Brew Day.... Preparation

Ever since CW gave me the go ahead for home-brewing, I've been scouring the internet for information on how best to get started.  In the course of tracking down pertinent information, I've found that "helping" out on a brew day with someone who has already brewed before is extremely helpful.

I get to home brew?  Oh Yeah!

Quantum Leap back about a month..... My buddy Dave had called me up and invited me to his birthday party.  Dave and I were roommates back in college at Washington State... GO COUGS!  I met him and a bunch of guys from my old platoon at a bar downtown.  One of the men there was Dave's long-time friend Nate, who had actually stayed a weekend in our apartment in Pullman for a football game, but I've never been good with remembering names.  After several hours and a few bar hops later, I ended up ordering a Guinness.  This struck up a conversation about beer and brewing with Nate, an avid home-brewer.  Nate said that he was going to have a brew day coming up in February, and he would give me a call.

Flash forward again to the present.  I've already starting blogging about beer, and I've already picked up my home brew kit from Jim's Homebrew in town. I was sitting in class and got a text from Nate.  It had been a while since I Dave's birthday bash, and I wasn't even sure if he would remember our conversation about brewing.  I was in!  I asked if I could bring my buddy Dan (occasional partner in crime and other shenanigans) since he would be most likely to help me during my upcoming brew.  Good to go.....

Victory, Storm King Stout.... nice.

Nate was brewing a dunkel, and I'm not sure what makes it a dunkel.  By the time we had got there (we got a little lost on the way, Dan doesn't know how to work the navigation on a smart phone apparently) Nate had already sanitized most everything, and started heating the water for "mashing in".  So while waiting we tried a few stouts that I had brought, and we Dave, Nate, and I started swapping stories of our time in the military.  After the water started to boil, Nate placed his grains in a grain bag and then it was time for a 45 minute boil.

Sierra Nevada, Stout... also delicious

A few more yarns were spun while the mash boiled.  Then Nate pulled out the grain bag and placed it in a wire strainer and took a large measuring cup of  boiling water and poured it over the grain.  This is called sparging, and its so that all the malty goodness comes off the grain and into the wort (young beer).  Notice that Nate is doing most of the work, I could say we but that would just be a lie.  We were there for  moral support and educational purposes.

Boiling away.... notice the hops on the left side of the kettle...

Some more boiling, add some hops, boil, hops, boil, hops.... and then 15 minutes more of boiling.  When the wort started to boil, Nate started sanitizing a 5 gallon carboy and the blow off tube.  At this point, Nate's kitchen began to smell quite a bit.... smelled like VICTORY!  We could definitely smell the dark malt and the pinch or so of Irish moss that was added near the end.  I'm not sure why Irish moss is an ingredient.  I'll look into that too.

The boil finished, and Nate had already prepped the sink with cold water and ice.  This is to bring down the temperature of the wort so that it is appropriate to pitch the yeast.  When the wort was cool enough, we used a metal strainer, funnel and a spatula to pour the wort into the carboy.  I had suggested removing the hops from the wort with the strainer, and apparently Nate hadn't done this before.  He said he usually just left the hops in and they would settle with the yeast in the primary fermenter.  It was interesting to see how quickly the strainer got plugged up.   Once in the carboy, we read the stick on thermometer and unfortunately the wort had gotten down to 64 degrees (optimal temp is  between 68 and 72).  So Nate filled the other sink with hot water , and we waited for the temp to rise.  The wort finally came up to 68, and Nate put the yeast in.  It was a little time consuming since he was using dry yeast.  He had to put a little in at a time, and swirl the wort in the carboy to mix it in.  Nate said he usually uses the liquid yeast with makes it easier, and I've heard using a yeast starter is beneficial when using dry yeast.

Cooling down the wort...

 

Temperature is key to successful brewing...


Well, the blow-off tube was set, and Nate used a jacket to keep the carboy temp stable.   Now the waiting game.....

I'm really excited about this weekend.  I've been keeping an eye out on the forecasts, and we're suppose to have some sun and some warmth before it gets cold again.  I'm going to do my brew day on Sunday and hopefully I can get some of the fellas over for a hand and to hang out.

More to come on that....