first minnesota brew

i boiled an english bitter midwest specialty grain kit. 20 minute steep at ~160 (thermometer isn't calibrated right, so i'm not sure). i tried rinsing the grains after the steep with boiling water in a strainer. goldings (5.5AA) 1oz at 60 and 1oz at 2 minutes. i broke down and got a thief and a test jar at northern brewer. sg: 1040 (recipe calls for 1035). very bitter at this point.

i used snow/salt/water in a tub outside to chill. it was amazingly fast and saved me some money, though i slightly over-chilled. pre-dilution was about 80F. used plain tap water for the first time for top-off, which brought it down to 65F. i waited an hour or so for the mixed wort to come up to 70F, the temperature of the starter. i also diverged on the starter by using some dme instead of plain sugar.

checked after 1.5 days in the fermenter, when obvious bubbling stopped. now it's at 1020. the sample was super cloudy with yeast and tasted much better than the first sample. the battle of what-to-get-next is looking like a win for a burner, since the glass-top electrical stove is super slow.

wish list: gas burner, refractometer, digital thermometer with some sort of alarm. the wort chiller won't be needed until the snow goes away.

BCHX and inki's brown: tasting notes

i think the BCHX could have stood to bottle condition a little longer. the last bottle was very sour with a kind of mettalic aftertaste. maybe too yeasty, maybe a bad side effect of using the wheat malt. i noticed a wheat malty flavor, though the sourness and carbonation kind of overpower everything else. didn't get to drink the last one out of a glass. perhaps degassing would have helped cut the tongue-assault of the carbonation. don't think i'm going to try wheat malt again any time soon. next beer should be heavy with lots of aroma hops, maybe cut the bittering to 45 minutes.

inki's brown has been in the bottle for a while and has the malty sweet flavor as expected, but i'm noticing the same kind of sour taste as BCHX, although it doesn't wrap up in the metallic aftertaste. this batch is decent, but not as good as i recall the last couple. perhaps i'm having higher expectations or maybe the collapsing ceiling in the kitchen unleashed some wild yeast or bacteria into the mix. it would have to be airborne, because i haven't changed my sanitation. of course this is a taste of the bottom of the bucket bottles, which might have some of the heavy stuff in them. they are pretty clear so far, so i'm not sure. more to come on the 'higher' bottles.

BCHX finally ready

i grabbed the 2 (probably lightstruck) bottles that were left on the back stairs. the brew is settling in now. still a bit yeasty, and not free from some off flavor components, but they are proving an interesting drink. a rainbow of flavors, still trying to suss the impact of the wheat malt. carbonation is starting to get more consistent, no more vesuviuses so far. a nice, albeit immature, flavor. i think i'll avoid too many variables next time, but the BCHX is becoming more drinkable by degrees.

BCHX still green

had my first bottle bomb. a bottle of the BCHX blew up in the basement, leaving shards of glass and a puddle. two bottles that i put in the freezer opened with just a wisp of carbon dioxide. thin film of head, and not too many bubbles. can't believe it, but these probably need another week in the bottle. not much hop aroma, but plenty bitter with that green, not carbonated enough taste. i'd try this again without the wheat extract.

inki's brown bottling day #3

bottling inki's brown #3? fg before sugar was around 1.015. let it sit in the primary for 4 1/2 weeks. we'll see. crashing some BCHX in the freezer with the priming sugar.

BCHX second taste

after leaving a bottle in the fridge a couple of days, tried the BCHX again: neverending carbonation! i released it slowly with the bottle sitting in a measuring cup to catch all the foam. after about 5 minutes of constant foaming over (about 1/2 the beer escaped as foam), i had stable beer; amber, cloudy, and with a bitter wheat aftertaste. i'm thinking that the bavarian wheat lme might have been a bad idea. i didn't like the taste of it raw as much as the regular lme's. it might mellow out in a bit. not noticing any good hop aroma, sadly. i have a feeling that this needs another week before it settles down, but i'm curious to see if the hop aroma will win out after more conditioning.

BCHX, first taste

made the mistake of opening a bottle of BCHX. probably needs a week or two more, bottle barfed all over the place. mostly head, and tastes like bottling sugar.