Keeping it simple

Well I’ve taken off the last 9 months, not brewing or even thinking about brewing, because I’ve been disappointed with my last 2 batches. But I’ve had a kit sitting around my house for a few months now, and with the weather starting to cool off (down in the 40’s last night), HM & I decided it would be a good time to get back on the horse.

So last night I brewed a Honey Porter with my neighbor Brian, it took about 4 hours start to finish, and I believe with the changes I’ve made since last time, it should turn out alright. Here’s what I did differently that I think could contribute to better beer (aka. no off flavors).

1. Kept my boil down to 2-gal instead of the 3-gal boils I’ve done in the past. This makes it easier for my electric stove to keep up with the boil, takes less time, and I think the overall boil was more “rolling”.

2. Didn’t add any gypsum. Since I use RO water that’s been through a softener, I’ve always used gypsum to add hardness back into the water. However, since the water we get straight from the district is extremely hard, I think that by the time it goes through our softener, it is now about even with your typical household without a softener. And it was one less thing that I had to worry about.

3. I also didn’t use my wort chiller this time. Instead I just stuck the pot in the sink with 10 lbs of ice and water and stirred every 2-3 minutes. Doing it this way, I cooled off the wort in about 10 minutes, so it really didn’t take any more time than with my wort chiller, and I didn’t have to worry about cross contamination (which is what I think has ruined my last 2 batches).

4. I didn’t use the fancy sanitizers this time, only bleach. My primary has been soaking in bleach water for about 8 months now, so I think it was clean. I had a suspicion that the yellowish film left on my primary from my 1st and 2nd batches was a major cause of my problems, so now the yellow film is gone and I believe all is well.

5. The last change that occurred wasn’t intentional, but as I was prepping my equipment to brew, I noticed that my auto siphon tubing had little black spots on the inside, which I believe is mold or mildew, so that’s now in the trash can and I had to pour my cooled wort into my primary. There was a little spillage, but with my wife’s strainer, I caught all of the sediment and believe I have a very clean beer fermenting.

6. Didn’t rehydrate my dry yeast, just poured it straight in. In the past I would have been to paranoid to do that, but after talking with enough experience homebrewers, I realized that I’d probably be alright. It also saved me about 10 minutes, which is important when it’s 11 pm and the kitchen is a mess.

I carried it down to our basement which was holding about 70-degrees last night, and when I checked it this morning, there’s plenty of activity, so I know that my 9-month old yeast was doing just fine. I’m also not going to check the specific gravity this time around, I think that’s just another opportunity for contamination and not in line with my new way of brewing….just keeping it simple.