We are taking some time off from the shop, so I took advantage of one of our days to make a couple of batches of beer.  These were #64 and #65.

#64 was a black IPA, which I have never attempted before.  I basically used some of my favorite traditional hops, but added some nice dark malt and the rye malt.  I usually do a yeast starter for my beers, but for some reason, I was feeling lazy and just bought a couple of vials of WLP #001 (California Ale Yeast).  With the yeast starter, my beer usually starts fermentation after about 4 hours or so, now, 16 hours later I am still waiting for some bubbling on both brews.  I’m not worried, but I like the faster starts.

The biggest problem with the first batch was the amount of grain.  It was too much for my mash tun.  I was pretty sure I got it up to the correct temperature, maybe even a little on the high side, but it was way too thick.  This caused a stuck mash, so I wasn’t getting any wort out of the mash tun.  This was a first for me, so I took my garden hose and shot it back up through the bottom of my mash tun and cleaned out the insides enough for a little more than a trickle.

I’ve also got to do something about straining the hops before transferring to the primary.  I have been thinking about making some kind of screen that would go around the outflow, but I haven’t figured anything out yet.  Right now I end up with lots of crud going into the carboys.  It is no big deal, since it cleans itself out during the transfer to the secondary, but it would be nice to not have it figure in the amount of beer I have in the carboy.

I was shooting for a specific gravity of around 1.070, but only got a 1.060.

My gravity feed system

 
 My second batch of the day was one of my old standbys.  It was an English ESB.  It went quite smoothly except for the yeast not getting going as quickly as I would like it to.  I also used whole leaf hops with bags, so it was much cleaner at the end.  I don’t think the hops are as efficient, but they don’t leave much of a mess.  I came out with a specific gravity of 1.044, which was perfect.

On a different note, I wanted to put in a photo of our Christmas present from Aaron and Melinda.  They had these top caps custom made for all the employees at the shop.  If you look closely, you can see it is made with the “hub of Cotati” in the center.

New top cap.