Dunkel Brewday 9:40 AM The Mash

I ended up completing the mash-in at 8:45. I started earlier, but it takes awhile to add the water and grains and make sure they are well mixed. Initial mash temperature was 144F, right about where I wanted to be. Some of you home brewers out there are undoubtedly scratching your heads, wondering why so low. Well I'm doing a single decoction mash, and I'm using the decoction to bring the temperatures up to have a two-step starch conversion, the first half at temperatures suitable for beta amylase conversion, and the second half at higher temps for the alpha amylase. I know this isn't decoction by the book, but it is how I'm brewing this beer.

After waiting 15 minutes, I pulled about a third of the mash with a strainer, and slowly heated it to boiling in my 7 gallon aluminum pot. I let it boil for a half an hour, stirring constantly. The grains got noticeably darker. I then added the boiled grains back to the main mash, which brought the temperature up to 157F. I'm currently letting this sit for a half an hour, at which time I'll begin filling my brew pot with deliciously carmelly sweet wort.

So here's the summary of my mash:

Main mash
45 minutes @ 144F
30 minutes @ 157F
(temperature raised by decoction)

Decoction mash
15 minutes @ 144F
10 minutes slowly raised to boiling
20 minutes boiling

8 AM Dunkel Brewday

I'm up and ready to brew. Unfortunately my HLT (hot liquor tank) is not. I just checked the temperature, and it's around 150F, instead of the 170F I need. I think it's low for a number of reasons. One, I started out with colder tap water than last time. Two, it's colder outside so I'm losing more heat from it due to the larger temperature differential. And three, my outlet timer didn't kick on at exactly 4am. It was more like 4:20. I know this because I got up in the middle of the night, at about 4:15, for reasons entirely unrelated to brewing today. However, since I was up, I decided to check the timer. It's a mechanical timer, and not completely accurate. It was in the process of switching the outlet on when I checked it, and since I was half asleep, I decided to let it do it's job instead of just using the manual switch to turn it on. So it looks like I'm going to mash in closer to 8:30.

On a side note, since I'm blogging live, while I am taking photos, I don't want to be constantly uploading them to the computer. So if you're reading this as it happens, I'll add photos all at once later.

Finally, (at least for this post), as regular readers of this blog know I try to detail my mistakes, so I and others can learn from them. So here's a little warning. While heating extra sparge water up on the stove, make sure your computer keyboard is a safe distance away. It can and will melt. As I said above, photos to follow.

Pseudo Munich Dunkel Recipe

Yes, I know I still have to get to part three of my kegging procedure, which I have come to realize while it is very necessary, is also very boring reading. I will get to it eventually, but since I'm brewing tomorrow, I decided to blog this brew from start to finish, which I never have done before. So let's start with a recipe, which once you read it, you'll realize why it's a PSEUDO Munich Dunkel. So here we go:

Munich Dunkel (aproximately 12 gallons)

Malt
17 lbs Vienna Malt (I wanted to use Dark Munich Malt, but I'm out)
6.5 lbs German Pilsner Malt (I wanted to use less, but since this the last of my pilsner malt, I thought I would use it up)
12 oz Pale Chocolate Malt (mainly for color, especially since I'm not using Dark Munich Malt)
8 oz CaraVienne (for a little extra color and body, but mainly because I've got a ton of it)

Hops
60 Minutes Galena (enough to bitter to about 25 IBUs--I haven't worked out exactly how much to use, plus I would rather use my German Magnum hops for bittering, but the Galena are the last of the 2008 crop that I have, and I'm trying to get rid of them)
10 Minutes Hallertau (for a hint of hops flavor and aroma)

Yeast
Wyeast Munich Lager Yeast (I've already got a gallon starter of this going--I stepped it up from a half gallon a couple days ago--this probably should have been my first post if I were really to blog this beer from start to finish) .

The starter is chilling to knock the yeast out of suspension, the HLT is full of delicious Chicago tap water with a campden tab added to neutralize the chlorine, the malt is measured and milled, and the electric heater is plugged into the the timer which is set for 4am. I should be ready to start the mash tomorrow morning at about 8am.

My Kegging Procedure (Part Deux)

If you read part one and you aren't yet bored to tears, here is the part two. I'll make is succinct, I promise. So last we heard, the keg parts are boiling and the keg and liquid pickup is soaking in a hot oxyclean solution. From there:

Scrub keg with carboy brush, slightly straightened to accomodate keg contours.
Run small brush (a rifle brush works well) through liquid pickup tube and keg post holes.
Dump oxyclean solution, quick rinse with hot water.
Fill keg to the "tippy-top" with water.
Reattach all keg parts, double checking that gaskets are put back on the pickup tubes.
Hook up CO2 tank and cobra tap to the keg.
Turn on CO2 and open tap to push all the water out--leaving only CO2 (and no O2) in the keg.
Disconect the CO2 tank and cobra tap and bleed the excess CO2 out by opening the keg pressure relief valve.
Pour a quart of star-san solution into the keg through the beer out post using this contraption:


Make sure not to introduce any oxygen to the keg--connect the quick disconnect to the line loosely and don't tighten it until you let gravity force the air out.
(This sanitizes the tube and beer out quick disconnect at the same time).
Close the pressure relief valve and shake the keg thoroughly to let the sanitizer coat the inside of the keg well.
Wait two minutes and then hook up the CO2 to force the sanitizer out.

You now have a sanitized keg that is purged of oxygen and ready to fill. But again that was really boring. So have a homebrew, and I'll explain how I fill the keg in part 3.

My Kegging Procedure (part 1)

I just filled a keg full of Your Sister's Mustache tonight, so I thought I would post my kegging procedure.

The first thing I do is to cool the beer down to 35F and let it sit for a minimum of 24 hours. This helps to settle out any yeast or suspended solids.

Then I clean the keg. Since I have a surplus of beer lately, the decision of when to keg is usually when an existing keg runs dry. Yes, I know it's a good problem to have.

I take the dirty keg and remove the lid and both the gas and beer fittings (along with their poppets). I also remove the dip tubes and take the gaskets off of them. I then boil the lid (with the pressure release valve open), the gas dip tube, the fittings, the gaskets, and the poppets. I add a pinch of baking soda to the boiling pot. I let it boil for 20 minutes to sterilize all these parts.

While the keg parts are boiling, I spray the inside of the keg with about a quart of hot water, swirl it around to free up whatever yeast is sitting at the bottom (usually not much since I settled most of it out as per step 1), and dump. Then I fill the whole keg with hot water, add a half a scoop of oxyclean, and let it sit for about a half an hour. (This is a good time to have a homebrew).

I just read over the last couple paragraphs, and realized (except for the having a homebrew part) that this is a really boring post. So I'm going to quit while I'm behind and post a cool picture of a bike that has two kegs and tappers built into it. Click on the photo for a link to the story from Wired magazine explaining the whole dealio. I'll post the rest of my kegging procedure later.

Chicago Beer Society

I'm not sure if I have written about my homebrew club, The Chicago Beer Society, on this blog before, but I thought I would for a number of reasons, which I'll enumerate on this handy-dandy bulleted list:

• Last month I went to our annual picnic for the first time, and it was awesome. There were about 15 local brewery beers on tap, great food including the competition entries fron salsa, chili, ribs, and dessert contests, and fun, interesting people. The music wasn't great, the DJ played a lot of really obscure stuff and only one (beer-drinking) polka, but from the emails that went around afterwards, maybe they'll improve on this next year.
• The monthly First Thursday is this Thursday, October 1st at Goose Island (As the name implies, it's always held on the first Thursday of the month.) I don't always attend, but I will be there this month. It's always a fun time, sometimes there are presentations, but mostly it's a big homebrew and craft beer tasting with a bunch of people who really appreciate beer.
• The annual Chicago Beer Society homebrew contest, Spooky Brew, will be held on October 31st. I'm entering a couple of my brews, including Your Mother's Mustache, Topfglück Alt, and possibly my Vienna Lager, Schwarzes Modell. They are accepting entries at the monthly First Thursday (sometimes called Thirst Fursday), which is why I'll definitely be attending.

Now I called it my homebrew club, but it's really much more than that. It's an organization of people who enjoy and appreciate well-made beer. Members are homebrewers, beer judges, professional brewers, beer industry insiders, beer authors, and just plain beer drinkers. If you're in Chicago and you fit any of these categories, it's definitely worth checking out.

Drying and Bagging Hops

It's still Hop Week here at Noble Square Brewing so let's talk about Hops! I got done drying and bagging the hops I harvested from my folks' garden. I planted Chinook and Hallertau there last year, 3 rhisomes each. Only one of each type grew--they had flooding in the area I planted them in early spring. Only the Chinook produced a couple of cones last year. This year both plants produced some cones, but not much. I really didn't tend the plants at all--no additional water, fertilizer or anything. I didn't even trim them back, I just put up some saisal for them to grow up the side of the garage. You can see one of the Chinook cones above; the yellow powder is the lupulin.

After I removed the cones from the bines, I dried the hops by leaving them out on a window screen perched horizontally over two books in the hottest part of the house. They dried out in a couple of days. Then it was time to bag them.

I got the above "Handi-Vac™ and bags for free last year. They were just handing them out on in Daley Plaza. I guess they figured you would use the included bags, get hooked, and be lured into a lifetime of buying replacement bags from Reynolds. As soon as I saw them, I immediately thought, "I could use that for my hops!" I grabbed two of them, one for me and one for my Brew Bud Pete.

I have to admit they are "Handi", although I have yet to buy any additional bags. I have reused the bags from last years hop harvest, although they may not be designed to be reused. Sometimes they don't maintain a vaccuum seal. They idea is that you fill the bag, seal it like a regular Zip-Loc™ type bag, and then use the "Handi-Vac™" to suck the extra air out of the bag by placing the tip of the "Handi-Vac™" on the blue circle on the bag. Like I said, they work well, although not so well on reused bags. I guess I'll go out and buy the bags. Who knows, maybe the product launch failed and they don't sell them anymore.

Oh yeah, after I seal the bags of hops, I toss them in the freezer. And one more thing, "™" is Alt+0153 on your numerical keyboard if you were wondering.

Señor Brew™

Hops, Hops, Hops!

It's still Hop Week here at Noble Square Brewing, so let's talk about hops. I harvested these Hallertau from my folks place. Yes, they are turning brown. I wasn't able to get out there to harvest them at the peak of their ripeness, but I'll take what I can get. They still smell delicious, grassy, flowery, with a hint of spicyness. They're currently drying on a window screen.