Intended Recipe borrowed and modified from Homebrew.com's St. Nick's Ale recipe: http://www.homebrew.com/pdfs/recipes/extract-recipes/StNicks%20Holiday%20AleExt.pdf --------------- (6 gallons, extract with grains) expected stats: OG = 1.055, FG = 1.012, IBUs = 24, SRM = 12, 6.5% abv (assume 50% mash efficiency) Ingredients 3.3 lb (1 can) Munton's light malt extract syrup 2.0 lb Extra-light DME 3.0 lb American two-row malt 8.0 oz Crystal 60L malt 4.0 oz Chocolate malt 1.5 oz East Kent Goldings hops for 60 min (4.7% alpha acid) 1.0 oz East Kent Goldings hops for 20 min (4.7% alpha acid) 0.5 oz East Kent Goldings hops for 5 min (4.7% alpha acid) NO AMYLASE (all the rest for 20 mins) 2 lbs wildflower honey 2 cinnamon sticks 1 split vanilla bean 1 cracked nutmeg 1 tsp yeast nutrient 1 tsp Irish moss (pitch this from a 1 qt. starter) Wyeast 1335 (British Ale II) 11/16/05: prep 1 qt starter. --------------------------- - pop yeast at 5pm, nicely bulged by 10:30 (5.5 hours) - sanitize growler, stopper, airlock, funnel - 1 quart water - 1 cup DME - boil for 20 mins (boiled over a little, but I eventually found the right heat) - put in freezer for 60 mins (just about room temp after that) - should be about a 1.040 OG starter 11/17/05: brew (again, around 4.5 hours) ------------- - 1 gallon water at 168F, plus all grains (3.75 lbs) at room temp --> 156F (AGAIN TOO HIGH, but going in right direction) - cover minimash for 45 mins - specifically DID NOT use amylase enzyme this time - mash originally on front-left of stove (though not on recently-used burner) - with 35 mins left, turned big and small pots on low (back right and back left, respectively) - with 18 mins left, removed mash from stove and turned other pots up to high heat - temp of mash got as low as 150F by end of mash - turned on heat on OTHER burners halfway through the minimash the time (which probably kept the heat above 150F) - total 6 gallons water: 1 mash (steel pot), 2 black pot, 3.5 big pot, 0.5 spare (cold in jug) - remove Brita and attach brewing hose - fill bleach bucket and carboy with bleach. - TODO: list the things that need soaking here. - measure hops, and ready brewpot fermentables (including yeast nutrient and irish moss) - prepare small pot of boiling water for sanitizing steel wool and aeration stone - soak LME in hot water in sink - turn mash heat on to medium high for 5 mins to raise heat to 170 - I think this actually got a bit hotter. maybe we shouldn't do this. - sparge with 1 gal water around 170F and drip for ~5 mins - total ~6.5 gallons in kettle at 180F (put all but the spare half gallon in the brewpot) - temp ~155F - predicted 45 mins to get to boilling; took only 40. - add 3.3 lbs LME, 2 lbs DME, and stir in - almost to bottom of top rivets (will add 2 lbs honey later as well) - NOTE: next time make sure top rivets are just covered - return to boil (takes 5-10 mins) - add 1.5 oz EKG (60 mins) - set timer for 40 mins - add 1.0 oz EKG (20 mins), 1 tsp irish moss, 1 tsp yeast nutrient, 1 crushed whole nutmeg, 10" cinnamon, 1 vanilla bean - set timer for 15 mins - empty bleach solution from carboy - put wort chiller in kettle - add 0.5 oz KEG (5 mins) - set timer for 5 mins - turn off stove chill wort being careful not to splash much - transfer to fermenter using siphon. - NOTE: didn't use steel wool this time; just the tip on the siphon starter - this seemed to do a pretty good job of reducing the amount of crap getting into primary - also had hops in hop bags...they seemed to do a good job of keeping the crap in them - while transfer is taking place - removed test jar, hydrometer, and wine thief from bleach bucket and rinsed them off - boiled aeration stone and put air filter stuff in bleach bucket - after transfer was complete (~15 mins) - take OG reading --> 1.052 (just short of desired 1.055) - rinse off aeration equipment and begin aeration - put funnel (for pitching yeast) and carboy cap/air lock/blowoff tube into bleach bucket - aerate - set timer for 20 mins - taste gravity reading sample --> delicious - arrange "final resting place" for beer in kegerator or in back room - begin clean up - 9:30pm: pitch yeast, attach blowoff tube, and put in kegerator - NOTE: it seems to me that using a blowoff tube is useful, even with lagers... It avoids the problem of having (non-sterile) airlock water sucked into the beer as it cools, but before active fermentation. This beer didn't even come close to actually expelling any foam/yeast, but it was still well worth it. 11/16/05 through ????: primary fermentation --------------------------------------- - 11/17/05: - 2:30 am, a little foam on top; no blowoff bubbling - 7:30 am, going crazy; several bubbles per second through blowoff - 11/19/05: - pm; yeast pancake beginning to accumulate on top of bubbles - rate of about 2 bubbles per second - 11/20/05: - pm (~72 hours); 1 bubble per second - 11/21/05: - pm (~96 hours); 1 bubble every 2 seconds - yeast pancake begins to settle to the bottom - seems like I should rack really soon, but Pete's in town tomorrow... 11/25/05 (?) through ????: racking and secondary -------------------------------------------- - 11/25/05: - 8:30 pm, put carboy on crate - 8:45 pm, everything soaking - 9:30 pm, start transfer - 1.014 SG - taste: very good...just a bit syrupy still (maybe due to lack of carbonation), hops subdued, spices evident, particularly vanilla 12/06/05: kegging ----------------- - use 1/3 c DME for primimg - FG 1.012 (before adding DME/water mix) - taste: again, very good. No longer syrupy. Seems like nutmeg gives a bit of unpleasant bitterness. A little hoppy. Probably needs a bit of time to let all the flavors come together. 12/19/05 -------- - put CO2 on top