Baby beer bubbling....

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The OG Was

1.040  .... I am going to either need to adjust my process or add more fermentables. The goal was 1.050

Brew day....

....just so you know.

I am trying for a repeat of my previous brew (recipe is a few posts ago) ... but with a couple of changes..

The shop was out of Cascade hops, so I substituted that out with Columbus. aaand.. they were out of Ca ale yeast, so I am using "Pacific Ale" yeast..

This should taste pretty good, not too far off my previous. I just need to do something about all the danged solids. This brew produced a lot of them the last time around, I am gonna do my best to filter all that out this time around.

Maybe I'll drain through a filter into my bottling bucket and then filter again from there to my fermenter.


Hmmmmm

So here is the veggie garden

I made the boxes out of scrap fence material from the tear down and replacement of my fence (seen in the photos below). They are both 4' X 6'.... big enough to hold some serious vegetation and yet narrow enough that the middle can be reached from both sides without having to step into the box.

Under the boxes, I lay down scrap weedblocking fabric. I ran irrigation to it by means of a buried garden hose. in the box between the two raised beds is where it terminates into the timer and the drip irrigation system.

All in all, I was pleased with it. The thing was not that hard to put together. Now I need to kill the lawn around them a bit for a border.

 

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How could I have done this?

I let an entire month go by without a new post?! I will have more later regarding my gardening efforts but for now.. what you see below is the dark brew going into the fermenter in March, from the very recipe that I posted in March. I bottled it a little over a week ago and I've enjoyed a few bottles of it the last few days..

It came out a little below my target ABV but it tastes really good. The color is still a dark root beer. I'll probably be brewing this again real soon.

Today's Recipe...

I was going for a dark ale.. Here is what I put in:

US 2-row malt: 5lb 15oz
UK Light Crystal Malt: 1 lb 11oz
US Carapils Malt: 1 lb 11 oz
US Chocolate Malt: 7.35oz

Hops..
UK Fuggle 1oz @ start of boil
US Cascade .5oz @ 15 min to the end of boil
US Cascade .5oz @ end of boil

Other...
Irish Moss .25oz @ 15 min. to the end of the boil.

The goal OG was 1.050 but I hit 1.045 ...so my efficiency has improved on the mashing in the bag. I steeped it for 90 min. at 152-154 deg. F.

Cut twice and measure once... or is that the other way around?

my previous measurement was wrong (using a new toy ...err.. instrument wrong). I tested my wheat beer again just prior to bottling it up and it was at 1.010 FG.. which is 1.2% alc on the meter so ..a little math and I'm actually at 3% Alcohol by volume going into the bottle.