Taste Tests - Brew 1, Brew 2, and Brew 3

So curiosity got the better of me last night. I had fifteen gallons of beer in the fridge, and whether you believe our motivation or not, I was actually very curious how it would taste before it was actually ready. Jeff and I thought we'd crack a bottle from each brew just to see what was what.

First problem: I mixed the bottles up by accident, and we ended up tasting the stout expecting the red ale... If you've ever done something like poured yourself a glass of orange juice while thinking about milk or something like that, you'll understand the shock when it tasted very different than what we expected! After we sorted things out, we found the following:

Brew 1: The Red Ale
This brew is supposed to stay in the bottles in the fridge until Saturday, but we opened it the Monday before. We were pleasantly surprised! The red ale is very nice, though still has just a little sweetness to it that gives it a slight aftertaste that stays with you, which I'm sure will burn off in the next couple of days. A few more days of mellowing should put it right.

The body was amber, light and crisp. It was decently carbonated. It reminded me of Bass Ale, only a little lighter. Long story short: I'm a fan. :)

Brew 2: The Brown Ale
This brew is not supposed to open until a week from this Saturday, but we opened it Monday, a full 12 days early, so we weren't expecting to be impressed. It had an awful lot of head! The sugar that was still floating around in the bottles gave it a somewhat syrupy sweet aftertaste that never went away.

We noticed that after drinking maybe six ounces, we were extremely full... Uncomfortably so! Naturally we finished the bottles, shrugged and said "Meh." while we bloated. Finally after a belch or five we were ready to move on.

Brew 3: The Irish Stout
My expectations for this brew were low to begin with being also 12 days early, and if you'll recall from the Bottling of Brew 3, I left my priming sugar in the kitchen disolving in the pan, and it got cleaned up by accident, and I had to use powdered sugar... I wasn't sure how much to use, so I estimated an amount that looked about the same as the priming sugar that came with the kit. I've heard a couple different opinions, but generally it sounds like if powdered sugar is used, it should be slightly less than Corn sugar... Last I heard was it's 1/3 of a cup of corn sugar, or a 1/4 cup of powdered... But don't quote me on it. I'm not planning on needing to know for the future, I'll be a little more vigilant in making sure I have what I need.

Like the Brown Ale, this brew was syrupy and sweet and had a long lasting after taste. All things considered, it wasn't bad. I'm looking forward to giving it another try after it's had a chance to consume the sugar.

All in all
The point wasn't to drink beer yesterday, but we wanted to know what a beer tasted like before it was ready, and I'm glad we did. I found it interesting to experience the different flavors of the ingredients as they went through their process, and yes, I'll admit, it was nice to get a sneak peek of what we can expect from the finished product, even if it was a little un-ripe.

I did end up having a bit more of the red ale than I'd intended though, cause really, it was good... Looking forward to cracking a few more of those this Saturday! (hopefully while we brew some more!)

I also got some pretty raging heart burn last night, around 3am. I am assuming it had to do with all the active yeast and sugar and such that I'd consumed. Zantac to the rescue!

Brew 2.2 and Brew 3.1

Saturday May 29th we bottled brews 2 and 3, The Brown ale, and the Irish Stout respectively. I'm a little bit embarrased to say I didn't take any pictures, nor did I take any gravity readings. Things were a little hectic in the house, the family was cleaning and such, and Jeff and I were just trying to get things done and stay out of the way.

The brown ale bottled fairly quickly and uneventfully. I believe we got 4 Growlers and 28 bottles? By the time we were ready to bottle the Irish Stout, we'd actually polished off a growler of one of BBC's brews called Steel Rail Extra Pale Ale, and I think a couple other bottles of something...

A Note... We bought a new sanitizer at the recommendation of a knowledgeable friend. We specifically asked if it was no rinse, and he said yes. He owns the store we shop for our supplies at, so we took his word on it. It's not that I doubt him, I just wanted to establish that this was another variable in these two brews.

Anyway, I'd gone upstairs, (as we were bottling down in the basement), and mixed up the priming sugar in a pan of hot water, let it dissolve, etc... Brought it down, and mixed it slowly into the Brew 2, as we moved it to the bottling bucket. Once that was moved, I ran upstairs, and mixed the next bag for Brew 3 into the pan and set it down to dissolve while we bottled Brew 2. We got Brew 2 all bottled and capped, and get Brew 3 set up to move to the bottling bucket, when I went to reach for the priming sugar... It wasn't there. Then I remembered I'd left it upstairs. I went up to get it, and found the pan over turned in the dishdrainer. Remember I'd said the family was cleaning?

Not the end of the world of course, as I know you can use powdered sugar as well. However, I didn't know how much. I tried to use around the same amount as what was in the bag of priming sugar from the kit. I'm hoping I didn't use too much, as I don't need any irish stout bombs in my basement...

Now, we did try both brews after we'd filled the bottles. We tried a little of what was left in the bucket, as much as we could get without it being clouded by the lees... Both brews tasted outstanding. The stout had the little bit of a bitter aftertaste as it should, the brown ale was slightly nutty... Perfect, says I. I'm very much looking forward to cracking these brews! They will make their way to the fridge this weekend for their final 2 weeks of fermentation.

Brew 2.1 - Brown Ale (5-24-10)

Today is the second day of fermentation for the Brown ale (and the Irish Stout, brew 3, but it doesn't get a post here, cause it's in a bucket, and no fun to watch!) and I have to say, it's much for fun to be able to watch the yeasties do their thing through the glass carboy! If you have the opportunity, always go glass! (just make sure you keep it dark, wrap a towel around it, or put a Tshirt over it or something.

Oh, and no making fun of our bung! We got the wrong size plug (that's all they had!) so we turned it over and stretched it across the top. It's not pretty, but it's doing the job!

The airlock is bubbling just about once every 8 seconds or so, which puts it on schedule according to the instructions.

If you click and enlarge the picture, you can get a good look at the level the foam was at only just yesterday (I wish I'd gotten a picture of it then, when it was actually bulling and stuff. Ah well.

Time to start shining up bottles for a-filling this weekend!

Brew 2.0 - Brown Ale (5-22-10)

After bottling Brew 1 (the red ale), it was on to the next adventure!

Actually immediately after the bottling of Brew 1, I made bacon and cheese omelets with a bagel for my wife and I, two fried eggs for my mother in law, and two hard boiled eggs for my daughter.

But after all that!

We set up outside, and being a nice day, it was quite enjoyable! The bugs weren't too bad, and the sun was only a little but uncomfortable. (What, I'm Irish-white. I swear the sun tries to kill me!)

Our set up this time, instead of using  the electric stove, as I mentioned before the bottom of this pan is slightly warped, we set up on this thing in the picture above. This worked very well.

Interesting thing I noticed when I cracked this kit, there were no grains to steep, and there was only one can of extract. There was also however, two pounds of dried malt extract, and a bag of malto-dextrin. (whatever that is!). Brought this to a boil, and mixed in all these things and the hops. Found it interesting, the Red Ale wanted half the hops before the big boil, and the second half of the hops with 2 minutes of boil left.

I was happy that this time, I actually got the boil over effect the instructions were telling me about, and I'm sticking with my theory that it has to do with the heat. I think on the stove, it just never got hot enough, even though it was boiling.

This one boiled up a few times, but I was ready for it. I had with me a spray bottle with sanitized water (boiled, not treated) and kept it mostly at bay. I did need to remove it from the heat a couple times, and actually did end up lowering the heat. Eventually, it did stop foaming, and the 30 minute boil began!

I have to say, this one smelled quite good while boiling.

It wasn't very long before this brew made it's way to a shiny new carboy.

I think the next beer we do in the carboy will be a lighter beer so that we can watch the fermentation as it happens. The brown ale is just a bit to dark to see anything.

One thing I'm disappointed to say here though is that I forgot to take a gravity reading, and I also forgot to take a sample of the wort.

Actually, another thing to say, it's really kind of a pain in the arse to get this stuff into the carboy. We bought a funnel, but it doen't go very far down into the carboy, and it blocks all the air, so you have to hold it, or put a shim in it or something.

We also made the mistake of not buying the handle for it. That bad boy (badcarboy) is heavy and awkward to carry without the handle!

Anyway, I'm happy to report that the brown ale is happily bubbling away in the basement, waiting it's bottles next weekend.