Saturday, December 25, 2010
Bottling Rick's Red
So you know what this means, don't you? Rick's Red is finished, just in time for Santa to grab one! If you are a member, you're guaranteed some! I got to taste a little as I was siphoning it off and it's gonna be a good one!
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Rick's Red
 |
| Putting the cooled wort and yeast into the carboy |
Monday, December 13, 2010
Appreciating Beer, Part Deux
Beer is fascinating because of the many different flavors and varieties available. Even in the Pale Ale category, a Stone Pale Ale is going to be very very different from a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale or a Ballast Point Pale Ale (all extremely delicious and some of my favorites). So when you're tasting a beer, how can you compare it to other beers you've tried. Some breweries give you stats on the side of the bottle or on the packaging somewhere, but for most people, all you know how to read is ABV - the alcohol content, and you only understand that because of how it relates to wine. "Um okay it's ABV 4%... that's like a quarter cup of wine". It would be very sad if beer was always compared to the stranger called wine, and not to members of its own family. So, I will teach you some of the basics of what different beer stats mean!
OG/FG
These terms stand for "Original Gravity" and "Final Gravity", respectively. Basically, gravity is a word that measures the density of the beer as compared to pure water (1.000 constant). The OG is measured before the yeast is added, and the FG is measured after the yeast is added, seeing how well a weighted thermometer type thing floats in your beer. The reason for this is you want to measure first of all how thick and dense your beer was before you added yeast (how much barley sugar it contained, basically how much body and potential alcohol content your beer has) compared to how dense it was after it fermented. The difference between these two numbers shows you how much sugar was turned to alcohol by the yeast. For example, let's say you get an OG reading of 1.060 and an FG reading of 1.014. You know from reading that that the beer lost a pretty good amount of weight through conversion to alcohol. The OG and FG correspond pretty directly to the ABV, as you'll read about soon.
IBU
"International Bitterness Units". Basically a measurement of how bitter the beer is. I'm not sure how they calculate this number, but it is basically a measurement of how bitter the hops in the beer are. Hops are a highly aromatic seasoning that when boiled, become bitter. The longer you boil them, the less aromatic and the more bitter they are. IBU 5 would be not bitter at all. IBU 120 would rip your face off. For example, in between are light lagers (IBU 8-12), pale ales (IBU 30-40), and IPA's (IBU 40-70).
SRM
"Standard Reference Method". Basically, this is the color of your beer measured in number. The color of your beer has nothing to do with how heavy or alcoholic it is. That is covered in the OG, FG and ABV. The color is solely based on how dark they roasted the grain and how much of it is in there, maybe. The number scale goes kinda like this: SRM 1-5: pale. SRM 6-12: golden. SRM 13-19: amber. SRM 20-30: brown. SRM 30-40: dark. SRM 40+: black.
ABV
"alcohol by volume". This is your standard alcohol measurement that you are probably familiar with. Beer usually falls in the 4%-6% range, but most delicious beers wander way outside of that range. Most of Pillbox Ales fall in the 6.5%-10% range. Beers above 11% are usually classified as barleywine because their alcohol content is in the range of wine. You'll notice that beers with higher ABV are served in smaller servings, partly because bars are concerned for your sobriety (doubtful), but mostly because beers with high ABVs are more expensive to make. The more alcohol in the beer, the more grain it took to make it.
Now that you know a little more about beer stats, cruise on over to my PAST BREWS page and look at the stats of my beers. Pay attention to the statistics breweries give you on their beers and take note of which ones you like and WHY. You are now a smarter human.
OG/FG
These terms stand for "Original Gravity" and "Final Gravity", respectively. Basically, gravity is a word that measures the density of the beer as compared to pure water (1.000 constant). The OG is measured before the yeast is added, and the FG is measured after the yeast is added, seeing how well a weighted thermometer type thing floats in your beer. The reason for this is you want to measure first of all how thick and dense your beer was before you added yeast (how much barley sugar it contained, basically how much body and potential alcohol content your beer has) compared to how dense it was after it fermented. The difference between these two numbers shows you how much sugar was turned to alcohol by the yeast. For example, let's say you get an OG reading of 1.060 and an FG reading of 1.014. You know from reading that that the beer lost a pretty good amount of weight through conversion to alcohol. The OG and FG correspond pretty directly to the ABV, as you'll read about soon.
IBU
"International Bitterness Units". Basically a measurement of how bitter the beer is. I'm not sure how they calculate this number, but it is basically a measurement of how bitter the hops in the beer are. Hops are a highly aromatic seasoning that when boiled, become bitter. The longer you boil them, the less aromatic and the more bitter they are. IBU 5 would be not bitter at all. IBU 120 would rip your face off. For example, in between are light lagers (IBU 8-12), pale ales (IBU 30-40), and IPA's (IBU 40-70).
SRM
"Standard Reference Method". Basically, this is the color of your beer measured in number. The color of your beer has nothing to do with how heavy or alcoholic it is. That is covered in the OG, FG and ABV. The color is solely based on how dark they roasted the grain and how much of it is in there, maybe. The number scale goes kinda like this: SRM 1-5: pale. SRM 6-12: golden. SRM 13-19: amber. SRM 20-30: brown. SRM 30-40: dark. SRM 40+: black.
ABV
"alcohol by volume". This is your standard alcohol measurement that you are probably familiar with. Beer usually falls in the 4%-6% range, but most delicious beers wander way outside of that range. Most of Pillbox Ales fall in the 6.5%-10% range. Beers above 11% are usually classified as barleywine because their alcohol content is in the range of wine. You'll notice that beers with higher ABV are served in smaller servings, partly because bars are concerned for your sobriety (doubtful), but mostly because beers with high ABVs are more expensive to make. The more alcohol in the beer, the more grain it took to make it.
Now that you know a little more about beer stats, cruise on over to my PAST BREWS page and look at the stats of my beers. Pay attention to the statistics breweries give you on their beers and take note of which ones you like and WHY. You are now a smarter human.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Wassailweizen - DONE!
The Wassailweizen is done! All members have their bottles and membership packages set aside, ready for pick-up/delivery. If you want it soon, come pick it up at my home! If you can handle waiting a little, I will be dropping them off as soon as I can.
I bought that secondary carboy I promised and will now be able to make better beer... and more of it! I also ordered ingredients for Pillbox's next brew: RICK'S RED. Rick is one of our stout members and designed an Irish Red Ale. I ordered the ingredients on Friday and they should be here soon. I'll begin brewing it as soon as possible and hopefully have another batch done by New Years! I can't wait to share it with all of you!
I bought that secondary carboy I promised and will now be able to make better beer... and more of it! I also ordered ingredients for Pillbox's next brew: RICK'S RED. Rick is one of our stout members and designed an Irish Red Ale. I ordered the ingredients on Friday and they should be here soon. I'll begin brewing it as soon as possible and hopefully have another batch done by New Years! I can't wait to share it with all of you!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
More Members Than I Know What To Do With
See over there on the left?
That's all the members who are signed up. You see, I brew in small 5 gallon batches, which comes out to about 8 6-packs. The problem is that most of these people want a 6-pack for every batch. With 13 members and counting, I'm 5 6-packs short every batch.
So I have decided I just need to brew a ton more beer.
I'm going to buy a secondary carboy. Thank you members! This is exactly the kind of problem I was hoping for, one that would force me and enable me to make more beer for more people who love it. I will still make unique, delicious ales in small batches but I'll be able to potentially make twice as much! Yes! Please consider becoming a member. There's lots of beer to get in on!
New membership options naturally occur, so just tell me how much beer you want and I'll point you to a package or custom design one for you. The first membership batch, the Wassailweizen, will be going out soon, so sign up now!
Happily,
Brendan
That's all the members who are signed up. You see, I brew in small 5 gallon batches, which comes out to about 8 6-packs. The problem is that most of these people want a 6-pack for every batch. With 13 members and counting, I'm 5 6-packs short every batch.
So I have decided I just need to brew a ton more beer.
I'm going to buy a secondary carboy. Thank you members! This is exactly the kind of problem I was hoping for, one that would force me and enable me to make more beer for more people who love it. I will still make unique, delicious ales in small batches but I'll be able to potentially make twice as much! Yes! Please consider becoming a member. There's lots of beer to get in on!
New membership options naturally occur, so just tell me how much beer you want and I'll point you to a package or custom design one for you. The first membership batch, the Wassailweizen, will be going out soon, so sign up now!
Happily,
Brendan
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)