Tuesday, January 31, 2012
White House Home Brewing
The White House Honey Ale was first consumed a year ago for the Super Bowl and little by little President Barrack Obama has been making beer ever since. Check out this video from CBS
http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-500202_162-20107292.html
FX Matt Brewing Company
FX Matt Brewing Company is only a few short miles from my house. If any of you are in the Utica area or may even enjoy brewery tours I highly recommend this one. FX Matt Brewing Company is the second oldest family owned brewery in the United States and is at the top of the list for craft breweries. In 2009 they were listed 7th best in terms of sales. Right now they have the Saranac White IPA that I also recommend. An American wheat ale with the familiar orange and coriander but an IPA lovers dream. Great hop aroma and even better taste. For more on Saranac and the Brewery please check out the link I have put up. Cheers
Irish Red Ale
Irish Red Ale
For my first brewing attempt on my own i decided to make an Irish Red Ale. Not knowing exactly how long it would take to ferment and bottle condition i decided to do this style in hopes that it will be ready for St. Patrick's Day. Well I now know that it will be and I am extremely excited for it to be ready within the next 2 weeks.
I received all of my ingredients which are shown here. 2 Row, caramel, crystal, bohemian pilsner and 6 Row malts. Also here is 2 ounces of hallertauer pellet hops.
I then get all my equipment and ingredients together, which in the Culinary world we call "mis en place".
Heat up the 3 gallons of water to 164 degrees so I can mash the grains at a steady 154 degrees for 1 hour.This process turns all the carbohydrates into sugars so that the yeast can turn it into alcohol.
Next process is called sparging where we take more hot water and pour it over the grains to get as much "stuff" out of the grains as we can. This will then give us the 6 Gallons of wort that we need for the boil.
At this stage we boil the wort and add the hops. We added 1 oz during the entire boil which is 60 mins. I then add another .5 oz during the last 15 mins of the boil. The 60 min boil will ensure good hop bitterness and the 15min boil will institute flavor
After the boil we need to cool it down to 70 degrees as fast as possible and so with some help from my girlfriend we grabbed 5 bags of ice from the corner store and chilled it down in less that 25 mins. This will ensure that no bacteria will begin to grow. Once we cool it down then we can add the yeast to the fermentation bucket and put on the airlock.
The airlock will insure that no air is coming in however it lets the CO2 out that is being created from the yeast.
For my first brewing attempt on my own i decided to make an Irish Red Ale. Not knowing exactly how long it would take to ferment and bottle condition i decided to do this style in hopes that it will be ready for St. Patrick's Day. Well I now know that it will be and I am extremely excited for it to be ready within the next 2 weeks.I received all of my ingredients which are shown here. 2 Row, caramel, crystal, bohemian pilsner and 6 Row malts. Also here is 2 ounces of hallertauer pellet hops.I then get all my equipment and ingredients together, which in the Culinary world we call "mis en place".
Heat up the 3 gallons of water to 164 degrees so I can mash the grains at a steady 154 degrees for 1 hour.This process turns all the carbohydrates into sugars so that the yeast can turn it into alcohol. Next process is called sparging where we take more hot water and pour it over the grains to get as much "stuff" out of the grains as we can. This will then give us the 6 Gallons of wort that we need for the boil.
At this stage we boil the wort and add the hops. We added 1 oz during the entire boil which is 60 mins. I then add another .5 oz during the last 15 mins of the boil. The 60 min boil will ensure good hop bitterness and the 15min boil will institute flavor
After the boil we need to cool it down to 70 degrees as fast as possible and so with some help from my girlfriend we grabbed 5 bags of ice from the corner store and chilled it down in less that 25 mins. This will ensure that no bacteria will begin to grow. Once we cool it down then we can add the yeast to the fermentation bucket and put on the airlock.The airlock will insure that no air is coming in however it lets the CO2 out that is being created from the yeast.
Fermentation went on for about 8 days and then i transfered it to a secondary fermentation vessel for another 6 days. Bottling began and I ended up with 35 bottles. An analysis of it will be coming soon.
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