Brew Day in Photos: Organic Scottish Ale with Heather

Another kit brew from 7 Bridges Cooperative. This one is a 90 Shilling organic Scottish Ale with Heather. I plan to add American oak cubes that have been soaking in Bourbon for three months to see how closely this approximates one of my favorite local beers, Black Raven's Second Sight Scotch Ale aged in Bourbon barrels.

Brew day starts: bring in the equipment.

I get the yeast starter from the refrigerator, pour off the wort, and bring to room temperature.

Washing the breakfast dishes to make room for brewing.

Overflowing compost has to be emptied to make room for spent grains.

Ack! No oven. Thought we would have the new one installed by now.

Two quart measuring cup is ready on a clean work space.

Insulated wardrobe should hold lautering temperature pretty well.

Steeping pot wrapped in a wool blanket and nearby heating pad should stay near 155 ºF.

Lautering temperature dropped to upper 140 ºF's after 30 minutes. First tried adding two cups of near boiling water, then took pot to the flame for a couple of minutes.

Sanitize glass carboy and other utensils while lautering finishes.

Sparging spent grains through cotton bag and colander with 170 ºF water.

The final mash. Boy, it looks dark.

Spent grains go into compost.

Chickens also like the spent grains.

Washing dishes again. And again. And again.

Just added the liquid barley malt extract.

Time to bring the kettle back to a boil.

Six and a half gallon mix of hot water and mash almost boiling.

Whole New Zealand Hallertaur hops added for bittering. 

The hops settle into the boil.

Phone timer is very handy during all steps of the process.

Lunch break while boil continues - beans and hot dogs. And a homebrew D-IPA.

Wort chiller goes in with fifteen minutes left to the boil for pasteurization.

Eight oz. of heather tips and flowers added with ten minutes remaining in the boil. They smell like an alpine meadow.

Cold water flow begins at end of boil to bring temperature down to 68 ºF.

Pepper laying an egg in the nesting box.

After racking to the primary fermentor, there's still a lot of compostable material in the brew pot.

O.G. came out to 1.066, exactly where it should be.

Sixty seconds of pure oxygen prepares the wort for pitching the yeast starter.