The beer page! All three are brewed but not ready to bottle.
On Friday, August 18th, Joel and I began "the process." First we brewed a Sweet Stout. (all ingredients purchased from Austin Homebrew). Once that was chilled, aerated and the yeast was pitched, we began the Cream Ale. On Saturday, September 2nd, I brewed the Samual Smith Nut Brown Ale. No pictures, since I was working alone, but all went well. The very first beer I brewed was a Nut Brown Ale, so I am looking forward to a taste.
Prep work. This is a brand new "pre-chiller" used in a bucket of ice. In August, tap water just isn't cool enough to chill the boiling wort down to the required 80F°
This water is at a semi-precise temperature of 150°. That is the temperature needed for the grain bags in the next two pictures. The grain in the bags add special flavor and color to the brew.
This is the Sweet Stout grain bag. Very dark. Includes Chocolate Malt among others. The sweetness will come from the addition of Lactose (milk sugar) which yeast doesn't convert to alcohol. If you are lactose intolerant, you might not want to have much of this.
This is the Cream Ale grain bag. There is no cream in cream ale. It gets its name from the light color and creamy texture, gained from the addition of Maltodextrin (it does ferment, but gives the beer a "mouth feel" so you will never consider this a light beer).
Brewmaster in Training, Joel.
He is stirring in the malts for the Sweet Stout. He would not taste the wort as we progressed. His loss. It tasted great!
Here is the Stout just beginning to boil. The wort must boil for at least 60 minutes to allow the hops to work.
This is the Cream Ale just before it began to boil. Much lighter (in color only).
For those wishing to maximize their "buzz," the Cream Ale should be close to 8% alcohol content. I added an extra pound of malt to boost it.
Brewmaster in Training, Joel.
He is stirring in the malts for the Sweet Stout. He would not taste the wort as we progressed. His loss. It tasted great!
Ice bath.
The tap water goes through the ice before going to a similar copper coil in the wort fresh from the boiler. The 220° wort must be chilled to 80° as quickly as possible.
You can't see the coil in the dark stout wort, but is is down there.
Almost the last step.
Now that the wort is cooled, you bubble air through it using an aquarium pump and a special stainless steel bubbling stone. One of my favorite Christmas presents! 30 minutes of air makes the yeast very, very happy.
Happy yeast means happy beer.
