Brewing...

First things first...Time for a homebrew.
This is my last beer, a big, American style IPA.

Likely in the 8.5% area, it's loaded with alcohol to combat the preposterously high estimated 165 I.B.U.s.

This one (or two) should see me through brewing nicely.

This beer has matured quite a bit since I had the first one. The hop forwardness has mellowed as the malt has rounded out and come forward. Honestly, I preferred the piquant hop bitterness that initially accompanied this beer. My guess is that the calculations of 165 IBUs is not accurate. The aroma of the hops used in the dry hop has come forward as well. The overall profile is considerably more floral and earthy than it was initially. There seems to be an almost tannic profile to the beer even though I used no oak.

Anyway, on to the new batch...

This picture shows my pre-boil "tea." For this particular brew, I steeped a mix of grains, including some I oven toasted, at 150 degrees for 15 minutes before I get my boil going.

I think that it adds some complexity to the final flavor which I can't get from the extracts I use as my primary malt. A little extra sugar and flavor are not a bad thing in this case.

The contraption holding my grain bags keeps them off the bottom of the pot to reduce the chance of the scorching that could occur if they were in contact with direct heat.
When I pull the bags, I like to squeeze them out, getting the "juice" from them. Sometimes if the grain milling isn't great, there is a considerable amount of hull debris that can become incorporated in the wort. Some folks might find this objectionable but it doesn't bother me. With at least two separate rackings to go before it's in bottles, a lot of the debris ends up in the bottom of the fermenters.

After a while, in goes the extract. I like to use dried extract. It's only a personal preference, I feel that it is easier to dissolve than the heavy syrups. Maybe it's just me. No matter. I add my extract, again, off heat to reduce the chance of scorching. Once it dissolves and I've stirred the pot a bit, it's back to boiling. And then...my favorite...

Hops!
This is an ounce of Amarillo, one of three hop additions to my stout.

These provide the base of the bitterness in the brew that I'm working on. I'll add Simcoe and Cascade as I progress. I like the fresh hops though I'm considering moving to plugs.

The leaves provide a pretty good filter in the end when moving the wort from primary to fermenter. Plus, how cool is it to have whole fresh hops around? Well, for me anyway, I think it's cool. Unfortunately, now the waiting begins. An occasional stir and a steely eye on the pot to ensure no boil-overs and the hour passes slowly.

Over the course of the hour I've added the other hops. The Simcoes have a pretty high AA content. (No that's not Alcoholics Anonymous, it's Alpha Acid) I suspect the short time they were in the pot will be more than enough. In the meantime, I've been re-hydrating my dry yeast. I'm not up to fancy pants yeasts yet. I'm still playing with the balance of malt and hops. I suspect in the future I'll get into the nuances of yeast. Anyway...near the end, I add the Cascade hops for aroma and toss in my new chiller to sanitize it in the boil.

I'm loving the new chiller. Makes the final stage so much less time intensive. Everything comes together faster. No more ice bath in the sink or waiting around forever for the wort to be a yeast friendly temperature.

Quick and easy...at least in comparison to my old approach.

So, after cooling it's into the primary. Pitch the yeast and wait. A week from now I'll move it to the secondary. I measured the original gravity and it's higher than I anticipated which is a bit disappointing because it will likely keep this brew from becoming the session beer that I intended. I'm still trying to decide of I should dry hop in the secondary, a tasting at racking time should help with that decision.


I have to admit that the slightly higher O.G. and less than adequate headroom in my primary make me a little less than comfortable but I guess we'll see how it goes. Fingers crossed that I don't get any blow over and the air-lock stays intact.

All in all, a good day. The lower gravity of this beer made things go faster. I'm sure that practice helps. As does the new gear. I'll probably update things once fermentation gets rolling and a week from now, we'll see where we are.

Until then... drink 'em if you got 'em.