Beer

The beer is bubbling away merrily. A little too merrily. The kruesen is workings its way into the airlock, and I've had to clean it twice. I hope I don't come home from work today with a mess all over the place.

A few years ago I brewed a Scottish 70/- (70 shilling) ale with malt extract. Today I decided to brew it again with all-grain, and while I was at it I changed the recipe a little bit, toning down the hops and making it a little less alcoholic (now it's a 60/- ale). It still has heather in it to give it that little je ne sais quoi.

5 lbs. pale 2-row
0.5 lbs. biscuit
0.5 lbs. roasted barley
0.25 lbs. peated barley
0.5 oz. Willamette (a Fuggles clone) hops (bittering)
2 oz. heather tips (aroma)
Target O.G. 1.035 / actual O.G. 1.030

I brewed an all-grain northern English-style brown ale today. I wanted it to be sort of like Theakston's Old Peculiar, but I forgot to add molasses to the wort. Oops! I'm sure it'll come out all right anyway. It's my own recipe, so if this works out well I'll just leave the molasses out of it. Yeah.

O.G. 1.040

I brewed my first all-grain recipe - an IPA - last night, mashing and lautering without any problems.

I did set the stove on fire. I guess there was something under the edge of the drip pan below the burner, and since my new kettle is so large it fits over two burners, the combined reflected heat of both of them against the bottom of the kettle set it on fire. It wasn't big and I put it out, then scrubbed vigorously to clean it, and had no more problems. Except this morning my stove doesn't work, as if the breaker tripped. But it worked all through the brew session. I hate electric stoves.

I hit the specific gravity of the recipe pretty closely, but that's probably because I ended up with a little less than five gallons at the end. Either the grain absorbed more than planned, or more evaporated during the boil. That's okay, I'll end up with a few bottles less, but have a good overall effeciency. The airlock is bubbling away this morning, less than twelve hours after pitching the yeast. Not bad.