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The Hedgehog
01-17-2009, 10:50 AM
It is fermenting away nicely in the basement. This is an IPA. I will transfer it to the glass carboy in a while and then bottle next weekend.

I may just have to make an AOTH ail this year.

I still can't find the dang battery charger for my real camera.

Carl C
01-17-2009, 11:08 AM
:alky::puke:I tried that once. It tasted more like vinegar.

roadtrip se
01-17-2009, 11:16 AM
Hedgie,

A fine micro IPA is on tap here at Casa de Nanook right now.

I would be priveledged to try some of your brew at Lake Cumberland should you chose to bring it.

Carl, go back to your Miller Lite.

Carl C
01-17-2009, 11:22 AM
Hedgie,

A fine micro IPA is on tap here at Casa de Nanook right now.

I would be priveledged to try some of your brew at Lake Cumberland should you chose to bring it.

Carl, go back to your Miller Lite. My buds have converted me to Bud Light by popular demand. What happened to Miller Light Ice? Can't find it anymore. Hedge, I hope you have better luck than I did.

The Hedgehog
01-17-2009, 11:45 AM
Hedgie,
A fine micro IPA is on tap here at Casa de Nanook right now.
I would be priveledged to try some of your brew at Lake Cumberland should you chose to bring it.
Carl, go back to your Miller Lite.

I will bring some for you.

I am kicking around the idea of a special batch. AOTH labels and all.

IPA is delicious. This will be my first batch of my own IPA. The ale's are pretty easy. I will post results.

The Hedgehog
01-17-2009, 11:50 AM
I don't drink light much more. It only saves a few cals. Not worth it unless it is one of those 8+ beer days.

I have had good experiences with my home brew. Stick to the easy stuff and you won't go wrong. Talk to midwesternbrewing.com. They have everything you need.

The Hedgehog
01-17-2009, 12:25 PM
Going for the second stage.

Siphoning the beer from the first stage fermenter to the carboy. At this stage of the process things look pretty gnarly. It will sit for a week in the carboy with some wood chips. Its around 68 degrees right now. I would like to take it down below 65 or so. Then I will add priming sugar and bottle.

The big key is keeping everything clean. I double sterilize all hoses, tops and new containers.

Once it gets siphoned again into bottles and capped it looks more like what you buy in a store. It is really clean. When I made my first batch I thought it would have a bunch of sediment. It does not.

I am getting thirsty now. I wish that I had some of those IPA's that SE was mentioning. That sounds great. I am off to pick up some good beer now.

CJmike
01-17-2009, 12:46 PM
http://www.simpsons-crazy.co.uk/photo/Images/Pictures/homergotbeer.jpguuuummmmm beer......

Donzi Vol
01-17-2009, 01:06 PM
Awesome! I can't wait to give it a shot at AOTH! Put some up for the auction so I can buy that rather than Bud Lite this year.

p729lws
01-18-2009, 04:14 AM
What kind of hops are in the IPA Hedge?

Dan

The Hedgehog
01-19-2009, 08:31 AM
What kind of hops are in the IPA Hedge?
Dan

One oz of Columbus bittering hops at boil, then 1 oz of Glacier hops after 60 minutes and boil for 30 more minutes and then 1 oz of US Golding aroma hops for the last two minutes.

Very hoppy!

p729lws
01-19-2009, 06:01 PM
One oz of Columbus bittering hops at boil, then 1 oz of Glacier hops after 60 minutes and boil for 30 more minutes and then 1 oz of US Golding aroma hops for the last two minutes.
Very hoppy!

That should be a good mix :yes: It wouldn't be an India Pale Ale w/o a mess of hops. The last batch of IPA I made had a ton of Cascade hops in it. Came out similar to Sierra Nevada on tap.

Have you thought about going w/ 5-gallon kegs and CO2 in lieu bottling? Much faster and no pressurized glass to worry about.

Dan

The Hedgehog
01-20-2009, 01:50 AM
That should be a good mix :yes: It wouldn't be an India Pale Ale w/o a mess of hops. The last batch of IPA I made had a ton of Cascade hops in it. Came out similar to Sierra Nevada on tap.
Have you thought about going w/ 5-gallon kegs and CO2 in lieu bottling? Much faster and no pressurized glass to worry about.
Dan

definatley working towrds kegging. It is the way to go

Ghost
01-20-2009, 10:39 AM
Kegging sounds like a great thing, I wish I were set up for it. Though it does make it harder to pass around samples to try.

One thought if you haven't tried it already: using swing-tops (mostly liter sized instead of pints) takes a LOT of the curse out of bottling. Use maybe 14 or 15 liter bottles to a batch, plus a couple of pints for the last of it. Bottle prep is GREATLY reduced from doing 53 or so 12-ouncers, as the work per bottle is about the same, just 1/3 the bottles, and there are no pains with capping. Rre-sealing is possible, bleeding pressure is possible if you overdo-the bottling sugar, etc.

p729lws
01-20-2009, 01:48 PM
Even if you want to bottle a few for the road it's easier and safer to do that from a keg w/ a counter pressure filler set-up. It's been a long time since I brewed a batch but you can carbonate in the keg w/o a secondard fermentation (cleaner beer) in a day or two as opposed to a week or two in the bottle w/ natural fermentation.

Hedge is right, you have to be an absolute clean freak to brew good beer.

Dan

The Hedgehog
01-29-2009, 06:22 PM
All bottled up. No very exciting pics there.:flash:

I need to talk to some of you guys about kegging. Bottling is not too bad but after you go through all that and then have to wait a couple of weeks....ouch.

I am off to look for some beers with swing tops. Having to drink the beer so I can use the bottles is my kind of homework.:drinkbeer::alky:

Now the labels for the AOTH Batch.....I may need Wayne's help for that. I am ok with what I have so far but some cool sideways fonts would be nice.

Ghost
01-29-2009, 06:26 PM
Congrats on the progress. Perhaps it is some consolation, but once you build up a serious backlog, the whole waiting for bottle fermentation isn't so bad. Also, I wouldn't be shocked if the aging that happens in the bottle (while fermentation is also taking place) doesn't blend and mellow the beer, improving it significantly. I'm amazed with the ones we've done how much they improve with a little aging.

The Hedgehog
01-29-2009, 06:56 PM
Congrats on the progress. Perhaps it is some consolation, but once you build up a serious backlog, the whole waiting for bottle fermentation isn't so bad. Also, I wouldn't be shocked if the aging that happens in the bottle (while fermentation is also taking place) doesn't blend and mellow the beer, improving it significantly. I'm amazed with the ones we've done how much they improve with a little aging.

I can't help but think it gets a little stronger in the bottle with that extra sugar charge to activate the carbonation. I was just around 5% alcohol at bottling.

It would be good to do a side by side bottle vs the keg

Donzi Vol
01-29-2009, 08:24 PM
As I sit here living the "high life" I'm craving some home brew!

Funny story here. A couple weekends ago, I found myself in Knoxville for the weekend for a sales meeting. We ate at Calhoun's on the river and I enjoyed a ridiculously large mug (~32 oz) of Velas Hellas (custom German brew). Afterwards I rushed over to see a lady friend, and her first question was, "Are you drunk?" After thinking about it for a minute I said, "Well I don't know. I'm not like FULL ON drunk." Luckily she laughed rather than throwing me out!

Ghost
01-29-2009, 11:25 PM
I can't help but think it gets a little stronger in the bottle with that extra sugar charge to activate the carbonation. I was just around 5% alcohol at bottling.

Definitely. (I'm still new at this, but I think it is typical to use a bottling sugar that produces a fairly neutral flavor, and simply adds alcohol and the carbonation.)

The Hedgehog
01-30-2009, 07:51 AM
As I sit here living the "high life" I'm craving some home brew!

Funny story here. A couple weekends ago, I found myself in Knoxville for the weekend for a sales meeting. We ate at Calhoun's on the river and I enjoyed a ridiculously large mug (~32 oz) of Velas Hellas (custom German brew). Afterwards I rushed over to see a lady friend, and her first question was, "Are you drunk?" After thinking about it for a minute I said, "Well I don't know. I'm not like FULL ON drunk." Luckily she laughed rather than throwing me out!

I will be coming up to Johnson City in a couple of weeks or so. Will you be around that area?

If so, I will bring some brew.

Donzi Vol
01-30-2009, 02:27 PM
Yeah, I'll be living here until the end of February. I'm going down to FL to see Uncle Tom and Aunt Rose the 12-15, but other than that I should be here. Otherwise I'll be in Knoxville, which is on the way up here. It'd be great to meet up with you and have some home brew! I'll send you a PM with my number and you can just give me a shout a couple days before you head this way.

The Hedgehog
01-30-2009, 05:39 PM
Yeah, I'll be living here until the end of February. I'm going down to FL to see Uncle Tom and Aunt Rose the 12-15, but other than that I should be here. Otherwise I'll be in Knoxville, which is on the way up here. It'd be great to meet up with you and have some home brew! I'll send you a PM with my number and you can just give me a shout a couple days before you head this way.

I got it. We will talk

Donziweasel
01-30-2009, 05:55 PM
Bill, when you are out here, we need to go the Snake River Brewery.

http://www.snakeriverbrewing.com/pub.html

Thier beers have won so many awards, including dozens from the Colorado Beer Festival, that it may be the best microbrewery in the US. It has been voted that a few times. Thier beers are simply delicous. Good food too. Maybe they will have Discombobulator Bach when you are out here, 2 of those and you are drooling on yourself. Zonker Stout is a amazing also.

The Hedgehog
01-30-2009, 05:57 PM
Congrats on the progress. Perhaps it is some consolation, but once you build up a serious backlog, the whole waiting for bottle fermentation isn't so bad. Also, I wouldn't be shocked if the aging that happens in the bottle (while fermentation is also taking place) doesn't blend and mellow the beer, improving it significantly. I'm amazed with the ones we've done how much they improve with a little aging.

Do any of you guys know the trick for cleaning the upper top inside of a carboy? Hot water worked fine on red ales but the IPA seems to be a little stickier.

I have a couple of those bent brushes but can't get the angle to work.

Ghost
01-30-2009, 08:14 PM
Do any of you guys know the trick for cleaning the upper top inside of a carboy? Hot water worked fine on red ales but the IPA seems to be a little stickier.

I have a couple of those bent brushes but can't get the angle to work.

So far I've been able to bend the brushes enough and get hours of hot-water soaking to do it.

Maybe bleach to break it up a bit more?

Quart of water and a couple cups of sand and some vigorous shaking?

What we really need is a v-angled powerwasher tip.

Donzi Vol
02-18-2009, 06:46 PM
I tell ya what, boys, The Hedge can brew some beer! Some of the best I've had (and I've tried plenty:wink:). We had a good Donzi meeting last night here in Johnson City, and solved most of the world's problems...haha. Bill, thanks again for the brews!