It's been a long while since I've brewed beer. The family is gone for 4th of July weekend and I've got a little bit of time so I figured I'd brew a batch. I've got two bags of grain in the fridge outside. I have no idea what I had in mind when I bought them. I have no idea how old the ingredients are either. I do remember buying them from the Bearded Brewer just to help him out. He had to close his doors. I'm sure due to Covid. I have no plans to use whirlfloc or yeast nutrients. I can't reach them in the garage because appliances are in the way. Which leads me to another thought, this will probably be the last batch of beer I brew in this house. We are moving shortly. I'm not THAT sad. Just a little. More nostalgic I suppose.
Anyhow here are the ingredients:
Water is Crystal Geyser. No other salts will be added. I don't plan to perform any pH adjustments. I don't plan to measure the pH.
10lbs golden promise
1lb C10
2oz Saaz 2.8%AA at 60 mins
2packets of Saflager w-34/70. Instructions are to sprinkle in wort. So I will. Dates on them are 04/2023. I have no plans to oxygenate the wort.
I'm hoping to speed run this as I have plans to hang with Kevin tonight for a movie. I'd like to be done by 5pm. We'll see how close I get and what corners I'm willing to cut.
12:04 - I'm boiling water now to calibrate the thermometers. It was hard getting all the equipment out. The appliances are butted up against the shelves where homebrew gear is stored. It sucks too much. This will be the last brew until we move. I was crawling in the metal shelving to get to things.
12:44 - We are mashed in at 150F. While mashing I'll clean the keg and fermentation chamber.
1:01 - Junny had asked me to store cold packs in the chest freezer. I didn't think it was a good idea at the time. I told her that it's not freezing in there, the packs will just be gooey oozy stuff. She asked to do it anyway. I try to be nice and I agree to this reluctantly. Those packs have been leaking ever since. The liquid found its way onto the paper towel I put beneath the keg to catch the tiny drops of beer when I pour some out. I can't describe the enormously large colony of mold and bacteria that grew there because there are no words. It was soooo gross. I did my best to clean it up. I wouldn't be surprised if I got sick in the next few days. I'll probably never brew good beer in there again. Thanks Junny. I've washed my hands twice now. I'm going for a third right after I get done typing this.
2:51 - 20 mins left to go in the boil. I may run out of propane. If I do, then I will just cool the wort and move on with life. Since I had a free minute, I did go and get the whirlfloc and yeast nutrient. I noticed that my spray bottle is broken so I can't spray things to kill bad bugs. Also, I'm retiring the old fermenter. It's day is done. I'm moving on to a new one that I've had for about a year now.
One thing that I've been thinking about today is that the hose I use smells very chemically. Maybe that's a reason the beer is coming out bad. I'll see if I can replace it before the next brew session.
4:22 - All done for the day. It went smooth. Gravity is 1.050. It tasted good going into the fermenter. Since I needed to get the wort cooled to lager temperatures I had to use a lot of water. I usually put the water in the washing machine but I figured there would be too much water. So I used a bucket and put it in the washing machine. When it filled I emptied it outside. So 20 gallons or so went outside instead of within the washing machine. There were towels in the washing machine. Ellie didn't tell me. She often forgets about towels in the washing machine and they get all moldy smelling. I don't know why it seems that she forgets when it's towels. After the brew day was over, I started of the washing machine and I'll be sure to finish up the laundry for her. I also ran out of ice. So I had to use all the ice within our freezer. I hope the freezer makes enough ice for the family by the time they get home. Anyhow, I'm off to see Kevin. He had heart surgery recently so I thought I'd give him some love.
