Party On!

Full Season Ale came out of the keg clear and bright with a creamy head. It was a big hit: full-flavored, nicely balanced, easy-drinking, smooth and delicious. We sucked down the 20 pints rather easily. In fact, we dubbed the brew "Memory Loss Ale" as half a pint (at 7% abv) had a profound impact on your cognitive functions.

Today, half the Harvest Ale will go in the now-empty vessel. I'll post a post-bottling update later.

UPDATE @ 1655 PDT: The Harvest Ale only yielded a touch over 4 gallons. I lost at least 1/2-gallon to a sludgy trub. Nonetheless, we got a nice looking, smelling, and tasting beer in one 2-1/2 gallon keg, a sixpack of 12-ounce bottles, a fourpack of 0.5 Liter Grölsch bottles, and four 22-ounce bottles. I used 50 grams of dextrose in 1-1/3 cups of water for both priming jobs. The final gravity was 1.010 or 2.5 ºP, an eleven-degree drop, coming in at almost 6% abv.

And Tim Lincecum won his 18th against the Chavez LAtriners, striking out the first nine men he faced. Not a bad way to end the season.


a.d. IV Kal. Oct.

162 and 163

Full Season Ale is on for a public tapping tonight! We cracked one of the kegs on Monday and had a sample with pals J & R. It is a big, potent beer, bright straw-yellow, with a full range of hoppiness. The final taste had a sour edge, maybe I went over-the-top with the hops. Or maybe it was just a bit "young" and needed a little more aging time in the fridge. Regardless, a party, a genuine social event, is on FSB's calendar this evening. I've got an untapped 2-1/2 gallon keg ready to go--twenty pints for a notoriously thirsty crew. I expect to have it emptied quickly. Tomorrow, I'll clean it out and fill it with the new brown (Harvest Ale) cooked up two weeks ago. I think I've come up with an easy transport system for both the keg and the gas cylinder set-up. I have an abundance of square-bottomed, thick-walled plastic bins just the right size. I can use one for the cylinder and toss in the tap, tools and towel I need. The other hold the keg and ice packs. We'll see how well everything works tonight. I'll report on things tomorrow after kegging and bottling #163.


a.d. V Kal. Oct.

Harvest Ale

I have a lovely batch of whole Northern Brewer hops from William's that are not organic. My old organic Perles looked and smelled sort of sad so I composted them. When I decided to "go organic" I still had some odds and ends around, like the hops. My plan is to make a "steam" with them this winter when I can use my favorite yeast strain, WYEAST 2112 CA LAGER. They have a rich minty-evergreen aroma, and they just seemed brighter and fresher than the Perles. At 8.2% α-acids I only used an ounce for an hour. Dr. Bob sez 25-32 IBU.

I used 10-1/2 pounds of the new pale 2-row from Great Western/7 Bridges, plus a half-pound each of 350ºL Briess Chocolate, 120ºL Briess Caramel, and Weyermann CaraHell. My goal is a malty brown, my beautiful bride's favorite brew. I wound up with 1.054 for five gallons. It was a low-temperature (148-150ºF) short-duration mash, only 45 minutes. These modern malts go quickly.

I scrounged another cheap-o yeast from the bargain bin, this time WYEAST 1332 NORTHWEST ALE. I should probably avoid that urge to save a few bucks. After all, freshness is a big part of why I brew my own. I need to find a local liquid yeast supplier or I need to go with the new generation of dried yeast.

It was an easy day--the whole shebang went smoothly. And the Giants won! The Harvest Moon shines brightly tonight and tomorrow, enjoy the lingering light--the autumnal equinox is just around the corner. The 13th is the Ides in a Roman September, so today is a.d. XVIII Kal. Oct. by their reckoning. This beer will split the birthdays here at French Street Brewery--let's say we'll be enjoying it on Hallowe'en.



P.S. Note the dearth of links and font fiddling, etc. For some reason I can't use my normal Blogger wysiwyg editor. That means I have to use html codes to make a link, etc. I'm lazy. I don't want to. I'll make sure all my links are up-to-date at the bottom of the page so readers can find any product I mention in a post. I hope to fix this annoying techie glitch soon.

Labor Day

The Monday holiday afforded me a chance to get no. 162--FULL SEASON ALE--out of the fermenter and into the kegs. I used 50 grams of dextrose in 12 oz. water each to prime two 2-1/2 gallon kegs. Each keg got just about 2-1/4 gallons of beer from the 4-1/2 gallons the carboy yielded. It all looked and smelled good. The final gravity was 1.012 or 3 ºP and that makes this one a big 7 % abv. Wow. An ass-kicker! Should be ready to drink a a few weeks.



Balling scale (IB - FB) * (0.525)
(16 ºP - 3 ºP) * (0.525) = 6.8 %

Gravity Units (OGU - FGU) / (7.5)
(65 - 12) / (7.5) = 7.1 %



Today is the "Kalends" of September, the first of the month!

Brew Day

Things worked well today. I ran 3 gallons of liquor at 170 ºF into the mash tun. Stirred in the malt--13 pounds. It was a bit lumpy, and took a bit of work to smooth it out and get an even temperature. There was just enough liquid to pool a bit on the top of the grain bed. It settled out at 148 ºF. I added 2 tsp. of gypsum. After 30 minutes, it had dropped 5 degrees. I added 2 gallons of boiling water at that point. This made the mash soupy, and it was easier to stir and mix the hot and cold spots. The mash was 156 ºF, just about perfect. After 30 minutes it had dropped 2 degrees. I re-circulated 10 quarts of runoff, collected about a gallon in the kettle, then sparged. I used 4 gallons (initial 170 ºF) and collected 6 gallons of wort. I topped up with a gallon of carbon-filtered municipal water and we started cooking. I wound up with 5 gallons at 1.065 or 16 ºP after a 70-minute boil and 4 hop additions. I used whole Perle hops, an ounce for 60 minutes, 1/2 ounce for 40 minutes, 1/2 ounce for 20 minutes, and 1/2 ounce for 10 minutes. That's about 50 IBUs, according to Dr. Bob, so I'm glad I got a pretty big beer. My brewhouse efficiency seems around 65%, so that means I'm getting approximately the equivalent of 8.5 pounds of malt extract. It looked like I was only going to have 4-1/2 gallons in the carboy, but I tipped the kettle to top it up to the 5 line. The last part was cloudy with trub. I left about a quart of sludge in the kettle. The yeast pack that was nearly a year old took a full week but it was completely swollen this morning. It was Wyeast 1187 (Ringwood Ale), and I had the 125 mL packet so I pitched it directly in the carboy. It was warm in the closet, 74 ºF, so I expect a vigorous fermentation tomorrow.

I called this brew FULL SEASON ALE because it is number 162, a full season in major league baseball. It should be ready to drink just as the regular season ends!



a.d. XV Kal. Sep.