“Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed!”

This Brew Day was a day early, but 50 years ago they were just about at the moon. Quite a Step for Mankind!

It’s been quite a while since I’ve blogged here. I made a 2019 New Year resolution to brew at least once/month, and have kept it up, so far. I also have been busy building my Keezer, which I’ll write about soon. I know it was helpful for me to have accounts of how people built their keezers and kegerators.

I’ve decided that 2.5 gallon batches would be a neat way to have a chance at keeping 4 taps going at all times. I did purchase one 5 gallon keg after I saw how quickly Eileen’s Irish was consumed, but so far I’ve only been brewing 2.5 gallon batches this year.

I’ve also been brewing with extract, rather than all-grain. It’s fun taking a step back in the process, but it’s also been a learning experience. It’s nice being able to choose recipes from Jamil’s Brewing Classic Styles, since he wrote the recipes for extract. I’ve been using Dry Malt Extract (DME), and really liking how it handles. It should store better, too. There’s not as much variety as LME, but there’s plenty for base malts. Specialty malts can be steeped. This is how I started brewing back in 1978-79. Our Darby Dark was kind of a Guinness clone that used imported Liquid Malt Extract and steeping grains that we crushed with a rolling pin. It was good enough for a blue ribbon!

Dave Origer gave me some of his home-grown Columbus hops from last year’s harvest. I’d just been thinking I’d like to try something hoppy, maybe with whole-cone hops, so this is perfect! I didn’t have to look too hard for a suitable recipe, as last year’s Big Brew Day recipe was for a Columbus Pale Ale.

The recipe had an extract version, so I was all set. I’ve been ordering ingredients for the next batch ahead of time and storing them in the keezer, so I can be a little more spontaneous scheduling the brew day. I did have to alter the recipe a little from the published one, when I found I had neglected to order 20L crystal malt, so I used 120L I had already. It’ll make it a little darker and maybe roastier in the final beer.

Lots of hop additions during the boil. Including the largest at flame-out. I put them in a hop bag hanging from my new hop spider. It’s a great addition to my equipment. I used it for the grain steeping as well.

The recipe suggested straining the wort into the fermentor, so I ran the end of the tube into a muslin bag. It worked OK. I’ve been using my new Anvil Brew Bucket for the last several batches. I love this thing. Since it has a cone-shaped bottom, I don’t transfer to secondary fermentation. Racking it off is much easier because the racking tube pivots up away from the bottom, where most of the trub is. I also got the chilling kit, which is fantastic. A fementation chamber would be ideal, I suppose, but I’d been using the old fridge for that and hoping the freezer part was cold enough for the beer. It wan’t an ideal situation, hence my desire for a keezer.

The keezer is only one chamber, so the chilling kit for the fermentor allows me to have much more precise control over fermentation. I can still use the keezer to cold-crash and lager. Another reason for a large keezer and smaller kegs.

All in all, a fine Brew Day. Penny is becoming a #1 Brew Dog, too!