Brewing

Here is a series of videos on how to clean and sanitize Cornelius kegs for using in homebrew. You can also find a great deal on the matter to the left in the "Book Navigation" box under "Brewing". I'm finally starting to migrate content over from my brewing site, and my kegging page is the first to come over. I have 1 of the 2 pages done right now and should have the 2nd done by the end of the weekend.

Last week I got an email from the Ontario Craft Brewers about a new "Ambassadors" program that they have going. So I clicked on the link to check it out, and decided after seeing it to sign up. I figure I already consider myself a Beer Ambassador, so why not, right? Wow, I had no idea what would happen next! This morning a huge box arrived by courier on our front step, and it contained a whole bunch of swag, shown here!

So far this year I've been brewing mainly German-style beers with a quick stop in Belgium, so today it is something British inspired. I've still got a half keg of Belgian Wit, most of a keg of a German Dunkles that has been lager for a good 5 weeks already, and 4 kegs of Koelsch-eh, 2 in the fridge already and 2 not. So time to change things up a bit.

Normally I stick with very simple grain bills, but had a bunch of odds and ends to use up so this is what I came up with. I don't expect much character from the small amount of Smoked malt that I used - used it mainly because I needed more base malt and did not want to use up any of my 2 Row because I have other plans for it next weekend. Note to self - buy more base malt.

• 4.6 kg pale ale
• 2.3 kg Weyermann Dark Munich
• 400g Fawcett Malted Oats
• 400g unknown base malt :-)
• 500g Caramunich III
• 1.7 kg Weyermann Rauch/Smoked

For a total of 10kg

My last batch of Koelsch-eh started off fairly well inside of 24 hours, and is now in the fermentation grotto at about 14C

On Sunday I brewed again - another Koelsch-eh and in fact the same recipe as last time except for 2 minor factors : (1) I adjusted the pH of the liquor by adding 1ml of 75% phosphoric acid to 58L of water, and (2) I forgot the whirlfloc in this last batch.

But basically it goes like this :

Grain Bill

• 9 kg OiO 2 Row Malted Barley
• 1 kg local organic flaked barley (sourced from Mountain Path)

I finally got around to stringing up my hops bines - oh man, I waited way too long to do this! What a mess! The thing is, I have my roof being reshingled and wanted to wait until that was done because I was afraid the hops would interfere with his work. But finally they just got way too unruly sprawled all over the ground and I had to deal with them. I've got a whole bunch of Hallertauer that I've had for about 7 years now, and some new Nugget as of the last year. I figure by next year they should be producing just about enough to keep me self-sufficient in hops.

When stringing hops you have to use some sort of organic twine like baler's twine. I've tried synthetic ones but the hops just can't cling to it - they grow up so far and then their weight causes them to slide back down again. I simply have come hooks and eye screws screwed into the 2x4 on my eaves, and stakes in the ground below. I use a double length of twine and twist the two lengths together.

You'd never believe I was unemployed for 2 months and managed to brew 5 times so far this year, because my stockpiles are already depleting. That's what you get for inviting all your friends over to drink your beer :-)

So I put another batch on today. As usual, I was not really sure what to brew until the morning of brew day. Last night before going to bed I was really feeling like it would be another Belgian Wit, but this morning that is not at all what I felt like. I just felt like doing something straight-up with 2 Row malted barley. What I call a "Cream Ale" sometimes just to use a term that more people are familiar with, even though style-Nazis will correctly point out that a Cream Ale should have some corn in it.

The proper term for what I brewed today is Kölsch, but that term is legally protected in Europe, and only breweries in and around Cologne can brew this type of beer. While that is not legally binding here, I like to respect the wishes of the brewers in Cologne given that I lived there for 2 years. So I used to call my beer brewed to this style "Kölschy", until Canada Day 2004 when I was brewing it and somewhat whimsically coined the term "Kölsch-eh", for Canadians brewing the style!

It has been a marathon week - 3 batches of beer in 5 days! I want to get the stockpiles up while I'm still unemployed - start the new job on May 1st. My first 4 batches so far this spring have been "quick" beers - from very quick beers like Hefeweizen and Belgian Wit which can be ready to drink a mere week after brewing, to relatively quick beers like the Stout I made last Friday, which can be ready to drink in as little as 2 weeks after brewing. All of these of course to get the stockpiles up quickly.

Now it was time for a slow beer. Something that will take 3 to 5 weeks to ferment, and then require another 5 to 8 weeks of lagering at near freezing temperatures. I knew I'd brew a lager, I just wasn't sure until this morning just what type of lager. But I recalled that I had a fair amount of German Weyermann Dark Munich Malt on hand, which is a base malt that has enzymatic power to convert starches to sweet sugars for the yeast. So I decided upon a Dunkles!