Monthly Archives: September 2011

Bottling and Racking to Secondary

A very nice beer to sip while brewing.

I have the Amarillo Ale bottled and aging now. I had to delay bottling for a few days because the gravity did not drop as low as I wanted. I stirred it up and let it sit for another three days and got a 3 point drop. I am a little more confident that it will be fine. The sample during the bottling was OK but not outstanding. I will be patient and let it condition and age before sampling again.

On the same day I racked the Belgian Wit over into the secondary fermenter. Yes I sampled and took the gravity…. gravity is where it needs to be and the flavor is damn good. I will again show some patience and let it sit the full required time in the secondary before filling my 3 -6L minikegs. While I was boiling the wort my wife walked by and said she liked the smell of this wort as compared to some of my other batches. I still have no chance to boiling the wort inside the house……

Next on my list?????? I am still wanting to try an all grain beer. I need to do a little research and see if I have enough goodies on hand so I don’t get the CFO questioning additional expenditures. If someone has a request for doing a clone send me the request. Or maybe I will  get real frisky and brew something original in a style I like? So many beers and so little time to sample them all!

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Amarillo Ale – Transfer to Secondary

Stunt Double for the Belgian Wit -" Fat Tire"

My latest batch is an Amarillo Ale… if you remember from the last post – it is not a Texas “thang”, it is because of the Amarillo hops used for the flavor. I took extraordinary care during the transfer to keep cat dander out of the air and hopefully out of the secondary carboy (6 gallon glass vessel – a lot like the old water bottles).  I will let the batch settle more in the secondary, dropping more  of the solids out, become much more clear and continue progress towards the final gravity. I was a bit surprised as it was only down to 1.032 when I transferred the beer. It started at 1.052 and I was hoping that it would be closer to 1.020. Be patient Bishop!!!!!

I did little sampling as I transferred the beer – I drank the sample out of the graduated cylinder and I was impressed. Wow, a great hop balance, not an IPA but just enough to make it stand out from the ordinary fizzy yellow waters on the shelf. Even stands out from some of the better ales. I had to ask for help from a cold Fat Tire Ale for the photo…. silly me, I drank the sample before taking the photo so I substituted the Fat Tire seen in the photo. My Amarillo Ale sample tasted better even though very young and just a little too sweet. I am anxiously waiting to bottle, age and enjoy the new beer.

Plans…. when I return from Midland, TX  during the middle of the week I will boil the wort for my next batch. I am making a Belgian Wit to satisfy my wife’s yearnings for a beer that is a bit better than the Blue Moon equivalent.  She is broadening her experience base and has begun to move out of her comfort zone and try new beers.

While surfing this AM I  saw a pumpkin beer actually fermented inside of a large pumpkin….. hmmmmm, might be worth a try! One example even used the pumpkin as the tun in a whole grain brew. Wow!

Enjoy the football season and try a new beer or two along the way.

Bishop