I got back out in the hop garden today to attempt to straighten out the hop trellis more to my liking. I state "attempt" because I never did get it how I wanted. I could've done it, but it would have taken so long to lower the pole, adjust, raise only to find out it wasn't enough an adjustment, drop, adjust, and repeat ad nauseum. Dad wanted to run some errands today and tomorrow, so that wasn't in the cards.
Wednesday it's supposed to rain ... so fuggit ... I figured it ain't broke, I ain't fixin' it! So basically it doesn't look any better today than yesterday.
So to further catch up this blog, I brewed another batch on Saturday evening. Ever since first getting the brewing equipment, I have wanted to brew a Nut Brown Ale. It is a great style and I just hadn't found what I was looking for until a week ago when I was in the local homebrew shop.
I got the kit and decided I would roll with the dry yeast that was in it. This would be my first time using dry yeast. I have used liquid yeast every time I have brewed. I read up on what it takes to proof it and it seemed simple enough, I felt comfortable with the process.
I got everything cleaned up and set up a pot with 2.5 gallons of water for steeping the grain and another with 10 X the weight of the yeast sachet that came with the kit. My book about yeast suggests bringing the water up to 105* then add the dry yeast.
I read 105* on the thermometer and transferred the water to a tupperware that I could put a lid on to keep pathogens and other "unwanteds" out. Melissa cautioned me it was too hot and proceeded to take the temperature again.
Good thing she did, because the temp was in excess of 105*. Apparently, I pulled the thermometer too quickly. Good save, woman!
Meanwhile I am still awaiting my 2.5 gallons to come up to 155*. I have gotten a pretty good routine and know where on the stove I need to have the settings ... at least for what I am *used* to doing!
I didn't think about the fact I was using a different volume of water this time and once it was up to temp., wound up setting the burner where I normally do and thought no more of it. I perchance took another thermometer reading later in the steep and noticed I was in excess of 170*. Oh shit!
That is the plateau brewers like to steer clear from when steeping grain, because that is about the temperature that tannins are introduced. Tannins give the beer an astringent taste -- basically it becomes seriously bitter.
Uh Oh! I have been wanting to brew this all along and have done everything so far to make sure I screw it up! Bad temperature management -- YEESH! I haven't shown this lack of discipline the whole time I have been brewing ... WTF? Yes, I did have a little buzz, but was fully capable of handling such simple things.
The rest of the process went according to plan, but I am curious as to how long that temperature was above 170* and how much "damage" was done. Hopefully it will work itself out and wasn't as bad as I think.
It is currently fermenting like mad! I have never had a batch that has been *this* active!
I counted five or six bubbles in the airlock per second. The most active I have previously seen was about 3 per second. You can actually *see* the yeast working. COOOOOL!
This being an "imperial" nut brown means that it will be another month and a half (at least) before I know if it will be okay. It probably will, I tend to worry a bit too much sometimes.
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