Category beer

[Cross posted to and .]

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Well, despite partially spilling it before tasting, I managed to pull a sample of my slightly modified Rochefort 10 clone from the secondary tonight. It’s been in there for three weeks and there are three more to go… Then ten weeks in the bottles.

Tonight it measured out to a nice 1.023, which figuring against it’s original 1.120 gives me right about 13%. Not bad for all stove-top partial mash. It also tastes really good… There’s a slightly sharp edge to it still, but it’s definitely good. It holds real promise for after it’s done aging another four months from now.

All that’s left to do it, come end of June, rack it to secondary on top of some fresh yeast (I’ll just squirt a tube of pitchable in), let it sit for three more days, then bottle it with some DME.

Wow. I’m really looking forward to this… It’s tasty already.

Well, between that last post and when I woke up, the beer really took off. It is fermenting so vigorously that krausen (foam) from the beer is regularly flowing all the way from the carboy to the bucket. The line even occasionally becomes clogged (this is a 1.5″ line, mind you) and there is a sudden GURGLE sound audible throughout the whole house when the clog pops free.

Here’s some extra photos and videos of this:

· Fermentation assembly ~17 hours after pitching yeast.
· Detail of the carboy, actively fermenting away.
· Blowoff bucket full of stuff.
· Krausen and trub flowing through the blowoff tube. (Video)
· Krausen moving from the carboy into the blowoff tube. (Video)
· Krausen bubbling into the bucket, and the line occasionally getting plugged. (Video)

So, yeah… It’s definitely fermenting well.

Also, I just realized that I haven’t had any caffeine since Thursday morning, which would explain the dull headache that I’ve got. Must remedy that sometime today, I think… Or, maybe I’ll just hold out for a while. Hmm.

Anyway, time to go eat food… I’m feeling hungry.

[Crossposted to and .]

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Well, after arriving home from consuming a few pints of a locally brewed Hefeweizen with friends I checked on my Rochefort 10 clone-ish and it seems to be fermenting. Yay! With an OG of 1.120 – 1.130 it’s definitely going to be strong, and I had some concerns about there being enough yeast to get things going. However, I did a two-pint starter (first pint made, then a second pint of wort added later) and it seems to have taken. There are bubbles ~6 hours after pitching…

Anyway, if you’re interested in the recipe, it’s available here: http://www.nuxx.net/files/beer5_notes.txt

The original intention was Rochefort 10 clone, but due to available grains, slightly varying hops, and other iffyness, I’m going to call it a somewhat modified clone-ish beer. Hopefully it’ll be good… There’s a lot of aging in store for this batch, and I can see it taking up through autumn before it’s properly aged, but that’s fine. Something of this strength needs some time to settle down.

If you’re interested, a few pictures from today’s brew are available here: http://www.nuxx.net/gallery/rochefort10clone

Here’s links to some of the individual pictures that I find notable:
· Partial mash, right after the grains were added.
· Wrapped up pot to keep the heat in during mashing.
· Grains before sparging.
· Grains after sparging. (Note how much lighter they are…)
· High res shot of sparged grains, great for wallpaper.
· 11 lbs of DME and 1 2/3 lbs of amber Belgain candi sugar.
· Hydrometer showing a rather high OG.
· Before fermentation began.

So, yeah. That’s it… Enjoy. Hopefully you’ll like this beer if you try making it, as well…

Click for huuuuuuge…

If everything goes according to plan, that will be >48 bottles of 11.3% belgian-style ale in about five or six months. Just in time for fall/winter.

Yeah, sour mash beer is kinda ass-y.

Fortunately I just went and got the ingredients to brew the 11.some % belgian I posted about earlier.