Labor Day 2013 is upon us, the weekend that tends to be the swan song of summer around these parts. From here on out it is a long slog down into the depths of winter. I've also extended the normal 3 day weekend into a full blown week of vacation as my list of tasks to get done around the house has grown quite long, especially with the birthday party for the little one coming up next weekend.
Earlier this week I kegged the Pale Tranquility so that it will be available for the party next weekend. Putting it in the keg on Wenesday only allowed for 11 days to carb up, at normal serving pressure that has usually not been enough for the beer to be at its prime. As a consequence I upped the pressure to around 30 lbs to speed it up a little bit. I don't want to over carb so I pulled a sample this evening and it is doing very well. At this point I'd put it close to 90% of what I'm looking for, so I turned it back down to serving pressure and will consider it good. One more week at normal pressure and it will be at that sweet spot that I love.
Oh, and for how it tastes, pretty damn good if I do say so myself especially given that it was an American Pale recipe that I built mostly from available grains that I had on hand. The only ingredient I had to pick up was 1 oz of Simcoe for flavoring, I reused the yeast from a prior batch of Sky Blue.
One of the more enjoyable tasks that is on the list is to take up the brew club challenge of cloning Stone's Arrogant Bastard. I had planned to brew it this coming Sunday morning, but the weather forcast is not looking good so it looks like it will be pushed to Monday morning. Close enough. I've yet to settle on the recipe for the clone, a bit of research is in order to find out what I already have on hand and what I'll need to complete the brew. The next brew after that is also in the planning stages. Our club has volunteered to help out with a fundraiser the first weekend of November, all German style beers. I've volunteered to supply a Dunkleweizen. It'll be my first, but it's a style I like so will be happy to showcase to the public and enjoy the rest.
Another project I'm hoping to complete this week is the ribcage immersion chiller that I've been wanting to make for quite some time. I have all the necessary hardware already sitting around I just haven't had the time to put it all together. If I can get to it on Sunday it'll be ready to use on Monday for the clone.
Cheers
Friday, August 30, 2013
Friday, August 2, 2013
IPA Day
I neglected to note that yesterday Aug 1st was IPA Day.
I chose to observe with a Founders Centennial.
My brewing club members have requested that I brew the Pregnant IPA recipe again. It has been about a year since I last brewed that one and I think it might be time.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Yeast Cake
The Pale Tranquility seems to be humming along nicely now. This was the first time that I have attempted to pitch a new batch of wort onto an existing Yeast Cake of the same strain.
This particular one was WLP001, California Ale yeast left over from my second batch of Sky Blue (The Blue Moon Clone). Technically I didn't pitch it into the same fermentor as it had the leftover ring of Krausen still clinging to the inside. Instead I used a sanitized container and funnel to transfer the existing yeast slurry out. The funnel has a built in screen so it was able to keep left over trub from the Sky Blue from intruding into the new wort.
It took about 30 hours for the yeast to take off, but once it did it took off with a vengence. Previous uses of WLP001 never achieved this level of vigor. Within 12 hours of the first signs of activity the airlock was semi-clogged due to the krausen filling up all the headspace. This one probably could have used a blow off tube, if I had known in advance that it would have performed like this then I would have set it up. Either way, it didn't make any mess at all and is happily churning away.
My next planned beer is probably going to be an Oktoberfest so I won't be able to use this same yeast right out of the fermentor. I will happily wash this batch though and store it for later use.
 |
| This is a 6.5 gallon fermentor, the Krausen clogged up the first airlock and it had to be switched out with a second one. |
This particular one was WLP001, California Ale yeast left over from my second batch of Sky Blue (The Blue Moon Clone). Technically I didn't pitch it into the same fermentor as it had the leftover ring of Krausen still clinging to the inside. Instead I used a sanitized container and funnel to transfer the existing yeast slurry out. The funnel has a built in screen so it was able to keep left over trub from the Sky Blue from intruding into the new wort.
It took about 30 hours for the yeast to take off, but once it did it took off with a vengence. Previous uses of WLP001 never achieved this level of vigor. Within 12 hours of the first signs of activity the airlock was semi-clogged due to the krausen filling up all the headspace. This one probably could have used a blow off tube, if I had known in advance that it would have performed like this then I would have set it up. Either way, it didn't make any mess at all and is happily churning away.
My next planned beer is probably going to be an Oktoberfest so I won't be able to use this same yeast right out of the fermentor. I will happily wash this batch though and store it for later use.
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Happy brew day!
In honor of this being the 44th anniversary of Apollo 11 I shall dub this beer Pale Tranquility.
It's an American Pale Ale, specs as follows.
6 lb 2-row
3 lb Maris Otter
1 lb Victory
1 oz Cascade @ 60 AA 7.3
1 oz Cascade @ 10 AA 7.3
1 oz Simcoe @ 5 AA 12.7
WLP001
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Brewing drought has ended.
So today I finally got back to brewing. It has been to long. I brewed another batch of the Blue Moon clone, this one is going to be served up at the Craft Beer and BBQ event on June 22nd at Leclaire Park.
I've got to plan another batch already, my Smiddicks is already half gone and the English Brown just emptied today. That currently only leaves me with 7.5 gallons on tap with nothing else in the pipeline.
Decisions, decisions......
Friday, March 15, 2013
The eternal Krausen
The Blue Moon Clone I brewed over the weekend still has a 2 inch Krausen on it. It first formed within 18 hours of being pitched and has been going strong ever since. You can see the little yeasties happily chugging up and down in the carboy, and it has been 6 days already!
The Smithwicks won't be finished in time for St Pats tomorrow, unfortunately. There is still airlock activity as of last night, albiet quite slow. I don't even have time to cold crash and do a super-fast carb job on it, not and do it justice. It has to be ready and able to bottle from the keg by the 23rd though, so I'm hoping it hurries up. I need at least 48 hours to crash the yeast or it will be way to cloudy for judging.
The Smithwicks won't be finished in time for St Pats tomorrow, unfortunately. There is still airlock activity as of last night, albiet quite slow. I don't even have time to cold crash and do a super-fast carb job on it, not and do it justice. It has to be ready and able to bottle from the keg by the 23rd though, so I'm hoping it hurries up. I need at least 48 hours to crash the yeast or it will be way to cloudy for judging.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Brew Day 03/03/13
It had been a long dry spell since the last Brew Day, back in December if I recall correctly.
Thanks to my long suffering wife for doing parenting duty while I played in the Garage. Granted, during the Mash I also grilled some steaks and veggie kabobs which she found rather tasty, so there's that.
Anyway, I brewed the Smithwicks for the brew club challenge. I'm not sure if I'll have it ready for St Pats but it should be good for the end of the month judging at the next beer club meeting.
Everything went well, except for the hose that was frozen for a while until I thawed it out with the jet heater in the garage, but even that was overcome.
I'll probably brew again this coming saturday, the Blue Moon Belgian White clone that I had planned to be the next one until the Smithwicks interjected itself into the rotation.
Oh, 1.056 OG on a target of 1.051, so there's that.
PS: I broke my drill I use to crush the grains, so now I get to buy a new one! (always look on the bright side of life, doo doo, doo dum dee dee doo doo)
Thanks to my long suffering wife for doing parenting duty while I played in the Garage. Granted, during the Mash I also grilled some steaks and veggie kabobs which she found rather tasty, so there's that.
Anyway, I brewed the Smithwicks for the brew club challenge. I'm not sure if I'll have it ready for St Pats but it should be good for the end of the month judging at the next beer club meeting.
Everything went well, except for the hose that was frozen for a while until I thawed it out with the jet heater in the garage, but even that was overcome.
I'll probably brew again this coming saturday, the Blue Moon Belgian White clone that I had planned to be the next one until the Smithwicks interjected itself into the rotation.
Oh, 1.056 OG on a target of 1.051, so there's that.
PS: I broke my drill I use to crush the grains, so now I get to buy a new one! (always look on the bright side of life, doo doo, doo dum dee dee doo doo)
Monday, February 11, 2013
Ranger IPA A/B
Nate (coworker and fellow brewer) was kind enough to provide me with two bottles of his Ranger IPA that he brewed roughly at the same time I brewed mine. To be fair, he actually suggested the clone, although we used slightly different recipes.
I finally got around to opening one of his bottles to compare with what I have on tap. It's a rough task, I know, but I make these kind of sacrifices so you don't have to.
From here on out I'll be refering to mine as Ranger A, and Nate's as Ranger B.
To the comparison...
After the pour both produce a moderate head, very similar, and both leave nice lacing on the glass after drinking. Head retention seems to be the same, not quite disappearing but leaving a nice coating on the surface.
On the nose, Ranger B has a more pronounced fragrance of subtle fruitiness than Ranger A. One of the ways ours recipes differed was in the dry hop stage, I think the aroma comes down to this.
As to flavor, there is very little difference between the two, with just a bit more of a 'greener' hoppiness to Ranger B, once again I attribute it to the difference in dry hopping stage.
The major difference between the two is in clarity. This is most likely completely down to the fact that Ranger A is on tap, and has been able to settle in the keg while chilled for a good month now while Ranger B is bottled so has not had the same chance to clarify.
All in all, I'm quite happy that both Rangers were so close. It was my first All Grain brew while Nate has been doing BIAB for quite a while now. I took Ranger A down to the LHBC meeting at the end of January and everyone there was favorably disposed towards the clone. I was still being asked for samples after I had already ran out of the samples that I brought down.
I finally got around to opening one of his bottles to compare with what I have on tap. It's a rough task, I know, but I make these kind of sacrifices so you don't have to.
From here on out I'll be refering to mine as Ranger A, and Nate's as Ranger B.
To the comparison...
After the pour both produce a moderate head, very similar, and both leave nice lacing on the glass after drinking. Head retention seems to be the same, not quite disappearing but leaving a nice coating on the surface.
 |
| Ranger B on the left, Ranger A on the right. Head is very similar. |
On the nose, Ranger B has a more pronounced fragrance of subtle fruitiness than Ranger A. One of the ways ours recipes differed was in the dry hop stage, I think the aroma comes down to this.
As to flavor, there is very little difference between the two, with just a bit more of a 'greener' hoppiness to Ranger B, once again I attribute it to the difference in dry hopping stage.
The major difference between the two is in clarity. This is most likely completely down to the fact that Ranger A is on tap, and has been able to settle in the keg while chilled for a good month now while Ranger B is bottled so has not had the same chance to clarify.
 |
| Ranger B on the left, Ranger A on the right. You can see the print on the piece of paper through Ranger A at this point. Ranger B has a bit of chill haze right out of the bottle, but it cleared up quite a bit once it warmed up a little. Once again, this is most likely all due to the fact that Ranger A was able to settle in the keg for a month while Ranger B did not have that conditioning. |
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Brew Club Challenge
My LHBC has put forth a challenge to its members to brew a Smithwick clone. To be judged against each other, and the real deal, in an informal competition at the end of March. I'm up for the task, so this is what I'm planning.
8 lbs Maris Otter
1 lb CaraPils
.375 lb Crystal 60
.25 lb Crystal 120
.12 lb Roasted Barley
1 oz Kent Golding
WLP004 - Irish Ale Yeast
Mash 1.3 U.S. Qts of water per pound of grain @ 154 degrees f.
Sparge with close to 2 U.S. Qts of water per pound of grain @ 178 degrees f.
Ferment at 60-65 degrees F (This will be the hardest part to get right for me as I don't have the means to Lager yet, but I'll think of something)
8 lbs Maris Otter
1 lb CaraPils
.375 lb Crystal 60
.25 lb Crystal 120
.12 lb Roasted Barley
1 oz Kent Golding
WLP004 - Irish Ale Yeast
Mash 1.3 U.S. Qts of water per pound of grain @ 154 degrees f.
Sparge with close to 2 U.S. Qts of water per pound of grain @ 178 degrees f.
Ferment at 60-65 degrees F (This will be the hardest part to get right for me as I don't have the means to Lager yet, but I'll think of something)
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Wormburner
A nice write up of the future brewpub coming to the QC Area, Wormburner.
http://franklyfoodblog.blogspot.com/2013/01/wormburner-brewing-company-of-davenport.html?m=1
I'm not sure how, but I will see if I can snag some of their pre-sale samples.
http://franklyfoodblog.blogspot.com/2013/01/wormburner-brewing-company-of-davenport.html?m=1
I'm not sure how, but I will see if I can snag some of their pre-sale samples.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Blue Moon Belgian White Clone
Here is the recipe that I've put together for the next brew, a Blue Moon Belgian White clone:
6 lbs - American 2 row
4 lbs - White Wheat
1 lb - Flaked Oats
I'm planning to mash on the warm side for a sweeter conversion, target will be 156F.
Boil for 90 minutes:
1.5oz Mt Hood @ 90
1.5tsps crushed Coriander @ 10
.5tsps crushed sweet orange peel @ 5
Will use WLP001 - California Ale yeast as the information I've read says to use.
The particulars:
OG: 1.057
FG: 1.014
ABV: 5.6%
IBU: 25.2
Color: 4.0 SRM
Not sure when I will get around to actually brewing this, probably sometime in February.
6 lbs - American 2 row
4 lbs - White Wheat
1 lb - Flaked Oats
I'm planning to mash on the warm side for a sweeter conversion, target will be 156F.
Boil for 90 minutes:
1.5oz Mt Hood @ 90
1.5tsps crushed Coriander @ 10
.5tsps crushed sweet orange peel @ 5
Will use WLP001 - California Ale yeast as the information I've read says to use.
The particulars:
OG: 1.057
FG: 1.014
ABV: 5.6%
IBU: 25.2
Color: 4.0 SRM
Not sure when I will get around to actually brewing this, probably sometime in February.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Next Brew
I know it will still be a few weeks before I brew again, but it is already in the planning stages.
I'm going for a Blue Moon Belgian White clone. I've researched a number of different recipes up to now and I think I have a good feeling for what it needs. I haven't quite built out the recipe list for what I'm going to use yet though.
My friend from Aurora (you know who you are) very generously got me a gift certificate to NB that will be utilized, along with a few other purchases. One thing I don't know if they have yet is the right adjuncts. A Blue Moon thread on HBT talks of specific dried orange peel to use, the commentor was one of the brewers that helped develop the beer back in the 90's.
Once I get the grain bill, adjuncts, and yeast decided, I will post the recipe and brew day schedule that I plan to use.
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, Blue Moon, it holds a special place in my heart as it was one of those beers that launched my beer snobbery at Old Chicago.
Cheers!
I'm going for a Blue Moon Belgian White clone. I've researched a number of different recipes up to now and I think I have a good feeling for what it needs. I haven't quite built out the recipe list for what I'm going to use yet though.
My friend from Aurora (you know who you are) very generously got me a gift certificate to NB that will be utilized, along with a few other purchases. One thing I don't know if they have yet is the right adjuncts. A Blue Moon thread on HBT talks of specific dried orange peel to use, the commentor was one of the brewers that helped develop the beer back in the 90's.
Once I get the grain bill, adjuncts, and yeast decided, I will post the recipe and brew day schedule that I plan to use.
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, Blue Moon, it holds a special place in my heart as it was one of those beers that launched my beer snobbery at Old Chicago.
Cheers!
Taste Test
I'm looking forward to next week. One of my coworkers, who is also a home brewer, brewed the a Ranger IPA clone recipe right around the same time that I brewed Ranger Danger. (he actually pointed out the recipe to me). I don't think our final recipes were exactly the same. I will try to get his recipe from him so I can point out the differences.
I brought him a sample of mine to work today, and hopefully next week he'll bring me a sample of his. It will be cool to do a comparison test between the two recipes to see how they are similar, and how they are different. This is the first time that I've been able to compare one of my brews against another.
I really like the Ranger Danger, and will most likely brew it again sometime during the summer months.
I brought him a sample of mine to work today, and hopefully next week he'll bring me a sample of his. It will be cool to do a comparison test between the two recipes to see how they are similar, and how they are different. This is the first time that I've been able to compare one of my brews against another.
I really like the Ranger Danger, and will most likely brew it again sometime during the summer months.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Ranger Danger in the Kegger
Took the Ranger IPA clone out of the fridge from cold crashing tonight. It had a lot of hops floating on the top when I put it in, cold crashing made all of it sink. That kind of surprised me a little. I know it helps particulates to settle out, as in yeasts, and other small size matter. But the whole leafs that were floating on top were also affected.
Tested the gravity as well.
OG: 1.059
FG: 1.005
ABV 7.2%
Tasted very very good even though it was not carbed yet. Looking forward to this one very much as it was the first AG brew I finished.
One of my brewing friends will be over this weekend, but I don't think this one will be quite ready by then, although sampling will be done with gusto!
Tested the gravity as well.
OG: 1.059
FG: 1.005
ABV 7.2%
Tasted very very good even though it was not carbed yet. Looking forward to this one very much as it was the first AG brew I finished.
One of my brewing friends will be over this weekend, but I don't think this one will be quite ready by then, although sampling will be done with gusto!
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
New Micro Brewery
Just encountered this on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/WormburnerBrewCo
Wormburner Brew Company located in Davenport. Looks like it is in the infancy stage at this point, not licensed to sell retail, but are stating that they are giving out free samples to discerning tasters for feedback and/or suggestions.
I look forward to yet another Brewery here in the QC!
http://www.facebook.com/#!/WormburnerBrewCo
Wormburner Brew Company located in Davenport. Looks like it is in the infancy stage at this point, not licensed to sell retail, but are stating that they are giving out free samples to discerning tasters for feedback and/or suggestions.
I look forward to yet another Brewery here in the QC!
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Failure
The Dunkle has gone down the drain.
This is not the first beer that I have dumped. I brewed the Dunkle back before Thanksgiving. OG measured out at 1.058, which was right on target. After the first week, Krausen had fallen, things were looking good and I took my first gravity reading. It was a disappointing 1.024 when my target was 1.013. I gave it another week and checked the gravity again, it was still 1.024. It hadn't budged a single point in a week.
Thanksgiving came, and I went out of town for the holiday. I figured that I could give the beer another week or two with no problems at all, I still had a couple on tap, plus more to keg while it sorted itself out. It never did drop below 1.024, so all of the following has a big question in my mind on whether or not it was due to the gravity stall. I figured I'd go with it regardless when a keg opened up.
I left it alone after the second gravity reading was showing no movement and bypassed it in kegging order with the Black IPA (which is still tasty). Once the English Pale was finished right around Christmas I had an open tap to fill so I pulled out the Dunkle.
From the get go I thought I might possibly have an issue. I should have taken a picture, but unfortunately I didn't. Most of the time with long fermentation times, and this one was going on 6 weeks in primary, you have a nice clean looking beer. This particular one looked like it might have had some residual CO2 bubbles still on the surface, not much at all really. I cold crashed it for a few days as I normally do before I keg anything.
Once I pulled it out of the fridge to transfer it to a keg I got a closer look. The only way I can describe it was that it appeared to have very tiny (about 1 mm across at the largest) white spheres on the surface. It was by no means pervasive, maybe several dozen or so and like I said, tiny looking. In 5 gallons of beer, not really very much at all. As I was transferring to the keg, I noticed a few dozen more along the sides of the carboy, and some on the surface of the racking cane. At this point I was already worried about an infection in the beer, I tasted it as well and thought that it might have 'something' off about it but it wasn't carbed yet so wasn't totally sure.
In the keg it went, and got carbed up. After a few days at high pressure I tasted it again, and I wasn't sure whether or not my paranoia was kicking in, but it just tasted a bit ..... off. Hard to describe, other than a bit of a chemically taste to it. This is one of the reasons I want to train as a judge, so that I can tell exactly what is going on, even in a bad beer.
I kept it on tap for a while to see if it would mellow with full carb. Drank a few pints of it myself, and took a growler of the Dunkle and the Black IPA to a house party on New Years Eve. Everyone loved the Black IPA, but were all 'meh' on the Dunkle. I just couldn't get over my own paranoia that it was infected with something.
I gave it another go tonight, and I thought that I had worked past the paranoia, or the flavors had mellowed and it might be alright. But....... I had also just eaten a dill pickle before tasting it. Once I cleansed my palate of the dill, I tried again, and sure enough the strange chemical taste was still there.
Down the drain it went. I know you can drink a beer that has been infected, it won't do you any harm. But I just can't keep 5 gallons of it on tap and force my way through it at the leisurely pace that I consume my beer now. I also won't force it on my wife, who is a party to all my doubts about any beer. She knows I thought it might be infected, I won't keep anything like that from her and make her a gueinea pig.
The only bad thing is, I've never made a Dunkleweise before, so I had no base of comparison on that, but I've made plenty of Hefes to know that this one wasn't quite right.
Now the Ranger Danger is cold crashing to take it's place in the keg lineup. That one I am really looking forward to as it was my first AG beer. An associate of mine pointed me to the recipe, and he has his example so that we can compare as well.
My thoughts on what could have happened? Well, I must not have been diligent enough in sanitizing my beer thief. That was the only object that went into the beer once it was in the carboy. It is the only possible source of an infection. The Black IPA was tested at the same time with the same beer thief, but it is just fine. It also went into a keg several weeks ahead of the Dunkle. If the infection that I suspect was introduced by taking sample readings, the Dunkle had more time for it to take hold.
I've checked both the Ranger Danger and the Brown Turkey that are still in carboys and neither of them exhibit the same symptoms. Neither of them have had their airlocks off of them since they were brewed and neither show any signs of infection.
Either way, I'm now going to be scrubbing the crap out of my beer thief and racking cane. I'm also going to toss out all the fluid lines I use post brew, I have plenty to spare.
It is disappointing to have to dump out nearly a full keg of beer, but I have plenty more to drink. This is also not the first infection I have had. My peach experiment got infected much worse than this one. It was very obvious with big bulbous fuzzy growth all over the peaches. That one only got away from me because that was during the week that my daughter was born and I couldn't tend to the peaches soaking in the completed beer at all (you have to keep the peaches submerged to avoid the possibility).
It is a one of those learning experiences that keeps you on your toes about disinfecting everything that may come into contact with the beer.
Live and learn.
Another question I have to deal with now. I washed and saved the yeast from that carboy, is this going to have the same infection (if thats what it was) lurking around in the yeast samples I saved. I think it might, and to assuage my paranoia I think I am going to have to dump out the yeast samples. No big deal, I'm not even really sure what yeast strain it is, it came from a Brewers Best kit from the LHBS. It won't kill me to dump them.
This is not the first beer that I have dumped. I brewed the Dunkle back before Thanksgiving. OG measured out at 1.058, which was right on target. After the first week, Krausen had fallen, things were looking good and I took my first gravity reading. It was a disappointing 1.024 when my target was 1.013. I gave it another week and checked the gravity again, it was still 1.024. It hadn't budged a single point in a week.
Thanksgiving came, and I went out of town for the holiday. I figured that I could give the beer another week or two with no problems at all, I still had a couple on tap, plus more to keg while it sorted itself out. It never did drop below 1.024, so all of the following has a big question in my mind on whether or not it was due to the gravity stall. I figured I'd go with it regardless when a keg opened up.
I left it alone after the second gravity reading was showing no movement and bypassed it in kegging order with the Black IPA (which is still tasty). Once the English Pale was finished right around Christmas I had an open tap to fill so I pulled out the Dunkle.
From the get go I thought I might possibly have an issue. I should have taken a picture, but unfortunately I didn't. Most of the time with long fermentation times, and this one was going on 6 weeks in primary, you have a nice clean looking beer. This particular one looked like it might have had some residual CO2 bubbles still on the surface, not much at all really. I cold crashed it for a few days as I normally do before I keg anything.
Once I pulled it out of the fridge to transfer it to a keg I got a closer look. The only way I can describe it was that it appeared to have very tiny (about 1 mm across at the largest) white spheres on the surface. It was by no means pervasive, maybe several dozen or so and like I said, tiny looking. In 5 gallons of beer, not really very much at all. As I was transferring to the keg, I noticed a few dozen more along the sides of the carboy, and some on the surface of the racking cane. At this point I was already worried about an infection in the beer, I tasted it as well and thought that it might have 'something' off about it but it wasn't carbed yet so wasn't totally sure.
In the keg it went, and got carbed up. After a few days at high pressure I tasted it again, and I wasn't sure whether or not my paranoia was kicking in, but it just tasted a bit ..... off. Hard to describe, other than a bit of a chemically taste to it. This is one of the reasons I want to train as a judge, so that I can tell exactly what is going on, even in a bad beer.
I kept it on tap for a while to see if it would mellow with full carb. Drank a few pints of it myself, and took a growler of the Dunkle and the Black IPA to a house party on New Years Eve. Everyone loved the Black IPA, but were all 'meh' on the Dunkle. I just couldn't get over my own paranoia that it was infected with something.
I gave it another go tonight, and I thought that I had worked past the paranoia, or the flavors had mellowed and it might be alright. But....... I had also just eaten a dill pickle before tasting it. Once I cleansed my palate of the dill, I tried again, and sure enough the strange chemical taste was still there.
Down the drain it went. I know you can drink a beer that has been infected, it won't do you any harm. But I just can't keep 5 gallons of it on tap and force my way through it at the leisurely pace that I consume my beer now. I also won't force it on my wife, who is a party to all my doubts about any beer. She knows I thought it might be infected, I won't keep anything like that from her and make her a gueinea pig.
The only bad thing is, I've never made a Dunkleweise before, so I had no base of comparison on that, but I've made plenty of Hefes to know that this one wasn't quite right.
Now the Ranger Danger is cold crashing to take it's place in the keg lineup. That one I am really looking forward to as it was my first AG beer. An associate of mine pointed me to the recipe, and he has his example so that we can compare as well.
My thoughts on what could have happened? Well, I must not have been diligent enough in sanitizing my beer thief. That was the only object that went into the beer once it was in the carboy. It is the only possible source of an infection. The Black IPA was tested at the same time with the same beer thief, but it is just fine. It also went into a keg several weeks ahead of the Dunkle. If the infection that I suspect was introduced by taking sample readings, the Dunkle had more time for it to take hold.
I've checked both the Ranger Danger and the Brown Turkey that are still in carboys and neither of them exhibit the same symptoms. Neither of them have had their airlocks off of them since they were brewed and neither show any signs of infection.
Either way, I'm now going to be scrubbing the crap out of my beer thief and racking cane. I'm also going to toss out all the fluid lines I use post brew, I have plenty to spare.
It is disappointing to have to dump out nearly a full keg of beer, but I have plenty more to drink. This is also not the first infection I have had. My peach experiment got infected much worse than this one. It was very obvious with big bulbous fuzzy growth all over the peaches. That one only got away from me because that was during the week that my daughter was born and I couldn't tend to the peaches soaking in the completed beer at all (you have to keep the peaches submerged to avoid the possibility).
It is a one of those learning experiences that keeps you on your toes about disinfecting everything that may come into contact with the beer.
Live and learn.
Another question I have to deal with now. I washed and saved the yeast from that carboy, is this going to have the same infection (if thats what it was) lurking around in the yeast samples I saved. I think it might, and to assuage my paranoia I think I am going to have to dump out the yeast samples. No big deal, I'm not even really sure what yeast strain it is, it came from a Brewers Best kit from the LHBS. It won't kill me to dump them.
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