Super-Secret-Surprise Beer!

Ok, so as I mentioned before, I was planning on brewing a new super-secret-surprise beer last weekend. Well, things got a little crazy, so I wasn't able to do it this weekend. However, since I didn't have class yesterday until 7pm, I changed the schedule to do it then! So, it is now bubbling away happily in the fermenter.

I wish I could tell you more about this beer, but unfortunately, it's a surprise! So, you'll just have to wait! It will be ready in about two months, so I know it will be a bit of a long wait, but I promise to divulge more information about it as time goes on.

I will say that the brewday went really well. I almost had a boilover after I added the malt extract (I don't know what it is about Dry Malt Extract, but it just seems to always want to boil over!), but, because I was paying super close attention to this batch, I was able to narrowly avoid that. Other than that, it was a relatively quite brew session. I had to do a yeast starter for this beer (because the gravity is slightly higher), and I was afraid that I had a bad batch of yeast. The last time I did a yeast starter, the yeast was a lot more active than it was this time. After I pitched it into this batch, though, it took off like a rocket. It's the closest I've come to needing a blowoff tube for all of the foam produced by fermentation!

I'm really excited about this beer. It ended up weighing in at about 1.064, meaning it will most likely reach about 6.8-7% ABV (though there's no real way to tell until it's done fermenting). That's a little higher than the last batch of Waldo Lake Amber Ale.

Speaking of the WLAA, I got impatient and tried a bottle of it yesterday as the beer was cooling. It wasn't quite done carbonating yet, but it was close. I must say, it is reeeeeaaally good! I hope my sister likes it (since she'll be getting a lot of it)! I'll post tasting notes for that after it is completely done. I probably won't do it, though, until my sister has had a chance to try it. Since she's the one I'm brewing it for, I thought it would only be fitting for her to have some input on the tasting notes.

Anyway, I guess it's time to go. Bis Dann!

The Innkeeper Tasting Notes

As promised, I am finally getting around to the tasting notes of my second batch of beer -- The Innkeeper! Just like last time, I'll separate the notes into sections. The sections will be Appearance, Smell, Taste, Mouthfeel, and overall Drinkability. So, let's get started!

A: Light Amber color. About the shade of a nice light honey. Pours with a nice thick white head that leaves some beautiful lacing on the glass. It looks beautiful!

S: Delicious! I can't wait to drink this beer. It has a very slight hop smell to it, but it's nowhere near an IPA or American Pale Ale. I can also detect a bit of some banana phenols, almost like you would get in a Hefeweizen, although this is much much less pronounced.

T: It's crisp, dry, with mineral undertones. It's slightly bready, but there's a nice hop backbone. Just like in the smell, the hops are not super-pronounced. It's more of a crisp bitterness that is very refreshing.

M: There's a nice carbonated prickle to this beer. I really like it. It's definitely very crisp and refreshing, mainly, I think, due to its low gravity.

D: I really like this beer! This is one of those sit-on-the-front-porch-in-a-rocking-chair-while-the-breeze-wafts-by sort of beers. Perfect for this change of the season. The lower gravity of this beer means you can drink 3 or 4 and still be able to function. As I mentioned earlier, you'll be lucky to get one of these since I'm probably going to be selfish and keep them all for myself!

In the end, this is seriously one of the best beers I've ever had. And no, that's not just because I brewed it. I wish we could get the beer that this is modeled after (Timothy Taylor's Landlord) here in the US, but unfortunately it's only for the lucky folks in the UK.

Soon I'll be able to try out the Waldo Lake Amber Ale! And I promise to post about how that goes as well! Until then, Misdemeanor OUT!

Have I Been Drunk for Three Weeks??

First off, the answer is no. I've just been super busy! In the last three weeks I've had midterms, papers due, went to Chicago for a week, got engaged, and many many other things. However, that does not excuse my lack of posting! So, I'm going to try and get you caught up as best I can on the state of my brewing!

As I noted in the last post, a few weeks ago, I brewed my first batch with a yeast starter -- The Waldo Lake Amber Ale. Everything went perfectly with the fermentation, and the beer weighs in at a hefty 6.4% ABV (although, as previously mentioned, this is just an estimate). I decided to let it ferment in primary for 3 weeks and then bottle it. I could have let it go a little longer, but I needed to free up my primary fermenter for my next, super-secret batch, which I will talk more about later. So, yesterday I bottled the Waldo Lake. Of course, I wouldn't be me if I didn't narrowly escape a HUGE mistake. When I was bottling, I almost forgot to add the priming sugar to the beer. This, of course would have been disastrous since that sugar is what allows the beer to condition in the bottles and naturally carbonate itself. At the last second, however, I remembered it, and the beer is now happily conditioning. It should be ready in about 2 weeks.

I'm anxious to see how this beer turned out. It was a lot of firsts for me. It was the first time I had made a yeast starter, the first time I utilized first-wort hops, and the first time I had bottled into my new Northern Brewer growler. For those of you who don't know, a growler is a 2 liter bottle for beer. This is an experiment for me mainly because this growler has a screw-top. So, I'm really hoping I screwed it on tight enough or that will be one flat bottle of beer!

In other news, I finished off my last bottle of Irish Red (save, of course, the bottle that I tucked away in my closet to cellar). So, if you didn't get any, I'm sorry! I'm out! I do, however, have a lot of The Innkeeper left! As of right now, I have about 30 bottles of it left. However, I don't plan on really giving a lot out for a few reasons. Partly because it may have to last me a while. I'll be going to the beach in a few weeks, so I'm going to want to have a nice lighter beer to drink while I'm there. Also, I'm starting to run a little thin on the monetary resources, and I don't know how many more batches I'll be able to make before my disposable income runs out. However, the main reason is that I REALLY like this beer. I honestly think it's one of my favorite beers that I've ever had, so I want to keep it all for myself. Is that selfish? Yes, but I brewed it. I have a right to be selfish. This is not a Beerocracy. this is a Beertatorship, and I am the Bierkaiser! So there! (Honestly, if you ask me really really nicely, I'll probably give you a bottle... just don't tell anyone!)Also related to The Innkeeper, I realized that I didn't publish tasting notes on it. I'll try to do that soon, complete with pictures!

I'm starting a new project this weekend, but I'm keeping it under wraps for now. It should be really good, though! I'm excited! After that, I plan on making a Bourbon Barrel Porter. This will take a while, and it may be the last beer I brew before I move. We'll just have to see!

H is for Hydrometer

A while back, I did something stupid. No, not go on several national television interviews rambling about tiger blood and whatnot (not that I wouldn't if I actually were famous enough to have a TV interview). I broke my hydrometer.

For those of you who don't know what a hydrometer is, it basically determines the specific gravity of a liquid, which is the density relative to water. Water = 1.000, Ethyl Alcohol at room temp = 0.789, and Mercury at room temp = 13.600. The specific gravity (or SG) of beer is important in determining how much sugar is in the unfermented beer and how much alcohol has been produced after fermentation ends. The higher the SG, the more sugars that can be converted to alcohol, and the higher abv the beer ends up at. This is why the beers that have a high percentage of alcohol are called "High Gravity."

So, I broke the tool that tells me what my gravity is. This wasn't too bad, since they don't cost too much. I quickly got an order together and had a new one shipped my way. It was coming in Saturday, which meant I could brew Sunday as I had planned.

When Saturday morning came, I brewed up a yeast starter since the next beer I am making is a little higher gravity than what I've done before. The yeast starter allows for both more and healthier yeast to be produced before the beer is brewed. That allows the yeast to survive in the higher alcohol content of a higher gravity beer. Everything was going well until the shipment came.

Once the package arrived and the yeast were happily reproducing, I eagerly opened it up. My excitement quickly turned to anger as I found that my brand new hydrometer had come pre-shattered. It was too late to turn back from my brewing schedule since the yeast starter wouldn't keep until time to get a new hydrometer, so I brewed on Sunday anyway. I'm just going to guess that the Original Gravity was at the right level and hope for the best.

I called customer service, and they were very helpful. They agreed to send a new hydrometer out to me free of charge. It should be here any day now. This has not changed my opinion of Northern Brewer at all, in fact, I kind of respect them more for how helpful they were!

Anyway, this weekend I will be going home, and my second batch of beer, "The Innkeeper" should be ready to drink! I'm really excited, I think it's going to be very good! I'll post a picture and tasting notes once I try it.

Hope everyone's having a good week! Drink good beer, live a good life!