1st Brewing with Baby - Bock

Our new member of the family has been keeping us busy the past few months.  Today was the first day that I was able to brew a batch of beer.  Janelle was out running errands and getting a massage.  To put it lightly, it was slower and more nerve wrecking; crying baby, boiling beer.  I finally just put her in the kitchen and let her watch the brewing process.

My fishing buddy Captain Kraig come over Friday night and we finished the black lager keg.  It matured into a well balanced beer.  I decided to brew a similar beer on Saturday.  There is also a couple gallons left of the Baby Brew and the fennel has melded nicely into the beer.  I am also very pleased with it.

We have gone through a couple kegs of carbonated water since I last posted.  Instead of Artisan well water we used Anchorage city water which is still glacial water.  I put six limes and six lemons directly into the second keg and it was very tasty and perfect for vodka tonics.  The cold weather makes carbonation quick and strong.  The water is at least as carbonated as anything you would get at the store.  I have been setting them outside for 4 hours and then shaking vigorously under 35 psi.

The batch that I brewed Saturday was 10 pounds of organic two row, maybe 1/3 pound of roasted barley, and two pounds of organic two row that I toasted in the oven for one hour at 400 degrees.  I mashed it at 158 degrees for one hour.  I sparged and boiled inside the house to be close to the baby.  This worked by bringing the wort/water up to temperature on propane cooker and then putting it on the stove on medium.  I boiled for one hour with one ounce of simcoe hops added once boil was achieved, one ounce of willamette at 15 minutes and one ounce of willamette at flame out.  I rehydrated the lager yeast for 30 minutes at 85 degrees and used my new wort chiller.  This cooled the wort to 70 degrees in 20 minutes.   I did not use a ice bath but next time will most likely use the ice bath as well to speed the process even further.  As of Sunday the garage is hovering at 45 degrees and the beer has active fermentation.  Janelle prefers that I call this a bock beer even though the malts used are not typically associated with a bock.

Carboy with fermenting Wort

Wort Chiller

I built a wort chiller on Friday the 9th of September.  The price of copper made the cost of the wort chiller much higher than I anticipated but it was still an enjoyable build.  All said it was $75 for the wort chiller.  I used 50 ft of 3/8 inch copper and wrapped one of my cornelius kegs to achieve the loops.  The wort chiller is set up to attach to the outdoor faucet.  I still plan on using an ice bath in combination with the wort chiller in the winter when snow is available.  My last beer took almost 1 1/2 hours to cool to under 70 degrees.  With the low groundwater temps we have in Alaska hopefully I can get my wort down to that range in 15 minutes with the new wort chiller.

Also we filled up 2 kegs (10 gallons) of artisan water from the Lowell Point spring.  We did this September 3rd. Instead of cooling the kegs for carbonation I shook them for almost 5 minutes.  This seemed to help out quite a bit.

I also put the black lager into its secondary fermenter.  The garage has been hovering around 60 degrees and fermentation has been active.

August 28, 2011

I started off the day by kegging Janelle's Baby Brew.  It is a beer designed to promote lactation while being low in alcohol.  I only used 6 pounds of grain to keep the alcohol content low, 4 pounds of organic 2-row, 1 pound of organic 2-row toasted in the oven for one hour at 275 degrees, 1/2 pound of black roasted malt and 1/2 pound of crystal 120 malt.  I also added 1 pound of oatmeal and 2 ounces of fennel.  This was my first time brewing with fennel.  I hopped the beer with 1 ounce of Simcoe hops for 60 minutes and 1 ounce of Willamette for 15 minutes.  To keg the beer I put the corney keg in our fridge for a couple days under 30 PSI and then shook vigorously for maybe 5 minutes while having the pressure on.  The taste test revealed a mild beer with good hop and licorice flavor.  I typically do not like fennel to eat but it adds good licorice hints and works well in the beer.  The hops and licorice overpower any malt character.  The beer is definitely not a typical oatmeal stout.

I used Safale US-04 in the Baby Brew and had little fermentation after 3-4 days.  This could be attributed to the low malt content but most likely is due to the cold temperatures.  Our house hovers from 62-68 degrees and after the initial week I moved the carboy to the garage which ranged from 58-62 degrees.  Due to the temps and the oncoming winter I purchased Saflager w-34/70.  My ale yeast brewing will most likely be limited to June and July.  The brew sat in the primary for three weeks and then moved to the secondary for three more weeks, this was probably not needed and I could have kegged the beer after two weeks.

Our keg of artisan sparkling water ran out today.  We are heading down to Seward again and will likely fill up the kegs at Lowell Point.

I also brewed a straightforward batch of beer along the lines of a black lager.  I used 11.5 pounds of two row, last 1/2 pound of crystal 120, and 1/2 pound of black roasted malt.  I hoped the beer with 1 ounce of Simcoe for 60 minutes, 1/2 ounce of Willamette at 10 minutes and 1/2 ounce of Simcoe at flame out.  The Saflager yeast was re-hydrated in 80 degree wort for 30+ minutes.  I chilled the brew kettle down to 65 degrees which took little over an hour.  The yeast was stirred into the wort and let set for two minutes then pitched.  The carboy was placed in the garage immediately with a temperature of 59 degrees.  Fermentation was active the next morning and the garage was 52 degrees.