Mosquito in the Kraeusen

In spite of careful attention to sanitization, this morning I found a tiny mosquito floating atop the foam in my fermenter! Best guess is she flew into the kettle during the boil or after cooling. It was well after sunset by the time I finished cooling the wort. The garage lights would have attracted any mosquitos out braving the cold.

I used a bamboo cake probe, about as big around as a toothpick, to fish the insect out through the top of the carboy. Boy, if a bug as big as a mosquito can get in so easily, what else might have drifted into the mix? Hopefully, the action of the yeast will kill off anything ugly.

Fermenter porn.

There's about an inch of kraeusen foam after twelve hours in the fermenter. And I've built a reinforced shelf twenty inches off the floor of the standing Ikea closet that is my fermenting booth. This way I won't have to disturb the fermenter when I rack to the secondary.

Finally, I'm a Home Brewer!

My brother-in-law loaned me his propane burner this afternoon to boil my first batch of beer. He had planned on staying for the proceedings, but lost patience after half an hour and headed back home.

I really wanted a 6 1/2 gallon carboy for my primary fermentation vessel, so I took a short drive to Mountain Homebrew to pick one up. Also got a brush for cleaning the carboy, a bottle washer (that somehow doesn't fit my kitchen sink, even with the adapter), some DME for bottling time, and some one step cleaner/sanitizer.

My wife was on a rampage when I got home. Something about other chores that I should be doing instead of spending money and making beer. I ignored her tirade, for obvious reasons.

No boil-over! Full Steam ahead.

I had no disasters in brewing the "More Beer" LIght Ale mash extract kit that came with the brew equipment set. I'm lovin' the heavy duty brew pot. The eight gallon kettle meant I got to do a full boil starting with six gallons of water. For a little extra character, I put the grains into the toaster oven for a few minutes to get them just a little more brown. Started the bittering hops early in the mash steep per a tip from John Palmer's book, "How To Brew".

The wort chiller worked perfectly after a wee bit of spraying water from a loose clamp. It brought the temperature down to sixty degrees in about fifteen minutes. A heavy-duty drain spout on the kettle made the transfer to my new carboy a snap. The only thing a little off was what seems to be a high original gravity reading of 1.51instead of the estimated 1.038 to 42. Should have measured for the five gallon mark on the carboy. My guess is more water boiled off than is the norm.

Would love to get a side mounted thermometer for the kettle's second threaded fitting.

Now begins primary fermentation. Hopefully the yeast are happy. I primed them in 4 oz of warm water, and they seemed to be alive and active. The unfermented beer tasted mildly sweet, but also quite bitter from the relatively small amount of hops. Decided to use a fermentation lock on the 6 1/2 gallon carboy instead of a blow-off hose. The guy at the shop said he gets good results without the hose.

I'm already thinking the recipe could take a bit of dry hopping to really boost the floral notes in the aroma.

It Arrives!

My homebrew kit arrived today from More Beer, and the stuff looks great. The eight gallon should be an amazing tool. I'll be able to do a full boil on five gallon recipes with a bit of care against boil overs. The clear plastic carboy is interesting. I think it will be my primary fermenter, set up for blow-off.

I still need to get a few more items to do the brewing: another carboy for secondary fermentation, and a good angled brush for cleaning it. And the burner, which, not unexpectedly, my wife is already complaining about the cost of.

The included light ale kit looks so thin compared to the Organic Imperial IPA kit I've been holding. Two little foil bags of hop pellets compared to seven big bags of whole and pellets!

If I get my bathroom tile setting completed on Saturday, I could be brewing batch #1on Sunday.

Homebrewing Kit Purchased

Just put in my equipment order with More Brew out of Concord, California for a brewing kit with a copper coil wort chiller and one of the nicest eight gallon brew kettles I've seen for the price. Overall price for the package seems reasonable, plus there's no sales tax, and free shipping. I'll still need to get a burner and secondary fermenter carboy from my local shop.

Personal Home Brewery #4 - Bottling Super Deluxe

BRKIT4 Check List This kit includes the following: 

Bottle of Star San Sanitizer (4oz)
Plastic Bottle Filler
Bag of Bottle Caps (1/4lb)
Bottle Capper
Reusable Mesh Steeping Bag
Reusable Mesh Hop Bag
Plastic Spoon
Funnel
Home Beermaking Book
Bottle Brush
Plastic Carboy
Package of Powdered Brewery Wash (PBW)
Plastic Bottling/Sanitation Bucket with Spigot
Airlock
Rubber Stopper with Hole
Hydrometer
Hydrometer Jar
5ft Vinyl Transfer Tubing
Sterile Siphon Starter (Contains Racking Cane with Tubing, Air Filter and Carboy Hood)
5 inch long dial thermometer
Light Ale Ingredient Kit with Brewing Instructions
Dry Brewers Ale Yeast
2 Cases of (12) 22oz Bottles
8-Gallon Heavy Duty Kettle with Ball Valve, Barb and Notched Lid
Copper Wort Chiller with Tubing