Please enjoy this wonderful jig about beer, how it is made, and its effects!
Showing posts with label Irish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Irish. Show all posts
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Rampart Red Ale - Tasting
An Irish Red Ale from Hop To It! Homebrew
ABV 5.0%
IBU 28
On the fifteenth day of bottle conditioning, Hilary and I sat down with the wee Ramius to try the brew. It came out wonderfully! A nice reddish amber colored ale with a white head and an aroma that is strong and malty, with hints of toffee and sweet hops. Tasting, one notes the same basic profile as the aroma with a little more hoppiness coming through. Medium bodied, this ale turned out to be quite sessionable.
A final note: Hilary and I have dubbed this brew BlackHole Red Ale. Guess why and win a prize.
ABV 5.0%
IBU 28
On the fifteenth day of bottle conditioning, Hilary and I sat down with the wee Ramius to try the brew. It came out wonderfully! A nice reddish amber colored ale with a white head and an aroma that is strong and malty, with hints of toffee and sweet hops. Tasting, one notes the same basic profile as the aroma with a little more hoppiness coming through. Medium bodied, this ale turned out to be quite sessionable.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Rampart Red Ale - Part 3
An Irish Red Ale from Hop To It! Homebrew
ABV 5.0%
IBU 28
Despite worries about the quality of the beer due to our hop-related mix up, we didn't notice anything unexpected or unpleasant when we sampled it during the bottling process. There was no excess hoppiness or skunkiness, and the beer was actually quite flavorful.
Gravity Readings
ABV 5.0%
IBU 28
After 18 days of secondary fermentation, Hilary was back to help bottle the beer. We did this with little incident, however we did run out of bottles after the first 29 12 oz bottles and one 16 oz bottle. We simply ran to the store and bought 12 additional bottles. Thus, our total output was 41 12 oz bottles and one 16 oz bottle. This is the equivalent of just under 4 gallons. I should note that the plastic carboy is less than ideal. It allowed a considerable amount of the beer to evaporate due to a poor seal between the carboy's opening and the drilled stopper. I am seriously considering retiring the plastic carboy and purchasing a second glass carboy.
Our 42 Bottles
Gravity Readings
- Expected Values
- Original Gravity: 1.051
- Final Gravity: 1.013
- Actual Values
- Starting Gravity: 1.03-1.05, 06/12/2011
- Between Fermentations: 1.01-1.02, 06/21/2011
- Final Gravity: 1.01, 07/08/2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Rampart Red Ale - Part 2
An Irish Red Ale from Hop To It! Homebrew
ABV 5.0%
IBU 28
After 10 days of primary fermentation, Ramius and I siphoned the beer into the 5 gallon plastic carboy using the filtered funnel to remove any remaining hops. We were careful to reduce any splashing or mixing as the beer went into the carboy in order to reduce chances of oxidation. I should note that maintaining a constant temperature was damned difficult considering the lack of air conditioning in our condo, however I was able to keep the temperature below 73 degrees Fahrenheit. This temperature is a bit higher than is ideal, but oh well.
As Charlie would say: Relax, don't worry - have a homebrew.
ABV 5.0%
IBU 28
After 10 days of primary fermentation, Ramius and I siphoned the beer into the 5 gallon plastic carboy using the filtered funnel to remove any remaining hops. We were careful to reduce any splashing or mixing as the beer went into the carboy in order to reduce chances of oxidation. I should note that maintaining a constant temperature was damned difficult considering the lack of air conditioning in our condo, however I was able to keep the temperature below 73 degrees Fahrenheit. This temperature is a bit higher than is ideal, but oh well.
As Charlie would say: Relax, don't worry - have a homebrew.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Rampart Red Ale - Part 1
An Irish Red Ale from Hop To It! Homebrew
ABV 5.0%
IBU 28
Ingredients:
ABV 5.0%
IBU 28
Ingredients:
- Specialty Grains
- 6 oz CaraRed Malt
- 6 oz Medium Crystal Malt
- 4 oz Extra-Dark Crystal Malt
- 2 oz Roasted Barley
- Muslin Bag
- 6.5 Pounds Light Liquid Malt Extract
- 2 oz US Kent Golding Hops
- Yeast: WYEAST 1084
- 5 oz Corn Sugar
- for bottling
Two-Stage Fermentation
My friend Hilary helped us make this Irish Red and, I will say, it was truly a first homebrewing experience. In all, the brewing went well. We followed a mix of the instructions that came with the Irish Red Kit and those outlined in Charlie Papazian's wonderful book The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. Brewing on a mediocre electric burner is less than ideal, but a fair amount of patience and a few White Rascals saw us through it. Everything went swimmingly with the exception of cooling the wort, removing the hops, and activating the yeast in a timely fashion. The wort chiller wasn't functional due to a lack of a garden hose and/or a faucet adapter. Because of this, we had to wait quite some time despite placing the wort into the primary fermentation bucket and filling it up to the 5-gallon mark. I should note that we didn't have a strainer or filtered funnel at the time either, so the hops remained in the bucket for the duration of primary fermentation. The yeast packet takes 3 hours to activate... something we did not know until the point when we needed to put it in. Thus, the yeast was not put in until the following morning since I fell asleep and Ramius was no help in his occasional capacity as an alarm clock.
My friend Hilary helped us make this Irish Red and, I will say, it was truly a first homebrewing experience. In all, the brewing went well. We followed a mix of the instructions that came with the Irish Red Kit and those outlined in Charlie Papazian's wonderful book The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. Brewing on a mediocre electric burner is less than ideal, but a fair amount of patience and a few White Rascals saw us through it. Everything went swimmingly with the exception of cooling the wort, removing the hops, and activating the yeast in a timely fashion. The wort chiller wasn't functional due to a lack of a garden hose and/or a faucet adapter. Because of this, we had to wait quite some time despite placing the wort into the primary fermentation bucket and filling it up to the 5-gallon mark. I should note that we didn't have a strainer or filtered funnel at the time either, so the hops remained in the bucket for the duration of primary fermentation. The yeast packet takes 3 hours to activate... something we did not know until the point when we needed to put it in. Thus, the yeast was not put in until the following morning since I fell asleep and Ramius was no help in his occasional capacity as an alarm clock.
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