A companion to the Grove Street Pilsener, I brewed Grove Street Amber Ale on Sunday afternoon. It was supposed to use two cans of light malt extract, but due to the mistake I mentioned in the Pilsener post, I ended up using one can of extra light and one of light. The pound of Crystal 60 I steeped will presumably be the dominant factor in the color of this one anyway, and I was able to find the hops I wanted in whole leaf. I used an ounce each of Fuggle and Willamette for boiling, half an ounce of each for flavor, and half an ounce each for finishing, and White Labs’s WLP005 British Ale yeast. Like the pilsener, the original gravity ended up about 1.048.
Matters Zymurgical
Grove Street Pilsener
On Saturday evening I brewed an attempt at a pilsener-style lager, since my basement is hoving in the high 40s to low 50s now that it’s winter, and I haven’t tried a lager before. I bought ingredients for two batches at once, this and the Grove Street Amber, and when I brewed the pilsener, I mistakenly used one can of extra-light malt extract and one can of light, instead of two extra-light, but I hope this won’t make it too dark. I also used a pound of CaraPils malt. Saaz hops are hard to come by at the moment, and though I found some, I had to make do with pellets. Still, I’m looking forward to seeing how it comes out; even if it doesn’t end up a perfect pilsener, it should be a decent, crisp lager.
Mash Tun Update
Over Thanksgiving I cut slots in the remaining three pipes for the lauter manifold, and cut and assembled the pieces for the sparge manifold. The long pipes for the sparge manifold will need to be cut a bit shorter, so that it’ll fit in the recess in the cooler’s lid, and I need to find an appropriate way to cut a hole in the lid for the end pipe to stick up through, so I’ll have a way to pour in the sparge water.
The spigot that came in the cooler turned out to simply unscrew, leaving a plain hole; the valve piece I have fits through the hole with only a little space around it, so I’m thinking that just sticking it in there and caulking it around with silicone or something will suffice. My only concern is that this will mean there’s a bit of a gap between one end of the lauter manifold and the floor of the cooler, but I’m not quite sure what to do about that. Probably the answer is “decide it’s not that big a deal,” but even when that’s the right answer, it’s not a very satisfying one, especially if you’ve got something of an engineering bent. But zymurgy isn’t a precise science, except perhaps if you’re Anheuser-Busch, and who wants that?
Finding time to work on the project continues to be a problem.
"Dark Roast" Coffee Porter
I bottled my not-very-cleverly-named “Dark Roast” Coffee Porter three weeks ago yesterday, so now is when it’s starting to get quite good. It’s dry and dark, and the coffee flavor comes through clearly. It’s not too heavy-bodied, has a good clean finish, and at about 5% ABV isn’t overwhelmingly strong, so if you like coffee, it’s a nice, easy drinking beer. I’m quite happy with how it came out, and I’ll probably try something similar again either this season or next fall.
Mash Tun Progress
On Friday my order of CPVC pipes and fittings arrived, so on Saturday I spent some time working on the mash tun project. I’ve got the lauter manifold mostly done now, and building the sparge manifold will go quicker now that I know what I’m doing a little better. I still have to figure out how the outflow will work, and that’s going to mean actually modifying the cooler itself, so I figure I’m about a third done overall.
Pictures of the manifold assembly process after the jump.
Current Brews Status
I checked on my two current brews last night. The barleywine — slightly modified from the “Big 10/20 Barley Wine” recipe at beertown.org — has been proceeding very slowly since racking off the ale yeast and pitching champagne yeast, but from its original gravity of 1.132 it was down to 1.092 when I racked it, and it’s now at 1.077. It’s got a ways to go yet, so I think I’ll need to make up a small starter of the champagne yeast to try to get it going.
When I racked the barleywine, I decided it would be a shame to waste its yeast bed, so I brewed a coffee porter (which for lack of a better name I’m calling “Dark Roast”) and put it in the same carboy on top of the old yeast. It was down from 1.060 to 1.022, or about 5% ABV, when I checked it last night, which I’m willing to consider good enough, so I racked it, and I’ll probably bottle next weekend. It tastes very good — nicely roasty, with a coffee flavor that’s distinct but somewhat subtle — so I’m quite pleased with how it came out. I’ll post the recipe I used for it a bit later; I’m thinking I may start putting up recipes as pages under the main Matters Zymurgical tab up top, rather than as regular posts.
Mash Tun Plans
Since I’m planning to make a foray into all-grain brewing, I’m going to need a mash/lauter tun. I’m working mainly from John Palmer’s instructions in his excellent How To Brew (the 1st edition is conveniently available online, and I have the paperback 2nd edition as well), with some planned modifications of my own (I am a homebrewer, after all!).
World Champion II
It’s half-past midnight on the East Coast, and the Red Sox just swept the Colorado Rockies to win their second World Series in three years. In 2004, to celebrate, I put together a recipe I called “World Champion Strong Red Ale” — clearly, it’s time for a reprise.
The original WCSRA was an extract brew with specialty grains, but I think it’s time to make the leap to all-grain brewing, now. From what I’ve been reading, it sounds like a large cooler fitted with a manifold of slotted pipe for drawing off the wort is a popular DIY mash/lauter tun, so I’m going to try that out. Planned recipe after the jump.
