Hop Jarring Time

Today, we received our bulk hops order from Yakima Valley Hops.  Like MC Hammer, we proceeded to "break it down" by sealing them in 1 quart wide mouth mason jars and keeping them in the freezer.  The hop pellets vary in size, but the jars will hold 16+ ounces of hops, making them perfect for buying in bulk.

Mash Tun Upgrade

After 60 batches, I replaced the beat up hose braid to a false bottom with 4.5" of silicone tubing.

New Utility Sink

Rub-a-dub-dub, we have a plumbed laundry tub in the basement brewery!  Elvis approves.

We can't go on together with Suspicious Minds...

Chile Pepper Spice Preparation

Today was the big spice preparation day for the Russian Imperial Stout & Robust Porter!

Ancho

Pasillo

Guajillo

Ceylon

Madagascar vanilla

cacao nibs

chopped & diced

soaking in bourbon

Yum!

Bottling Jaryllo Pale Ale

Boiled 16oz water

Added cane sugar

Siphoned from carboy to bucket

Added sugar water to bottling bucket

Bottling wand

Capping line

5.1 gallons = 50 @ 12oz + 1 bomber

All Jaryllo hopped 5% pale ale

Safale Battle: S-04 vs. US-05

The showdown!

I have made several beers with both Fermentis Safale S-04 (English Ale) and US-05 (American Ale).  Typically, the type of beer style matches with the choice of yeast because it will produce appropriate qualities to the beer type.  English yeast will attenuate less, leaving a higher final gravity for a more malt-focused beer and American yeast will attenuate more, resulting in a lower final gravity for a dryer beer.

In the spirit of experimentation, I wanted to compare the characteristics attributable to the Safale S-04 and US-05 yeast strains in the same wort.  This would also give me a chance to try out some 10 gallon batches on my system.  I split the grains into two mashes and combined the wort from them, boiled for the hour, then cooled it with an immersion chiller.  I split the wort into two 5 gallon class carboy fermenters, and pitched the American strain in one and the English strain in the other.

I have done this with the last two batches of homebrew, using two of my most established recipes.

• Citra IPA with OG of 1.058
• Amber Ale with OG of 1.050

Both of these are currently still in the carboys, but I am already noticing big differences in the yeast characteristics.  These were both originally American Pale Ale/IPA styles, but I am hypothesizing that the use of the English yeast will push those versions into the English IPA and English Pale Ale/Extra Special Bitter (ESB) style.  Two brew days will ultimately result in 200 bottles of 4 different types of beer!

I will post the findings of my experiment, focusing on these attributes:

• Color - big differences, including a "color swap" during fermentation
• Attenuation - comparison of the final gravities
• Flocculation - how did the yeast drop out of the beer?
• Fermentation activity - English was way faster and had a much larger Krausen
• etc.

I should be bottling the IPA in about a week and the Amber about a week after that.  I will share the results at a later date.

English on the left and American on the right.

American on the left and English on the right.

Labor Day Brew: Amber Ale

My brew set up with the mash tun on the cart, the liquor tank on the burner, and the boil kettle:

10 mins remaining in the boil:

 

My chilling set up.  10 gallons with my immersion chiller takes forever!  I ran the hose and tube through an ice bucket to help.

  I

My dual-purpose wheelbarrow, that I use mainly as a portable wash basin:

Aerating to some Journey on the stereo!

The hydrometer gave a 1.050 original gravity reading (OG).