Mike and I set up on doing two batches of beer yesterday afternoon. It was Mike’s first time with me in the brewing process and we set upon our mission of making some tasty nectar.
It definitely was a lot easier the second time around as I had a good grasp of the process. The only thing we did different this time around is use a 2 ounce to 5 gallon of water mixture to sanitize everything, whereas the first time around I had used some sanitizing tablets in the water. Not sure if this will affect the beer or not. We rinsed out the bleach after sanitizing the fermenter so time will tell.
The craziest part of the process is waiting for the wort to fall in temperature to 75 degrees. This literally took a few hours of sitting outside in the snow! What the heck? I can only imagine this will be a lengthier process in the summer.
I’m also wondering how the batch will turn out as I am heading to the Dominican Republic next week so there will be a minimum of 14 days of fermented beer in the carboy. The book says it can sit there for a month but it’s best to bottle it once primary fermentation has subsided. Guess we’ll find out, won’t we?
Mike and I already have plans to ramp up production quite a bit. If Batches #2 & #3 turn out alright, we will most likely make four batches in the next go.
Update: After sixteen days of sitting in the carboy and no signs of fermentation left (although Mike asked the question as to whether or not it was too cold in my basement to trigger the fermentation….turns out that one of the batches was fermenting within the first day, but the second was not and I noticed that it was quite cold where I was storing them in the well area, so I moved them and it started fermenting the next day…however I went away to Punta Cana and was wondering if the temperature drop would have affected it again) we set up our bottling area and bottled 40 L of beer last night.
Some thoughts…I tried sanitizing the bottles in the dishwasher this time around…definitely not a good idea as a lot of the bottles shrank from the heat subjected to them. I want to eventually get to a glass-only system, but in the meantime, these plastic bottles are our bread and butter so it’s not good when they shrink! So the dishwasher will have to wait until I get more glass bottles.
The bottling process was a cinch compared to the first time. Mike is a natural at it and we had some fun along the way with a few spills by yours truly and the fear of running out of bottles at one point. But it all worked out. The batches look quite tasty and Mike is acquiring some of his own beer equipment so he is looking forward to making his own batches at his own place.
Alcohol content looks to be around 4%. I want to figure out how to creep that number up slightly but will have to do some research on that front.
Some other tips for the future…cleaning out the carboys was definitely easier immediately after bottling, as well as putting a little water on the bottom so you can dip the brush in it once in awhile. Remember this for next time!
Iplaying: How Does it Feel? – Candlex (Into the Sun)