BrewBrain Sports Investing

er, bucket. It’s in the bucket.

I brewed up the US 2-row with Cascade today. This will be one light beer, and I don’t expect to like it particularly. I don’t expect to dislike it either, really. It’ll taste like a very light beer with some hops to it.

The brew day did not go off without a hitch. As it turns out, I don’t have equipment that handles a small batch very well. I tried to siphon wort from my mash tun, er, mash tupperware and it got stuck. I could not for the life of me get a siphon going, with or without a filter attached.

So, I dumped the hot wort into the kettle through a strainer. Hot side aeration? What hot side aeration? It may or may not be a myth. I’ll know for sure when I taste this batch, that’s for sure. Personally, I’ve always been on the “myth” side of that fence anyway, so I’m not worried. Of course, I don’t have much to base that opinion on.

Then, I overshot my fermenter volume by 50%. Instead of a gallon of wort, I ended up with 1.5 gallons. I didn’t really think much of it right away. I just simply poured a gallon into the fermenter, aerated, pitched and put the lid on. No biggie. until I poured the rest into a pitcher to see how much there was. I didn’t think there was much left, but it was a solid two quarts. The gravity reading was fine for 1.5 gallons, but I was looking at a 2.3% ABV or something on my one kept gallon. When I tasted the hydrometer sample from the pitcher it tasted like hoppy water. Crap. I boiled it down to half a quart and tossed it in the bucket. Now I have slightly more than a gallon, but it has all the sugar it should have had from the beginning.

In the end, assuming hot side aeration really is a myth, all should be fine with batch #1. Next up will be a Munich 10 addition. I know, I know. I’m going off the script. But, as I have decided to brew one at a time, I’m going to work through the grains I really want to understand and likely use most often first. So, the Munich, Honey and lighter Crystals will go first.

By the way, I’m typing this blog entry while thoroughly enjoying an Arrogant Bastard. You couldn’t be more jealous. I generally go with beers I’ve never tried before when I visit the beer store.  I do make exceptions for exceptional beers, and this is certainly one of them.  Other recent repeats have been Firestone Walker Pale Ale and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale along with Rogue’s Shakespear Stout.  I make a point to NEVER leave the store without a bottle or two of the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in particular as they make it available in 24 ounce bottles that are short and squatty and fit very nicely on the refrigerator shelves.  I will have an army of them for homebrews by the time I’m done.  Also, they currently have a Southern Hemisphere Harvest Ale that is essentially an IPA that is very, very good.  It is also in those same bottles.  I definitely need another of those bad boys for a brew review entry.  Looks like a trip may be necessary tomorrow.  Damn the luck!