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Cerveza

stoutmakerLeave a comment

(a little late as I forgot to publish this so this was back a month or two)
One of my favorite beers to drink any where is Modelo. And yes I put a lime in it. Try and stop me. 
But finding a clone of the especial is pretty tough. Lots for Modelo Negra though.
But I did find one that says its close. Close is good, I can narrow it down later. Changed it up slightly and adding some lime zest to it
Cerveza com lima
5 lbs 2 row
2 lbs Vienna
1 lb flaked corn
1/4 20L (I wouldnt do more than this,, that corn really sweetens it up, could consider dropping it all together) 
1/4 oz magnum 60
1/3 oz Saaz 15
05 yeast
zest of two small limes. In primary when activity is winding down.
This is first brew on new system. Not sure how they will like the wind out here.
Gonna mash this one low. 150. Over shot by 1 degree I gonna try to stir it down
Corn mashing smell pretty damn good. Looks pretty light. Hope it darkens a little.
Heating sparge. This new top burner really goes quick. Like maybe twice as fast as old one.
I dont think my color is gonna be on. One of Modelo’s features is its color and this aint it.
Holy Jeabus does that jet burner go.
Damn really boiled alot off and over shot gravity. I’m gonna leave it.
yea that jet burner boils some serious water there. I’m probably lookin at about 4 1/2 in fermenter.
(ok we just about up to date)
Ok about two weeks ago I added that zest and I can still smell it out of the air lock. I forgot to add the Irish moss and it has a slight haze but nothing two bad. Might drop out when chilling.
Got it kegged. I think I can carb it enough by Saturday for the meeting.
OMG is this good. Smell that lime. it dead flat and still has big lime to it. Kinda thicker than I expected. Hopefully that will change when carbed
Went over pretty decent at the meeting. I think CO2 bite was too much. lets try it now after its settled a bit.
Oh yea.. this is some good stuff. The beer its self is good like a very light cream ale,, but I think I have just a bit much on lime. Will try one lime next time. And the haze dropped alot, but is still there. might leave altogther after it warms.
This is most definatly a remake, cause its not gonna last long at all. I approve.

A little off

stoutmakerLeave a comment

Tried a 2 gallon mini batch yesterday with my little 2 gallon cooler.

I have used this a few times before with excellent results. Not so much this time.
I think I trusted Beersmith too much.
I set everything up as best In could. But dipshit me trusted the software like my regular batches. I ended up mashing for an hour at 135. Not cool.

So I spent and extra half hour vorlaufing at 160 to help it.
I guess something must have converted as I had a target of .032 a managed a .028. Off, but not the end if the world.

I punched in a 1.5 gallon boil off, but had close to a 2 gallon boil off.
My idea of using a mash bag instead of a manifold kinda works. But cannot get the bed to set. Even with an hour o settling time before going into fermenter left about a two inch layer of sediment.

I started with a boil of 3.5 gallons and I will be lucky to get 1 gallon to bottle.

If I am to do these minis, even just now and then, I will need to tighten it up.

Things I will need to fix.
-thermal mass fix
-boil off
-put the braid or something back in

But I did like the way I could get a boil in like 10 minutes and cools to 80 in the same.

Back At It

stoutmakerLeave a comment

I can’t believe it’s been this long since I have brewed any thing. So this weekend I brewed twice to make up for it. (Woulda been three if I got to the store)

Saturday I brewed up a stout. Initially it would have been the Fogger, but I changed it enough that its now a different beer I substituted chocolate rye for the chocolate malt, used EKG instead of cluster and used 05 instead o Windsor. That seemed like enough change to call it a new beer.

Started off crappy as my manifold came off inside the tun during sparge. I was able to use another bucket hold the mash and fix the manifold. After that everything went smooth.

This morning I brewed the Steam beer. This is the one that I brewed two years ago. The Zerg Rush Steamroller. I hated this beer at first, but I grew to liking it.
Sorta changed it up a little. 1/4 oz less in the 60 min addition. This should knock the bite down a little. I will throw that little bit in as dry hop later.

Still have the 3 gallon fermenter and the 2 gallon needing filling. Time for some mini batches.