Holiday Ale Homebrew

So it's been a while since we have made any kind of update to our blog. We are still working on hard on cooking new recipes and finding things we like to post. I (Adam) have started brewing beer again and I've decided to post my experiences here on the blog.
I know it is late in the season, but I decided to brew a holiday ale mini mash (kit came from Austin Homebrew). It should be ready by February of 2013. I guess it will make it a Valentine's Day brew. That's a holiday right?

This kit comes with a spice packet that has nutmeg, cinnamon, and mace in it. I also add a "whrilfloc" tablet that helps with clarification and a pill of yeast fuel that helps in a quicker more vigorous fermentation.

The grains that are included are 24ozs of 2-Row, 16ozs of Crystal 40L Malt, 8ozs of white wheat, and 4ozs chocolate malt.

As for hops we got 1oz each of Saaz and Cluster.

I also used five pounds of extra pale LME (Liquid Malt Extract). I like LME more than DME (Dry Malt Extract) due to the fact that as long as I'm careful, it dissolves faster and more efficiently.

As for yeast, the kit comes with WLP001 California Ale yeast.

After adding two gallons of water, I needed to bring the temp up to 160 degrees then lower it to approximately 155 degrees so I could soak my grains. I get mostly color from these grains with some sugars for the yeast to eat. After the temp is at approximately 155 degrees, the grains have to steep for 45 minutes (kind of like steeping a tea bag).

While waiting the 45 minutes I drank a pint of hefeweizen from Beer Hound Brewery. It was a nice hefe to have on a abnormally warm winter day.

While bringing my sparge water up to temp, I made some hamburgers to grill.
1lb ground beef
1/2 small onion chopped
1/2 jalepeno chopped
1 clove garlic minced
1/2 cup cheddar cheese
1/2 egg
1/2-1 cup bread crumbs
Makes two to three burgers depending on size.

After sparge water is up to temp, I drained the grains over the wort and poured the sparge water over the grains to get all the sugars out being very careful to not squeeze the grains. Drip dry only.

After the wort came to a boil, I took it off the heat and added the LME. One of the biggest things I try to be sure of is to keep stirring all the time. All the sugars mixed with the heat can eaisly burn to the bottom of the kettle. This will result in off flavors in your final product.

After the LME was added and wort came to a boil, it was time for the first addition of the Cluster hops. After hops are added, the wort will have what's called a "hot break". I had to be very careful to not over boil the wort and make a mess on the patio. I don't think Sarah would be very happy if that were to happen. This addition of Cluster hops is in the boil for the whole 60 minutes.

With fifteen minutes left in the boil I added my whirlflock tablet and spice pack. Five minutes later I added my wort chiller in the boil so it would sanitize it.

With five minutes left in the boil, the last addition of hops was added. 1oz of Saaz hops.

After the 60 minute boil is done, I hook my wort chiller up to the outside faucet. What this does is run cold water through the wort chiller to cool the wort quickly. It takes about 25 minutes to get the wort where it needs to be, between 75-80 degrees.

After the wort is cooled, it came out to be a smudge above 2 gallons. I needed to add water to bring the total wort up to 5 1/4 gallons.

After adding the water, I took my hydrometer reading and got a reading of about 1.050. It was supposed to be 1.052 but that is close. I may have added a little bit too much water to dilute the wort. The reason to get hydrometer readings is to figure out the alcohol content of your beer. You take a "OG" or original gravity reading and a "FG" or final gravity reading subtract them from each other and then multiply that number by 131 and that is your alcohol content.

This is the beer after aerating it for a few minutes and adding yeast.

Here is the final beer in the fermentation bag. I use this bag to help control fermentation temps. This beer should ferment in the primary fermenter for about three weeks, then I will bottle. I will let it bottle condition for about 6 weeks to let the flavors of the cinnamon, nutmeg, and mace mellow out. Usually bottle conditioning only takes about two to three weeks. I will update with FG and dates when ready to bottle.

(For all the photos from this brew day Click here)