Bottling day (20150606-razorbackipa and 20150613-amarillopale)

Today I bottled the Razorback IPA. The OG was 1.048 and FG 1.008 giving an ABV of 5.2% which seems a bit low. Got 41 pints.

I also bottled my Amarillo Pale Ale partial mash (recipe here). OG was 1.050 and final 1.006 giving an ABV of 5.8% Got 39 pints.

Had a quick taste of both. The IPA was difficult to call at this stage, but the Amarillo already tasted very promising...

20150531-YoungsAAA

My first attempt at brewing (a Young's American Amber Ale) has been in the pressurised Young's keg now for 2 weeks at around 20C so I am now taking it down to the cooler basement for a further 2 weeks.

I had a quick taste of it. It is still a bit cloudy, but it actually tasted OK and had a good head. I hope it will improve over the coming weeks. I was worried that I had fermented it at too high a temperature initially (28 Celcius at one point) which might have resulted in the production of esters (causing a fruity flavour). This does not appear to be the case so I am pretty pleased with it.

20150624-coopersbittermod numbers

All went smoothly with the mod.

OG 1.052 so a bit over. 20 litres in to fermenter. Yeast added at 21 Celsius.

Making a modified Coopers extract bitter this evening

I am modding a Cooper's Bitter kit this evening.

The recipe from Beersmith software:

It's just a 15 minute boil of the Dry Malt Extract with the hops. Then into the fermenter with the liquid extract from the kit and Cooper's brew enhancer 2. I am using Safale S-04 yeast and I will dry hop for 5 days.

This is based on an idea by Gash Slugg:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7iqgerF748

I am going to name my batches in date format (so this one is 20150624-coopersbittermod) so I can keep track of them.

Three homebrew ale batches on the go.

From left to right: Razorback IPA (2 weeks and still fermenting); Partial mash Amarillo Pale Ale (1 week and stopped fermenting), kegged and pressurised Young's American Amber Ale (now in keg for 1 week after 2 weeks in fermenter).

Gravity readings.
OG on the IPA was 1.048. (20150606-razorbackipa)
On the Amarillo, OG was 1.049, final 1.010 giving an ABV of 5.1% (20150613-amarillopale).
On the Young's AAA, OG was 1.050, final 1.010 giving an ABV of 5.2% (20150531-youngsaaa)

I messed up the temperature on the Young's AAA with it going up to 28 Celsius at one point so it finished fermenting early (but it was my first ever attempt at home brewing). I left it for 2 weeks, dry hopping for 5 days at the end.

Taking the hop bag out of my Razorback IPA

The hop bag has been in the IPA for 5 days now so I am removing it.

The brew has been fermenting for 2 weeks and is still going fairly steadily so I will just leave it for now.

Potential small all grain batch

Thinking of trying this next.

Amarillo pale ale recipe

This recipe is adapted from a post by clibit on the UK homebrew forum.

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First three brews

So far I have three brewing experiments on the go.

First is a Young's American Amber Ale kit. I put this in a pressurised keg last week.

Second is a Festival Razorback IPA kit. I just dry hopped this with the hops that came in the kit. It is still fermenting.

Third is a partial mash made with Coopers Australian lager extract, US05 yeast, Maris Otter and Crystal malt, and Amarillo hops. Recipe to follow.

First post

This is a blog to record my experiments in homebrewing beer. Mainly to keep a record for myself of successes and failures.