Brew Time

So, I am brewing a batch of beer and figured I would do a step-by-step post similar to the one His Eminence posted about smoking a butt a while back. Hopefully this will be interesting to someone besides me.

I decided I wanted to do something kind of dark, but kind of bitter and kind of sweet. This one is called "Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter" at Alabrew and it sounded right up my alley. Hopefully the beer will not be as boring monotonous as the song it's named after.

I bought a turkey fryer and decided I would use it this time instead of cooking on the stove. This makes it a lot easier because the LP heats up faster than an electric stove and the pot is much larger so you don't have to watch as closely for boil over.

The first image basically the first step of the process. I cook the grains in the water at around 160 degrees for about 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, I removed the grain bag and put it in a colander, then poured a pot of hot water over it into the boiler pot. That step is optional, but it supposedly helps with color and flavor. I then discarded my bag o' grains.

The next step is to add the bittering hops and bring them to a rolling boil for about 30 minutes. While my bittering hops are boiling, I have time to start sanitizing my fermenting bucket and drink a couple beers. I also placed the bags of extract (that I will be adding next) in a bowl of warm water. The liquid extract is sticky as shit and has the consistency of molasses or honey. Warming it up makes it a little easier to squeeze out of the bags.

After the bittering hops have boiled for 30 minutes, I turn the heat off and add my extract. I then give the pot a really good stir to make sure the extract mixes and doesn't just settle at the bottom and scorch.

The next step is to bring the wort back to a boil. It's important to watch for boil over as you bring it back to a boil, especially if you're cooking on a stove. If it boils over, you have a sticky fucking mess. At this point, I add the flavoring hops and let them boil for around 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, I add the aroma hops to the wort and let them boil for approximately 5 minutes. As a general rule, anything you add early on in the process contributes more to flavor and anything you add towards the end of the process contributes more to aroma.

I am now finished cooking my wort. The next step is to bring the wort down to a temperature suitable for the yeast to activate (80 degrees or less should suffice). You can use dry yeast or liquid yeast. Liquid yeast is more expensive and is better, but depending on the type of beer you are making, it may not make enough of a difference to warrant the few extra dollars. I'm using dry yeast in this batch.

The directions on the yeast packet or the tube of liquid yeast may call for you to make a yeast starter. You would do this a day in advance, but it is really only necessary for higher gravity beers. I've never made a yeast starter and have never had any problems, but if the people at Alabrew specifically told me to make one for a certain batch, I would do it.

One trick for cooling down your wort quickly is to pour ice into your fermenting bucket. You then fill the bucket the rest of the way with cold water until you reach the five-gallon mark.

Once your wort has cooled to below 80 degrees, you can give it a good stir to aerate it, then pitch your yeast and wait for it to ferment. Fermenting should begin within 12-24 hours and you will be able to tell by the bubbling from the airlock (the little plastic thing sticking out of the lid). You might want to leave the lid on loosely during the first day or so just to keep it from popping off or bubbling out into your airlock. You can also give the mix a good stir with a sanitized spoon to aerate it again after a day or so.

What happens during fermentation is the yeast are feeding on all the natural sugars from the grains and extract. As the yeast eat the sugars, they fart carbon dioxide and alcohol. This particular recipe calls to let it ferment for one week in the primary fermenter, and then for up to an additional two weeks in a secondary fermenter. Using a secondary fermenter, like a glass carboy, helps with clarity in you beer later on. Once the bubbling has stopped completely, the fermentation is complete and you can bottle or keg your beer.

This beer is an ale and can pretty much ferment at room temperature the entire time. Lagers have to ferment at lower temperatures, so if you are doing a lager, you will need a fridge to keep the beer around 50 degrees or less.

I will try to remember to photo and document the process of racking into my secondary fermenter and then the process of kegging later on.