract brewers often steep a bag of speciality grains prior to boiling to add body, flavor, and color that are not produced in the malt extracts.  These speciality grains are mixed with the other grains during the mash with all-grain brewing.

So..., brewing went generally well for a first attempt.  The mashing process was generally fine.  I probably should have got the water a little hotter to start so that it would have stayed above 150 degrees F until the end.  But it only ended around 145 degrees F so it wasn't that detrimental to the final product.  I did a quick iodine test and the sugars had definitely converted.  (You can drop iodine on a sample of the liquid and, if it's not ready, it will turn purple.  You can also taste it and see if it is sweet.)

Sparging was okay.  The water was a little too hot and it flowed a bit faster than it should have.  But, considering I had no reference point to base an estimated flow rate, it seems fine.  It should have taken 30-60 minutes to sparge with the best efficiency.  I finished in about 17 minutes.  Also, I misjudged the necessary volume for a five-gallon batch.  I thought I had too much liquid but I only ended up with four-and-a-half gallons of wort in the end.  Obviously there was some boil off; however, I clearly underestimated.

With the exception of one boil-over, the boil went fine.  A few close calls though (a lot of foaming).  Also, a "duh" moment.  I had been having trouble with the propane burner going out often.  I restricted the air intake and everything is perfect now.  Stupid is as stupid does.

O.G. - 1.042

Ingredients:

10.5 lbs. Domestic 2-Row Barley
8 oz. Carapils and 8 oz. Caramel 40L speciality grains
1 oz. Williamette hops (bittering)
1 oz. U.S. Fuggles hops (aroma)

Moving the Pumpkin Ale

We moved the pumpkin ale to the secondary vessel and added another 30 oz. of canned organic pumpkin. Additionally, I added 1/2 tsp. of pectic enzyme, hopefully, to help break down the pumpkin and add more flavor to the finished beer. Adding the pumpkin was no easy task. Unlike fruit puree that just slides in through a funnel, the pumpkin was thick and needed to be prodded into the glass carboy. Messy and time-consuming.

Finishing gravity: 1.012 (about 4.3% ABV)

Brew Day - Pumpkin Ale

Forethought is the key to good seasonal beer brewing. Seasonals often contain spices, fruit, or other unique flavors. Without the benefits of aging, these flavors don't get the chance to mature. As such, time is the brewer's friend in these beers.

Today we brewed our Boo-ya Pumpkin Ale. Our last version two years ago was not as "pumpkin-y" as I would have liked. This time I added 30 oz. of canned organic pumpkin to the boil and I intend to add another 30 oz. to the secondary. Hopefully, I will achieve my flavor goal this time.

O.G. - 1.045

Ingredients:

6 lbs. Gold LME
8 oz. Carapils and 8 oz. Caramel 10L speciality grains
1 oz. Mt. Hood hops (bittering)
1 oz. Cascade hops (aroma)
30 oz. canned organic pumpkin
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg

Holiday Beer Update

The addition of the new yeast definitely re-started fermentation. The finishing gravity was 1.020 - not a phenomenal end result but reasonable. Essentially, this leaves us with an ABV of about 5%. The flavors (or potential off-flavors) won't be evident until later though, once the aging period is over. We'll see.