Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Third time a charm?

I brewed a Fat Tire clone for the third time. I am hoping I get it right this time.

The first attempt was terrible. I blame that on lax attention to technique. When racking to a secondary (i.e. siphoning from the primary fermenter to a secondary fermenter) I ignored the fact that a lot of oxygen was getting sucked in through a loose tube connection. Result: crap!!!!

The second attempt was a little better, but still bad. Again, I am embarrassed to say, I had it coming. I believe a bacterial infection spoiled the batch. I'm not sure where it originated, but I believe it was from the spigot of my bottling bucket. That spigot has been given it's walking papers and co-mingled.

Third attempt: as Bullwinkle said, "this time for sure!!!" The fermentation is going crazy right now. The convection that results when the yeast gets a batch churning is a site to see.

I just cracked open my recent pale ale. OMG!!!! It is good. I love cascade hops. Maybe someday I'll write a poem about them. My pale ale is highly hopped with cascade and I love it.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you sanitize your spigot before you open it? Whatever is on the outside of that ball valve is now on the inside when you open it.

I use a squirt bottle of a Star San solution (from Five Star, it's just polyphosphoric acid, no need to rinse) and just squirt it up the spigot a few times, wait 30 seconds or so, then let 'er rip.

I use a MiniBrew conical fermenter, a bit expensive, but oh so worth it. No more racking to secondaries or bottling buckets. Makes the homebrew process 10x easier and cleaner.

MJenks said...

Did you pull a lion out of the hat this time, or a rhinocerous?

Chemgeek said...

a-non-y-mous: I do now. I typically did a "good" job sanitizing the spigot. Obviously, that part is more difficult to sanitize then I anticipated. I now use Star San.

Matt: Lion.

MJenks said...

Oh leafy goodness.
Cascade, Fuggles, Mount Hood, Saaz
Perfect beer finish.

MJenks said...

Delicious in beer
Delivers bitter finish
Does not disappoint

MJenks said...

Phytoestrogens
Lupulins and humulins
All essential oils




Okay...I'm done with hops haiku

Chemgeek said...

thunder...usurped...desire to write poem... fading...fading...gone...


(nice work)

fred chao said...

i've never homebrewed before, but i'm incredibly interested and wanted to start. i've been looking for good recipes and came upon your blog. my favorite beer is anderson valley's boont. fat tire is #2. yeah, i like those amber ales. so good luck with your fat tire clone. please share the recipe if you get a good one...
...also, for anyone who wants to respond. i live in brooklyn, NY and i'm looking for a homebrew supply store. i can't find one anywhere, if anyone knows of one, i'd be very grateful for the info. or if they simply don't exist in this city for some reason, then can anyone recommend an online starter kit?...
...fred

Woller's Disciples said...

High amide the hop vines you stand.
Cascade hops oh guide of brew.
Fill my ever citris glands
May your componants provide lots of linalool.
To Cascade Hops we sing.