AHS Chocolate Raspberry Stout

8/28/10

I purchased the Chocolate Raspberry Stout from AHS for a nice holiday stout this year.

Here is the recipe as follows:
Crushed Grains: (Added to 2.5 gallons of water to 155 then off heat and steeped for 25 minutes)
12 Oz Chocolate Malt
8 Oz Pale Malt
4 Oz Crystal 40L Malt
2 Oz Black Patent Malt
2 Oz Black Roasted Barley

Fermentables:
(Added after boil after the steep)
8 Oz Malto Dextrin
7 Lbs Amber Extract

Hops:

1 Oz Nugget (60 minutes after return to boil from frementable add)

Yeast:

White Labs London Ale (Liquid Yeast)

Extras:

1 Oz Belgian Coca Powder (Last 5 minutes of boil)
2 Oz Raspberry Flavoring (To be used at bottling)
BrewVint yeast Fuel (last 15 minutes of boil)

8/29/10

I pitched the yeast the night before and I had a OG of 1.060 ( I should have a FG of 1.0198 - 1.015.. The yeast is 67-75%)....  The next day not a bubble in my airlock or a bit of pressure at all..

8/30/10

I let it go till Monday, which by my instructions sent by AHS said that if no activity by now to stir.  I stirred and shook the fermentor like crazy at 7 AM (there were no signs of fermentation at all).  I also sent an email to AHS stating what has happended.  The spectacular customer service by AHS sent me a replacement yeast that afternoon.  I got home at around 7 PM and was delighted to see that the airlock was bubbling like crazy. I guess I will save the replacement yeast in the fridge and also when I order kits now I will order some dry yeast for the fridge for emergencies....

9/10/10

I racked to a secondary today the reading was 1.020 (seemed a little high to me but will have to check next week whe I bottle....

9/19/10

Getting ready to bottle the smell is great.  I will test the reading as soon as my bottles are out of the dishwasher.. Beer bottled FG is at 1.018...  For a Alcohol % of  5.24% Lets try it in three weeks

10/2/10

I tried after 2 weeks... Very harsh very green .... Maybe why they say to wait at least three weeks.....

10/9/10

I tried at three weeks a bottle half filled...  Which by the way let out alot more gas than a regular filled bottle.. It tasted alot better, but I think that if I leave for another week or two it is going to be great....  I have been noticing that in the bottle if you shine a light you can see like sugar/something floating on the top and with age this goes away.....

10/21/10

Ok I officially call this done now...  I tried last weekend and it was ok....  Tried today and it was outta site...  You gotta give this time to condition in the bottles...  I thought that I ruined this batch due to the long lag on the fermentation start....  looking good though...

Getting bottles ready for first batch

Ok it's only been a few days since I cooked up my first batch so I decided to get a jump on things. I read online that oxiclean  is pretty much the same thing as one step cleaner that a lot of home brewers use. I had a big bucket of the clorox version that is odorless so I decided to go ahead with it. I added 4 scoops to my cooler filled with water and 48 bottles fit pretty nice. I am gonna leave them in there for a few days then peel of the labels and rinse. I will also put the bottles in the dish washer for a rinse and heat cycle.  On bottling day I will rinse the bottles with sanitizer and go. 

Bottles soaking in oxiclean...

The bottle in the dishwasher for a rinse and heat cycle

Brewing Formulas

Here are a few formulas that are going to be useful for finding out some brewing values.


This will show me how much alcohol is in my beer the final reading should be ABV, but you need to know ABW first.

ABW = 76.08(OG-FG)/(1.775-OG)

ABV = ABW (FG/.794)


(Update: an easier method for figuring out alcohol percentage (OG-FG) X 131= AL%)


Here is a formula to figure out OG:


Determining the original gravity is a pretty straightforward process. Multiply the pounds of extract by 38 and then divide by the batch size. As an example, if you're using 6 pound of extract syrup in a 5-gallon batch, your gravity will be 6 x 38 / 5 = 46, or a specific gravity of 1.046.


To figure out the FG :


It's always easier when dealing with gravities to use "gravity points." That's the final two numbers of the hydrometer reading. A 1.052 OG would have 52 gravity points.

In simplest terms, subtract the attenuation percentage from the OG: 52 minus 75% = 13.

To find the attenuation percentage, just multiply the OG (in gravity points) times the expected percentage: 52 x .75 = 39, then just subtract the attenuated portion: 52 minus 39 = 13 or a final gravity of 1.013.

To find your apparent attenuation from your OG and FG numbers subtract the FG from the OG to get the amount attenuated, then divide that number by the OG. So if your OG was 1.052 and your Final Gravity was 1.013: 52 minus 13 = 39. 39 ÷ 52 = 75 or 75% apparent attenuation. A final gravity of 1.015 would be 71% attenuation (52 - 15 = 37; 37 ÷ 52 = 71)

Nut brown ale (First Beer Atempt)

Start 8/14/10

This is my first extract brew attempt. It is a recipe from Northern Brewer and was pretty easy to brew.  Here is a link to the kit online (  http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/nut-brown-ale-extract-kit-2.html ). It took about 2-3 hours to brew.  I used the dry Danstar Nottingham Ale Yeast and am fermenting in a hot garage in a tub of water that I switch out ice bottles in twice a day.

The fermentation started off pretty quick (the next morning) and I am monitioring the water tempature with an aquarium thermometer.  It is around 69-75.

The OG should be 1.044, but I got a reading of 1.050. This could have been due to not shaking the wort before the reading and first time using a hydrometer.

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Recipe: ( http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/beerkits/NutBrown.pdf )

SPECIALTY GRAIN

0.25 lbs Simpson’s Chocolate

0.25 lbs Dingemans Special B

0.25 lbs Dingemans Biscuit

0.25 lbs Briess Special Roast

FERMENTABLES

6 lbs Gold malt syrup

HOPS & FLAVORINGS

1 oz Fuggle (60 min)

Recipe Kit unpacked

Setup in Garage for acceptable tempature

In about a week I will update when I rack to a secondary......

8/17/10

Fermentation seems to be slowing down compared to how it was the day after..  Seeing bubbles every 20 seconds or so...  Have not seen the water tempature rise above 70..

8/22/10

I racked my ale into a better bottle.  The FG was at 1.014, which should give me an approximate alcohol percentage for (1.050 - 1.014) X 131 = 4.716 %

8/27/10

I bottled the beer with 2/3 cup (little more) that came with my kit....  The kit actually gave me a 5 oz package.  I made my own bottling bucket, which worked out great.. I used a spigot from Austin Brew supply and a white Home Depot bucket.  I wish I had a 1" hole saw, I used a 1 1/4" inch and it was a tad bit too big but It worked without leaking and since the sole purpose is for bottling I don't really care.  The batch was pretty much exactly 48 bottles.  I rinsed each bottle in Star San and filled with a bottle filler to the top, 12 bottles at a time then capped.  I plan to let them sit for 2 weeks and then taste one to see...