1. I am making my 6th batch of home brew.
Very exciting. The style of beer will be an American Pale Ale. My motivation is Southern Star's Pine Belt Pale Ale. It is one of my faves and only made about an hour north of Houston. That would be the Conroe area. I found out what the ingredients were in their pale ale and I am trying to replicate it. Hopefully, it turns out fantastic. If not....I WILL STILL DRINK IT! I know what ingredients to use...but how much? When do I add each hops? Well, this is an experiment. So far, all my beers have been quite drinkable. Everyone that likes beer had said many positive things about the 4 other beers. Or they are just being nice....
Also, my pumpkin ale (my 5th batch) should be ready to drink this Saturday. I used about 6 pounds of pumpkin meat in the boil of my beer. Also, at the end of the boil I threw in cinnamon sticks, allspice and nutmeg. I am quite curious in how this turns out.
2. I almost died making my 6th batch of beer.
Or...I came close to becoming a Batman villain. Which villain? TWO- FACE! Is it because it is my 6th batch....made on the 6th day of October....in the 6th year after 2004
(ok..that was stretch).?????
In the process of making beer, you have to steep grains in water. Picture a teabag that could hold roughly 4 softballs. That is what I'm working with. I am steeping 3 pounds of grain. When you are done, you take the grains out. However, the grains retain a healthy amount of water. So, what you do is "sparge" the grains. Basically, you put the grain bag in a colander. Hold it over the boiling pot and pour hot water over the grains. This new hot water will push the water out of the grains into the pot. Are you picking up what I am laying down? However, after you take the grains out, you crank up the heat and get the water boiling. This takes awhile since you are working with about 3 gallons of water. Would you like for me to get to the dang point? Ok. So, I was "sparging" the grains. Meaning in my left hand was a large pitcher of hot water. My right hand held the handle to the large metal colander and 3 pound over a large pot that was heating to a boil. I poured the water through the grains and just held the colander over the pot of really hot water. Well guess what? The handle on the colander decided to detach itself from the colander. Meaning the basket part of the colander along with the 3 pounds of grain "plopped" into 3 gallons of hot as hell water. The result of this incident drenched my entire right side of my body and face (my cat like reflexes turned my head to the left). Not to mention the sugar water exploded about 8 feet behind me. There was water about 4 above my head on the cabinets. A total mess. The water also extinguished the flame on the gas stove. Oh well. Lesson learned. Don't use a colander that has a detachable handle. Ridiculous. If this would of happened roughly 5 minutes later...I would definitely be looking like Two-Face right about now. Good thing the water was only around 170 degrees....and not boiling.
