American Pale Ale

Brewed an American Pale Ale on Sunday. Plan on kegging it for the brew clubs sample day in Sept.

So at the moment I have a Helles Bock lagering in the fridge, a Red Ale in the secondary, an American Pale Ale in the primary and a Blonde Ale bottle conditioning. I HAVE NOTHING DRINKABLE!!!! What's up with that? Must do better scheduling! Oh well, I'm on call this week anyway, the Blonde should be ready next week. Tried it last week but it had little to no carbonation.

Red Ass Ale II to the secondary.

About 5 days over due but it's finally in the secondary. Could have just bottled it I suppose but I want it to clairify some, plus there seemed to be about a half gallon of trub. I'll give it a week or so and keg it. It'll be my first keg.

Aslo put the Blonde in refrigeration, may try one tonight.....

Bottle Bomb?

OK, I've read about bottle bombs on brew boards and heard people talk about them but it's always been while the bottles were sitting and bottle carbonating (too much sugar seems to be the main cause.) Hadn't had this problem myself, but I took out a bottle of the blonde ale that is currently bottle conditioning. The last bottle I filled was only half full, I figured that would be a good one to check the carbonating progress. Didn't refrigerate, just took out a frosted mug to put it in. Applied the bottle opener and the thing started to gush! Pushed the cap down with my thumb and ran for the sink. Lifted my thumb and the thing went off like a shook up champagne bottle, almost lost an eye! Anyway, cleaned up my mess and tried the beer, not bad, tasted kind of flat for all the carbonation.

Not sure if it was the half bottle, not refrigerating or something else, I'll wait till the weekend and try another, open it OUTSIDE this time....

Smell or Aroma?

Walked into the fermenting chamber, (spare bedroom), looking for something unrelated to beer, (yes that happens sometimes), and there was a very strong sickly/sweet odor. Upon further investigation I found it was coming out of my airlock! This can't be good! Posted to the club message board and response I got was "All is well. Let it finish and drink it." OK, I'll wait. Could be the yeast I used, it was Safale 05, never used that before, also this was my first partial mash. Keeping my fingers crossed......

Sunday, Brewday!

Cooked up another batch of Red Ass Ale yesterday. Ran out of propane while I was bringing it up to a boil, no problem, I'll just get the tank from the grill right? WRONG! It lasted about 10 min. Had to use the stove. Actaully got permission from Maria! I was in a jam, gotta love that girl! Note to self...."MAKE SURE THERE IS ALWAYS A FULL TANK OF PROPANE LAYING AROUND!"

Bottled the Blonde

52 blonde's in bottles! Had a friend spend the night over the weekend while his wife and mine had a night out. The spare bedroom doubles as my fermenting chamber so when his wife was over the next day I promptly told her that her husband slept with a blond. Would have been better now that there are 52 blonds in the room now instead of just one big one!

As long as I was cleaning and sanitizing everything in site I decided to go ahead and put my helles bock in the secondary. Supposed to bring the temp up to 70' for 12 to 24 hours to get rid of some flavor, (I'll look it up and let you know what is is later.) Then crash cool to close to 32'. Dropped the temp on the basement fridge to the coldest setting, will put the carboy in in the morning.

Think I'll have a beer!

Bottles

I have heard it said "You know you are a home brewer when.... You buy bottles of beer more for the ease of label removal than the taste of the beer."

Spent last night cleaning bottles getting ready to bottle "The Blonde." Some of the bottle were "Belle" pale ales and porters, these labels were put on with some sort of epoxy or maybe cement! Soaked in soapy water, that usually lets the label slip right off but noooooo.

One had some gunk on the bottom that I scrubbed and scrubbed with a bottle brush. After about 15 minute I realized the gunk was on the outside of the bottle. Should have enough for the batch of blonde ale now, hope to bottle this week.