Gadgets: Organizing the Garage

Well, after attempting to go to the gym on Memorial Day, and discovering that it was closed, I didn't know what to do with myself. I couldn't work out in the garage because things were a mess, so I decided to bite the bullet and clean it up.

It's amazing how many gadgets I've accumulated. Now I've got my boxes all stacked nicely!

 And my equipment is all stored in a single shelf. Maureen and I were both happy to see this done!

This is a really riveting post. You know you like it. Come on.

Gadgets: New Thermometer

I thought I'd throw up a quick post on a new thermometer that I got from More Beer. The handy thing about this one (versus my old one) is that it attaches to the side of the pot. Seems like a small feature, but it makes a big difference.

Brewing Day: American Wheat Ale (Holler at Me, Too)

After I received my Chico results, I couldn't let go of the fact that my American Wheat didn't do better! I got pretty good feedback from some people at my local brew club, and I felt it was a really strong beer. The Kinders (who I brewed this for) also were pretty happy with it, I might add.

I decided to give it another shot, and try and tweak the recipe to suit the critiques that I received. Here's a list of what I did:

• Critique: Beer too bitter
  What I did: I cut the amount of hops by an ounce. I dropped it to 1 ounce of Cascade at the 60 minute mark, and 1.5 ounces of Cascade at the 1 minute mark.
• Critique: Head dissolves too quickly
  What I did: I added about 6 ounces of Maltodextrin to the boil (at the 60 minute mark). This sugar is too complex to be consumed by yeast, so it simply thickens the beer (and sweetens it slightly). The thickness also contributes to a longer lasting head.
• Critique: Beer too clear
  What I did: I'm not quite sure how to address this one. I added EVEN MORE wheat to the recipe. We'll see if that helps.

 Here's an action packed shot of the brewing. I went with the blowoff tube again. The OG was 1.062 which is pretty big for a wheat ale. We'll see how it handles.

First Pour: Sweet Stout (Chocolate Stout Redux)

After brewing and kegging my chocolate stout, it's time for a first pour!

As you can see, the keg gives the stout a great head. The beer itself is only 3% ABV, but it tastes great, albeit, a little watery. The aroma has a nice hint of chocolate, the clarity is perfect, and the flavor has a nice mix of sweetness and hops.

Competition: Chico Brewing Club Results

I just got my results for my Chico entries! Unfortunately, no ribbons this time. This is my first competition that I've come home empty handed. I was sure that my American Wheat Ale (Holler at Me) would place, too.

As you can see, Holler at Me got a decent score, at 36.25. The critiques were primarily around too much hop flavor. Given that I tweaked the recipe, I probably just over did it on the hops. The other complaint was that the hef was too clear. I noticed this as well the first couple of times that I poured. It's not actually clear, but the wheat seems to settle at the bottom of the bottle, so you need to flip the bottle once to stir it up. I'm not sure why this is.

As you can see, I was just shy of getting into the "Excellent" category. Dang.

For kicks, I also entered my Irish Red Ale that I did for St. Patrick's Day. I wasn't expecting a whole lot. The score of 29.5 is about dead on with what I expected. Major critique on this one was that it was too bitter.

Keg Day: Sweet Stout (Chocolate Stout Redux)

Today, I'll be showing how to clean and fill an empty corny keg. If you'll recall, I brewed a sweet chocolate stout a week ago, and it's time to keg it up. The keg did have an American IPA in it, but I bottled the remnants just before this post.

Let's get started.

If you'll recall I recently purchased a freezer chest, which is currently housing my cornelius keg (corny keg), my CO2 tank, and some Irish Red Ale in a growler.

As you can see, the keg is a 6 gallon keg with two tubes coming out of it. The black-cap tube is for beer coming out of the keg, and the grey-cap tube is for gas (CO2) coming into the tube. I keep my chest at about 45 degrees, and my CO2 pressure at about 12PSI. 

At this point, the keg is essentially empty, minus a little bit of beer sitting on the bottom.

Make sure that the CO2 tank has been turned off at the regulator first.

The next step is to remove the beer line. You do this by pulling up on the edges of the cap. Here, the beer line has been removed.

Next, remove the CO2 line in the same manner. You can see here that the grey cap is dangling out of the freezer chest now.

At this point, the keg is no longer connected to anything.

Between each keg filling, I always sanitize everything to keep the beer from getting contaminated with off flavors.

Here, I've got a 5 gallon bucket of water and starsan, and I've filled the beer tube with sanitized water. The trick to this is to let water drain freely from the bucket, and then jam the cap into the bucket's nozzle until water flows into it. Make sure top open the tap at the other end of the tube, so that water can displace the gas in the tube.

Now, it's time to sanitize the keg. Keep in mind that the keg is still pressurized at this point, so you have to let the CO2 out. Pull the gas-out pin on the top of the keg to do this.

Now, you can lift up on the keg cap's lever. This will allow the keg cap to disconnect from the keg.

As you can see, the keg is empty, but a big of CO2 gas is still floating around inside.

Now, I remove the keg posts.

These posts look very similar, but one is has little etchings in the nuts that make it look like a star, and the other doesn't. The "star" keg post is the gas-in post, and the "non-star" keg post is the beer-out post. They look interchangeable, but they aren't. I struggled for several days when I first got my keg only to figure out that I had my keg posts reversed.

This is the beer out post. As you can see, it has no etching on the bottom of the post. The little spring to the right is what goes inside the post (to prevent gas/beer from escaping).

The other two pieces to remove are the tubes that go into the keg.

The tube on the right is the beer-out tube. This tube slides into the beer-out hole (under the beer out post), and goes all the way down the keg to pull beer from the bottom of the keg into your beer-out tap.

The smaller tube on the left is the gas-in tube.

Here, I've filled the keg with PBW (powdered brewer wash). This will get any beer gunk out of the keg.

While the keg is sitting with PBW, I measure the specific gravity of my chocolate stout. It has an FG of 1.022. This is pretty high, especially since the OG was low (1.046). The final ABV is ((1.046 - 1.022) * 131) 3.14%. This is very light.

After I measure the ABV, I drain the PBW, and sanitize the keg with Star-San. When that's done, it's time to move the beer from the carboy to the keg. You can see here that I drain the carboy in the same way that I would if I were putting the beer into a bottling bucket. The only difference is that I'm draining it into a keg.

The white UFO attached to the orange top allows me to blow (filtered) air into the carboy, which forces beer down the tube, and into the keg.

 Things are progressing nicely.

 Almost done.

 Now, it's time to add the chocolate extract! I bought this chocolate extract from a local baking shop. It's VERY potent. Adding this small vile to 5 gallons of sweet stout will give it a nice chocolate-aroma, and a very slight chocolate flavor.

Once I've added the chocolate extract, it's time to cap up the keg. You can see here that I've also re-inserted both keg tubes, and re-attached both keg posts to their proper gas-in/beer-out posts.

Next, it's time to purge the keg of any oxygen. Oxygen can mess with the flavor of beer, so we have to evacuate the keg. To do this, first re-attach your CO2 line to the keg, and turn the CO2 on at the regulator.

After the CO2 is attached and on, you should hear it fill the keg. Once it's filled (the noise has stopped), turn your CO2 off at the CO2 regulator, and pull the gas-out pin on the top of the keg. This will allow the CO2 and oxygen mixture to escape from the keg until it returns to normal pressure.

Turn the CO2 on at the regulator again, and repeat the exercise two more times (three, in total).

 Finally, attach your beer-out tube.

That's it! You now have beer on tap! Typically, I let my keg rest for several days (2-3) before drinking beer from it, as it takes time for the CO2 to properly carbonate the beer. If you drank from it immediately, the beer would be quite flat.